December 2023 - Chauncy Vale

Our November walk got bumped because of nasty weather. Lyn organised this visit to historic Chauncy Vale, just off the highway at Bagdad. Most of us have driven past the signs pointing to Chauncy Vale for years and many have wondered what this reserve and the walks here were like. We'd heard of "They Found a Cave" (children's book and movie) and that Nan Chauncy was quite a significant figure in both children's literature and conservation activism. But we'd not actually been here before. Our group today was Lyn, Prem, Di, Angie, Fin, Caroline, Bob and Wayne. Angie and Di had done some homework by reading Nan Chauncy's biography, and can recommend it as a nice easy read:

We gathered at the information shelter and read some of the well-presented displays. Lyn had phoned ahead and arranged for us to get access to Day Dawn, the actual cottage where Nan Chauncy raised her family and wrote her books, which is now a museum. The young couple who have the live-in caretaker role in the reserve came to collect us and guide us to the house.

Dominating the front of the quaint country cottage is a 105 year old pine tree - planted in 1918 to celebrate the Armistice. It is very healthy looking! The garden around the cottage is mowed by wallabies and a few early plants struggle on. The cottage was built in slipform concrete, one of the earliest examples in Australia, by Nan's engineer brother. It is because it is so solid that the cottage is basically intact, even though over a hundred years old. The livingroom was also the workroom:

and still contains her actual typewriter and book collection.

We were old enough to recognise from our childhoods quite a few objects in the house that our guides had no idea about.

The master bedroom:

and the kids slept on the verandah:

We finally managed to tear ourselves away, and headed back to the information displays.

We hopped back in our cars and drove a little way along the road to the Meeting Room, where there is a barbecue and outdoor eating facilites, also a clean and tidy lounge/meeting room that can be booked for events. We were at the "You Are Here" point in this map:

We set off to the right along the Caves Loop Track (the green track on the above map). This pretty path rises up to cut across the front of some amazing cliffs, studded with caves.

Some of us were more adventurous than others!

Angie was sent in to examine some attractive handprints, and pronounced them to be fairly young.

We returned to the main trail, the Rivulet Track (red track on the map) and turned right towards Guyvy's Lagoon (the orange track). The trail was well maintained, easy walking, and passed through some nice dry schlerophyll bush.

There were plenty of birds around, also wallabies, frogs in the ponds and some evidence of wombats. Guyvy's Lagoon was totally dry, but the lookout seat at the top of the hill was very pleasant.

Heading back we passed Eve's Bath, where Nan's grand daughter Eve liked to swim, and it does look like it would be a nice spot for a swim when there is more water about.

After that we came upon a recent installation - the Wombat Woodland Walk.

Some excellent new bridges have been built over the creek, and lots of cute carvings and wombat sculptures are dotted around the area. This would be a great place to bring kids to enjoy the bush and to learn something about the animals and plants here.

Back at the Meeting Room Bob fired up the barbie and soon the table was overflowing with food, salads and wines to share, and our end of year lunch was underway.

Wayne amazed us with a Christmas pudding cooked on the spot in his motorhome, served with custard! What a warm and heartening way to finish our walking and talking year, sharing stories and personal histories with good friends. We headed home full of good cheer.

October 2023 - Day 2 - Liffey Falls

On the second walking day of our October mini-break, the Westbury Womblers headed towards the delightful Liffey Valley. We passed by Oura Oura, the reserve created by Bob Brown and Bush Heritage Australia. This reserve contains his old cottage, which was the scene of many campaign meetings for battles to preserve Tasmanian wilderness areas.

Along some pretty and winding gravel roads, we found the quiet and natural little campground in the Liffey River Reserve. This area was first protected in 1991 when Bob Brown went out on a limb financially to buy it to protect it against intended logging. With the support of a sympathetic bank manager and some generous supporters, Liffey became the first Reserve for a new conservation organisation, the Australian Bush Heritage Fund, now Bush Heritage Australia. In 2013 the Liffey River and Coalmine Creek Reserves were included in a 170,000 hectare expansion of the 1.4 million hectare Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

Access from this lower end of the trail offers an 8km (return) walk (3 hours) through the rainforest. There is a shorter option available from a carpark area above the falls (2km return, 45 minutes walking). There was no phone signal in the valley, but Lyn managed to record our walk:

We gathered and set off along the trail to Liffey Falls, once again in good weather (so lucky!).

The track to Liffey Falls was delightful, well made and maintained, and followed the course of the Liffey River for most of the way.

The riparian rainforest was lush and glowing in the sunlight that filtered through the canopy. The treeferns were huge and rampant.

Kat found some more orchids.

The Falls were stunning.

After checking out the upper cascades, we decided to spread out on the rocks below the lower cascades to enjoy our snacks/lunches.

We were all blown away by this beautiful patch of rainforest, and there was much talk of coming back again. Perhaps to take part in a volunteer working bee, for example to eradicate the influx of foxgloves which has followed a recent bridge re-build on the track.

