Tag: waterfall

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Machinery Creek Falls 4 2018 Aug

Machinery Creek Falls 4. Aug 2018


Machinery Creek has at least five waterfalls (one of which is Phillips Falls). Staring at the other four on the map, and being lured by their very existence into visiting each one, I called them, like a parent bereft of brain, Machinery Ck Falls 1, 2, 3 and 4. At least everyone kind of knows what you’re talking about – provided they start counting at the same end as you did. I thought the lowest ones, and the only ones people seem to post photos of, should be number 1. The water was maybe going to come over my gumboots if I went to falls 1, so I decided to work backwards for now, and begin at number four. Tessie and I ate lunch, and off we set. She does love this bagging business.


My noble waterfall bagging companion; adventuring together. 
The forest is really very pleasant in this area, especially now, in the cool and lack of glare of winter, and we enjoyed the roughly contoured section of most of the walk, only dropping to the falls after the last minute. I did actually go to where the track we were walking on crossed the creek, to see if we could see the falls from there, and, when we couldn’t, backtracked a bit. It was all a fun exploration. There’s still plenty left, that’s for sure.


Looking back upstream from the head of the falls.
Standing at the top of these falls is like standing at Herods Gates. There is a hint of a whole world of wonder, just out of reach, yet adumbrated by the shadows and sounds. You sense rather than see the mighty gorges just out of reach ahead of you. I need to go back, preferably with company, to see more of this stunning area. For now, we explored Falls 4, and then followed along above th stream for a while, just to see what we could see, before taking a good spur back up to the road we’d originally walked along. As wth Tin Spur Falls, there were lots of shades of orange in the rocks, and tannin in the water, so that the colours were wonderful, especially when contrasted with the green ferns.

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Tin Spur Falls 2018 Aug

Tin Spur Falls Aug 2018


Being one of those odd individuals who spends some of her time map-staring, I had noticed a waterfall on a creek named Tin Spur Creek, and, being highly imaginative, had named the falls “Tin Spur Falls” and added them to my ever-expanding bucket list to do some day, one day.
Very recently, a photo got published of these falls that looked very beautiful, so I was spurred to push it up the queue. The trouble was, however, that the people who had been to it made it sound like the descent was a VERY BIG DEAL. Yes, it was steep, and yes, some of the footing was a bit loose, but I have experienced a lot worse than this one. Anyway, as I was expecting dire dangers, the reality was rather pleasant by comparison.


However, if you are not very experienced, please don’t use that judgement as an indication that it is easy. ‘Hard’ and ‘easy’ are words that are VERY relative to the user. I have now climbed nearly all of Tasmania’s Abels (high mountains at a rough summary), and have visited about 140 waterfalls. I am thus making comment on this waterfall from a base of a great deal of experience. I would not, for example, ever bring a bushwalking club down that slope. I was nervous about taking Tessa, but she coped admirably.


She and I loved these falls so much that we lingered around their fine spray for over an hour, photographing and also appreciating the delicate tracery of water as it made patterns cascading over the jutting tangerine rocks. I was sad when it was time to go back to the car, but I was hungry by then.


On the logical approach to the falls, you will come to a locked boom gate across your path, so you need to park and walk further than you might have expected ( a whole 12 minutes in each direction). Both Tessa and I enjoyed that walk on contour before we began the tough stuff. It was a time to look at the scenery and dream, and to marvel at the lake spread out below us, shining in the sun. I would not have enjoyed the waterfall quarter as much if I had been able to park right next to it. I wish all waterfalls had at least a 30 minutes’ walk to reach them. That would help protect them against many of the vandals who terrorise their vicinity. I would postulate that there is a strong inverse relationship between ‘car-to-falls distance’ and destruction to a fall – or to any item of nature. Generally, the further you penetrate into wilderness, the lighter is the human tread.


If you don’t feel up to the challenge of the descent, I think it is still very enjoyable to walk on the closed road to the top of the falls and enjoy what that area has to offer. There is a little track to the left, going upstream from the road; Tess and I explored a bit of that as well. Hunger cut the exploration short.

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Mathinna Falls 2018 Aug

Mathinna Falls, 2018, 1st Aug


Tessa and I didn’t set out for Mathinna Falls until after lunch (in Launceston). The days are winter-short, but google said it would only take two hours to get there (correct), and about ten minutes to walk from the carpark to the falls (also correct). We were thus at the falls by 3.30 pm, which should have been just about perfect. The day was sunny, but the valley which cuddles these falls is steep and closed in, so no sun was present to glare up the water. It was actually quite dark and gloomy in there, even at that hour, and seemed much later. My early shots have a slightly golden tinge up where the sun could reach.


I chose gumboots for this journey, figuring there’d be a lot of water, and off we set. Good choice: water burst the banks and spilled out over sections of the track. The falls could be heard thundering and crashing up ahead. I was worried about Tessa being stupid, but she was frightened, and stuck very close to me the whole time. Just a quick drink was enough for her to feel the mighty force of this water.


I was worried that the force of the water might pose tripod problems, but, well, that’s the reason I chose sirui, and it didn’t let me down: my tripod stood as solid as a rock in the rushing, pounding stream. There is no problem with sharpness in my images. My problems are mine alone, and have to do with the enormous dynamic range between the very dark foreground and side frames, and the overly light falls, made very bright by the massive volume of water. I had a similar problem in Iceland. You need to do exposure blending, and you need to have photos of very different exposures. I didn’t go fast enough on the falls part of the shot. I need to be more extreme next time in this situation. I thought I had it covered, but I wasn’t quite right.


My boots were an interesting choice when it came time to climb up to the next two levels of falls. I found they were very slippery indeed on the rocks, and, as I didn’t feel like packing everything away for that climb, I negotiated the tricky climb with my camera and its filters plus tripod in one hand, leaving only the other hand for clinging to obstacles to stop me sliding backwards. I’m afraid I looked (and was) cumbersome and clumsy – not for the first time in my life. Anyway, I got there, and I saw a beautiful waterfall, and learned some valuable lessons for next time. Sunset behind Stacks Bluff on the way home was a treat.


I chose the longer but faster (for me) route via Fingal. From there, I headed north to Mathinna, and took the road over the bridge heading for Ringarooma. After that turn, there are signs to the Mathinna Falls. It’s a pity they’re not signed from Mathinna itself. The cyan line above begins at the carpark.

 

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Geryon Base Camp Falls

Geryon Base Camp Falls


Bruce and I stumbled across this pretty little waterfall on our first trip to Geryon Base Camp in about 2014.
I have since seen it on several occasions, and have made the time to get out my tripod and photograph it. It is not easy to get at, but I like it nonetheless.