Day 49 - Blue Tier, Pyengana, Columba Falls

The sun was shining, it was about 14 degrees, a perfect day for a trip into the mountains behind St Helens.

170415 Map of the area we toured today- sorry its a bit blurred

We headed west in the direction of Weldborough and took the Goulds Country turnoff and headed up to Poimena in the Blue Tier Forest Reserve.  The area was the source of alluvial tin in the 1800's but little remains of the mining operations.  The forest has "repossessed" the mines and town sites except for some cleared areas, which the local grazing animals maintain.  The forest is of low trees growing in peat bogs and the ground cover suggests that snow falls here in the winter.

170415 Tree ferns on the road into Poimena

170415 The ground cover in the forest at Poimena up close

170415 The ground cover in the forest at Poimena at a distance

170415 Creeks running through peat bogs in the forest at Poimena

170415 Our morning tea spot at Poimena in the Blue Tier Forest Reserve

We headed down the Lottah Road in the direction of Weldborough. 

170415 Coming down the range from Poimena on the Lottah Road
looking across the George River Valley

We joined the main road at the Little Plains Lookout with views west along the Weld River Valley and east along the George River Valley. 

170415 The Weld River valley from Little Plains Lookout

170415 Looking down George River valley from Little Plains Lookout

The road to Weldborough went through the Weldborough Pass, which was the site of a Myrtle Forest.  A short interpretive walk gave us a first hand view of an ancient rain forest, full of myrtle trees and tree ferns.

170415  A walk though a myrtle forest with plenty of tree ferns
at the Weldborough Pass

170514 The Grand Daddy of the myrtles in the Weldborough Pass

170415 The Grand Daddy's root base

At Weldborough we turned left in search of the Mt Paris Dam.  Mt Paris Dam was designed in 1935 for the Mt Paris Tin Mining Company, and built in 1936 to supply water for hydraulic tin mining. We found a cement wall, obviously the dam, but it was equally obvious that it is not functioning. The Cascade River at its base was but a small stream. 

We did manage to find a sink hole nearby, at the Maa Mon Chin Picnic Ground, so we lunched there. 

170415 The sink hole at the Maa Mon Chin Picnic Grounds near Mt Paris Dam

After this disappointment we headed for St Columba Falls, which we think is on the North George River.  On the way we passed the Pyengana Dairy and its associated cheese factory and restaurant.  We were able to see its automatic milking facilities.  The management of the animals is a wonder to behold.  As inducements to come into the milking shed, the cows are given a helping of grain and an automatic back or head rub.  The system also prevents cows already milked from coming around again for another helping of grain.  

170415 After the milking is over, the cows get a rub of their choice
at Pyengana Dairy's farm.  This one chose a back rub

170415 This one chose a face rub

Seeing St Columba Falls made our day worthwhile. Even though there has been little rain of late, the falls were still quite impressive.

170415 St Columba Falls, from a distance

170415 St Columba Falls up close - 90m high

170514 Some commentary on St Columba Falls

170415 Some facts on St Columba Falls

We detoured off the main road to check out Halls Falls but the walk would have taken 1.5 hours so we gratefully accepted a photograph from the sign at the beginning of the walk.

170415 Halls Falls - third party picture

We drove only 140km today but most of the distance was along forest roads which were very narrow and at times rough and potholed.  However, it was not raining.  We got up to about 850m high today at Poimena.  Poimena was exposed to a cold NW wind and the temperature there was down to 11 degrees, maybe less with the wind chill factor taken into account.

Exploring the coast is our agenda for tomorrow.

We could not close without including the following photograph.

170415 "Beautiful" defined