A light rain started just as we emerged from the trail, so we hustled into our cars and headed back to Westbury. Having missed our morning coffee, it was time to re-caffeinate at the Western Tiers Distillery. Some of us also sampled their alcoholic product.

Next on the list was an exhibition of local artists in the Westbury Council chambers.

Several of us visited over the afternoon, and Lyn actually bouoght a painting that took her fancy.

Some of us also wombled on the Westbury common or village green, a lovely English style park with huge European trees and historic homes dotted around the edges. There is lots of history here in Westbury.

For our last dinner here, we visited the Westbury Hotel for some standard pub fare and lots more conversation. It was just a short stroll there and back.

As per our group's tradition, our last morning together featured a huge cookup of scrambled eggs, tomatoes, bacon and toast. Yummo, and thanks to the chefs once again!

We rolled into our various vehicles and started wending our way to home or to our next destinations. What a fabulous weekend of beautiful forests, enjoyable walks, cultural treats, and of course - great friendship and company.

October 2023 - Day 1 - Westmorland Falls, Alum Cliffs, Montana Falls

This year our October mini-break was in the NorthWest, organised by Kat, with Caroline and Lyn assisting with walk ideas. We were again very lucky with the weather, it was perfect for walking - dry, sunny and cool. Basing ourselves in the historic village of Westbury, we scheduled three walks for the Friday and one for the Saturday. The intrepid crew this weekend, aka the Westbury Womblers, were Kat, Philip, Caroline, Warren, Bob, Angie, Summa, Di, Lyn, Gary, Rachel and Adam. We were also joined on the Saturday by Lee.

Our accommodation in Westbury was the Gingerbread Cottages, a group of cottages co-located on a quiet corner, connected internally by gardens and driveways at the rear (the sheltered sunnyside). This was very useful for our group, as we could extend into as many cottages as we needed, and could easily move with privacy from house to house. Most of the cottages were original Georgian brick buildings made comfortable enough for modern expectations and full of charm. Summa was also permitted to plug in her motorhome, so she was very happy too.

We arrived through the afternoon of the Thursday, and that night most of us tried the local Turkish kebab takeaways for dinner, very nice. Friday morning, we set off at 9am, and en route managed to find coffee at the Chudleigh General Store. The owners are enthusiastically preserving this quaint old village store and are working to create a community hub here for Chudleigh.

Fortified with caffeine, we drove through quiet dairy country to the edge of the Western Tiers, to find the Westmorland Falls track. This track, located in the Mole Creek Karst National Park) is 3km (return) and rated as 2 hours (return). Here are some notes on the walk. As you can see, we measured it as 3.4km, and the walk took us about 40 minutes each way.

The track was very pleasant, nicely made and wandering through lush temperate rainforest, with tall eucalypts and stands of large treeferns (Dicksonia antarctica). It heads generally south west with a few short steep sections and several sections of stone steps. The mosses, ferns and colourful fungi were vibrant in the filtered light. There were a few muddy patches so those of us who had changed into walking boots were glad we had.

Kat was getting her eye in for the delicate Tasmanian orchids, and captured some lovely photos in each of the rainforest trails this weekend.

Emerging from the trail, we loaded back into our cars and headed for Mole Creek. Near here is the start of the trail to the Alum Cliffs, which is also known by the local Pallittorre tribe as tulampanga or red ochre hill.

This area became the meeting point for many Tasmanian Indigenous tribes, who would source the valuable red ochre from the cliffs here for their ceremonies. For them it was a sacred celebration place.

This walk is 1.6km (return) and rated as 40 minutes (return). Here the bush was pretty dry, with she-oaks and native cherries. At the top of the hill is a large sculpture - the three arms represent the three significant paths along which the aboriginal tribes would walk. There is a gentle decline to a viewing platform overlooking the Mersey River and the spectacular Alum Cliffs Gorge. We had our lunches here, enjoying the excellent view and thinking about future walks we might take in the area.

Next we drove to the start of the Montana Falls trail, accessed from Leonards Rd. These falls are located on Western Creek, and the 1.8km track (return), through a eucalypt, banksia and blackwood forest, is rated as suitable for most ages and 45 minutes return.

The short trail brings you to a solid rushing waterfall. It is quite loud, so it must be interesting staying at the Falls River Luxury Accommodation which is perched just above.

It was time for afternoon tea, so next stop was Georgie's Cafe at 41 Degree South Tasmania. This place is peaceful and refreshing, a good place to pick up sustainably raised trout and ginseng products. The tasting platters were very good value and went down well with a beer, a cider or a cup of tea. Some of us inspected the pond where the freshwater trout were jumping, and the breeding tanks where they were going in circles.

Tonight was our night to "eat in", and we had each brought our contributions. Our generous cooks Kat, Lyn, Caroline and Angie produced a huge feast for us.

There were three chickens, potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato, braised cabbage and broccoli. Then there was dessert: apple crumble with ice cream and cream.

It was a wonderful effort, considering the challenges of cooking in a strange kitchen with an unfamiliar oven. We retired to bed contented, with full stomachs.