Mt Victoria to Ralph Falls on the NorthEast Highlands Trail. Tasmania. 14km round trip. December 2020

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Map locating Mt Victoria in the State of Tasmania created and sourced from Google Maps

Getting there:

Mt Victoria is located South of Ringarooma in the North East of Tasmania in the Mt Victoria Forest Park. 

From Launceston or Scottsdale; make your way towards Ringarooma on the C423 (car is absolutely necessary unless you partake in long distance cycle journeys, forget public transport) and truck on through town, Ringarooma Road becomes Mathinna Plains Road at the right hand turn after 1.5kilometres, keep rolling for 12.5 kilometres as the road gets windy and wiggly and look out for a left hand turn onto Mt Albert Road and the car park is opposite the start of the walk at around 4 kilometres.  

The road is dusty at times and carries crazy fast weaving logging trucks so hang onto your hat.

Tasmanian Waratah flower.

Mt Victoria is 1200 metres above sea level and if you manage to grovel your way up to the summit on a fine day you will catch some of the finest views in Tasmania.  

It can get a tad blowy up there too (very exposed) but I spied some good camp sites tucked away along the final few hundred metres of the main track. 

From the signage at the track start, head up the path through some boggy patches and go straight past the boulder and the handmade sign suggesting you turn left and make a run for Ralphs Falls.  You can do that afterwards.

There is a bit of rock hopping and getting scratched up by thrashings of scorparia and a short climb to the top.

Make your way back down to the sign and follow the rough route type trail on the right.

This is the North East Highlands Trail that kicks on for 80 kilometres from the Mt Victoria walking trail to Halls Falls in the West. The section from Mt Victoria to Ralph's Falls is 'Day1' on the official listing.

There is a bit of a tale concerning the creation of the trail and it's current virtually unknown status and I reckon to actually refer to it as a 'trail' would be misleading.  Try 'at times faint taped route', and a very worthwhile one at that.

This thread on Bushwalk.com provides the backstory via scanned in track notes and a basic map from a 2009 edition of Wild magazine.. 

Map sourced from Bushwalk.com and Wild magazine.

 

Around 4 and a bit kilometres of winding through myrtle forest will land you in the open car park and picnic area of Ralph's Falls.  

There is a shelter, rain water tank and a short trail to the Falls overlook.

Gear:

I took a hiking pole, Topo shoes, a bright purple merino top and quite a few photos. Easy walking, loads of shade from the sun after leaving the Mt Victoria summit trail.  

I returned the same way back to my vehicle.  

Bill Shepherd Memorial Circuit. Wilmot River, Alma, Tasmania. 11km round trip.

Lucy's Track.  Dooley's Track.  They join up as a sweet little loop trail that deserve a heck of a lot of love and hopefully not too many visitors. 

Well marked and maintained thanks to local volunteers, this watercourse ramble winds around a steep sided section of the picturesque Wilmot River in Central Tasmania.

Getting there:

Travelling from Launceston, takes around 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Head West on the Bass Highway and choose a turn off to Sheffield.  Roll through the pretty town centre and chug on through on the B14 for 13km, then left onto Lower Barrington Road ( C144) for a kilometre until the C144 hangs a left and becomes Lake Paloona Road and spins around for 6.5km until a left onto Wilmot Road (C132) for 3.5km and your looking for a parking spot on the twisty hill after the bridge.  

Or plug in the following numbers 4RC8P6FC+GW into Google maps. That'll do it.

There's a yellow metal sign nailed to a tree to indicate the parking area.

Cross the road, hop the wire fence guard, go left and look for the car tyre staircase heading down to the river.

Track grading:

Thanks to the recently departed Bill Shepherd and his trail building comrades, Lucy's Track and this section of the Dooley's Track are distinctly marked, thoughtfully built, super well maintained and quite obviously very much loved.  

There is a sense of local ownership reflected in the absence of garbage and proliferation of hand made signage and I was fortunate to be following a few hours behind a regular trail maintaining stalwart 'Max' who had cleared the Lucy's Track section of the trail up to the East Ellis crossing the very day I hiked the circuit.

It was a cheerful sunny Summer's day; I wore shorts, t shirt and Earth Runner sandals.  

I had poles with me and they were useful on the steepish bits that deviated away from the waters edge. 

You are in the forest canopy for the most part but I'd take a hat.

