A half day trip to the Blue Tier mountains in the St Helens hinterland.

A Black swan from our balcony near St Helens Bay.

With the morning still wet, we brunched at the excellent cafe recommended by our friend the Oracle AKA part-time Baroness of Binalong. It cleared enough in the afternoon to take a punt on the mountains.

Its going to take a Lottah effort to get there. (Image: Google Maps – again no safe space to park)

Lottah Road leading to Blue Tier

The road reached the wet sclerophyll forest

Daisy bush grew tall in the understorey.

Blue Tier Forest Reserve is a refuge of rainforest species dating back to 65 million years ago, when Australia was connected to the supercontinent of Gondwana and rainforests extensively covered the landmass. Myrtle beech rainforest (Nothofagus cunninghamii), Myrtle beech / Woolly tea tree rainforest (Leptospermum lanigerum), and wet forests crowned with Swamp gums (Eucalyptus regnans) have occupied these east-facing slopes since before the last ice age 18,000 years ago.

Blue Tier has hiking tracks and mountain bike trails – this is the biking trail head.

Mossy peat at Sun Valley

Flame robin

Beech leaves

Moon Valley Rim Walk to Mount Poimena

Mount Poimena from the track

Tasmanian snow skink

Lichens covered the ground….

…in various shapes and sizes

Tasmanian Waratah in full bloom

The ridgeline below Mount Poimena

Some of the track was easy walking

Summit of Mt Poimena

Tasmanian pepperberry near the summit

Beetle on heath

Ridgeline of the Moon Valley walk

Fern fronds uncurling

Looking south from the summit

Brown falcon

More summit views

Regenerating rainforest from the ravages of tin mining

Moon Valley Rim walk

More track views

Sun Valley road forms part of the track

Goblin Forest walk

Traversing through beech groves….

…and woolly tea tree forest.

Remnants from the tin mining days

Wombat country – we found scats and pathways

Goblin Walk circuit

Caladenia orchid

Trees dripping after the morning rain

Beech leaves

Back down the mountain

Trigger plants massed by the roadside.

Zieria

Bracken fern

Foxgloves were in weed proportions along Lottah Road

Kookaburra near Lottah

We were very lucky to have completed the walk in fine weather. Part way down from the 800 metre plateau, we saw the tops shrouded in dark cloud.

Down the mountain through Goulds Country back to St Helens