by tastrekker » Fri 19 Oct, 2007 10:09 pm
Bob Brown wrote a book called "Tarkine Trails" in 1993. Here's the trips he includes:
Short Walks (up to 2 hours) - Wild Coast Beaches; Rebecca Forests; Panorama Quoin; Balfour Track; Sumac Lookout; Julius River; Lake Chisolm; Dempster Lookout; Wes Beckett Falls; Milkshake Hills; Arthur-Hellyer Junction; Netherby Creek; Whyte River; Slender Tree Fern Walk
Day Walks - Wild Coast Beaches; Mt Hazelton; Mt Balfour; Banner Ridge; Mt Cleveland; Castray River; Mt Livingstone; Mt Donaldson
Epic Walks (Up to 10 days) - Grand Coast Walk; West Bluff; Marvellous Mt Edith and the Interior; The Meredith Range from the west, via Betts track, Mt Livingstone & from the east; The Longback; Conical Rocks down to Granville Harbour
Rafting (1 day to 2 weeks) - Hellyer, Arthur, Frankland, Rapid, Donaldson & Whyte
Bob wrote this book before the Western Explorer (aka Heemskirk Road or Road to Nowhere) which is why the Longback is listed as an epic walk whereas now, it is a short stroll.
Notable absences in Bob's book are the Wandle (Parrawe), Philosophers (Waratah) and McGowan (West Takone) Falls. My favourite Tarkine short walk is McGowan Falls.
McGowans Falls and the nearby Farqhuars Bridge over the Arther River have a very distinct Tarkine feel to them. The drive through Eliott, Yolla and Takone is very similar to anywhere else on the coast between Burnie and Devonport. However, instead of the land rising beyond the farms to mountains like Roland, Black Bluff and St Valentines Peak, the land suddenly drops away behind West Takone into the deep rainforested valleys of the Arthur River and its tributaries.