We headed down to Liffey falls on some back roads and forestry tracks to look at the falls and enjoy lunch at the picnic area. Then through Launceston to take a look at the Ben Lomond NP. which is also the main ski resort for Tasmania although a very small one. There is a great road called Jacob's Ladder that takes you the last part up the side of the mountain face to the ski field. 

Liffey falls and Jacob's Ladder at Ben Lomond NP.

The views are to behold and there would not be too many ski fields that you share with a lot of wallabies running around as well as wombats. The only problem we struck was, for the first time, a problem with the car. The water pump had started to leak on the climb up. So we made camp on the road out and then made our way back to Launceston to see if we could get a new one. Stopped at the first Repco and they had one sitting on the shelf so installed it in no time in the back parking lot.

Local ski resort with kangaroos,  wallabies and  wombats!

Continued in a north easterly direction through Lilydale to Bridestowe Lavender Farm where we took a tour to see the process of extracting the oil from the flowers that are the best in the world due to them being disease free and a pure strain. Demand way exceeds supply with most going to the perfumeries in France etc. We then camped the night outside Derby on the shores of Ringarooma river shown on page 198 of the book. The area used to have a tin mine so spent time exploring the area looking for old mine shafts.

Bridestowe Lavender farm and the town of Derby.

We then used the book to follow the routes from page 197 on the Cascade Dam road, to the Derby Jeep Track. I just had to check that out and get a shot next to the sign. The track was muddy in places and often just a small tunnel through the scrub. Well worth doing with challenges along the way. It was rated medium in the book and if it is wet it would be harder still.

With a 4wd track name like that I had to do it!

[BACK][1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][NEXT]