Day 62 - Mt Barrow and Liffey Falls

It was a sunny morning so there seemed every justification in heading off to visit the 1413m high Mt Barrow.  It is about 50km from Launceston.

The clouds were brushing its top when we arrived at its base.  By the time we had reached the top of the drive, we had experienced a drive very similar to the one up Ben Lomond. A similar gravel road cutting into the rock scree as it reached upwards, and the seven or eight switchback corners providing both concern and some welcome relief at times, welcome relief because it was only where these corners widened, that we were able to pass three cars that were coming down as we were going up.  We took two photographs on the way up at cloud level, in case we were covered in cloud at the top.

300415 Approaching Mt Barrow and the cloud

300415 The view from just below cloud level

300415 The view from just below cloud level

300415 The road across the scree

300415 Pretty scary road

300415 Impressive road too

300415 The buttress at the end of the mountain

300415 The road below, including clouds and electricity cables

300415 Getting near the top

300415 The road and the buttress in the background

The highest point in the road was at the car park for the communication facilities.  The communication towers themselves were however at the top of a rocky outcrop.  This had to be scaled to get the best views - and it was done. 

300415 View from top of Mt Barrow 1 of 6 

300415 View from top of Mt Barrow 2 of 6

 300415 View from top of Mt Barrow 3 of 6

300415 View from top of Mt Barrow 4 of 6

300415 View from top of Mt Barrow 5 of 6

300415 View from top of Mt Barrow 6 of 6

The walk up and down was as scary as the road up the mountain.

300415 The rocky outcrop (the last bit) and part of the walkway to the top

300415 The last bit and part of the walkway to the top

300415 Taking a breather part way up the walk

300415 As far as one can go on top of Mt Barrow unless you work
for the communications company

300415 The very top is not accessible to the public

300415 More of the walkway with car park at the bottom

300415 The structure in the centre is two thirds of the way down

300415 From the structure to the carpark

300415 Heading down

300415 Elation at making it to the top or frustration the locked
gate stopped any further progress

Apart from the higher outcrop, the mountain top was quite flat and is obviously unsuitable for skiing, even though Mt Barrow is under snow in the winter.

300415 On the top, car park level

On a scale of 1 to 10 we would give Ben Lomond a 10 and Mt Barrow an eight and a half.

We made it down safely, had some lunch and then headed west to the Liffey Falls.  These are about 60km from Launceston near the town of, you guessed it, Liffey.  Mind you there is nothing but farms at Liffey, so this meant we had to head up into the mountains again.  At times we travelled through some pretty dense temperate rain forest, and old man tree ferns were quite prolific.

300415 Drys Bluff on the way to Liffey Falls 

The falls comprised four separate cascades, none of which was very high but which individually were pleasing to the eye.  There was another excellent example of a tessellated pavement at the top of the first cascade.

300415 Liffey River leading down to the first cascade

300415 The tessellated pavement at the top of the first cascade

300415 The second cascade

300415 The river between the second and third cascade

300415 The third cascade

300415 The fourth cascade 

300415 The fourth cascade through the trees

By the time we left the falls the sun was sinking quickly.  We managed to capture one view which was typical of the country we passed through on the way home.

300415 A country view near Exton as the sun lowered

Our final task for the day was to see the South Esk River as it passed by Hadspen, the home of our current caravan park.  It was flowing strongly as it made its way down to the Tamar River.

300415 The South Esk River at Hadspen