.27/4/08 to 30/4/08. After travelling from Sydney to Melbourne staying a couple of days enroute at Bright/Mt Buffalo in the Victorian high country (did a walk up there in the snow), we started the Tasmanian leg of our trip disembarking the ferry at Devonport. We then based ourselves succesively for a few days at each of New Norfolk, Deloraine and East Devonport, doing day trips from those locations. The walking party included myself and our 22 y.o. youngest son, who is my usual walking partner. The non-walking contingent included my wife (who actively avoids anything that resembles bushwalking and needs 24hr access to mod cons and shops
). Although we did coerce her into doing a couple of short walks.2/5/08. Lake Dobson to Tarn Shelf and return. Had planned to do the whole circuit but sudden bad weather held us up for a long time at the Rodway day hut. Plenty of fagus still evident but deteriorating. Also saw quite a bit near the Lake Fenton parking area. Some ladies we met at the Rodway shelter reckoned it was better than that at Tarn Shelf but I would disagree. Surprised at the number of walking parties we encountered on a weekday. We made it to just before Lake Webster and decided to turn around at that point to avoid finishing in the dark. Did the little pandani circuit on the way out and finished just as the rain started again and darkness fell. Three women (oddly all wearing denim jeans) who we had passed earlier confirmed our wisdom in returning, as they said the last stage of the circuit is longish and all uphill.
3/5/08. Styx Valley Big Trees Reserve and down to the river. No big deal as far as walking's concerned but it's an impressive area. Very green, along the river reminded me a little of the Bird River track to East Pillinger on the West Coast. Also tried to go to the Tolkien track but the gate was locked. We would have walked the extra 2km each way to get there but my wife was with us on this occasion and wasn't keen on the idea. It was also raining fairly heavily at the time. Visited Russell Falls just for a late lunch and photo stop on the way back to New Norfolk.
4/5/08. Pine Lake. I noticed the little boardwalk off the Lake Highway enroute from New Norfolk to Deloraine. We dragged Mrs W along on this one as well, under the pretense that it was important for her to know what pencil pines look like (well, under protest...it was freezing, windy and cloud/mist limited visibility much of the time). Further along the road towards Deloraine I noticed a sign indicating the Projection Bluff track (2 hours return) and have added this to my to-do list.
5/5/08. Higgs Track to Lady Lake. It gets discussed so often in these forums that I just had go up there to satisfy my curiosity. It's a spectatcular place and the hut is quite a surprise. I'd like to do some other walks around that area in the future. While leafing through the hut logbooks over lunch I discovered an entry from October or November last by Admin Nik with a plug for tasmania.bushwalk.com... so I added a blatant plug myself
. After lunch I walked a circuit around Lady Lake and took some photos from the Ironstone Mtn side. On the drive out we also attempted to find the "big tree" stump (sic) without success. We did find a stump next to the road through the tree farm but somehow I don't think that's the one that the sign on Westrope Rd is referring to. We tried another side road but that seemed to go on forever. As an aside I think the reason some people have trouble identifying Westrope Rd may be that it's not signposted (at least I couldn't find one). However there is a prominent signboard at the intersection listing the main tracks off it; ie Higgs, Syds, Mother Cummings. Next time I think I would drive there via Chudleigh rather than the Meander road. We went back to Deloraine that way and I found it easier.6/5/08. Lobster Falls (the main set I think; we saw another one upstream). Interesting little walk off the main road between Deloraine and Chudleigh. Otherwise this was a bludge day doing touristy stuff.
7/5/08. Lees Paddocks track to Lees Hut/Side trip to Oxley Falls. Had planned to go to lakes Bill and Myrtle but it was pouring rain with cloud covering the plateau as we drove down the Mersey Forest Rd. So we walked to Lees Hut and back through the rain and mud instead
. When the clouds occasionally parted the views from the paddocks were quite spectacular. We had lunch on the hut verandah and tried to dry out our wet weather gear. The weather improved a little on the return trip. Oxley Falls were impressively powerful, due to the rain I suspect. OK, I know that Tasmania is a relatively small place. Still, I was surprised when eventually boarding Spirit of Tasmania II for the trip back to the mainland when the quarantine inspector announced "Hey, I saw you parked up at Lake Rowallan the other day". Turns out he was up there somewhere fishing with his son and had noticed us parked opposite the start of the Lees Paddocks track. Small world I guess. He also mentioned the logging that was going on at the time and we had also heard the machinery during the early part of our walk.9/5/08. Attempt on Black Bluff. Cloud and mist were whipping around the peak on and off as we looked at it when driving in, but elsewhere it was fine and sunny. We made it up to Paddys lake/tarn via the Brookes track in about 1 1/4 hrs (continuously steep, strenuous but not too difficult and the track is easy to follow). Arriving at the plateau where the lake sits just under the Black Bluff peak we were literally knocked to the ground by gale force wind gusts. The peak was barely visible much of the time through the cloud/mist/fog and the wind was whipping up a chop on the lake that had to be seen to be believed. Personally I've never seen such weather. My usual (relatively limited) experience of Tasmanian alpine tarns are that they're peaceful serene places...well mostly
. Anyway we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and took shelter in the lee of a rock formation partway around the lake. Although we were almost at our objective, commensense dictated that climbing up Black Bluff itself will have to wait for another trip. After lunch and some photos we attempted to visit Winterbrook Falls but the wind through the saddle was virtually blowing us backwards. We retreated, but just as we turned back we saw three walkers with full rucksacks some distance away, heading down. I don't know if they were also retreating (there was another vehicle in the carpark), or possibly doing the Penguin-Cradle trail in reverse.10/5/08. Attempts on Hounslow Heath, Mt Campbell and Cradle Valley boardwalk. One of the reasons for visiting the Cradle area was to see if any fagus was left (there was quite a bit scattered around). We had limited time available so probably should have gone for the easy boardwalk option straight up. Hounslow Heath proved hard going due to flooded, slippery conditions and being quite overgrown in the early part. It may have improved further in but we were taking too long, so decided we could quickly climb Mt Campbell instead. On arrival at the Hansons Peak saddle we found that the track to Mt Campbell is off limits, I suspect possibly due to past erosion problems (probably should have known as we'd walked past that spot at least half a dozen times before). Idea number three; walk back from Dove Lake to the visitors centre via the boardwalk. We got to Snake Hill after stopping at Kates House and patting a very friendly wombat (who studiously ignored us). It was getting late so we grabbed the next bus back to the visitors centre where I bought a copy of "A View to Cradle" by Nic Haygarth. Since completing the Overland track earlier this year as well as previous walks at Cradle Mtn I've developed an interest in the history of the area, so keen to read this when I get a chance.
11/5/08. Touristy bludge around Devonport for the day and did a few short walks around the headland and along the Don and Mersey rivers with Mrs W in tow. In the evening we reluctantly sailed from Devonport for Melbourne.
12/5/08 to 16/5/08 Headed home via the NSW east coast where we stopped over for a couple of nights at Eden and Ulladulla doing day walks to Mt Imlay and Pigeon House Mountain respectively.
Don't know when I'll return to Tasmania next but hopefully it won't be too long (I'm secretly plotting a trip after Christmas...a week or so through central plateau/WOJ area sounds nice...been reading too many of Dave Noble's trip reports
).Kind regards,
John W
.