Walking in Notley Fern Gorge

Notley Fern Gorge is a short distance northwest of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. Gowan’s Creek flows through a small patch of rainforest, surrounded by moss, fungi and the eponymous ferns. A 1.5 kilometre walking track loops through the gorge.

The walking track crosses Gowan’s Creek on four bridges. Floods in August 2013 damaged these bridges and the track. The Parks & Wildlife Service repaired the track, replaced the bridges and re-opened the circuit in June 2014.

Getting there

For people living in or near of Launceston, this is one of the easiest walks to reach. From the West Tamar Highway, turn onto Bridgenorth Road then right onto Notley Gorge Road. When Notley Gorge Road meets Notley Hills Road, take the sharp left turn. This route is sealed up to and including the car park at the start of the walk.

From the north, Notley Hills Road is unsealed.

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How can I turn my sheet music into a book?

You can do this, but there are at least three distinct methods.  Each has different compromises.

The destination: single PDF

For the purposes of this exercise, we want to finish with a single PDF document, storing the entire book. This is what you want almost all the time, including:

  • Printing yourself, with the printer on your desk
  • Sending files to other people to download and print
  • Taking to your local print shop
  • Selling via print-on-demand

PDF may not not be sufficient if:

  • You want to share work other people can edit – for this, provide your original notation file and also export to MusicXML
  • You want to distribute your music with interactive playback or video – tools exist for this, but are too complex to discuss here
  • You are working for a major publisher – in this case, they should provide specific file and formatting guidelines

So, how do we go from notation to a single PDF?

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What are vector graphics? When should I use them?

Vector graphics are images defined by shape coordinates, instead of the more common method of defining them by pixels.

You should use vector graphics whenever a vector file exists and the application you use can read it. Neither circumstance is as common as it should be.

Describing pictures

Below is a picture. Take a moment to think about how you would describe it.

Black arrow pointing to the right, looking sharp on most screens.

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Walking along the Briseis Water Race

Walking track following trench through forest

The Briseis Water Race (sometimes described as “The Great Briseis Water Race” or just “The Great Briseis Race”) transported water from Ringarooma to the Briseis Tin Mine at Derby. Built between 1901 and 1902, it was an immense engineering effort for its time, covering 48 kilometres, employing 300 workers and costing £60,000.

Most of the race is on private land, overgrown or otherwise inaccessible; part is still in use to bring water to the Branxholm Reservoir. Fortunately an unused section of the race at the town of Branxholm has been set aside for a walking track.

Getting There

Driving to Branxholm from most parts of Tasmania is simple. However, it can be time-consuming due to the winding roads in its area. Once there, we turned south onto Donald Street. This became Ruby Flats Road, which was unsealed for about two kilometres to the car park.

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Walking around Mount Paris Dam

River flowing through hole in concrete dam wall

Mount Paris Dam sits on the Cascade River south of Derby, Tasmania. It was built as the Morning Star Dam, water source for a nearby tin mine of the same name. If it were filled, it would just be another medium-sized dam among many in Tasmania. However, in 1985 the Rivers and Waters Supply Commission intentionally holed the dam. With the dam now empty and the Cascade River running through the middle, it is a fascinating place to explore.

Getting There

Mount Paris Dam is just off Mount Paris Dam Road. This may be reached from the Tasman Highway at either Branxholm (to the west) or Weldborough (to the east). Branxholm is closer from Launceston or Hobart, but the distance driven on Mount Paris Dam Road is longer: 17 kilometres from Branxholm, or 6 kilometres from Weldborough.

Mount Paris Dam Road was an unsealed forestry road. We found it to be wide, solid and no trouble to drive on. Stay clear of the drainage ditches on the south side. The final few hundred metres to the car park were not as good; if your vehicle has a particularly low wheelbase, you may prefer to park on Mount Paris Dam Road and walk from there.

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How do I make my PDF files smaller?

By compressing the pictures. Depending on the tools available you may apply this compression (1) to your existing PDF, (2) while generating your PDF, (3) to your source document, or (4) to your individual pictures.

Every technique described here will make the pictures in your document fuzzier and less distinct. Never overwrite the original print-quality document with a compressed version. Before sharing a compressed PDF, open it and take a close look to make sure it’s still meaningful.

How large might my PDF be?

A good assumption is that your PDF will be at least as large as the sum of the pictures that go into it.  This isn’t always true – some PDF generators insist on applying some compression (making the file smaller than estimated), while some edits may turn JPEG-compressed pictures into PNG or TIFF (dramatically increasing the file size).  Still, it’s a start.

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Walking along Mother Cummings Rivulet

Water flowing around boulder into blue pool

Mother Cummings Rivulet flows out of the mountains southwest of Meander, Tasmania. Following the rivulet upstream leads to Smoko Falls, and eventually to Cummings Head. The track to Chasm Falls is also in the area.

Getting There

Drive to Meander, then turn south along Huntsman Road. Turn right onto Meander Falls Road. Avoid the bridge to Meander Falls; you are now on Smoko Road. Follow that to a small turning circle and a sign pointing to “Chasm Falls”, “Smoko Falls” and “Mother Cummings Peak”.

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Walking to Tulampanga Alum Cliffs

Layered white cliffs above river flowing through gorge

The track to Tulampanga Alum Cliffs is one of Tasmania’s Great Short Walks. Less than an hour’s round trip takes you to a lookout where the Mersey River flows through a spectacular gorge.

Getting There

The car park is on Mersey Hill Road, a short distance east of Mole Creek. Mersey Hill Road is unsealed, but wide and solid. The route is clearly signposted.

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Walking in Sensation Gorge Conservation Area

Distant forest and mountains seen from quarry

Update

As noted in the comments, it is possible to walk into Sensation Gorge itself but not from the quarry described here. To enter Sensation Gorge, start from either parking further west along Liena Road, or from Union Bridge Road.

Apart from its famed National Parks, Tasmania has hundreds of smaller Conservation Areas and other reserves. You can be driving along a road and see a car park, a sign saying “Sensation Gorge Conservation Area” and a track. You search for that name, and find a single line Parks & Wildlife Reserve Summary Report confirming its existence, and nothing else. (Many other sites claim to have information, but turn out to have nothing but the latitude and longitude, scraped from some existing map and displayed with advertisements.) The only way to find out more is to walk up the track – so we did.

Getting There

The car park is a short distance west of Mole Creek, on Liena Road. Look on the north side of the road for the “Sensation Gorge Conservation Area” sign.

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Walking to Lobster Falls

Short, wide waterfall flowing into pool

Lobster Falls is comprised of two cascades in the Lobster Rivulet as it passes through the Gog Range, Tasmania, Australia.

Getting There

The good news: you can drive to the start of the Lobster Falls walking track without leaving a sealed road. It’s on the road between Deloraine and Chudleigh, within an hour’s drive of Launceston.

The bad news: the “car park” is a grassy patch next to the road, marked by a single signpost. Watch out for mud, especially if you’re visiting after rain to see the falls at their best.

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