One of the wonderful things about being on the road, is never quite knowing where you’ll be on your birthday. For me, we ended up being in the West of Tasmania, meaning there was lots of amazing nature just waiting on our doorstep waiting to be discovered. The goal then became to walk to one of Tasmania’s tallest waterfalls: Montezuma Falls. There’s so many options for family bushwalking in Tasmania, but Montezuma was extra special.
We’d been camping at Henty Sand Dunes, not too far from Strahan, and had lovely weather for most of the time, but as the rain set in for a few days it made it more and more difficult for the kids to enjoy the dunes, so moving to a new site seemed like the perfect thing to do when the rain broke the day before my birthday.
We spent the night in an overnight free camp near Rosebery called Stitt Park, which provided a safe, clean place to park the van on a rainy night so we would be close to Montezuma Falls for the morning. You’ll find it on Wikicamps which is what we use to find our free camps.
After a rainy morning, the skies pulled back their grey clouds to reveal the stunning blue we’d known for most of our time in Tassie, and so we set off for the walk hoping the drizzle would hold off for the afternoon, and it didn’t disappoint.
The road to Montezuma is slightly windy, nothing too bad, and we took the van with us, although if you have a large van, it would be better to leave it where you are camping, and not try to tow it into the car park. There’s room to turn around but it could be difficult if there were too many cars.
Is Montezuma Falls Worth the Walk?
I can honestly say, that the walk to Montezuma and back was one of the best Tasmanian walks that we did.
It is also one of the longest treks we undertook in Tasmania at a total of 9.6kms return, but it rewarded us with amazing scenery, and a spectacular waterfall. The entire area was wet thanks to the few days of rainfall that had occurred before we’d arrived, and the morning of drizzle. This meant that the walking track was wet underfoot, and while we began by trying to dodge the puddles, it soon became apparent it was best just to go with the flow, deal with getting wet and muddy and just immerse ourselves fully into the experience.
How Difficult is the Walk to Montezuma Falls?
The walk to Montezuma Falls is graded as easy and level. It follows the route of an historic light tramway that was built by hand, and you’ll walk right over the top of sleepers that have been laying in place ever since. If you’re there on a day like we were, gumboots would be a great option! During your walk you’ll come across amazing flora, beautiful trees, mosses, interesting fungi, and the sound of water streaming for most of your time taking in the scenery. It is easy to feel as though you’re in the middle of nowhere here, and you really are reasonable secluded, although despite the weather we shared the track with a few other adventurers on the way.
The entire walk took around 3 hours, and we walked at a reasonably steady pace during that time, mostly because we didn’t start until about 2pm in the afternoon and we wanted to make sure we were back at the start by night fall, as we had to get to our next camp.
As we got closer to the falls, we could hear them in the distance and after an hour of walking in the wet, everyone was pretty excited by reaching our goal. It was a nice surprise to come across an old mine shaft, which told of some of the mining of the region. The West of Tasmania has always been rich with mining operations and discoveries, but as we stood there in the damp, the mine shaft full of water under the walkway, I wondered how people survived the cold conditions in days gone by, especially as they had to forge their way through the landscape to create the very paths we were walking on.
Is Montezuma Falls Walk Dog Friendly?
We wrote recently about the logistics of travelling Australia with a dog, and in Tasmania we were lucky that many of the places we wanted to explore allowed us to bring Yoshi along. The Montezuma Falls walk is one that allows dogs to explore with you, as long as they are on leash. We didn’t realise when we reached the waterfall that there was a very small suspension bridge that allowed us to get a better look at the falls. Of course, the first thing the kids did was take off across the bridge, before I made them stop for a snapshot:
Please ignore their not-so excited expressions 😉 They desperately wanted to explore, not smile for a picture! The one thing we hadn’t realised was that Yoshi would follow wherever the kids went, and so off he went right across the suspension bridge!
I can only imagine what must go through a dog’s head when they realise they are standing, propped high above rushing water and a very large drop to the bottom. He was super brave and just focused on staying with his people, and it wasn’t until we coaxed him back that he got the wobbles up!
I do have a video which I’ll share, but the best option was for Matt to pick the poor boy up and carry him back. Not an experience I think Yoshi wants to repeat, although it was impossible for him to fall, of course as a dog, he wouldn’t quite realise that, so he was a very, very brave boy!
So, after we explored the suspension bridge, rescued the dog from his over enthusiastic adventure session, then it was time to walk up to the platform at the base of the falls. The strength of the water, the height of the falls, and the amazing scenery allow you to just stop, pause and breathe in the freshness and beauty that is the Tasmanian wilderness!
So, if you find yourself exploring Tasmania with kids, then we highly recommend the walk to Montezuma Falls. It might be a little challenging for really small legs, but for kids used to walking and happy to experience nature and go on a little bit of an adventure, then it’s a must-see in Tassie.
Tips for Montezuma Falls Walk with Kids
Be sure to pack plenty of water and snacks
If the weather has been wet, expect the walk to be wet underfoot, so you’ll be soggy if you don’t have gumboots or waterproof shoes.
Allow plenty of time. We did it in 3 hours which is the stated time on the sign, although I would have preferred to do the walk a bit more slowly so would have happily extended that amount of time, so leave earlier than we did (2pm) so you don’t have to worry about nightfall.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks