Tassie 2023 - Mt Field (Still our favourite.)

 7th-9th February Branxholm

We are in a lovely little caravan park at Branxholm which is free and even has a free washing machine and swimming pool.  It is a little bit noisy with logging trucks during the day but at night it's not too bad.  Although there is a very annoying rooster up the road.  We did the short river walk in town and then settled in for the night. The main industries in the town are the Sawmill and Hop gardens.

Branxholm Campsite

Ringarooma River.

Hop Gardens

The next day we drove to Tulendeena (formerly a station) which is the entrance to the North East Rail Trail it's a 26.2 km section to Scottsdale.  It was a magnificent ride through the beautiful Tasmanian forest, fern gullies, and fern avenues through the granite cuttings.  Heaps of wildlife hopping around as we cycled along.  Wallabies, Bettongs, and even an Echidna. We met another couple en route who were from Darwin and had a nice chat with them at Trewalla Station.  We then met them again on the return journey.  We managed to do a total of 35 kms.

North East Rail Trail.

Lunch Stop

A few people recommended we do the Branxholm to Derby mountain bike trail which is graded as easy so on Thursday we took off up the road and did the mountain bike trail it was great fun.  Although Linda did crash into a rock on a tight hairpin bend.  She recovered and off we went. We had lunch in Derby before heading back to Branxholm.  On the way back an old fella was doing mountain biking how it should be done (fast) and Linda nearly managed to topple him off his bike.  But we had a good laugh and then off he went.  Little did we know he was staying in Branxholm at the same camping ground, he recognised us and we had a good chat.

Mountain Bike Trail.

Valley Ponds.

In the afternoon we drove back to Derby to see the Derby Tunnel which was constructed in 1889 by a
tin miner whose lease was underneath another lease so he tunneled under to move tailings. The tunnel is part of one of the many mountain bike trails and is lit up inside with dim lights which are blue in some sections.

On our way back to camp in Branxholm we stopped off at the remains of the Paris Dam wall which was built in 1936 to supply water to the tin mines. It's now just a remnant in time for tourists to visit.  Legend has it that the original holes to drain the Dam were blocked with logs by the local fishermen and they had to be dramatically increased in size.

Paris Dam Wall.

Then it was off to the Branxholm pub for a drink and a bite to eat. We had a good laugh when we got chatting with a little old lady at the bar who turned out to be one of their local characters.  She did love her drink and colourful language, she had driven to the pub in Branxholm with her dog and her shopping had far too many beers so couldn't drive back to her home in Ringarooma which is about 10km away.  One of her stories about a local who was amorous with a goat was particularly hilarious.

10th-11th February Chudleigh the Village of Roses.

Next stop Chudleigh.

On the way, we run into traffic congestion at Carrick.  We thought there was a major accident on Bass Highway and managed to turn around and ended up in Westbury.  It turned out there was a music festival just out of Carrick and we had been stuck in the queue to get into the festival.  

Westbury Cricket Ground.

We arrived in Chudleigh and camped at the showgrounds it's a beautiful spot with views of the Gog Range regional reserve and Alum Cliffs to the North and the Central Plateau to the South. The view is spectacular, especially at sunset.

In the Evening.

In the Morning.

Chudleigh Camp.

Main Drag.

On Saturday we woke up to a foggy morning which cleared to a beautiful sunny and warm day.  After a late fried breakfast and a walk around the village, we drove out to the Honeycomb caves in the Mole Creek Karst National Park and did a walk-through of the cave with a little creek running through it. The caves are open to exploring on your own.  Then it was off to Mole Creek and a drink at the brewery.  

Honeycomb Caves.

12th-13th February Oatlands

We arrived in Oatlands and it was very windy and cold.  After setting up camp we had a peek at the new Whiskey Distillery before heading in for a walk around the township.  Dropping in the Kentish Hotel/Cafe for a drink.

A very Tasmanian thing having the Cemetary in the Churchyard.

The next day the weather had improved still a little windy but it was a good day for cycling. We cycled along the rail trail around Lake Dulverton to Parattah. We had a poke around Parattah before heading back to Oatlands. After tea, we stopped at the RSL and ran into Chris, one of the old-timers we met last year.  We had a good old chat with him, his daughter, and her partner who live in Spain and are visiting family in Australia. 

Lake Dulverton rock cave.

Parattah Station

14th-17th February Mt Field NP.

Travelled to Mt Field NP on the 14th but couldn't get our favourite spot as they've turned it into a tent campsite.  We are a couple of doors down still on the river.  After setting up we went for a walk along the old railway line looking for ripe blackberries and collecting art supplies for Ken.

Spotted along the train line.

On Wednesday we headed off early and did the 6km walking loop which takes in Lady Barron Falls, the Tall Trees, Horseshoe Falls, and Russell Falls. Even though we have walked it before it's still a really beautiful walk through the tree fern gullies. We then hopped in the car and took a drive up to Maydena and out to Junee Cave. On the way back to Mt Field we stopped off on the side of the road and found heaps of ripe Blackberries.

                       

239 Steps

    

 

Lady Barron Falls

Russell Falls.

We woke up on Thursday to a cloudy day, The platypus was out and about swimming around very close to our camp so we spent some time watching it.  It was forecast to be around 26 degrees so we decided to go up to Lake Dobson and do the Alpine Walk to the Ski fields and walk around Lake Dobson.  As soon as we arrived it started to rain, we decided to go anyway and made it as far as the Ski Village, we started the walk up the hill and down came the rain along with strong gusts of wind so we turned around and headed back.  While we were up there we kept seeing a helicopter flying in and out near Lake Dobson as we got closer to where it was hovering we could see it was collecting bags of building materials that they are using to work on the hiking tracks.

     

After getting back to camp there were a couple of ladies hanging around the back of our camp and they were watching and photographing an Echidna who had wandered up the bank.

Mt Field Campsite.

Friday dawned to a blanket of fog over the valley, the fog soon burnt off to reveal a beautiful sunny morning.  As we hoped it was going to be warm we drove out to the Gordon Dam and walked across the dam wall.  

The drive to the Dam has some magnificent views of a number of rocky mountain ranges.

While we were having lunch a group of motorcyclists drove in on tiny Motorbikes called Groms, they were spending a week tearing around the twisty roads.   On the way back to camp did the Twisted Sister walk just outside of Maydena, we weren't too sure what the Twisted Sister meant until we got there to see a giant ash tree. It's a huge tree which must be 100s of years old with a very twisty trunk.

Twisted Sister.