I first heard about Liena Falls on Thursday evening from a fellow waterfall-aficionado. Oh dear. Another waterfall on my ever increasing list, despite the fact that I theoretically reduce said list by regularly finding falls. Anyway, almost each waterfall is a new encounter with beauty, so this expansion in the face of reduction is not a great burden. The only time I am not filled with joy is if the falls are in, or right next to, an area of clear felling.
On Friday, after I had had a run and taken Tessie for a walk, I had free time, so decided I would satisfy my curiosity and visit the falls. They’re not too far from Launceston. I’m glad we’d already had our exercise, as the fitness-value of our excursion was rather limited. I probably spent more time drinking coffee in Sheffield that I did walking to the falls. That said, I found myself in a little ferny haven. But I am scared. This idyll was far too close to the road for its own good, and the beautiful ferns could so easily become the victim of a single person’s selfish destruction, as with Upper Cam Falls, so I am not going to give exact details. It is a very steep drop to the base, so maybe that will protect them.
Hm. Let us return to my earlier comment about clear felling. On my homeward journey, I discovered that these lovely falls are only maybe two hundred metres from a formerly clear-felled area. Light has now encouraged vast expanses of blackberries and the barren view is only slightly attenuated by the presence of some colonising silver wattles near the gullies. I didn’t know that on the way in, as I approached from the north, via Sheffield and over the Claude saddle with its fabulous views. My exit was via Liena and Mole Creek, and using that route, I got to witness all the destruction. Still, I would much prefer to look at ugly clear felling than even uglier factories, and I kept reminding myself of this as I drove home. And my knowledge of what lay ahead did not interfere with my enjoyment of the falls one scrap, as I didn’t know yet, and could not have guessed from the falls, that they were at the edge of beauty rather than at its centre.
