This place is just a goldmine for exploring it is unbelievable the things there are to look at in such a small area and I reckon we are still only scratching the surface. As good as it is it is also bloody cold and generally wet and I’m not to sure why I insist on going there in winter time all the time, it might be the snow that seems to add a touch of magic to the place.
This trip we were searching for a couple of waterfalls that we haven’t yet found so after a quick toilet stop we where heading south to near the start of the $1000 dollar track which was a reasonably slow little trip as the roads were covered in snow and very slippery.
So after getting as close to the Netherby Creek falls as we could in the comfort of the nice warm Landcruiser we very reluctantly got out and swapped it for the ‘Slug’ and then walked the last little bit. Luckily the walk wasn’t long as the feet felt like they where starting to get frost bite and yes I did only have shorts on but my theory is skin dries quicker than cloth.
Nice cool walk down to the bottom of the falls
Bottom of Falls. From here we went back up and tried to get a look at the top of the falls but there was no real area you could view them from so I sent the drone up to do some investigating.
It was just a pity that a drop of rain or snow decided to land on the lens.
So after near freezing our feet off we headed back to the warmth of the 4wd and headed to Luina for a bite to eat. After Lunch we went to see if we could find the falls on Three Falls Creek so we unloaded the ‘Slug’ again and we where off and not far into the track we came across a reasonably sketchy creek crossing (see video below). After negotiating the creek crossing we followed the very overgrown forestry track for a while getting soaked by the excess water on the trees and then came to this
We possibly could have negotiated it on the bike but wasn’t worth it as about 100m further up was another tree completely blocking the road so we decided to try to walk the rest of the way and not far up the track started to get consumed by young myrtle to the point of being impassable and then we came across this.
The bridge had long since been washed out and neither of us was keen to get our feet wet so we decided to turn around, head back and possible tackle this one in summer when it’s not so wet in the bush.
Caution! There might be some naughty language in this video as the creek crossing proved to be a bit of a challenge.
So after getting through the creek I got the drone out again to check out Luina from the air.
Luina has had 2 life’s originally the town was called Whyte River and started to take shape as a township back in the 1880-90’s to service the many mines in the area more particularly the Cleveland Tin mine. The old Luina was a dying concern around the 1950’s. The second life of the town begun in the early 70’s and housed many of the miners of the Cleveland Tin Mine and then again in the early 90’s as the mine closed the town literally disappeared on the back of trucks.
Full video here
Reference for Luina: (pg 142 of Vanishing Towns By Michael Holoms)
Hope you enjoyed
Cheers
Brendan & Jacinta
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