Old Mac's Farm and Stonesthrow/Apricus cafe/restaurant are at 55 Sandown Road, Norwood (at the end of Queechy Road). The site includes lakes, a wetlands reserve, animal encounter farm and several walking trails. It is a beautiful and relaxing place to enjoy, very close to Launceston.
Children can expect to see horses, ponies, alpacas, cows, sheep, eagles (or at least eagles' nests), swans, ducks, waterfowl and other varieties of bird life. When we return to the carpark near the cafe at the end of our walk in the early afternoon those who wish to will be able to enjoy coffee and snacks (at own expense!). We're not sure if there is still the opportunity to buy feed at $2 per bag to feed some of the animals.
This will be an easy-medium family-oriented walk. There are various tracks to choose from of differing lengths and difficulty. Which ones we tackle will depend on the group and the weather on the day. Even if we are able to complete the full circuit, it will only be about 5-6 km at most, with less than 100m climbing. It would be suitable for small children. Some strollers and pushers will have limited access, however the more rugged off-road variety could probably manage most of the walk.
Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone Dan Hutchison, the walk leader, on 0457 765 907 to book in.
Unlike the regular Boots N’ All walks which often visit more challenging wilderness areas, there is no particular need to register in advance for these Sunday afternoon Family Fun Walks. Your walk leader would nevertheless appreciate if you could let him know you are coming, so that the walk doesn’t set off without you.
Meeting Place is at carpark near Stonesthrow/Apricus cafe/restaurant at 2 pm. See directions below.
To access this area from northern Tasmania: From city, follow Brisbane St. NE past City Park, then Elphin Rd SE, then south, through Newstead. Continue south after it becomes Penquite Rd. Once past Scotch Oakburn College, continue downhill to reach Queechy Rd, on left at bottom of the hill. Follow Queechy Rd. to its end, a T junction with Sandown Rd. Turn right, and follow to end of road, into the driveway and to the carpark.
Other Information:
These Sunday afternoon walks do not require the level of preparation and equipment needed for wilderness walks. Dress comfortably and sensibly, and remember that even over a 2-hour period, weather can be changeable in northern Tasmania - even in late spring! It’s always a great idea to have a warm top and a raincoat in your backpack, along with a drink and perhaps a snack.
Map details:
For this walk, there isn't really a need for map references, but we do have a track for the likely walk in gpx and Google Earth format in our downloads on website. Map details:
For GPX (.gpx) and Google Earth (.kml) versions of the track: Click here to browse our collection of tracks from all over Tasmania.
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).
