Dead Island Circuit

Wednesday 25th February 2015

Dead Island

Dead Island Circuit is a walk I borrowed from Peter Franklin's site where he called it South Wellington Plateau. I basically followed Peter's route with a few minor deviations.
I parked in the large car park just up from Big Bend and walked up the road for about 500 metres to the corner and left the road here and walked past the old skating rink and walked in a SSE direction to reach the South Wellington track. This section consisted of boulder hopping and low heathy scrub and was generally okay. The day had started off a little cloudy up here but the clouds soon lifted and it became an almost perfect day.

Boulder Hopping

Thark Ridge

Low Scrub

Section of South Wellington

Once I reached the South Wellington track, I followed this and then branched off on to the Smith Monument track. I soon reached the monument, and even though I had been here a couple of times before, I still felt the need to take another photo.

Smiths Monument

From here it was a short walk through a little scrub to a large boulder field. I rock hopped uphill to the top of the ridge line where it became less rocky with some trees and scrub, but quite easy going. There were great views of the Derwent and Cathedral Rock and Montagu Thumbs etc. from the top of the boulder field.

Large Boulder Field

Cathedral Rock

The Derwent

Cathedral Rock and Montagu Thumbs

More Boulders

I then walked along the top of the ridge before descending to the lower flat land and Dead Island. I found the high point which was only marginally higher than the surrounding country, but it did manage to possess a small cairn.

Dead Island summit cairn

I then simply descended off the other side of Dead Island and made a bee line for the car. It was a little wet and the ground was uneven but it was not bad going and quite flat.
This was a great walk as long as you don't mind rock hopping. I don't mind at all as I prefer that to scrub bashing anyday.
Distance: 8.5 kms.
Time: 4'57"
Ascent: 270 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

South Wellington

Collins Bonnet

Descending to Dead Island

Mount Field East

Wednesday 18th February 2015

It is almost four years since I walked to Mount Field East, and that was in snowy and icy conditions, so the views were quite limited. See previous post here.
Today the forecast was for fine weather so we headed up to Mount Field and parked at Lake Fenton and walked the same route that I did previously. The views were really very good once the cloud lifted. It took 5'30" to do the circuit with a group.
An excellent walk in good weather.

Lake Fenton from Seagars Lookout

Seagars Lookout

Mount Mawson

Mount Field East

Rodway Range

Mount Field East summit

Rodway Range

Summit Shelter

Looking  East

Looking North East

Lake Nicholls

Willies Falls

Tuesday 10th February 2015

Willies Falls

Before the flow in all the creeks and rivers decreased, I thought I would get in a short walk to Willies Falls. I have had it on the to do list for quite a while and as the weather forecast was good, today was the day. I did not have much information on the falls so figured I would just access them from the Jefferys Track in the Crabtree area.
To reach the start, drive out from Grove on Crabtree Road and park at the intersection with Mitchells Road. If you own a good 4WD it is possible to drive up Mitchells Road and the Jefferys Track to reach the point where I left the road.

Looking towards Crabtree from Mitchells Road

Personally, I don't mind the walk up Jefferys Road so I set off and after about 1.8 kms. turned off onto an old overgrown track. I did start going the wrong way for a short distance but soon corrected my error and found what I thought was an old track. Whether it was or wasn't, I don't know, but the walking was quite easy through fairly open forest.

Big old tree in the forest

It was flat walking for a time before I started heading downhill towards the rivulet. It became very steep as I neared the rivulet and I stayed just above the water and walked upstream to the falls. They were really much better than I was expecting and had a reasonable flow.

Scree field on the western bank of the rivulet

I really liked this place. It seemed to have a special feeling about it. I then climbed up to the top of the falls where I crossed over onto a flattish rock section where I had a snack and a break.

Walking up to the top of falls

Top of falls

I started heading back but could hear what seemed like more falls a bit higher up, so of course I had to investigate. It turned out to be well worthwhile because the falls above Willies Falls are also very nice. I dare say it would be great for a swim in the pool here on a hot summers day.

