4th March to 12 March 2010

Thursday 4th March 10

Rest day after a very full day yesterday but we did take a walk into town to buy a few items.

Friday 5th March 10

We drove to Leven Canyon via another route towards Wilmot which we passed on Tuesday which incidentally also claims the original ‘Coles’ store but turned off before we got there this time and as always, up and over another mountain. On arrival at the Canyon car park we had our picnic lunch and took in the pleasant fern tree surroundings similar to a rain forest.

We proceeded with the 20 minute to the lookout (with Foxy) which was an energetic uphill pathway that emerged onto the edge of the canyon with spectacular views.

We took the alternate route back to the car park which involved 697 well-made steps, with a thick rope banister, down towards the bottom of the canyon. It wasn’t actually on the side of the canyon but a more practical route that ended at a bridge across a creek that flows into the canyon. Obviously, if you are idiot enough to go down them you have an extremely energetic uphill walk on a compacted sand stone path to get back out, supposedly a 15 minute walk if you are a marathon runner.

However, our more gentle approach allowed us to enjoy the fern tree lined walk, and ensured that we did get to the top. We met people later who were even more idiotic and did the loop the other way and had to climb the 607 steps. Fortunately there are at least 4 seats for resting on during trip.

After our recovery period in the car park we started out for home with a detour to Gunns Plains to check out Preston Falls. This was not one of the largest falls we have ever seen but probably changes dramatically in the late winter after some significant rain, or when the snow melts. It did however involve another 56 steps. The road to the falls is a very narrow twisty one with nowhere to safely turn round, so we let it take us to where ever it wanted to go until we picked up a signpost to Ulverstone, and headed there to join the Bass Highway back to Latrobe.

Saturday 5th March 10

Resting in the morning then shopped in the early afternoon. The rest of the day was used taking the annex down and packing everything away ready to move on tomorrow.

Sunday 5th March 10

We headed for Somerset which is just west of Burnie along the Bass Highway and then turned left onto the A10 for Rosebery. We chose this route as we expected it to have the wider, better roads, which was true for the Bass Highway and the first fifteen kilometre of the A10 and then it gradually decrease to the just acceptable when towing a caravan. This was fine until you have get over a mountain range, which you have to do if you move around in Tassie. Simply moving from one of the main towns to another involves negotiating a mountain range. This particular road at least had guardrails around the sharper corners in the areas where there are no trees to catch you if you get it wrong. Not so bad on the way up as you slow down real quick if necessary when you are pulling close to 2.5 tonnes, but not so funny holding it back on the way down. However, we arrived in Rosebery at about 2.30pm and after setting up the camp we walked across the bridge spanning the river along side the river for about 50 metres to Stitt Falls which is just down river from the caravan park.

Unfortunately the lookout is situated more to the side of the falls rather than in front of the falls so you don’t get to see the main drop, only the water going over the edge, but looking down river it appears to be quite a substantial drop but in fact is not as deep as first thought, although you still wouldn't want to fall.

The general scenery is rather spoilt by a steel railway bridge high above the falls going to the local mine site. We haven’t discovered what they are mining yet but have been warned that when the train crosses the bridge it gets somewhat noisy. We then walked around the park and sportsground and across a footbridge into a residential area, or at least Barry and Foxy did, whereas Merry turned off along a small track beside the river without any communication, but we did meet up about ten minutes later, and returned to the caravan.

We then socialised with the other happy campers before dinner.

Interestingly, but logical, our barometer showed worse than stormy when we stopped for our lunch break and then it dawned on us that we were considerably higher than sea level in the mountains, thus reducing the atmospheric pressure to well below 950 hectopascals which would normally denote something worse than cyclonic. Now that we are in Rosebery and at a lower altitude it is now showing 1000 hectopascals and ‘rain’ which is much closer to the truth.

Monday 6th March 10

The weather has turned fairly wet but eased enough for us to check out the town which was mostly shut down for the Labour Day public holiday, but we did learn that they are mining lead, zinc, silver and gold. The town has a corner square with old style mining equipment on display plus a plaque explaining the discovery of the ore body. One shop wall on the side of the square also has a mural depicting the various stages of the mine and the modernisation of the equipment. The local high school grounds also has some old mining equipment on display Merry took the opportunity to do the 20 minute walk, from Rosebery Park on the other side of town, alongside the river to the sportsground, whilst Barry and Foxy drove back round to pick her up and return to the caravan.

