The never never

[tazzieguy]

Hi guys, As some of you know I will be walking through the never never in the coming weeks. Was wandering if anyone could pm me any tips or suggestions including a location of the 'tree' to cross the river. Also what is it like this time of year, some people say it is a great walk others say the never never means you never never want to go back there again! Cheers

[cixelsyd]

My wife and I did the Walls. It was in late April so kinda getting close to winter. I know every day can be Winter in Tassie. Frank in Oz has a pretty good blog about this walk. Take some salt and/or saline solution. The leeches were INCREDIBLE. My wife and I got to the point where we would casually pick off 2 or 3 of these each afternoon after walking. I had one on my eye. They were everywhere!

We actually loved the walk in April. In November it would be pretty spectacular and not as cold with longer days. You might want to take a bit of RID as well.

I liked doing the Walls to Lake St Clair better than doing the OT. Horses for Racetracks I guess. Good luck.

[Out_Walking]

I'm the bloke in the Frank in Oz blog who did the Never Never with my son in winter this year. We had a lousy day but one of the main problems we had was the short winter day. I'm thinking it would be a lot easier with more daylight. I guess with some warmer weather it could be better as well? Hang on, what am I thinking? I can imagine it's always wet through there!
The concept is pretty easy. I thought just follow the Mersey River for 5 kilometres and cross at the 'log'. Well, it was a little bit tougher than I imagined. I got the GPS reading off Frank which has the log on it. If you use a GPS I could help you out but it wouldn't be too hard to find I guess as it's upstream from McCoy's Falls. Summing up expect lots of mud, leeches and scrub. I'm reminiscing now by the way
I agree with cixelsyd in that it was a day of pain in an overall great walk! We walked from the Walls of Jerusalem through the Never Never and then went north back to Cradle Mountain. So many highlights...
I have my own blog of waffle where I have the hike written up in it. Have a look if you are bored but don't expect quality

http://www.hikingfiasco.com

[PeterJ]

Hi guys, As some of you know I will be walking through the never never in the coming weeks. Was wandering if anyone could pm me any tips or suggestions including a location of the 'tree' to cross the river. Also what is it like this time of year, some people say it is a great walk others say the never never means you never never want to go back there again! Cheers

There is also the option of crossing the Mersey on the natural rock bridge where the river goes through a gulch just below Fergusson Falls. It is a very pleasant walk that way with a couple of nice campsites to choose from.

As for the leeches, well it depends on how damp it is; I have been through several times without problems.

[Nuts]

The rock 'bridge' used to be quite popular. Mentioned last year that I had noticed that it and the opposite bank were starting to nicely recover with regrowth mosses and lichen. Beautiful area around there.... it was great to see it recovering..

[walkinTas]

If you use a GPS I could help you out but it wouldn't be too hard to find I guess as it's upstream from McCoy's Falls.

This log? Are you sure its UPstream from McCoy's?

[Out_Walking]

You got me racking my brain on this one. It has to be the same log and I have it upstream from McCoy Falls. I definitely crossed from the north to the south bank of the Mersey River before McCoy. Hopefully I'm correct here otherwise my memory is totally shot

[sthughes]

Yep that's the log. Just upstream of McCoy falls at 55G 429380 5358472 (ADG66)

Edit: Actually it's gone now. The easiest place to cross (at least when the water level is down) is about 200m upstream of that log on some other ones. They leed to a large open paddock area. Then just follow the bank roughly back to where that log crossing was.


Upsteam alternative:

[walkinTas]

After filling in the log book and climbing down to photograph Clarke Falls in the rain , I had no trouble following the track down from Clarke Falls all the way to McCoy. I took a photo of McCoy Falls from the river bank below the falls. I then continued on down a substantial track to well below the falls (at least ½ Km). When the track I was following became fainter I took my boots of and forded the river. The track on the otherside was much better so I put the boots on again and continued on my way. So you see I never actually used the tree to cross - hence my question about its exact location.

The only muddy or unpleasant part of the track, that I remember, was the last part close to the overland track. Its two or three hundred meters where the track left the river and before you join the track coming down from the OLT to Hartnett Falls (which you'll recognise from the old boardwalk).

[Out_Walking]

That makes perfect sense now! I wouldn't mind trying it again one day and do things a little differently. It sounds like your option wasn't too bad? I wasn't sure what to expect along there so I just followed the suggestions in the John Chapman book and in the end my walk was a replication of what Frank in Oz did a few years ago. He kindly sent me his GPS reading from the walk so I sort of stuck to that.
I'm sure in Tassie terms of walking the terrain is not that hard. We were a bit caught out by underestimating how long it would take to walk the distance. If only we had got out of bed earlier but the Lake Meston Hut was way too cosy

[cixelsyd]

Yep that's the log. Just upstream of McCoy falls at 55G 429380 5358472 (ADG66)

Hey sthughes. My wife and I met you at Meston Hut. I'm the guy with the Hillberg tent. Thanks for upping my tent in front of my wife. I showed that pic to my wife and she said "OH MY GOD".
By the time we got to the log her feet were soaked and I made it across ok but that last step of faith got the better of my wife and she slipped off the log. It's a good thing I was holding her hand. She was screaming and I had to say to her in a calm voice. Stop screaming. To which she replied, "Now my feet are wet". To which I replied "They were already wet". I love her to death. She is a great sport and really enjoyed that photo.

We are still smiling looking at it.


James

[Nuts]

There are two logs. The old route crossed a log well downstream of McCoys. It had its own well beaten path.... guess theres one on either bank now....

[cixelsyd]

I'm the bloke in the Frank in Oz blog who did the Never Never with my son in winter this year. We had a lousy day but one of the main problems we had was the short winter day. I'm thinking it would be a lot easier with more daylight. I guess with some warmer weather it could be better as well? Hang on, what am I thinking? I can imagine it's always wet through there!
The concept is pretty easy. I thought just follow the Mersey River for 5 kilometres and cross at the 'log'. Well, it was a little bit tougher than I imagined. I got the GPS reading off Frank which has the log on it. If you use a GPS I could help you out but it wouldn't be too hard to find I guess as it's upstream from McCoy's Falls. Summing up expect lots of mud, leeches and scrub. I'm reminiscing now by the way
I agree with cixelsyd in that it was a day of pain in an overall great walk! We walked from the Walls of Jerusalem through the Never Never and then went north back to Cradle Mountain. So many highlights...
I have my own blog of waffle where I have the hike written up in it. Have a look if you are bored but don't expect quality

http://www.hikingfiasco.com

Great Read Our_Walking. Gonna re-read it tonight. Sometimes when I'm out there I think "Why am I doing this" and when I'm sitting here reading about it, I can't wait to get back to it. Go Figure

[Out_Walking]

Thanks for the nice post cixelsyd! I'm enjoying hiking so much lately I find writing is a good way of reflecting on each trip. Doing a blog as well gives me an incentive to walk even more as it would be a pretty lousy hiking blog if I wasn't walking
At least I'm not alone in having days where I wish I was sitting at home instead of standing in mud getting belted by rain. What's worse is that I reminisce on these hikes where the weather was lousy and things were going wrong. I may need more time lying on a couch in a darkened room talking to a professional I think

[kanangra]

Just checked out the blog. I thought it was very professional! Loved the Never Never entry. Cracked me up. You know one thing I've learnt over the years is that I've never ever regretted making an early start on a walk.

K.

[Out_Walking]

Thanks for the nice comments kanangra! If one is looking for the exact details of a hike then mine is not the blog to go to. My writing style is more of the 'rambling' method! Oh yeah, I did learn my lesson. Winter walking means getting up early. I don't want to be caught out like that again