Rapid Travel Chai

Ranger Rachel at Freycinet National Park gave me the excellent 60 Great Short Walks Tasmania booklet (iPhone/iPad app available), recommending the hikes at Mt Field National Park for my Sunday morning. ‘Short Walks’ to a Tasmanian means walks that can be completed within a day, many are quite rigorous. This was the most useful material I found on the trip and should be included in any Tasmania planning.

The drive from Hobart to Mt. Field is an easy 1-1.5 hours northwest, passing lakes and rivers and then farms. The occasional real estate ‘for sale’ sign on homes is tempting.

Mt Field National Park

The three Mt Field Walks, Russell Falls, Tall Trees and Lady Barron Falls Circuit are linked together in a 2-3 hour circuit,, and each can be individually accessed by road for shorter stretches. Russell Falls and Tall Trees are quite easy and mostly flat, unless going up to Horseshoe Falls from Russell and continuing to link up with Tall Tress. Lady Barron Falls is a little more difficult and pales in comparison to Russell Falls so I wished I had conserved time and not bothered, but if not in a hurry it is a pleasant hike. Note that the description for Lady Barron includes the other two, taken alone it is around one hour.

Russell Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Russell Falls is a good falls. Tall Trees is populated by swamp gums (Eucalyptus regnans), the tallest flowering plant on Earth and second in height only to the California Redwood. The tallest on Tall Trees is nearly 90 meters. Ewoks may pop up on the walk.

Those swamp gums go up...

...and up

I left Hobart at 8:45 am and was done with the walks and heading for Port Arthur and the Tasman Peninsula by 11:15 am, noshing some Tassie apples on the country ride.