Lobster Falls - a great family day walk

[Son of a Beach]

On the Queens Birthday public holiday yesterday, the weather was fantastic. Those still and sunny days in the middle of winter in Tasmania really are wonderful. So our family, including a 2 year old and a 3 year old, headed off to Lobster Falls (near Chudleigh) with another family for a short walk. In all there were 10 of us, including 6 kids ranging from 0 to 6.

My wife and I did this walk once before, about 10 years ago - before we were married. We remembered it as being about 15 minutes each way, and so guessed it would take us about 45 minutes each way with the kids, for a total walking time of about 1.5 hours. It turned out to be somewhat longer than we'd remembered, and we also underestimated (again) how slow the little kids walk, and it ended up taking us 3 hours return from the cars (including about 15 minutes for morning tea at the falls).

This is a really great little walk in a small forest reserve around the Lobster Rivulet in amongst the farms. There's a bit of blackberry and gorse in the first section, but other than that, it's a good eucalypt forrest. The track is mostly clear and open and easy going, but there is a very steep and rugged bit with loose rocks at the very end when descending to the river. Most of the kids needed help down the worst of this bit at the bottom and had to bum-slide down the other parts of it. Some had to be carried.

All the kids needed help crossing the creek at the bottom, of course, and I was a little nervous carrying them across the slippery rocks, myself.

I was very proud of our 3 year old who thoroughly enjoyed her walk with no complaining for the entire trip (a first!), and ran back and forwards between other members of the group, and investigated various plants and sticks here and there. Our 2 year old walked nearly all the way in, but stubbornly dug her heels in and refused to walk any further right near the end. Turns out it was just before the steep bit that I would have had to carry her down anyway, so that worked out well. She'd been walking for nearly an hour and a half by then, so I think she did a fantastic job. She really enjoyed stomping across the bridges (3 short board walks) on the track. On the way out, she was carried about 2 thirds of the way, and then for the last third, got her second wind (due the banana at morning tea), and was happy to walk the rest of the way, even without holding anyone's hand.

We reckoned that 3 hours was a pretty big walk for all the little tackers, so we abandoned the plans of heading to Alum Cliffs after lunch, and had a relaxing late lunch at the picnic spot on Chudleigh where the kids played on the swings while we cooked up our pasta pesto and salami lunch on our bushwalking stoves and ate cheese on bikkies.

Here's a few photos taken at the falls while we're having our bananas for morning tea. The panorama is about the worst photo stitching job I've ever done including some really weird anomollies (due to the lack of exposure control on the phone-camera, and the stitching software repeatedly erroring out before finishing the job ). However, it does show the atmosphere of a great bunch of people in a wonderful place on a beautiful Tasmanian winters day.

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[Phil]

Thanks for the report Nik, I'll keep this one in mind for my little family

[Son of a Beach]

Oh, yes... for anyone with very young kids, the best bushwalking attire we've found for keeping warm is using a polarfleece sleep suit (ie, all in one single piece, usually for bed-tim), with the feet parts cut off so that they can wear proper shoes and socks to walk in. We've used this for our youngest (sitting on the rock admiring the view in the last picture) a few times now, and it works really well. Keeps them warm, and comfortable, and also allows them to walk around in proper shoes.

[Chrisbulldog]

Thanks for that report as ive been looking for small walks for my relatively inexperienced group to do over winter. Alos been looking at doing the Westmorland Falls in the same area. Cheers Chris.

[Son of a Beach]

Note that for adults (or kids over 10), I would expect this walk would be about 30 minutes each way (maybe even less). If it ends up being too short, you can then take a short drive through Chudleigh to the Alum Cliffs walk, which is also very short (although steepish, I think). I can't remember quite how short, as I've only done it the once, about 10 years ago.

[ben.h]

Ah yes, I did a bit of a whirlwind circuit of (very) short walks, including Lobster Falls and Tulampanga (Alum Cliffs) in January up through the Great Western Tiers and Meander valley and travelling back to Hobart via Mersey valley and the west coast.

My trip included:
Projection bluff (about 1 hr).
Meander Falls / Split rock (about 4 hrs) (not for younger kids)
Lobster Falls (1 hour)
Tulampanga (30 mins)
Devils Gullet (30 mins)

You could complete this all in a day or take it a bit easier and do some other site seeing and cafe stopping along the way over a weekend

There are many, many more child friendly walks all along this road circuit (and around Deloraine, the Mersey Valley and the west coast).

[Tasallan]

Lobster Falls is one of my very favourite short walks which I have done many times. In mid October this area has one of the best displays of wild flowers I have seen and well worth a visit - quite brilliant. About three weeks ago when I last did the walk the fungi were wonderful - one of our little known treasures.
Trevor