Recommended by:
CarrollEyre, geoskid & hookline |
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Description
This cache is placed at the Meander Falls which is at the southern end of the Meander Forest Reserve.
After leaving the car park the track generally follows along the southern bank of the Meander River. The track is well marked, highly visible and mostly
well graded but has some short but steeper sections.
The falls area is open and exposed being just under the lip of the plateau and is subject to snow and ice at any time of the year.
As always when walking in Tasmanian alpine areas....be well prepared and take all necessary caution.
Walking time to falls and return will be around 4hrs including plenty of rest breaks. Track is graded as medium.
From where you first see the falls....follow the track climbing uphill which will get you to the cache and up close and personal with the falls.
The last 20m to cache is a bit of a scramble...be very careful if wet and slippery or after heavy rains. There are considerable vertical drops near GZ so
please take great care.
Hope you enjoy!
For the ultimate walking adventure after visiting the falls and the cache you can detour and link onto the Split Falls Track. Having returned this way
myself I regard this walk as one of the most enjoyable and rewarding walks ever done. The total scenery is awesome and simply unforgettable. Time
taken will be around 5hrs in total back to car park.....so about 1hr longer than the way you came in.
This combined walk is rated as hard and involves walking up and over around 1km of rock scree. Certainly not for younger walkers or the inexperienced.
This detour is approx. 500m back from base of falls and sign posted. Follow this track north crossing over the Meander River and up the scree slope.
When up the first section look for and stay on the rock cairns which will guide the way into the saddle. The 360 degree views from here are stunning
and very similar to the Walls of Jerusalem. Follow the track markers through some short scrub heading NE where you'll cross another short section of
scree. After a short distance walking through alpine scrub you'll pass the sign posted junction to Ironstone Mt. Stay to the right and gradually descend
east into the forest where you'll find another track junction at S41 43.485 E146 31.852. Taking this fork to the right will lead you to the cache at Split
Rock Falls.
The track from here follows the creek downstream where you'll find another set of falls. Continue on past the base of Split Rock, across the
Meander River and back to the car park.
I would suggest getting more detailed notes on the tracks from various published walking books.
As always...take great care...but most of all.... enjoy.
Hints
Gjb zrgerf fbhgu sebz onfr bs qrnq gerr, orfvqr ynetr ebpx. |
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Decode |
Gallery
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July 2010
November 2009
Got up next morning to good, warm weather and had started walking by around 10.30. Nice walk up, beautiful river, impressive crags looming on the right. Reminded me quite a bit of the trail up to Western Creek falls, but this time thankfully with no horror 30 degrees or heavy backpacks! The falls themselves were an impressive sight for sure, and we spent quite a bit of time sitting up on the cliffs, taking photos, resting, eating lunch with the falls thundering down the cleft at out backs, gazing out over the valley and watching a pair of wedge-tailed eagles circling overhead. There was some initial confusion over how high up we needed to climb to get to the cache, but it was found quickly enough.
After awhile, we set off back to the Split Rock junction and were greeted with a rather intimidating and slightly demoralising vast mountainside of barren bouldery rock scree. No easy slog up there. Looked like a whole mountain had crumbled! But it was easier going once over the saddle. Then it was all downhill, over a final stretch of rock scree and descending into the depths of a moss-ridden forest with awesome dripping rock features and waterfalls everywhere. Picked up the Split Rock Falls and Cold Shower caches on our last legs and were back at the car by about 8 pm.
The loop walk is certainly a good way to see a great range of attractions in one day, as long as you have the stamina and your feet are up to the punishment! Unfortunately had to give Bastion Cascade a miss as we were a bit buggered the next day.
Thanks for a great journey!
Rated:
for Overall Experience
August 2009
The positioning of the cache itself couldn't have been better. It was a rocky scramble to find it, and we were rewarded with the waterfall splashing on us on one side and the mountainous views on the other. The sun came out just at the right moment and we got some great photos. We were however, sadly disappointed that we found no snow or ice on out adventure.
The walk to the waterfall was fabulous with the rapids of the Meander River thundering down the right hand side of the indistinct track.
Thanks Sirius for yet another fantastic adventure cache. We are looking forward to doing more walks in the area next year.
Rated:
for Overall Experience
This outing had been planned for a couple of months with several work/scout mates with the intention of seeing ice covered trees and also "enjoying" a tough walk but the weather the day was too mild for ice. The walk was rigorous enough especially the roundabout return trip. So the CEyrettes were not invited (and they are not too happy about that fact...)
The walk in took us just over two hours in with a few small breaks on the way. Several large trees have fallen across the track and they have to be carefully clambered over/around. The conditions were overcast though at times the sun weakly peeked through the clouds and the forest to make a magic golden green glow. The Meander Falls came into view as we crossed a scree slope and while we stopped to take photos the drizzle set in pretty much for the rest of the day. Our arrival at the base of the falls seem to occur pretty quickly and then it was time to drop packs and armed with cameras and GPSr explore the area. The cache was thankfully easily found as the area around the GZ is just too dangerous for extended looking, more so if the rocks were encrusted in ice (like we had hoped for). A lunch break followed and then the reason why the kids were not invited, that is the meander back to the car.
We scrambled up the scree slope to the plateau, walked over to the Lonely Lake, admired Ironstone Mountain in a break of the clouds and then meandered three and a half kilometres along the escarpment east to the Dixon track. From here we carefully stepped down the steepish track admiring the many falls of Stagg Creek till we reached the Ward Maynard track loop. Our arrival at the car was some seven hours after we left....
The Falls are well worth the effort. I am planing to come back to put out more caches out when the CEyres are bigger and stronger, or if the weather is cold enough to make lots of ice, or if some other cachers want the company.....
Thanks Sirius for a placing the cache at an awesome waterfall.
Rated:
for Overall Experience
June 2009
March 2008
sun was still out and fairly clear, we decided to do the Split Rock
loop as recommended. Once we picked up the start of the cairns on the
rock scree we were OK, they were quite easy to follow, but hard going. We were just about in the saddle when quite suddenly the fog rolled in and it started snowing lightly. It was very windy, but the
fog was'nt so bad that we couldt see the next cairn, luckily! Once we
were down the scree and picked up the marked track we were home and hosed. Went down to Split Rock Falls(DNF)track and a wonderfull walk along the Meander River. By the time we got to the bridge we could almost taste the Boags on ice at the caravan, and 5 mins later we did! Thanks Sirius for a Caching/Bushwalking experience I'll remember for a long time. All up time for us was 6 3/4 hours, including 1 1/2 hours approx. stops for eating,photos,cache hunting.
Rated:
for Overall Experience