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“Hi, I'm Shannon, during the summer of 2011 as a bursary student with Forestry Tasmania, I took the challenge to visit Forestry Tamania's 52 visitor sites.
Well this was definitely one of my favourite places to visit. Halls Falls in the north east, is located up near Blue Tier, and is the first attraction along the way to the Anchor Tin Mine Site and Blue Tier.
I parked my car, and headed off on the walk, passing through the shelter that forms the information booth. There are also a number of picnic tables in this spot, and some old mining equipment. The walk to the falls is only 30 minutes return, however if you want the full experience it is recommended that you dedicate about an hour and a half.
I set off, and the walk is relatively level, crossing over a few bridges in spots. If you keep your eyes out you will see signs that point out interest points. I think the first one I noticed was showing the Tin Miners Dam. Eventually you will reach a signpost at the lookout over the falls. From here you can decide which direction you want to venture off in and what attractions you’d like to see.
I first went down to the base of the falls. This track is only about 100m long, but it winds back on itself and is quite steep. The walk is worth it though, as down the bottom you get the best view of the falls. The rocks and track around the river can get a bit slippery, but I managed to climb onto a rock in the middle of the river to get my photo taken. I didn’t fall in, which disappointed the person I went with, who had the camera ready just in case!
After hiking back up to the top of the hill, I went to look at the weir. The weir was built for two purposes: firstly to divert water into water races for the purpose of slurring minerals, and for powering pelting wheels at the Halls Falls Sawmill. The track to get up there is a bit overgrown with ferns, but its a nice to spot to take in the river and the water above the weir was so still it looked like a mirror when I was there.
I decided not to bother looking at the rock pools, because I have seen a few waterfalls now and didn’t think it would be that inspiring. I started my walk back to the car park, but this time instead of going back the way I came, when I got the fork in the path, I took the loop walk back. This is a bit longer, and I actually wondered to myself why I went this way as it all looked the same as the other track to begin with. However, by the end I was glad I chose the longer track as there are some interesting things to see.
There are signs which tell you where these interest points are, such as the ‘Possum Bridge in the Sky’. If you look up at this point, you can see how the trees have formed in such a way that it looks like the possums have built a little bridge. My favourite one however, was the ‘Old Man of the Forest’. This is a tree trunk, which actually looks like a face!
So if you are up this one, I think this is a great place to stop off, and quite an easy walk into one of Tassie’s lovely waterfalls. Also if you are in the area why not check out the Anchor Tin Mine, or Blue Tier.
GPS Coordinates :
LAT : 41°15'20.53"S
LON : 148° 2'4.90"E
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52 Places to Visit