Montezuma Falls
Though it wasn’t raining this morning, it wasn’t really bright and sunny either as we left Strahan. After doing some business in town (getting fuel, refilling the LPG cylinder that was empty, and posting a letter to Enid’s mother) we drove to Macquarie Head, which is where the river empties into the ocean. Hell’s gates, the narrow mouth to the harbour, is quite shallow. Past the end of the breakwater we could see surf, but along the beach where we walked there were hardly any waves. The beach goes on for miles, but we only walked about 2.5 km return.
When we went to leave I nearly got stuck. I didn’t realize that the sand was so soft where I’d pulled in, and when I backed up almost got myself bogged. I did get out ok, but not before one of the other campers there came over, and I’m sure he was about to give me advice. However getting out of soft sand isn’t much different than getting out of snow, so I was OK.
The road in to the point is a gravel road, and it starts out deceptively smooth. The first few kilometres were the best gravel road we’ve been on, but when it turned off to a farmer’s yard, the road changed and became very rough. It continued that way for most of the way, except for a short stretch where they were grading, watering and packing the road. Along the way there were many clear cut areas in the trees, some of which have been re-seeded. In several spots there were some very large trees and spots have been cleared under them where people have camped. However it also looked very wet under them and would be easy to get stuck.
By noon it had cleared over the mountains and we ate lunch at the town of Zeehan, then drove on to see Montezuma Falls. There is a turnoff just before Rosebery that goes about six kilometres in to where the walk starts. The first five were paved, but then the pavement ended just after crossing a new bridge, and the road became very rough very quickly. We drove another 500 metres or so and as the road was too narrow to turn around we’d have had to back up, but there was a spot where another camper van was parked in a pullout, and we turned around there. We drove back to the top of the hill and parked. A four wheel drive came by and I flagged it down and asked the occupants if it was the road to the falls. “It is,” they replied. “And it’s about another six or seven hundred metres to the parking area, but I wouldn’t take that down,” the driver said, motioning towards our motorhome.
So we walked in to the falls, which are reported to be the highest in Tasmania at 104 metres. It took us a bit over three hours to walk in and out, including a stop at the falls to photograph them, and eat some gorp. There were a number of interesting things we stopped to take pictures of on the way in, including a black tiger snake (supposedly one of the world’s most venomous snakes), some interesting fungi, a number of small streams, and the temperate rain forest with large myrtle trees, eucalyptus, and tree ferns. The entire trail is fairly flat as it is the bed of the old railway in to the mining area. Some of the old trestle bridge remains are still there, and some of the ties have been used in the construction of new walking bridges. The last kilometre or so the ties are still present along with the rail spikes.
There used to be a trestle spanning the stream at the bottom of the falls, but now there is a suspension bridge. I started to walk out on it, but it is very narrow, about a 10 cm wide track, and I lost my nerve and turned back. In any case we got just as good or better pictures of the falls from the wooden observation platform at the base. The stream isn’t very big, but it is a long drop over the cliff in about three main cascades of water.
We debated staying in the upper parking area. We were concerned about how solid the ground was, as it’s been so wet, and therefore decided to drive into Rosebery. We’re here tonight in their free parking area which has two rather contradictory signs. One says “No Camping” and the other says “Parking area for self contained recreation vehicles – maximum 72 hour stay.” So, here we’re staying.