Map sourced from the Kentish Walks Private Facebook group under Files
 

I first became aware of the various trails adjacent to the Wilmot River via bountiful posts from Bill Shepherd on Bushwalk.com in the Tasmania section (this website is a gold mine to unearth information about walking in Australia).  After hearing of his passing late last year I decided to get off my arse and finally chase one of his trails. Pleased I did so, I was stoked!  

Trout in the river, lovely tall white gums, dogwood shrubs trailside.  Loads of chill out spots and a sense of wildness.  Bang on.

To be honest anything I write here that isn't hyperbolic nature inspired prose is drawn directly from the late Bill Shepherd's still active Wilmot River Walks website and the very useful 'Kentish Walks' Facebook group page that includes the informative 2 page PDF download of the circuit including map and clockwise walking directions.  Which is all you need, really.

So go walk it.  

I like these poetic words sprinkled along the trail.

Leeaberra Track, Douglas-Apsley National Park 28km

Tall trees, (mostly) dry terrain, coastal views, clean clear waters and best of all; no crowds. 

Sounds great right?

Douglas- Apsley National Park has all these desirable traits and you can sample them along the sometimes visited Leeabeera Track, over on the East Coast of Tasmania.

While the insta-facepage-addicted-hoards descend cheek by jowl on the flogged out yet very pretty Freycinet National Park, this wilder and more rugged chunk of rock and woods sees comparatively fewer hikers meaning more chance of solitude and less sightings of twenty somethings lining up to pose for 'must have' selfies at Wineglass Bay.

Posing for a 'must have' selfie at Thompson's Marshes 😜

I couldn't drum up any information on the meaning of 'Leeaberra' which is a shame.

Map sourced from www.ontheworldmap.com

How to access the Northern Terminus:

• The 'E' road or East Road, is 22.3km North of Bicheno, just past Seymour.  It is an unsigned gravel track with 2 black posts at the Highway end that look like they previously held a Parks sign or something.  I toddled down the path in my 2WD van for less than a kilometre and parked it on the right hand side before the creek ditch. 

• If you have a high clearance AWD or 4WD then skipping through the washout and the next one will save you 5 or 6 kilometres slogging it up the top of the wiggly track.

• I quite liked the road walk up to the start, however a few other blogs and trip reports rag on this hike due to the access and logistics that require a car shuttle or pickup/ drop off from either end.

• For what it's worth, I just turned the whole thing into a loop and walked from the Southern end point at Apsley Waterhole back up the Tasman Highway to my vehicle on day 3, notching up another 25 or 30 odd kilometres or whatever it was. 

Map sourced from www.aurorabeachcottages.com.au

• Parks Tasmania has a page dedicated to the trail here

• Parks Tasmania asks all walkers to hike North to South in order to prevent the further spread of Phytophthora, a root rot disease.  In addition; you can keep your kit clean.

• Follow the orange markers.  There are a few groovy side trips along this path leading to waterfalls and lookouts.  I have visited them all in the past and just craved a linear A to B journey this time.

• I walked the Leeaberra Track mid July 2020.

I used this crusty old map I have had for at least a dozen years.  It is easily procured from outdoor equipment retailers and online.

Day 1:  "E" Road entrance near the Tasman Highway to Heritage Falls Campsite.

              5.5km road walk plus 5.5km Northern Terminus to campsite.

Originally I was planning on a 2 day/ 1 night plod around the Rainforest Circuit and back out the same way to my car.  After arriving at the Heritage Falls campsite (no falls, they are another 40 minutes further down a side track), I was getting the happy brain juices flowing so I decided to bash on through the next day and finish up at Apsley. 

I encountered no leeches, no other people, mild weather and blue skies slap bang in the middle of a Tasmanian Winter.  This is why the East Coast is my go to region for non snow-bound hikes when the rest of the island is locked up in a wet and cold fug.

The dry eucalypt forests and dolerite boulders scattered about remind me strongly of walking in New South Wales or Western Victoria.  The track is easy to follow and there was absolutely none of the  disgusting toilet paper and human faeces commonly encountered steaming on the trail elsewhere on more popular hikes.  Just myself, the wallabies and the abundant birdlife.  Blissful.

Day 2:  Heritage Falls Campsite to Apsley Gorge Campsite.

             22.5km.

The trail undulates and rolls through a variety of terrain including pockets of wetter rainforest, views of the nearby coastline and ocean and a very steep drop down to the Douglas River for lunch.  

I crossed over and spread my quilt out to dry as the night before had brought with it a fair bit of condensation in the forested camp.

