The Tasmanian Trail. Jan/Feb 2025.

30 Jan 2025

 29 Jan 2025

 28 Jan 2025

 27 Jan 2025

 26 Jan 2025

 25 Jan 2025

 24 Jan 2025

 23 Jan 2025 Maybe I jinxed it but the rain did arrive by 11pm. Luckily it stopped by 7am giving me a nice opportunity to pack down camp without getting too soaked. Left Liffey Falls at 8:30am. Lots of fairywrens about on the walk down Bogon road.  10:15 snack break at the Liffey baptist church (could camp). Made it to the Old Liffey school house by 11:30 (would camp, no booking needed just a donation). Two work men were patching up the exterior and roof. Things I did while on lunch: dry out my very wet fly, find a geocache, watch the clouds, cook up some 2 min noodles. Finished my long lunch at Liffey school at 12:50 and set of towards Blackwood creek. The rain was on and off as I walked the 11.5km to my potential camp destination. There are no official tas trail camp spots after the school house, which would have made it a long 27km, +800m elevation walk to poatina intake. My unofficial camp spot means it'll only be a 16.5 km (or 18.5km if I divert of poatina road) tomorrow ...

 (Unfortunately I lost all my photos for the remainder of the walk 😭, so my words will have to suffice) 22 Jan 2025 Clear skies, mid 20s I am on battery rations for the next 5 days, so I've started writing my daily summaries by hand. Just a short walk to Liffey Falls campground today (11 km) where I will do the walk to falls - a 6 km round trip. Bogan Rd was quite peaceful for the most part. Some great views and nice bushland as apposed to pine plantations. There was the occasional car but as the road is single lane and gravel they weren't going too fast. I arrived at Liffey campground just after 12 and found a nice spot to set up for the night. Liffey campground appears very popular, with at least 25 different groups here with all manner of shelters - tents, cars, vans, caravans, swags. After a spot of lunch I headed up the creek to see the falls. The Liffey Falls walk was a great short walk, some would even say that it is one of Tasmania's 60 great short walks. The falls...

 21 Jan 2025  Back to clear skies and high 20s/low 30s today - some of the road walking was getting mighty hot.   It was a misty morning at red hills memorial hall today. I had a relatively good sleep despite the possum in the roofs best efforts. On th road again by 8:30 this morning, I had wanted to get away earlier but the hour of sleep in was very nice.   Sealed and then gravel road to axe camp where I had morning tea at 11. Lovely spot for a break (and a swim if one was so inclined), seems like a popular spot with the locals too. More gravel road and then across Meander River and back on to sealed roads.  Highland lakes road is pretty busy but the track on the southwestern side runs for around 5.5km of the way. Lunch at 1:30 on said track. I'm spending the night at quamby corner, where I think laundry and a shower are in order. Quamby corner lists on their website that they have some basic provisions for sale, unfortunately it was much more basic t...

 20 Jan 2025  Cloudy and cooler today with intermittent light showers and some humidity - high 10s low 20s.   Decided on a short 12km day today so that I could start late and enjoy the beautiful and peaceful mersey river campsite (well peaceful until the adjacent farmer let their cattle into the paddock bordering the campsite). I finally decided to get moving at 9, no issues with the river crossing (the exit trail is up stream from the entry not straight across), depth was up to my knees, rocks were a little slippery. The first section after the river crossing was through some lovely native bushland, and then it was into more forestry land. I was able to keep my shoes on for the next creek crossing, and there was also a potential camp spot on the west side of it.   After 6km I left the forestry roads behind and started down Coxs road, I slogged down gravel and sealed rds for the next 6km until I reached the red hills memorial hall. I had messaged last night...

 19 Jan 2025 A long 29km with a heavy pack of food. Set off just after 7am. First 12km mostly sealed or gravel roads with views of Mt roland. 10:20am Stopped at a picnic area by a stream 11.5kms in, had a snack. Nice cloud cover this morning (back of my hands copped it yesterday).  The next 16km was all on forestry roads along the bottom of gog range. Lots of ups and downs, some sections of nice native bushland but mostly pine plantations. Late lunch at 1:30 at the gog rd intersection.  Camped at the Mersey river campsite which is beautiful, arrived just before 5 and quickly had a dip before I lost my nerve. Dinner is a Ben's rice packet with tvp, dehydrated vegetables and taco seasoning.  3 echidna, 1 tiger snake  One plus side to the long summer days and daylight savings time is I don't have to leave super early to get a good number of daylight walking hours. Leaving at 7 still gives me 11/12 daylight hours - a big change from my last long hike where there wer...

 18 Jan 2025 Clear skies and warm mid to high 20s.  It was a short 12km but took me 6/7 hours as there was a 30 chache long geocache series I wanted to collect along the way. Started the day at 9am just in time to join the Railton Parkrun - this made the first couple of geocaches nigh impossible. The ferns and Red creek Falls were very lovely.  Camped at Tasmanian Trail campsite 2 in Sheffield, were there is drinking water but currently no access to the pony club toilets so I had to make the trek up to the local park. Had a campers pantry rehydrated Mexican bean mix in a wrap for dinner - was surprisingly tasty. On bush paths, Through forestry, And down mountain bike access roads I went. A cave at red creek Falls. Some locals. Camp 2 next to the Sheffield cricket ground.

 17 Jan 2025 Clear skies and warm mid 20s.  I decided to take Shale Road and the Railton express MTB/hike trail instead of the exposed official route through farm and forestry land. the suspension bridge over the Mersey river and view from the high point of the Railton express were highlights.  I spent the night at the Railton hotel campground - a bargain at $10. Grabbed a burger from the local joint for dinner. It was the last night of the current hotel owners so there seemed to be some drinking and partying to the early hours of the morning. 1 large tiger snake. The suspension bridge across the Mersey river. The Railton express through some nice bushland. More interesting community groups in Railton. Tasmanian Trail signage. The wide wide main street of Railton.

 16 Jan 2025 I flew into Devonport yesterday and did some supply shopping while it poured with rain. It was a bit of a trek out to the anaconda and BCF for a butane fuel canister, but managed to get everything I wanted in the end. Today was an easy 10km along the footpath between Devonport and Latrobe with lovely river views. There were bikers, runners, rollerblades, scooterers and walkers along the waterfront trail.  Spent the night at the latrobe Mersey river campground. Made a mi goreng 2min noodle concoction for dinner. The 9pm sunsets are really throwing me and my sleep schedule off (granted it was already in pretty bad shape...). Was a small Qantas link flight from Melbourne to Devonport. The Latrobe to Ambleside coastal path. One of the diverse clubs of Latrobe. First Tasmanian trail sign. Horse yard at Latrobe.