Winterbrook Falls

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Winterbrook Falls

Postby Chrisbulldog » Fri 09 Jul, 2010 1:52 pm

Party of 4 of us went to Winterbrook Falls yesterday . The track is quite boggy in places which is unusual for that one , however there is a decent flow coming down the falls at the moment rather than the usual trickle .The king billy pine forest is looking good as usual but quite a few trees have blown over in places , one has smashed through part of the duckboarding in the early part of the walk. Cheers Chris.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Crum » Tue 03 Aug, 2010 4:11 pm

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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Chrisbulldog » Thu 05 Aug, 2010 11:55 am

Well I hope some have found the info useful . Will add a couple of pics for you shortly Crum. Cheers Chris
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby greyim » Fri 13 Aug, 2010 7:02 pm

It's a great walk, always good
Nothing beats a nice camp fire
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby tasadam » Sat 14 Aug, 2010 9:08 am

Crum wrote:Image

Looks like Crum got bored?

Yes, Winterbrook is a great walk, lots and lots of interesting fungi in that forest March to June.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Chrisbulldog » Thu 19 Aug, 2010 5:05 pm

Here are a few pics of the above walk . Cheers Chris
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Chrisbulldog » Thu 19 Aug, 2010 5:14 pm

Some more pics
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some nice fungi
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directly under the falls
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lunch time
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby walkinTas » Thu 16 Sep, 2010 5:16 pm

How hard is it to find the track up from the falls to the Blackbluff plateau?
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Crum » Fri 17 Sep, 2010 9:52 pm

Its very easy to find. Theres a fork in the track pretty much straight after you pass Paddy's Lake. The top of the falls wouldn't be anymore than 400-500m from the Black Bluff summit track. They are in the slight dip you can see here. Excuse the crappy dark photo

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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Chrisbulldog » Tue 06 Sep, 2011 4:55 pm

Went on another walk to these falls with different group. Track ok , couple of boggy bits. The gravel road leading
to them however is a little soft towards then end. Been reports of cars getting bogged. Some logging in the area.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby mjdalessa » Sat 12 Nov, 2011 6:13 pm

Hi Chris,
How long did this take you? Would it be any more than an hour each way to the the top of Black Bluff? Why is this not the usual approach to Black Bluff when it seems shorter and more scenic?
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Chrisbulldog » Mon 14 Nov, 2011 7:27 pm

Hi MJ. Takes about 2.5 - 3 hours to get to the base of the falls from the Smiths Road carpark. Now I havn't actually walked from there to Black Bluff but have seen
the beginning of the track and it is an almost vertical boulder climb . This I believe takes you to the top of the falls themselves , then it is another climb
from there to the bluff itself.
The main attraction of going to Black Bluff is the views from the top , and these appear from about half way up the normal way from Loongana Road .
Apart from the vegetation and the falls themselves (which stop to a trickle without rain) there is no scenery as such on the way to the falls . So this
is why most folk divide this area into the 2 walks . Another is that this bluff is notorious for cloud to hang over it . Also there is still a little snow on it.
Good historic stuff regarding the tramway that was in the area once etc though. So I hope this answers your questions.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby dplanet » Sat 04 Feb, 2012 4:47 pm

I recently walked the tramway track to Winterbrook Falls as a pack carrying trip and camped at Paddys Lake, the base of Black Bluff (see photo attached). The plan was to walk up to the summit the next day; but, weather conditions did not allow. It rained all night and the winds got so wild in the morning. The campsite is rather exposed and it was a heart-broken decision to abandon the plan. Did the packing under the tent fly, tried to get myself ready (covered with the windstopper, parka, gloves, beanie..) and waited for a few hours untill the weather improved. Fortunately, when I got out the sun was also out and it continued to be kind so that I had the chance to wander along the south side of the lake for some good views of the bluff to the west, then quickly climbed back up to the main junction, the saddle on the open ridge that provides the access to Black Bluff in the northwest, Penguin Cradle Trail (ssw) and Winterbrook Falls (se) with some wonderful views of Black Bluff Range in fine weather. It had been a bit of hard work (with the pack) on the day before to get to this junction from the Tram Track - Winterbrook Falls carpark and had also been a great relief with Paddys Lake in sight.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby tastrekker » Wed 04 Apr, 2012 11:39 pm

Chrisbulldog wrote:...Now I havn't actually walked from there to Black Bluff but have seen the beginning of the track and it is an almost vertical boulder climb. This I believe takes you to the top of the falls themselves, then it is another climb from there to the bluff itself....


