Upper Liffey River and Liffey Falls - Sat. 9th August 2014

You are invited to join Terry Heier - walk leader, for a walk to the upper Liffey River and Liffey Falls area. Although this walk was listed in our walks calendar as "medium", Terry has decided that the risk that the river may be un-crossable below the Lake Highway due to recent heavy rain, means that the actual route he will follow will be somewhat easier, and could be considered "easy-medium". Walking will be on marked tracks, most of which will be fairly well formed, and while there are steep inclines and slippery places, there will not be any boulder fields to cross. The walk would suit energetic children.  Much of the walk will be through forest, with some examples of very large eucalypts. Terry will lead walkers from the top Liffey Falls car park up-river for some distance towards Liffey Bluff, returning to the car park for lunch, then downhill to the main Liffey Falls, and back to the top car park after that. Some background information about the walk can be found on http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/?base=1380

Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone your walk leader, Terry Heier - 6393 6671  to book in.
The departure time is 9 am from the Door of Hope Church car park, Launceston. Alternatively, you can meet Terry at the top car park at 10 am, but check with him regarding the best way to get there.
If you would like to arrange to meet the group at these places or elsewhere, please arrange with the leader, and please be at any meeting place 5 minutes ahead of departure time.
The leader should always be notified of any other people you intend to bring along, and you should always contact the walk leader if intending to participate in a particular Boots N' All walk.

Walk route:
See remarks above.
To access this area from northern Tasmania: There are alternative ways to access the walk from Launceston:
a) via Deloraine: Head towards Deloraine on the Bass Highway (50 km) and take the first (eastern) turn from the highway into Deloraine. Continue into the town and turn left immediately before the bridge (meeting place - see above). From Deloraine, head south along the "Lake Highway" - now Highland Lakes Rd. (but the first bit may be called Meander Rd!). Make sure to turn left after 7 km at signposted junction for Highland Lakes Rd.  Continue south through Golden Valley until you reach the Riversdale Rd. junction, about about 7 km from the signposted junction for Highland Lakes Rd. Turn left into Riversdale Road and follow the signs. The road in to the upper carpark (a further 5 km) is unsealed and narrow, with sharp bends. Please exercise care on this road.  A map of the local roads can be found at http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/file.aspx?id=15599&mode=standard&sb=.jpg Further variants of this route can be followed through Quamby Brook.
b) via Bracknell: Head towards Devonport on the Bass Highway ( Hwy. 1) but at 22 km from Launceston, turn left into Oaks Road (C511) at the Liffey Falls exit. Drive past the Agfest site, and continue to Bracknell (12 km). Turn right into Bracknell Rd. and follow to junction of Liffey Rd. (7 km). Although this road takes you to the lower Liffey Falls car park, continue until 17 km from Bracknell, reaching Bogan Rd. I'm a little unclear about the road from there to join to Riversdale Rd, but it should be no more than about 5 km and hopefully will be signposted. Once reaching Riversdale Rd. turn left and follow to the upper Liffey Falls car park. Bracknell can also be accessed by other roads from further east if you are familiar with the area.

Warnings:
While less exposed than the open plateau above, the area is about 600m above sea level, and subject to showers, snow falls and icy winds. Forecast for Saturday is fairly promising at this stage. Walkers should be equipped for cold and possibly wet conditions, and wear warm clothing with sturdy shoes.
  
Map details:
Liffey Falls: 1:100000 map is Meander and 1:25000 map for upper area is Quamby Bluff (TasMap 4638), and Liffey (TasMap 4838) for the falls and below.
Map reference:
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Zone      Easting        Northing    Latitude    Longitude
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No peakbagger points on this for those who enjoy accumulating points! For listing of peakbagger points, see the Hobart Walking Club Peakbagger's Guide (2000 revision) which can be found and downloaded (as an Excel spreadsheet) from http://tastracks.webs.com/peakbaggers.htm  The same web page contains several other listings of Tasmanian peaks.

GPX and Google Earth files with the track for the original intention (following down from Lake Highway) and waypoints for key road junctions and the falls are attached. Double-clicking on the Google Earth (kml) track should open Google Earth and zoom in to the location if you have Google Earth installed on your computer. The .gpx version of the track should import into mapping software or devices such as hand-held GPS or smartphones that support gpx tracks and waypoints.