Quinns Creek and Liffey Falls - Sat. 7th August 2021

Liffey Falls is a well known and quite impressive waterfall attraction not far from Launceston. It is only a short walk from the upper car park. Even from the lower car park it is still only about one hour's walk each way. In order to make a fuller day of it on this occasion we plan to follow a different approach. We will walk from the lower car park up through forest, cross Quinns Creek and then walk downhill off track back to the main track. This will make a nice circuit with a variety of terrain to experience.
The walk is about 10 km in length and should take about 5 hours in total including breaks. About half of it will be along either a road or good track and the rest will be along a more overgrown road, or off track through the bush. There will be some steep climbing on the road initially, after that it will be either fairly flat or gently downhill. Although generally the walking will be quite easy, there will be occasional embankments to scramble up and down and also several fallen logs to clamber over or crawl under. We will have two creek crossings to negotiate and also some muddy sections here and there so good boots and preferably gaiters would be an advantage. This walk is rated medium and energetic able older children should be able to manage it.

Walk route:
The walk starts at about 400 m altitude at the lower Liffey Falls car park and picnic area at Liffey near Bracknell. For the first half hour or so we will walk south up an old but good quality road for about 1.5 km climbing about 150m, quite steeply in places. Then we will branch right to follow a more overgrown road undulating along the flat for about 2 km. After about one to one and a half hours we will reach Quinns Creek, a nice spot for morning tea. We will then cross the creek, hopefully keeping our feet dry, clamber back up to the old road and shortly after that turn right to leave the road and head off track downhill through the forest for about 1.5 km. This should take another hour or hour and a half. At this point we will emerge onto the main Liffey Falls track not far past the bridge where it crosses Quinns Creek. From here we will walk along to the lower Liffey Falls viewing point, and those who wish to can proceed up to the upper Liffey Falls viewing area as well. This excursion to the falls and back is about 2.5 km and will take about an hour as we will probably stop for lunch near the falls. From here back to the car park is another 2.5 km and should take less than an hour.

Meeting Times and Places:

If you are interested in joining this walk, please phone, text or email the leader, Phil Andrew, on 6300 1067, 0408 014 757, or pandrew.tas@gmail.com. The departure time is 8:30 am from Door of Hope carpark in South Launceston. We should expect to be back in Launceston by around 4.00 pm. If you would like to arrange to meet elsewhere, please arrange with the leader, and please be at any meeting place 5 minutes ahead of the listed time. The leader must be notified of any other people you intend to bring along.

To access this area from northern Tasmania:
From Launceston, head towards Deloraine on the Bass Highway, and after travelling about 20 km take the Oaks Road (C511) turn off to the left which is marked Liffey Falls. After travelling another 11 km you will reach a 4 way junction in the centre of Bracknell.  Turn right here onto C513 and follow this as it joggles left, then right then left again until you reach the little town of Liffey after a further 7 km. Turn right here to follow C513 for 9.5 km until you see the sign for the turn off to the Campground to the left. (At this point do NOT follow the signs straight ahead to Liffey Falls as this refers to the upper car park). Follow the road to the left for about 700m until you get to the lower car park which is where our walk starts.

Warnings:

M...  Marshy or muddy sections – be prepared to walk with wet feet.
S...  Steep incline (actually decline) for at least part of the way
You should carry wet weather gear as well as warm clothing in case of sudden weather changes. Walkers should carry water with them, suggest 1 litre. Also bring your lunch and snacks.
Click this link for a more detailed discussion of Preparation, Food and Safety guidelines for Boots N' All walks.

Map details:
No peakbagger points will be visited on this walk. For listing of peakbagger points, see the Hobart Walking Club Peakbagger’s Guide (2000 revision) which can be downloaded (Excel) from http://tastracks.webs.com/peakbaggers.htm  The same web page contains several other listings of Tasmanian peaks.For GPX (.gpx) and Google Earth (.kml) versions of the track: Click here to browse our collection.
Direct links: GPX for this walk …  KML for this walk
Right-click on the file and save target as to a location of your choice. (Suggest you click the Last modified at top to sort by date to get the most recent at top to find the file for the next walk).