Tuesday 7th March 10

It is still very wet so other than a trip into town to the Post Office, stayed in the dry and watched recorded TV programs to free up some of the hard drive space. During the non-rain spells we gradually packed up the camp ready to move on in the morning.

Wednesday 8th March 10

We had noticed a significant rise in noise from the nearby waterfall and notice the river level had risen by up to 3 times the level due the rain since Sunday, so we checked out the waterfall that had been a bit disappointed to see how it compared now, and the difference was quite extreme.

The first video clip is when we arrived on Sunday and second clip is defore we left on Wednesday.

We left the caravan park as late as possible to allow us to call in to the Post Office again for a last attempt to collect mail that we knew was on its way from WA, with success this time. We then headed off to Strahan which, of cause, means continuing through the mountain range that we were still on. With the roads now being wet we were more cautious, especially on the twisty down hill bits. We were held up for about twenty minutes at one point whilst a recovery vehicle pulled a mangled work ute out of the bush, presumably from a previous days escapades. We didn’t stop in the mining town of Zeehan as we will be making a proper visit there, but pushed on to Strahan and set up our camp. This was not without a struggle as the design of the Park could not have made it more difficult to get the van onto the allocated bay. It took best part of an hour to juggle it into the bay in a satisfactory position that would allow us to put the annex up, which we did after our late lunch.

Thursday 10th March 10

We used the morning taking it easy whilst doing a heap of washing but after lunch drove into the very small township which consists mainly of boat cruise boarding areas, seaplane boarding, el fresco cafes, pub and a visitor centre. We drove on up a hill which also rounded a bend to the garage and supermarket and grabbed a few groceries.

We then went across the road to ‘Whittle Wonders’ were an aging guy has a display of whittled driftwood collected from the beach that is turned into an array of imaginative ornaments, such as birds, dogs, lizards, people, etc, plus a mountain of elaborate walking sticks.

We met a couple that had also been in Latrobe whilst we were there as a result of them recognising the fence we use around the front of the annex to give Foxy a bit of freedom without being tied up, and arranged with them to go on a 4WD trip the next day.

Friday 11th March 10

We set out on our trip with Brian and Alice which meant backtracking to about 16 kilometres from Rosebery to take the 4WD track to Montezuma Falls. According to the information given to us it is a medium rated track which takes you to about 100 metres from the base of the Falls. At the beginning of the track it claimed to be a 1 hour trip for the 14k journey meaning an average speed of 14 kph which doesn’t imply medium to me, but we pushed on in for a kilometre and it became too dangerous to proceed especially as the other couple were not experienced and we can do without stupidity. We retreated and drove the 14k almost into Rosebery and took the road out to Richardville (didn’t actually see anything that required a place name) and had our picnic lunch in the car park. We then set off on a 4.7 kilometre walk each way to the Falls, which incidentally is claimed by one piece of literature to be the highest in Tasmania at 104 metres.

This is one of the few places that allows dogs, so Foxy was in for a hike with us which she always enjoys. The track follows what used to be a tramway many moons ago when mining was happening with pick and shovels, so was not too hilly and passed through rainforest for much of the way keeping us cool on an otherwise warm day.

Eventual arrival at the Falls proved to have taken just over 1.5 hours which is what the information literature claims with the last twenty metres being on a boardwalk from the point where a swing bridge crosses the river, presumably where successful 4WD trips are able to cross and enjoy the sight.

Having had a few days of reasonable rain before this trip probably made a big difference to what we where greeted with, like the difference at Stitt Falls, although the tourist literature pictures where obviously taken when even more water was available, probably during the winter, but we will not be going again with or without more water.

Remarkably, the journey back seemed longer and involved the use of the seats at the third and two third stages.

Having the company of Brian and Alice helped lightened the journey with totally different conversation from what we would have produced had we been on our own. The final 100 metres to the car park was a short, sharp uphill stint that looked like it was going to finally beat Foxy and became the only part where she was carried, other than on the boardwalk. Considering her legs are only 15 centimetres long (approx 6 inches), 9.4 kilometres is a long walk. We left her in the car whilst we sat at a table in the park adjacent to car park and she never murmured, whereas she would normally have cried and carry on if we left her but stayed in sight.
We arrived back in Strahan at about 6.40pm and knowing that the chef was just as pooped as Foxy, we went into town and picked up some fish and chips to take back to the camp to end a strenuous but very enjoyable day out.