Castra Rivulet Falls/Walk confusion .

[MrCAMEL]

I've been very slack getting around to this,
But, the weekend before last I was driving around and on Gaunts Road, found a sign that read "Castra Rivulet Falls and Walk . . . . . " with the dots being the other board that was no longer on the sign.
I had a quick look around the internets beforehand, but didn't know there was a 'track', but did know there were a few waterfalls in the area.
Now I am very confused as to where I went and what watefalls are where. As the tasmaps and the coordinates in the wiki ( I think) conflict with a signpost near one of the falls.

After a short walk through the bush the first fall is quickly heard and seen.
Looking now, on http://www.thelist.tas.gov.au , ive searched for Castra Falls and applied the predefined layer, 1:25,000 topo maps and I believe I parked, where the start of the walk is, where the picnic area is marked.
I suppose the waterfall has 2 levels and the signpost at the lower one point to it being Silver Falls, yet the maps almost clearly define it as Castra Falls (which is on Nietta Creek anyways).
Top

Bottom


The other sign had "Circuit" written on it, so I was happy.

Not knowing what I was getting myself into. I was wearing my old work boots and had an almost plain white, good, Pommy Soccer Club jacket on (Man. United I think), with my Alpaca in one hand and camera under the other armpit.
Pushing on, the track became very hard to follow as there was massive amounts of debris laying everywhere and many of the track markers were on fallen trees or were overgrown or there were none for a very long time. The ground was very boggy, but everything was very pretty.



Then found these Falls, which on the maps now, from my poor judging of where I thought I was, looks to be the unnamed falls above Silver Falls (which was already signposted near the start).


After these falls and a short but quite a steep, muddy and slippery climb, I admit I got lost for about 30 minutes. I couldn't see a track at all. So I guessed and got it wrong. After walking in circles for half hour and getting very annoyed, I finally found my initial tracks. Surprising how easy it is to wander off even in such a small area!


This Waterfall was marked with a sign that has "Falls Lookout" pointing to a very dodgy moss/tree covered cliff. I went as far as I felt safe doing as it was very slippery. I could not really see the falls, but they sounded to be the most active of all seen that day.Z
On the map now, these falls look like they should be Silver Falls, as a short flat walk from these falls leads to the plantation marked on the map and the 4 minutes sprint back to the car.

By the end, I had fallen on my backside at least 10 times. M갠y previously unmarked white jacket was filthy and my poor little Alpaca was wetter and dirtier than he has ever been. For an 80-100 minute walk, you really do get to see a lot of different things. Lots of fun.

Now, does anyone recognise, or know the actual names of any of the waterfalls?

I hope that makes sense

[GerryDuke]

Thanks MrCamel. I have been only a little further than the falls signposted as 'Silver Falls' as you found. I also agree that on perusing the maps the the ones you found are possibly the real Silver Falls. People at the NW walking Club should know. And yes the track was very overgrown but very pretty.

Gerry Duke

[walkinTas]

Mr Camel, here is a map of the falls in this area with the co-ordinates as per the BWT Wiki. Is it possible that the first set of falls you reached were Step Falls? If so then the second set was Silver Falls. I too think Castra Falls are in Nietta Creek.

As you can see, there are six falls in the area. If you are thinking of returning for a second look and want some company, sing out.
wT.

[sirius Tas]

Hi All,
The tracks you first went on were built by FT quite some time ago...I actually mapped them with chain and compass(pre GPS of course)...but since then the tracks have never been maintained(to my knowledge) and would get little use. I'm sure the first falls you would have come to are known as Castra Falls. Getting to Step Falls is quite easy and only a 10 minute walk....as I have a Geocache there...see...http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga0948
Cheers

[walkinTas]

Thanks for that sT. So I have been to Castra falls! Must go back to Silver falls and Step falls some time soon. The track is not well maintained, but is still quite usable. The picnic area has been destroyed. I is a pity, with just a little bit of money for track maintenance, it would be a great little day walk around the three falls.

This fall is has a couple of drops as shown in MrCAMEL's two photographs. I did get a really good shot of the full falls - this is my best effort.

Do you have any information on Coxs falls and Violet falls?

[CEyre]

Why would Castra Falls be on Nietta Creek? Did the Forestry make a mistake with their sign at the base of Silver Falls or Castra Falls on Nietta Creek? The sign at the base of falls says Silver Falls yet the sign on the road says Castra Rivulet.In any case the falls are well worth a visit and it is a shame that the track has not been maintained.
Does anyone know if a track was made into the nearby Cox's Falls?

[walkinTas]

Why would Castra Falls be on Nietta Creek?

Yeah, there is some basis to the question. Its reasonable to think Castra Falls might be on Castra Rivulett.

However, Castra falls are shown as above on my 1:25000 map, and on theList (http://www.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap/l ... 28,4,20,10)

castra.png (381.83 KiB) Viewed 17853 times

(image from theList)

....But are there more falls on Castra Rivulet just below Nietta Creek?

I must make an effort to get back there. Anyone up for a walk?

Have you been to all four falls?

[Christine Dennis]

I am a member and Leader with the North West Walking club. I have lead walks into the gaunts road/ castra falls area. The falls we saw were step, silver and dynamo. the area around step and silver is like you said very overgrown, which is a shame as is a very pretty area. I did a rekky earlier and a friend and I went and explored the violet falls, but you have to do a river crossing and it is near an old guys shack, he was not in residence when we called, so we explored anyway. You pick up a track after the crossing which brings you out at top of falls, we then scrambled down to the bottom, then had to make our way back up a very steep bank. But well worth, am told the other Cox's, is even steeper. Nice country and spekky falls, go and have a try sometime. Granny