LIFFEY FALLS

 

1/ Liffey Falls is a lovely waterfall in northern central Tasmania. It is south of Deloraine and reached by turning east from the A5 Highland Lakes Highway, as you approach the Great Western Tier Mountains. The falls are only 1 kilometre from the picnic ground. For the more adventurous there is a 3 kilometre walk to another picnic ground on Gulf Road.

2/ Access to the falls is via a well graded track that passes through a beautiful fern forest. If you visit the falls at night, you might well see devils, quolls, bandicoots and wallabies, as this area is replete with native animals.

3/ The falls are preceded by a series of cascades. This photo looks out from the top of a cascade.

4/ This photo shows the flow over the top of cascade. The sound of rushing water is one of the attractions.

5/ The view shows the classic shapes and colours of a rain forest. The falls are a really enchanting place.

6/ This view looks up at the fast flowing Liffey River. There are giant crayfish in this river.

7/ The Liffey River meanders through a series of rock cuttings to reach the main fall. Here you see the river passing through a beautiful fern glade.

8/ The falls are a series of stairs creating a plethora of movement and colour. You can get a good view of the falls from the viewing platforms.

9/ This is a closer view of the higher stairs of the falls.

10/ This photos shows the full panorama of the steps of Liffey Falls.

11/ Near the picnic ground at the start of the Liffey Falls walk is a detour to the Big Tree. This is a massive 50 metre high eucalyptus tree. It was fortunate to have not been logged, when the Liffey Falls area was being logged in recent times.

12/ This is the view to the canopy 50 metres above you. I find it an awesome experience to visit trees like this one.

13/ On a visit in 2021 we went on an excursion to the higher Liffey River north of the higher car park. The river there was quite enchanting.

14/ This view shows river scree on the higher Liffey River.

15/ We saw these strange growths on the return journey. I was told that they are a defence growth of the tree.

 

1/ This is a professional view of the higher drop at Liffey Falls.

2/ This photo shows the lower drop at Liffey Falls from quite close up.

3/ This shows the lower falls from some distance

4/ This image shows a close up view of the lower falls.

 

1/ Liffey Bluff is in central, northern Tasmania. It is part of the Great Western Tier Mountains and feeds Liffey Falls. This image looks east from Projection Bluff across the A5 Highland Lakes Highway towards Liffey Bluff. It is accessed from a track that exits from the highway shown here. The track enters a forest, then crosses the Liffey River, before climbing Liffey Bluff. The river is the long streak above the highway.

2/ The Liffey Bluff Track is just a defined trail and is suitable only for experienced bush walkers. It traverses a dense rainforest, where you can see a variety of vegetation types. This image shows horizontal trees. These make access extremely difficult.

3/ Being a rainforest the vegetation is covered in different types of moss.

4/ Finally we found the clear, fast flowing waters of the upper Liffey River and crossed it.

5/ We followed the Liffey River for some distance and saw many lovely, little cascades.

6/ This was one of these lovely cascades.

7/ This cascade flowed into a large pool.

8/ The upper Liffey River was very clear and shallow in many places, which made it easy to cross.

9/ Finally, we found this ancient dam. A water wheel had once been installed near this dam.

10/ We now began to ascend Liffey Bluff. This was the view to the north west. The line of pines shows where the upper Liffey River is located.

11/ We now approached a scree field and the massive escarpment of Liffey Bluff.

12/ This view looks directly east at Liffey Bluff and shows the 100 metre cliff that our track had to wend its way up. Scrambling over scree is quite difficult.

13/ This view looks south west back towards Projection Bluff. The streak at the top right shows where the highway is located.

14/ We then climbed Liffey Bluff. Near the top we could see Quamby Bluff towering over the lover slopes of Projection Bluff.

15/ This view was taken from the top of Liffey Bluff and shows the panoramic view to the west. At the top left is Projection Bluff and to the top right is Quamby Bluff.

16/ This view looks east. Across the next valley is Drys Bluff, which is show in another gallery.

 

1/ Billy Quinns Gap is a narrow valley between Liffey Bluff to the west and Drys Bluff to the east. This journey required our party first to scale Liffey Bluff. They then had to bush bash their way through dense forest and then scramble over large boulders to force their way down Billy Quinns Gap. Their aim was to see the spectacular waterfalls of Billy Quinns Creek that have been seen by very few people. It was more of an exploration rather than a bush walk and was only for very experienced bush walkers. This view looks east at the cliffs of Drys Bluff.

2/ This view looks west at the cliffs of Liffey Bluff. Our group descended the narrow valley between these two cliffs. You can see the dense forest and large boulders that our party had to traverse all the way down.

3/ This view again looks west at the cliffs of Liffey Bluff. You can now see a more panoramic view of how this narrow gap opened up. The scree fields were the easiest way to descend down the gap.

4/ This image shows our party scrambling over large boulders before entering a dense forest. The leader is checking his GPS coordinates in order to keep to the planned route. If you injure your leg on these boulders then getting yourself down, becomes very difficult.

5/ The rock faces had strange combinations of colors caused by the different types of moss that was growing on them.

6/ We saw many ancient trees with strange twisted shapes. Beyond this tree you can see the fast flowing waters of Billy Quinns Creek.

7/ This image also looks down and shows another one of the gracefully twisted trees. In the valley below is the fast, flowing waters of Billy Quinns Creek.

8/ Finally, we reached the turbulent waters of Billy Quinns Creek.

9/ Here you can see one of the many roaring cascades of Billy Quinns Creek that few people have seen. It is a pity that access to these sights is not improved by adding a good track.

