Walking the Wellington Creek Circuit, Blue Tier / meenamatta

Photograph of wide pool in creek. The pool is reflecting nearby trees.

Blue Tier in north-east Tasmania was once the scene of extensive tin mining. In 1958 it was made a forest reserve, and in 1997 the reserve was extended. It contains a number of walking tracks. One of those tracks, the Wellington Creek Circuit, is described here.

Getting there

Blue Tier was not easy to drive to. The Tasman Highway was an obvious starting point, and the only route to the tier itself was Poimena Road. To get from the former to the latter, three routes were available, all unsealed. The best of these was the east end of Lottah Road. Anchor Road was steeper and windier, and the west end of Lottah Road was severely eroded. It was still possible to take a two-wheel-drive car along the west end of Lottah Road, but not recommended. It is the shortest route from Hobart or Launceston to Blue Tier, but driving to the east end on Lottah Road may be faster and was definitely safer.

All roads had also been blocked by fallen trees during severe storms in the winter of 2014. The roads had been cleared by the time of our visit, but often only by cutting gaps or by dragging the tree aside far enough to admit one car width through the gap.

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