The track to Black Bluff from Winterbrook Falls starts from a little way below the falls, a short distance along Maxwells Track. It goes up through trees then alpine scrub. The only walking on rock before reaching the Brookes/Penguin-Cradle Track is a fairly level section over slabs once you are well above the falls. By the sound of Chrisbulldog's comment some people must be climbing beside the falls which, I agree, would be a tad dodgy.

I've walked from the Tramway Track to Black Bluff several times and this would be my preferred way to climb the mountain. It is a bit longer than Brookes Track from Loongana but there is less altitude gain. The vegetation and terrain are more varied on the Tramway Track with Winterbrook Falls and the historic tramway added bonuses.
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Winterbrook Falls

Postby tasadam » Thu 05 Apr, 2012 1:04 am

tastrekker wrote:The track to Black Bluff from Winterbrook Falls starts from a little way below the falls, a short distance along Maxwells Track. It goes up through trees then alpine scrub. The only walking on rock before reaching the Brookes/Penguin-Cradle Track is a fairly level section over slabs once you are well above the falls. By the sound of Chrisbulldog's comment some people must be climbing beside the falls which, I agree, would be a tad dodgy.

A little way below the falls?
Via Smith Plains Road, the walk takes you out to a view of the falls, then good boardwalk leads around ro the base of the falls.
This route, is it along here somewhere (left of falls) or is it beyond the falls (on the right)?
Only been to the base of the falls once & wasn't looking for a route.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby shazcol » Thu 05 Apr, 2012 8:53 am

tasadam wrote:A little way below the falls?

Adam if you follow the boarded section to the base of the falls (don't go left to the actual base of the falls) you then go down to your right and follow the creek / gully downhill for a short distance. You may see a couple of markers in the trees on your left that are white and have a cross in them. Keep going past them further downhill and you will come to an obvious creek crossing point and an easy to follow track on your left, cross here. After a short walk you will come to a very large tree with a faded sign on it and a 'T' junction. This is the Maxwells track that you will follow uphill to the 'Eye of the Needle' and onto the plateau between the top of the falls and the lake. The track starts out quite steep.

On the way back down you can continue past this 'T' junction point and further down the Maxwells track (300-400M?) you find a junction to your right that links back to the Tramway track (you may have noticed this taped junction on the way up the Tramway track?). Makes for a smaller re-trace. You can of course follow the Maxwells track all the way back but it's a bit of a walk around to the other car park if you don't have a car shuffle or bike.
If common sense is so common, why don't you see more of it?
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Tortoise » Thu 12 Apr, 2012 6:39 pm

Thanks, guys. I should have read this last week.
Had an impromptu visit to the falls yesterday arvo - it's been too many years. We were stepping it out a bit on the way back as we started so late, and had to retrace a couple of times when we missed junctions & realised not right. Silly :-(
There seemed to be a couple of other tracks too, with pink ribbons going off in a couple of directions. Maybe just little bits joining up again. Will go back again soon with your notes in hand. :-)
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Chrisbulldog » Sat 28 Apr, 2012 2:06 pm

Sorry havn't been about , should have been commenting on this walk , seeing ive been there 3 times in 12 months , plus recently up to Black Bluff. No the track to the top isnt beside the falls ..is as described above. Plus ..if you keep going past that juntion , you join Maxwells Track , which goes down through some nice forrest to come out on a roadway. Unless you have a car shuffle, its a rather laborious walk on gravel road back to the car park. This forms an interesting circuit.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby waterlily » Sun 13 May, 2012 10:20 pm

Hi, I just came across this forum while looking for information on Winterbrook Falls. Can anyone comment - is it ok (apart from leeches! yikes!)to walk this track alone, not needing much experience or gear as it is only a short(ish) walk? I'm fit, nimble, people will know where I am... Is a 4wd recommended for gravel road at the moment? Your comments will be appreciated... The walk is a birthday present to myself! :-)
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Tortoise » Mon 14 May, 2012 4:27 pm

Hi Waterlily. Welcome to the forum!

