Sat, 18th Apr, 2015 Pyengana Recreation Ground (Halls Falls & the Blue Tiers)

Warmer night, 17 degrees at 8am and overcast. Dairy cows have moved into the paddock beside us.

Texted Suzanne to wish her a Happy Birthday. Will give her a call later.

The sun is trying to peak out as we headed off to explore. Turned off the main road to find Halls Falls. Info about the Blue Tiers Discovery Trail.

A couple of axles from the ore carts that were hauled by horses on timber rails.

The info hut with big timber posts.

Nice walk – over the little stream.

Down a steep bit to the lookout. For once someone has been here and cut down some bushes to keep the view clear. There are lots of little falls along the river.

The sign shows the rock pools etc in a different position to the big sign as we came in. Decided to go up to the rock pools first.

Narrow track.

Steve climbed out onto the rocks in the middle of the river.

Looking upstream to the weir.

Then downstream.

Spotted this cute red breasted bird on the log. Might be the Scarlett Robin.

Walked further down to look up at the water cascading down beside the big rock Steve was standing on.

Then downstream again.

Looks so nice Steve had to take a photo of me too.

It just keeps cascading downstream.

Back up to the track and we went further upstream to the weir. It fed into a water race to provide water for tin mining and to use in the sawmill.

Downstream.

Zoomed in on where we were before and the water rushing down past the big rock.

There was a cleared track heading off through the bracken fern so decided to follow it. One track veered off heading to the creek again and the other kept going further up then stopped. Maybe someone was trying to find old mines or something.

Walked back to the lookout platform then walked down the hill to the actual Halls Falls. The right side.

Found a spot to get both sides of the falls in one picture as a big tree has fallen down. Someone has chopped it though to try and unblock the view.

As we walked back I spotted a mini water race. Works well.

Walked back following another track. Lovely tall trees.

Old tree with ‘shoe’ holes.

Someone in the Forestry had a good imagination.

Next was the ‘Possum Bridge in the Sky’.

Then the ‘Bee Tree’ – we didn’t go down to see if the bees were there.

This tree is still living even though the centre has been burnt out.

This one was good – ‘The Old Man of the Forest’.

An elderly couple from near Toowoomba had arrived as we came out. They asked about the track and I said it would be a bit hard for them as she looked like she could hardly get out of the car. Showed them the photos of the falls. She was originally from Waratah so had a chat about Greens Point etc. I said there had been a big funeral there and she said it was her daughter’s father-in-law. Small world.

Had a cuppa then headed up off to find the Anchor Mine and Stampers. Crossed the Groom River.

Found the entrance marked with pink ribbon.

The track had just been cut as the bracken on the ground was still green.

Followed it along the edge of the Groom River.

Came out to what looked like another track which had timber edges etc so not sure what has happened that they have cut this new track in. Found the water race.

Out onto a platform overlooking where the Anchor Mine used to be. Now the trees have taken it all back.

Info board. Alluvial tin was discovered in the Groom River in 1880 and the Anchor Mine was worked by two men. It changed hands a lot of times as they had problems getting enough water to be able to run the stampers efficiently and profitably. There was a 40 head stamper here originally and a huge water wheel weighing 100 tonnes (recorded to be the largest in Tasmania). Unfortunately they could only get enough water to turn it to power 30 of the 40 heads. Another man came in 1895 with another 50 head stamper and Pelton Wheels but again the water supply stopped it being productive. In 1898 a 48km water race was built to transport the water from North George River. Amazing this area was still being worked till 1996. Now the Forestry and local community are protecting the area for tourism purposes.

Great photos.

You could see the stamper from the viewing platform.

Walked down to another platform to check them out.

One lot were made in Launceston in 1883.

The other set was from Castlemaine.

More info about the stampers.

Some other old machinery behind the stampers. Beneath us would have been the shaker plates that the tin and gold were collected on.

The boardwalk that runs along the top of the dam wall.

Still full of water but also full of lots of reeds.

There was another track heading up the hill so of course we followed it. Found some old ore buckets that would have been used on the aerial haulage. Ore from three mines was transported down to the Anchor site for processing in 1905.

Followed another water race.

We climbed up the bare sandy hill which was the tailings from probably the latest mining.

Back to the main path which we continued on up the hill. Further on there were trees down so obviously they have decided it was too much to fix up so they opened up the new track.

Headed back to the truck then continued further along the road to find the old mining town of Lottah. Not the most used track as the bush is closing in.

We have noticed some triangle signs with 2 or 3 on it and then at an intersection one road had a 2 and the other an X so we decided to follow the 2 as ‘girlie’ was a bit confused. As we headed down it the bush was closing in and ‘girlie’ was off in the wilderness so we turned around. Obviously it was an old timber track. Back on the X road and eventually we got to Lottah (420m). A few houses here.

Further on we wound our way up the narrow road to the Blue Tier Reserve (740m). The clouds have come over and the temperature has dropped. I had my big coat but Steve had left his in the van!!!

Kept driving on to Sun Flats to try and find a sheltered spot for lunch.

Found the old foundations of a house and the concrete platform for the water pumps they used to sluice the tin out of the ground.

Some old pipe and one of the many water races that covered this area.

The ground cover looks like snow and it feels cold enough to snow!!

Back to the other spot where we found a shelter to hide in for lunch.

This guy got squashed when I closed the door – so glad he didn’t fall on me.

This area was the township of Poimena. Amazing to look at the town plan and see what is left of it now.

Great photos and information about the area.

There are lots of walks to do too. We were going to do one of the 2 hour ones that climb to the summit of either Australia Hill, Mt Poimena or Mt Michael for great views over the Blue Tiers and across to St Helens but unfortunately the clouds have closed in so will have to give it a miss. There is a short walk through the forest “Goblin Forest Walk” so headed off to do that one.

Some info boards along the way.

Ended up on one of the old streets – George St.

Looking up at Mt Poimena which is the highest mountain on the Blue Tier at 816 metres.

The site of the school and the last miner here lived in it. It was the last building here.

The Moon Valley Rim walk goes up to those rocks.

As we headed back down the hill the sun came out – oh well. Great view to the coast. Might come back when it is a good sunny day.

As we drove back into Lottah I noticed this nice house, complete with pool was For Sale.

Looking down over Lottah.

Followed the road towards Gould Country – lovely green farming area.

Looking back at the Blue Tiers.

Cute old house.

Back onto the highway and we headed back to Pyengana. Steve had put a heap of rocks in a bucket to sieve from the Ringarooma River where we were getting a lot of the little topaz. We drove to the George River to get some water to sieve the dirt.

Found a few more to add to our collection.

One nice smokey quartz too.

Back to the van for a cuppa. The clouds have come back and it has started to rain. Steve put the generator on so I worked on my blog and Steve watched whatever he could on TV – reception isn’t that good.

Getting cool again – yummy leftover stew for dinner.