10/ Part of the journey involved following the creek, as it wended its way down. We saw many lovely cascades.

11/ The creek finally slowed down, as we reached the lower slopes.

12/ This was the view that beckoned us, as we reached the lower slopes. We were glad that now the slopes were only about 30 degrees.

13/ Finally we reached a regrowth forest. The fact that loggers had been able to devastate this area showed that we had nearly reached our exit road.

14/ This image shows our party resting in an open area near the end of the journey.

15/ It was hard to photograph Billy Quinns Gap through the trees, but this image taken near the end of our walk, might give you some idea of where we had journeyed.

 

1/ Drys Bluff is part of the Great Western Tier Mountains of northern Tasmania. To its west is Liffey Bluff and to its east is Billop Bluff. This photo looks south at Drys Bluff.

2/ Our club mustered at this abandoned farm house and then proceeded south on the Drys Bluff Track, which exits from C513 Road at a point just west of the Liffey settlement.

3/ We proceeded from the farm across this bridge and then we began to climb.

4/ From this fast flowing creek we left the civilized area and proceeded into the mountainous wilderness.

5/ The Drys Bluff Track is just a defined trail over very rugged terrain. Here you can see our group ascending a typical section of the trail.

6/ The trail is through a dense, rain forest. Here you can see a small water course making this strange artistic effect.

7/ In a rain forest you also finds lots of exotic species of fungus. I have always been amazed at how varied are the shapes and colors of fungus. This one really was purple.

8/ This image shows our first view of the cliffs of Drys Bluff that we would have to ascend after we had scrambled over the approaching scree field.

9/ This shows you how steep was the ascend of Drys Bluff in this section. The large foreground rocks are the size of a man.

10/ This view shows the view down to the valley below. It shows how rough and steep the climb was and why the route was only suitable for experienced bush walkers.

11/ Towards the top of Drys Bluff the views were simply awesome. Here you can see a summary of the types of terrain that we had crossed through, as we ascended.

12/ This image looks to the west at the rugged terrain around Liffey Bluff.

13/ This view looks west towards the summit of Drys Bluff. A cloud was starting to cover it. The summit of Drys Bluff is 1340 metres high.

14/ To the south of Drys Bluff was an alpine plain. A combination of cloud and light gave these ethereal effects.

15/ We then proceeded south towards Westons Rivulet. This involved crossing through swampy terrain with very different belts of vegetation.

16/ This area shows alpine, tundra type scrub. This view looks to the south east at other peaks of the Great Western Tier Mountains.

17/ This image shows the swampy area and forest zone, where the Westons Rivulet starts.

18/ The swampy area had may patches of lovely cushion plants.

19/ Some of the puddles in this area were frozen. This is because the Central Plateau frequently freezes over even in the summer.

20/ This strange sight is an ice covered puddle in the process of breaking up. It made this strange artistic pattern.

21/ Further to the south we entered a forest zone, where we saw many strange twisted trees.

22/ As the terrain became wetter, we found ourselves in a lovely fern grove.

23/ Finally, we found one of the many feeder streams of the Westons Rivulet.

24/ Westons Rivulet had some lovely cascades.

25/ This image shows the top of a cascade. Note how the rocks have been divided into neat bricks.

26/ This image shows the many steps of the cascade. Not far from here we reach Westons Road, where our bus was waiting to take us home.

 

1/ Cressy is a small town in central northern Tasmania. It is just north of the Great Western Tiers mountains, which you can see in the photo above.

2/ Cressy is famous for the trout fishing in the nearby streams. Tourist information is near this icon.

3/ The Holy Trinity Church at Cressy is a lovely, old, Colonial church with a very old cemetery.

4/ Cressy has an early 20th Century high school.

5/ This is the old Ringwood Hotel in Cressy.

6/ The centre of Cressy has some interesting Colonial style buildings.

7/ There are a number of Victorian era cottages in Cressy.

8/ This is the early 20th Century style hall at Cressy.

 

1/ Bracknell is a hamlet east of Liffey Falls. In terms of facilities is has a shop, petrol pump, hotel and a sports hall. Bracknell is noteworthy for having a number of historic buildings like this lovely, old church.

2/ There were two other historic churches at Bracknell. This lovely, old church is now being changed into a residence.

3/ This lovely, old, Federation style church is still holding regular services.

4/ Bracknell is on the edge of the mountains of the Great Western Tiers. This view looks south from the sports oval towards the Tiers.

5/ This is the hotel at Bracknell. It is a good place to stop on your way to Liffey Falls or the Great Lake.

6/ Next to the Bracknell Hotel was this lovely, Victorian era, middle class house.

7/ On the corner was this interesting, old building. I think that it was once a hotel. It was normal for places like Bracknell to have a number of hotels.

8/ On another corner was this building. It also has a classic, Victorian era hotel shape.

9/ This lovely, old house had some interesting additions.

10/ There were a number of lovely, old Victorian cottages in the streets of Bracknell.

11/ This is a lovely, large, Victorian era house. It testifies to Bracknell having some people of substance.

12/ Near Liffey Falls is the tiny settlement of Liffey. It is noteworthy for having this lovely, little school on a substantial hill that faces the Tiers.

13/ Beyond Liffey C511 passes beneath Drys Bluff. This a massive 1330 metre peak that towers over this area. It is part of the Great Western Tier Mountains. Some Tasmanians have farms in really beautiful places. This lucky farm faces the northerly sun, whilst behind it is the massive peak of Drys Bluff. A few more kilometres from here is the beautiful Liffey Falls.