Tasmania is famous for its stunning waters embedded in magnificent rainforests and national parks. There are 230 known waterfalls in this island State. This famous Wilderness World Heritage Area is a landscape photographer’s haven. My best friend, also my traveling partner’s birthday falls in July, and instead of showering her with presents we tend to travel – to explore new countries and places together. We were in New Zealand last year, and this time we decided to support Australian tourism by exploring this lush, rugged island State.
After a seven hours plane journey we finally arrived in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart. I am one of those ‘lucky’ ones who can sleep in the plane and who doesn’t suffer from jet lag, so I arrived well-rested and ready to go. A car is a must in order to get around this vast and sparsely populated State so we picked up our rented vehicle at the airport and drove into town. Our route to the city took us across the Tasman Bridge – a huge structure which connects the city centre to its eastern suburbs. Straddling the estuary of the Derwent River, it rises majestically out of the water to a height of sixty meters, and while on it we got our first glimpse of central Hobart.
Once we had reached the other side we did not have far to go. Our hotel was on the river in the city’s docklands. The Hobart Waterfront is close to the centre of town, which makes it accessible, and a lot of money has been spent on rejuvenating it recently. This has been the entry and exit point for goods since the city’s beginnings, although it is still a working port, some of its old warehouses have been turned into hotels, housing and restaurants. Every effort has been made to retain its historic charm while doing so however, and the mixture of modern influences and rich heritage make it a very interesting place.
Our choice of accommodation embodied the character of the place perfectly. I love quirky hotels and wherever I go I try to stay somewhere that looks interesting and full of flair. The Henry Jones Art Hotel fits the bill perfectly. It is housed in one of the oldest aforementioned warehouses (and it was also used as a jam factory at one point), but rather than simply selling itself on its history, it has used it as a starting point to build on. Today contemporary art and stylish furniture occupy its space beside original wooden beams and exposed stone walling.
Hobart is beautiful, but in many ways it is similar to other Australian cities. The rest of Tasmania however, is not. When most people who have not visited Australia picture the country, they imagine vast hot red deserts, empty land and spinifex. That might be an accurate image of much of the continent, but Tasmania is very different. It is green, damp, mountainous and picturesque. Because of this, a large amount of the island has been set aside as national parks, and within these are many of its most impressive waterfalls. We decided to use our time to visit a few of them.
You don’t have to go far to experience spectacular temperate landscapes, and two of the most popular protected areas – Mount Field and Mount Wellington – both can be reached from Hobart in less than an hour and a half. You can reach Mount Wellington much quicker than that in fact, as it looms over the city forming a barrier to its westward expansion. The park includes a swath of the surrounding hills, and it is perhaps the most popular destination for locals looking to get out of the city and into the wilderness. It is criss-crossed with hiking trails, and its attractions include intriguing rock formations and breathtaking viewpoints.
We were not going on a long hike up the mountain, as three of its best waterfalls can be found on the edge of the park. A fifteen minute drive took us to the edge of the city, where our walk to the falls began. We had barely left the city’s outer suburbs, but we had already been transported into magnificent forest. The people of Hobart are truly blessed to have this right on their doorstep.
The trail took us up the gentle lower slopes of Mount Wellington, and before long we had reached Secret Falls. Despite being so close to town, the name is an apt one as it would be easy to walk right past it. Hidden away at the end of a miniature gorge it is a relatively small waterfall, but an exceedingly photogenic one. The water drops down in a single stream, between the bright green moss-covered rock faces and the ferns which cling to them. Above, the thick canopy blocks out the sunlight, and below the falling water barely covers the rocks which make up the floor of the gorge.
Just a few minutes further up the track was our second stop – Myrtle Gully Falls. While not as quaint as Secret Falls, it is a more impressive site with its curtain of water falling down a rock face almost like a set of stairs. Instead of dropping down in one go, the water hits ledge after ledge on its way down creating a peaceful effect when photographed with a slow shutter speed. Next we retraced out steps and took a different path – along the slope rather than up it – and before long we had reached Strickland falls. Similar in form to Myrtle Gully Falls, it was worth visiting as it was perhaps the largest of the three, and it allowed us to spend more time wandering through the tranquil woodland on the way there.
To see really spectacular waterfalls you need to get away from Hobart. Despite being pretty accessible by Australian standards, Mount Field National Park feels a lot more remote, and once out of Hobart you pass through very few settlements of any size along the way. It is one of Tasmania’s oldest protected areas, so the forest which carpets the slopes of its mountains are largely untouched. At higher altitudes the trees give way to misty windswept moorlands, punctuated with lakes and ponds.
In all it took us a few hours to walk to our chosen waterfalls and back. A short walk up through the forest took us to Russell Falls. This is one of the park’s main tourist attractions, and people have been coming to see it since its discovery in the 1850s. It towers above the viewing platform, and its water cascades vertically down its first half, before hitting a ledge and then descending the rest of the way down. It is an awe-inspiring sight – bigger, grander and more powerful than anything we had seen so far.
We then continued on a short distance to Horseshoe Falls, uphill on the steps which formed the path. This one receives less visitors than Russell Falls, but it is no less impressive. The water spills down a curved wall of rock into the stream below. Depending on how much water is flowing, the water often tumbles down all three sides of the rock forming the horseshoe shape from which it gets its name.
You could spend weeks in Tasmania exploring its natural beauty. If you are really adventurous, you could spend that time hiking its forests to remote and little known waterfalls. While we didn’t have the time or the inclination to go that far, we did manage to get a taste of what the island has to offer, and visited some pretty special places. It had been a great way to celebrate my friend’s birthday, and from a photographer’s point of view the waterfalls we visited made the trip. I arrived home with some incredible shots.
In November 2018, one of the photos I took of Horseshoe Falls was selected to be showcased at the Your Exhibition Shot exhibition at the Berlin Blue Art Gallery, Germany.
Prints from my Tasmania photo collection are available in a variety of different sizes and framing options. Please get in touch to find out more.
See also:
- Doubtful Sound – the cousin of Milford Sound
- New Zealand’s Glacier Country
- Off the beaten track – exploring the Remarkables and Nevis Road Duffers Saddle
