We decided to head over to the (as yet unexplored for us) West Coast and Tarkine. Although distances between places in Tassie don't seem too great, driving anywhere takes ages and Saturday was no exception. Happily, though, driving is half the fun. We started off in rolling farmland, then winding roads through dense forest, then low alpine scrub with views of the distant mountains.
Our one target for the outgoing leg of the trip was Philosopher's Falls, located just west of Waratah. We reached these via a short walk (about 1.7km each way) through the rainforest, pausing often to photograph the colourful fungi.
The track then followed along the old water race (as well as over it and occasionally in it)(bit muddy) before descending a steep metal staircase to a viewing platform next to the falls.
The track on the embankment next to the water-race
Walking on the water-race itself
Philosopher's Falls
The climb back out
So much trouble for such a little mushroom (many, many shots from different angles, different exposures, different focal lengths...)
From there we continued our drive to Corinna where we would stay for the night. We were hoping to catch the sunset from a peak nearby, so we raced to check in as the sun rapidly descended towards the horizon. We couldn't find the walk we wanted to do (Longback) but ended up driving "just a bit further" and "a little bit further" north along the beginning of the Western Explorer Road and managed to find the perfect sunset-viewing parking spot (which we enjoyed along with the complimentary cheese and crackers from Corinna).
Corinna itself is an old gold-mining town. The surviving buildings (like the old pub) have been turned into accomodation (along with some new cottages), making it the "Corinna Wilderness Experience". We stayed in a miner's cottage (new made to look old), and enjoyed a peaceful evening in front of the gas fire (once Ryan recovered from the devastating news that there was no phone reception or internet).
Our cottage
The pub by night
The following day we woke to overcast skies. We just managed the short Huon Pine boardwalk along the riverbank before the rain started. So we ousted the barge-man from the warm, dry pub and got him to ferry us across the river in the rain (it struck me as slightly humourous that the ferry across the Pieman River is called the Fatman Barge...)
Perfect reflections on the river
Huon Pine walk
Our target for this leg of the trip was Montezuma Falls, northeast of Zeehan. More driving. We took a short detour out to the coast at Granville Harbour, where the day all of a sudden (temporarily) turned sunny.
This shot looks like it belongs to an entirely different day
The paper map I was following (I know, an actual paper map) showed a 4WD track to the falls and we found the turn-off easily enough. This was signposted with warnings that the 14km track was impassable after heavy rain. It was, by this time, raining steadily again (technically not "heavy" rain...), so we decided to give it a crack. We made it about 2km before things started turning alarmingly muddy, so rather than get stuck in the middle of nowhere we elected to turn around (no mean feat for a track that was exactly one car-width wide with dense bush on either side).
Taken on the way back after turning around (ie it got much worse than this...)
The more conventional access to the falls was via a much more benign, mostly tarred, 2WD-friendly road. From its end we kitted up in our rain-gear, and walked along the old tramway to the falls (about 5.5km each way). Apart from the fact that the track was a consistent width and followed a gentle grade through several cuttings, there were other clues as to its origin in the form of old sleepers and an old moss-covered and partly collapsed bridge. The falls themselves were roaring, and we were misted with spray (as well as rain) as we enjoyed the view from the precarious suspension bridge that spanned the canyon below.
Preceded by a sign saying "if you look carefully, you might be able to spot some of the old sleepers..."
Montezuma Falls (and a wet camera)
Look Mum, no hands
Never walk past some good fungus
Old decaying bridge
Messing around in the creek below the bridge
Then all that was left of the weekend was the three-hour drive to get home again...
No comments:
Post a Comment