Falls above Willies Falls

Swimming pool above Willies Falls

From here I climbed back up to the ridge and followed this back to the Jefferys Track and back to the car. The route I used coming back from the falls to the road was much more user friendly with only a gentle slope to climb.
This was a great little walk, much better than I had anticipated.
Please Note. I have done the walk this way to avoid private property. Please do not walk up the rivulet from Crabtree Road as it passes through two private properties. The route I used was quite easy.
Distance: 6.3 kms.
Time: 3'20"
Ascent: 465 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Willies Falls

Walking up to the top of falls

Western bank of Crabtree Rivulet

Crabtree Rivulet from bridge on Mitchells Road

Haymans Creek Falls and Fairy Falls

Wednesday 4th February 2015

Haymans Creek Falls

Haymans Creek Falls

My intention today was to walk to Haymans Creek Falls(That is what I have named them as they don't seem to have an official name.) and also Fairy Falls.
I drove the back way from Judbury over to Arve Road and then to Arve Spur 5 which is a couple of kms. on the Geeveston side of the Hartz turnoff. The first thing I noticed was an open forestry gate and fresh tyre tracks so I proceeded to drive up the road until I came across a couple of guys washing down an excavator. I had concerns about being locked in if they happened to leave so I asked them about the gate and they suggested I would be better off parking on the other side of it just in case as there was still logging going on up the road. I wholeheartedly agreed so I retraced back to the outside of the gate and parked. Of course this meant a longer walk but that didn't matter.
When I walked back to the guys I could hear machinery working further up the road which I wanted to use for the walk. Not wanting to upset anyone I opted for plan B. Mind you I did not have a plan B so figured I would take another track which happened to be Arve Spur 5/1. This appeared to be heading roughly in the right direction. When it ran out I crossed a logged coup and entered the forest.
I soon came across a small creek which was flowing quite well. This was Harveys Creek.

Harveys Creek

Harveys Creek

I carried on heading in the general direction of the falls. The going was not real easy with lots of large downed trees to negotiate and then I came across some thick scrub which thankfully did not last too long. After this I started heading down to the creek quite steeply and made the mistake of entering the creek about 250 metres downstream of the falls.

Interesting old tree

Rain forest type country

It was not easy ascending the creek and I had to use both banks at times to finally reach the base of the falls. The falls were quite spectacular with a strong flow. I stopped for a snack before heading up the side of the creek. As I climbed I could see that the falls extended much further uphill than I  had realised when looking from the bottom. I could not get any clear photos from here so did not bother.

Haymans Creek Falls

Haymans Creek Falls

Pool at base of falls - spot the Loch Ness Monster

Base of falls

It was really, really steep ascending out of the creek and I had to negotiate around vertical rock faces, but it soon flattened out somewhat. As I could not hear any machinery working I decided to head back the way I had originally planned to walk, guessing they were on lunch break. This worked out well as I finally reached the road. However, before this, I did come across a line of red and orange tapes which appeared to be indicating a track. I followed for a short distance, but when they appeared to be heading away from my plan, I abandoned that idea. The walk back to the car along the road was easy and all I spotted was a fully laden log truck. The two guys and their machinery were gone and the gate was still open. Better to be sure than sorry, I guess as there was definitely no way to drive around the gate if it was locked.
This was quite a good walk but the way I came back was much better with much less scrub.
Distance: 8.3 kms.
Time: 4'30"
Ascent: 320 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Fairy Falls

Fairy Falls

Once back in the car I drove along Arve Road towards Geeveston and turned into Arve Spur 4. I drove along this for a couple of kms. and found a parking spot. The walk went uphill then downhill to the falls along a forestry track. It was easy walking and I soon found a spot to descend to the base of the falls. The falls were quite pretty with a delicate curtain of water flowing down the face. It was very green and mossy here. I simply retraced back to the car.
This was an easy short walk and the falls are worth a visit but only if there is a decent flow. I suspect that the falls may be accessed from Fairy Falls Road but I don't know about private property that way.
Distance: 2.3 kms.
Time: 50"
Ascent: 170 metres
Click here to download GPX file.

Fairy Falls

Fairy Falls

Greenery around Fairy Falls

Looking down the creek at Fairy Falls

Fairy Falls