Having spent almost two weeks housesitting on the north face of Quamby Bluff, it seemed timely that we make the short drive up the Lake Highway to do the standard hike.
Quamby Bluff is hard to miss on the horizon if you live in the Meander or Mersey valleys. It floats like an island separate to the Great Western Tiers escarpment, but is very much a part of this magnificent Northern Tasmanian feature.
The standard hike, the one that most people do, is approached from the east just off the Highland Lakes Rd or Lake Highway. The track is well marked and takes you at first past the Buddhist centre, then continues up through lush rainforest, before arriving at a large scree field.
Scree field
View of Projection Bluff from the scree field
A few hops and skips over the boulders and you enter the myrtle cloud forest that takes you up to another smaller, steeper boulder field, with large monoliths to scale, and suddenly you’re on top of the huge Quamby plateau, where it’s all flat.
Myrtle cloud forest
Characteristics of a myrtle cloud forest
Smiling rocks
A short walk later through alpine scrub and we were at the trig point. Alas the normally 360 degree view of the surroundings was blocked by thick low lying cloud.
Last boulders to the top
On top of Quamby plateau
Hilde, Juli, Sarah and Jess showing their muscle
Every now and again, as we sat down to have a bite to eat, the clouds would part and reveal the stunning view to the east of Projection Bluff and further afield of Ben Lomond. We had to be quick to take a photo for as soon as we got our cameras out, the view was swallowed up by cloud once again.
A break in the clouds for a couple of seconds reveals part of Projection Bluff
We huddled behind some bushes to stay out of the wind and I noticed Juli was freezing. I gave her one of the extra jumpers I had packed, as well as hot tea to thaw her out. It seemed to do the trick. Despite it being a short hike, Quamby is a very exposed peak.
The game of hide and seek or rather - cloud and seek - continued while waited for the vistas to be stunningly revealed. We cheered each time a small part of the Meander Valley was revealed, like watching some titillating striptease. But the full lifting of the clouds didn’t happen until we were well on the way back down.
View of the flat plain of Jackey’s Marsh in the foreground and Meander Dam behind Warners Sugarloaf and Archers Sugarloaf (the smaller mountain)
The view we were graced with, and which I hadn’t seen before was the alternative perspective of Jackey’s Marsh. We could see down to Shanna’s hideout and the Japanese bathhouse. Behind Jackey’s Marsh was the Meander Dam, which looked quite empty after so many months of scant rain. The frame to all of this was the Meander Forest section of the Tiers displayed in all its glory.
Heading down the short steep boulder section
Heading down the short steep boulder section
The silent beauty of a cloud forest
Ancient environment. Some of the rocks are the oldest in Tasmania.
Cloudless now that we are down at the bottom
Fungi kingdom
Happy face fungi
Some of the funky fungi found in the rainforest
I’d heard so much about the Quamby Bluff track being long, arduous and steep. The local crossfit trainer in Deloraine had done it barefoot one winter. To be honest, I had expected a much longer and harder track than what we encountered. In the end it turned out to be relatively easy and quick going.
Quamby has lately been the battleground between environmental activists and loggers, with the Hands Off Quamby group successfully stopping logging. The logging hasn’t been quashed permanently, just relocated. The Dial Range on the northwest coast is now in the bullseye.