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.

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.

Rocky Cape National Park, circuit walk. 16km. North West Tasmania.

Rocky Cape National Park is a smallish chunk of land, around 30 sq km, situated on the lonely North West coast of Tasmania.  A meandering thread of trails criss cross this protected parkland, racing over round hillocks and winding along white sand beaches and tough quartzite rock strewn coves.

I didn't find the inland landscape especially stunning but then maybe I am a tad spoilt and jaded at times living on an island with many fantastic areas to hike and be astounded by.
Rocky Cape is quite lovely though and worth a look.  I recommend doing the 16 km circuit walk  starting with the inland trails first and hitting the coast, the 'evenement principal', at the end.

I hiked the track on Friday 24 August, 2018 and took around 4.5 hours to plod my way around.

Map sourced from www.parks.com.au

Map sourced from www.sistersbeach.org.au 

Getting to Rocky Cape NP: 

I drove, taking around 2.5 hours from Launceston with a get-out-and-stretch-stop on the way. 
Jump on the highway from wherever you are, head to Burnie, muggle your way through the traffic lights and cruise the final 51km from Cooee via Wynyard on the Bass Highway and hang a right at the Rocky Cape Roadhouse.  Buzz up the gravel road for 5 km and the parking area and sign posted walks are waiting for you.

As far as I can tell from doing a brief online search there is no public transport out to this part of the island so car hire or hitching are your options if travelling around Tasmania sans vehicle.  Or cycling.  But ensure you are cool riding on skinny roads with little shoulder and don't mind huge logging trucks flying up behind you. 😃

If you have a vehicle you will need a Tasmania National Parks pass.  It's a bit pricey, check it out here.
Even though it's a National Park, there is no camping, either backpacking or car based allowed.

Maps:

I used the ever reliable John & Monica Chapman's 'Day Walks Tasmania' 2003 and the Parks Tas website.  www.parks.tas.gov.au

Safari track rating:  Easy. Narrow sandy well marked singletrack rolling over low hills (inland) and along rugged sharp tilted rock (coastal).  Some nice views and changing vegetation breaks up the hiking, can be a bit boggy and sodden after rain. 

The trail pokes inland and heads up straight away, revealing views of Black River Beach and The Nut (a flat rectangular rock outcrop) at Stanley.  I passed a super smiley family of 4 on their way down and then I was on my own as per usual for the remainder of the day.  Flora is mostly low growing heath and tea tree.  Some banksias and gums can be found in the valley's and more protected spots.  Of course the prolific wattles and she oaks are sprinkled around the park too.  The usual suspects on the North Coast of Tassie.

After passing over a couple of significant way points; Postman's Pass, the turn off to Tinkers Lookout and the high point of the Sister's Hills to the 8.5 km mark, the track swung North wards and the vast expanse of the deep blue of  Bass Strait occupied my vision.  I dropped down to sweet Anniversary Beach, with squeaky powder white sands.

Heading North West along the coast for 2 kilometres, I rock hopped over and around the near vertical tilted up quartzite rock platform with the odd stream crossing and speck of sandy beach.  Plenty of sea birds flew around and various marsupial tracks were spotted on the sands.  

I had left it late in the day to start this wandering around so as the sun went down I got a wriggle on and jumped on the track heading inland back to the car park and enjoyed the last of the sun's rays on this beautiful wind free Winter's day.

Another family, almost a carbon copy of the first one from over 4 hours ago was heading up the start of the trail as the light faded, Dad in the lead clutching a fist full of beers.  They cheerfully yelled at me how spectacular they thought the sunset was and that they were having a picnic dinner with a view.
Cool family!

I skidaddled off to Black River Campground up the road and chucked up my tent and got a wee fire going with the kookaburra's cackling away and waves crashing in the distance.
The coastline of the North West is seriously lush.
Go see it. 😉

Meander Falls, Tasmania.

The Meander Falls Track is around 10 kilometres/ 6 miles in length, an out & back walking path showcasing the very start of the Meander River on the fringes of the Central Plateau Conservation Area of Northern Tasmania.

The trailhead is accessed by travelling to the Meander locality outside Deloraine, then following Huntsman Road for a bit and onto Meander Falls Road right to the end where there is a car park and signposting.
The road is gravel and dirt for last 5 or 6 kilometres and rolls over a few newish bridges. 
It was a tad sticky in the rain but I made it through fine in a 2WD SUV.

There is no public transport to this area; private car or hitching are the only options I can think of.

The Meander Falls track is the most well defined path in this valley, among others.  I can also recommend the nearby Split Rock Falls trail which I have explored many times.  The 2 trails can be linked up to create a fun loop.
If you feel heroic the opportunities and routes are numerous to keep poking up onto the plateau and wander around after reaching the falls lookout.

I took around 4 hours all up, out & back.

Safari Track Rating:  Easy. With some uphill bits.  Well graded path, red triangular markers sprinkled everywhere.  Falls best seen after a heavy rain but that churns up the trail too so prepare to get moist.

I looked at the notes in John & Monica Chapman's 'Day Walks Tasmania'. 2003.

Map sourced from Parks & Wildlife Tasmania.

You can check out the notes on the Parks page here

Just a short hike, but a worthy one this month.

My dogs were at work one day last week (I'm not kidding, they have a part time job of sorts) so I thought it apt to go chase a walk I hadn't done in a region that is designated 'no pets'.

There was a bit of construction work being carried out at the car parking area but as it was a weekday no one else was about and I had the trail to myself.

The roar of the river is continually heard on your right as you wander through Myrtle trees and juvenile King Billy pines, gradually gaining ground after passing the Dixon's Track and Wood-Maynard Loop tracks on the left.

There had been a fair bit of rain lately so the river was pumping and the air was clean and crisp.

The turnoff to the link path up Bastion Bluff and the Split Rock Falls track was passed on the right, a nice campsite just before the viewing point and wa-lah, Meander Falls was chucking a heap of water over the snow glazed cliffs.