DECEMBER 2017 | Tara Ulbrich

SITTING ON a slope of scree, viewing the angled faces of the Great Western Tiers with their crag peaks and forest that defies impossibly thin soil and steep gradient.

Way below is a living map of farmland in shades of verdant green, all marked out into grids and punctuated with dams.  My ten-year-old walking companion looks at the giant rubble around us and asks “did someone put this here?”. I smile as I think of what human endeavour could (or would) do that.

Our young friend is making the transition from a human-altered landscape into one where humanity’s hand has had little impact.  Isn’t that why we walk places like the Western Creek Track?

To find this two-hour return trek, head to Western Creek and take the dirt side road marked Westrope.  Continue past the Higgs Track turn off, over a bridge and finally turn right at the sign for Western Creek Track.

From your parked car proceed back down the vehicle access to the triangle indicated start point. The walk is considered medium to hard because of the steep sections.

After about an hour’s climbing through wet forest including glimpses of the creek, the path moves into the open air. Further on, large rock deposits make a pleasing spot to rest. In fact, these are remnants of the imposing pillars above. The jagged edges of the Tiers are the artistic work of our weather systems over hundreds of thousands of years.

There is no place more appropriate to consider time and landscape than right here.

The natural forces of slightly acid rainfall, and time, have eroded scree off in huge blocks..

During the ice ages, the plateau was covered in frozen rivers of ice.  These glaciers flowed from the plateau to the sea. The movement of ice severed and pushed chunks of dolerite down to this sitting spot and beyond. Nobody put it there.

The Western Creek track continues on up to the plateau for a longer walk, but the loop path folds back in a hairpin from just beyond the rocks. If you come to the small waterfall you’ve gone past the turn.  The descent involves some more scree-scrambling but soon returns to gentler footfall in rainforest. Look out for the magic spring that gurgles out of the ground, offering a refreshing splash for a sweaty face.

On the drive back, time resumes its regular pace passing through scenery that’s busy with farming activity.

Photo | Jade Hallam