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.