St Helens

After a big day yesterday we gave ourselves a much less vigorous start to the day. The sky was clear and the sun was shining.
We sorted some domestic duties first, then left site at 11:15 to travel a short distance up the road to have a look at what the locals claim to be the tallest waterfall in Tasmania.
The drive up the valley to the start of a short walk to the base of the falls was quite beautiful - passing from the green farmlands around Pyengana into a high sided valley with rainforest all around. As ever the State Park bush path was very well signposted, even the bit that said we were not to linger on a small stretch due to the possibility of a land slip. The water falls down the hill side in a series of connected cascades. They are called The St Columba Falls, named by the first inhabitants of the valley when discovered in the 19th century. The family hailed from Ireland - and the falls were named after their own homestead that still exists within the valley.
Pyengana is the home of one of the areas great attractions, namely the Dairy with its cheese production facilities, and cafe. In between the falls and the dairy however lies The Pub in the Paddock, which is one of the oldest public houses in Tasmania if not the whole of Australia. We stopped by for a quick beer and cider. The pub is also famous for its celebrity pig which is very fond of a beer. We thought this may be a tall story, but sure enough as we were departing a group of people congregated around the pig enclosure and we watched said pig snort a bottle of beer in a oner - most impressive - only in Australia!!!
The cheese factory make a range of cheeses and we purchased a tasting plate for lunch. The cows all self-milk by an automatic system which allows them to enter the milking parlour whenever they want after a 6 hour wait from the previous visit. We watched the cows queue for their turn then wander through automatic gates back to the pasture when the milking process was finished. All done via a neck collar and computer programming - this farm was the first to install the technology on the island.
There was one more thing to see which was the Halls Falls, another glorious walk through the rain forest to the valley floor.
A weir was built by tin miners to feed a water race which delivered water to the mines further down the valley. The water race no longer survives so the water flows to the Halls Falls below.
As we drove along the gravel road to the car park above the falls a Kookaburra with pearlescent sides to its wings flew onto a tree beside us but didn't linger for long. We could hear the characteristic call of many Kookaburras as we walked through the rainforest but did not spot any others today.Read more