There shouldn't be a problem with 2wd - we did it in a Honda Jazz about 4 weeks ago. Only trouble was some trees down (which we could go under!) - but i expect they would have been cleared by now. we went in and out the Tramway track, after the driver missed the last turnoff in his haste. The bit of road we did towards Maxwell track was definitely rougher, but ok for 2wd as far as we saw.

re going on your own - you'd probably have a lot of different advice on this one! My choice wouldn't be this walk, because we didn't find the track that clear. Admittedly, the guys i was with were moving pretty quickly because we started so late in the day (see above). But there were several times we had to backtrack - pink ribbons clearly going in 2 different directions, not always where i was expecting a track junction. the forest is pretty open in many places, so several options can look promising as the right way. Maybe the worst that would have happened would have been ending up on Maxwell track and finishing after dark, then the couple of kms of road. But that wouldn't be much fun by yourself.

Also, up at the falls themselves, the track is very steep / slippery rocks - easy enough to turn an ankle. Just take it carefully if you do it. Not much gear could be a problem - it was 4 degrees when we were there, which could get dangerous without a decent rainjacket / beanie / gloves etc if you add rain to that, and having to scout around for the track. I'm wondering about recommending somewhere else, depending on how far you want to travel from where.

I do hope you have/had a lovely birthday, and feel free to ask more questions
Cheers
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby waterlily » Tue 15 May, 2012 3:07 pm

Thank you so much. I've got a bit of a cold so I'm not going to do a walk, but I would love any suggestions for walks ok to do solo :-) I reckon I'll do Winterbrook with my partner some time soon. Cheers!
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Chrisbulldog » Sun 20 May, 2012 11:41 am

In one way would be a good time to go as there is a good fungi display at this time of year along this track.
Went to Balfour track yesterday and there is a good display there too.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby greyim » Thu 08 Nov, 2012 10:20 am

Alas found Smith Plains Rd blocked by several wind blown pines have closed the road to Winterbrook.
Maybe been down since storm several weeks ago?
If FT doesnt do the roads will parks be up for it?!
Will take a large saw next trip maybe they'll be gone by then
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby tastrekker » Thu 29 Nov, 2012 9:42 am

Fallen pines can be bypassed using forestry roads to the north of Smiths Plains Road. Several turns need to be taken so a good sense of direction will help. When I was there last month orange tape showed the way.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby greyim » Sun 02 Dec, 2012 7:05 am

Cool is that via Meyston Rd?
Last edited by greyim on Wed 19 Dec, 2012 8:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby tastrekker » Wed 05 Dec, 2012 11:15 pm

Hi greyim,

I don't know what to do with a kmz file so I can't see it but, yes, part of the drive-around goes via the southern section of Mostyn Road.

Last group I went to Winterbrook with did a through walk starting with the Tramway Track to the falls, up the Thread The Needle route onto Black Bluff then down Brookes Track to Taylors Flats. We used Mostyn Road on the car shuffle between Loongana and Smiths Plains.
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby Son of a Beach » Thu 06 Dec, 2012 7:48 am

(KMZ are for storing routes, marker, etc for display in Google Earth, or Google Maps).

(PS. Or Maps n Trax of course :-) )
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Re: Winterbrook Falls alt. access road Nov 2012

Postby greyim » Sun 10 Feb, 2013 6:49 am

Nothing beats a nice camp fire
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Re: Winterbrook Falls

Postby howhardcanitbe » Sat 20 Feb, 2016 7:50 am

Access to Black Bluff, Winterbrook Falls, Maxwells Track and the Tramway Track currently starts at the quarry at 417000 5411250 on the Loongana map as there is a large hole in the road just beyond this. This adds about 1km to the Tramway Track and several kilometres to Maxwells Track. The Tramway track is well signed and took about 2 hours to Winterbrook Falls and another 2 hours to Black Bluff via the Eye of the Needle.
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