It is a lovely spot and I found I was reluctant to leave the sunshine and calm, hypnotic gurgle of the river.  Anyway, the track leads straight up, up, up and then along an old foresty track that has been reclaimed by the bush.  I didn't get my feet wet zip zagging through the Denison Marshes due to some very recent track maintenance work.  Thank you to whoever put in the effort.

One of many cheeky campsite possums keen to check out what I'm scoffing down for dinner.

There's a final climb before heading down to the Apsley River, then grazing farmland can be sighted.  I crossed the river before last light, collected water and trundled up the crushed rock path to the walk in campsite and cooked up dinner and threw up the tent.

Day 3: Apsley River Campsite to 'E' Road.  30km (??) along the Tasman Highway.

Road walking.  I really don't hate it like many other hikers do.

I woke super early and chugged a coffee and packed up quick.  A near full moon illuminated Rosedale Road and the odd farm dog bark, bark barked at me as I marched under clear skies to the A3 Highway.  Turning North I encountered little traffic until the bridge over the Douglas River then it was constant dual cab utes and busy people in a hurry blowing past until meeting the E Road again.  

Wasn't too bad though and a deviation to mooch up Denison Beach for an hour and watch the sunrise capped off a pleasurable couple of days.  I was at the van by 11 and in St Helen's for lunch soon after.

Douglas Apsley is a surprisingly wild National Park near the East Coast population centres with plenty of scope for side missions along the rough forestry roads and accessible peaks and gorges.

Years ago I lived in Bicheno (a nearby town) and walked the Leeaberra Track as a day-long hike a few times.  

You'll need to utilise a friend with a vehicle for pick up and drop off or plant an old bicycle at the Southern Terminus to pull this off.

Ben Nevis, Tasmania. 5.5km return.

A short, quick blast up a mountain!

I hiked this track 21 February, 2019.

Ben Nevis at 1370 metres is the smaller sister to Ben Lomond over yonder at 1570 metres high, but still commands stupendous views and a genuine feeling of solitude and wildness even though the plateau is less than a 90 minute drive from Launceston.

Getting to Ben Nevis Trailhead:

Exit Launceston towards Ben Lomond National Park via St Leonards on Blessington Road.
This is about 50 kilometres of driving.

Go right past the Ben Lomond road turnoff on the right for 3.6 kilometres until you reach the Upper Blessington Road junction on the left, the surface turns to gravel soon after.
Chug along that for 14 kilometres and then you get to a four way junction, turn left onto Telopea Road.
Signage is good here.

Approximately another 3.7 kilometres away, Schulhof Road is on the left marked by pink flagging tape and a homemade sign indicates your destination (thank you to whoever is kind enough to go to the trouble of erecting these things).

Turn up here or park on Telopea Road and walk about one kilometre.

I found the road surface fine for my VW Caddy van but I parked a few hundred metres short of the trackhead due to some boggy terrain and I was probably over cautious.

Absolutely no public transport options and hitching could be a sufferfest.

Map sourced from page.43 of  '50 Family Walks Around Launceston & Northeast Tasmania'.

Map & Resources:

There isn't much on the interwebs of late about this short walk so I decided to post this up.

I utilised '50 Family Walks Around Launceston & Northeast Tasmania' by Jan Hardy and Bert Elson, 2008.
The info was mostly accurate given it's age and it's a well written guidebook, except I measured the stretch of road  between the turnoff from Blessington Road and Upper Blessington Road as 14 kilometres instead of the suggested 12 kilometres.

So if you are rolling along at the 12 kilometre mark wondering where Telopea Road is just keep on for a few clicks.

Time to cease driving and get walking; Schulhof Road is on the right, the trackhead on the left. 

Safari Track Rating:

Easy stuff.  Starts off steep and rocky, then steep and rocky and head height brushy, finally flattens out, rocky and meandering on open ground before the trig and summit .  Lots of rock cairns and flagging tape show the way, the trail got a tad braided and indecisive at times but it would be difficult to get lost.
I hope...

I left my 2 old dogs out of this excursion but they could have easily made it up, no worry.

My Garmin Instinct measured the walk as 2.75 kilometres one way from the trackhead up from where I parked the car to the trig. 

I took one hour and 15 minutes to reach the summit.  Much quicker on the descent and I found route finding far easier too.

I usually cruise around in shorts and sandals during the Summer when in the hills but for this hike I pulled on pants and runners.  The scorparia is friendly and loads of shin busting bushes line the path.

Final approach to the trig in the background.

Mt Barrows.