Mt Roland Adventure

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Heading off up Mt Roland
Many years ago I used to go and stay in Sheffield, in North East Tasmania, with my nursing friend Aileen’s sister. We used to ride our 70 cc motor scooters down from Launceston. I used to love visiting that beautiful area and always wanted to climb Mt Roland, which looms over the small country town. I remember Aileen’s sister had pet ferrets, which I’d never seen before.
Mt Roland track
Mt Roland is 1234 metres above sea level and provides a stunning area over the Kentish municipality within the Mt Roland Regional Reserve and Conservation area, on the edge of the Great Western Tiers. The mountain is located 1 hour 25 minutes west of Launceston and 3 hours 20 minutes northwest of Hobart.
Nice view from Mt Roland
I finally got to climb that mountain a couple of weeks ago on my yearly visit home to Tassie to visit family.
Track
My niece Rebecca and I set out from my sister’s place in Westbury and drove down through Deloraine and Sheffield to the start of the main track from the car park on O’Neill’s Road, off Claude Road. There is another track up the mountain called the Face Track, which is steeper and quicker, but we decided to take the longer, less steep track.
After signing the Registration logbook we set out along the forestry road.
Signing the logbook
It was a beautiful day and not too hot. We had plenty of water and lunch in our daypacks and were wearing gaiters, which we needed as we ran into a tiger snake on the way down the track. We also had a first aid kit with snake bandages so we were well prepared. The mountain is very high so you also need to take warm clothes and rain gear and be prepared for any weather. The mountain does get very cold and is covered in snow in winter.
Mossy steps
The track was well-marked. It takes around 4 to 6 hours return to do the whole track. The first part was along an old forestry road. I enjoyed the walk through the eucalypt and sassafras trees. We then entered an area around O’Neill’s Creek, which was covered with gorgeous tree ferns and mosses.
O'Neill's Creek sign
There were man-made steps, bridges and boardwalks across parts of the track, which made it easier, and a couple of seats to have a rest.
The Junction
The trail junction sits in the saddle between Mount Roland and Mount Van Dyke, where there was a seat on a wide platform to rest before completing the final section of the Mount Roland Main Track ascent.
Roz at the steps
On top of the mountain, we walked through button grass plains and heathland. They always remind me of Tassie. I also once many years ago got a broken heart because of button grass. It was before I started bushwalking. I had gone out a few times with a bushwalker who I really liked. He came into the hospital where I was doing my nursing training for a minor operation. All my friends were very excited. Then one of them told me he had a visitor who bought him a large bunch of button grass. It was a fellow bushwalker and my nursing colleagues told me she sat very close to his bed holding his hand. I was devastated. Every time I see button grass now I remember him.
On viewing platform
After reaching the plateau, we walked along for about 15 minutes and came to a platform with a table and bench seats. We had some nice views from this area out over the mountains and plains. After having some lunch, we started out to walk to the summit over lots of loose rocks.
Boardwalk on top of Mt Roland
Parts of the track were very overgrown and although there were some boardwalks with wire netting to prevent slipping, there were also lots of areas where you had to negotiate rocks and concentrate so you didn’t slip. This part of the track was pretty tiring after the second lookout point and made more difficult because it was so overgrown, and there were no views. We were getting pretty tired by now and after a while, we decided to head back down without going another hour through the scrub as we had another couple of hours to get down.
Heading down
We had some excitement on our way back to the car. We were joking that a curvy stick looked like a snake and even took some photos of it. A few minutes later we saw a real snake. It was a beautiful tiger snake slithering along the track backwards and forwards.
Tiger snake
We managed to get some photos and a video of it before it realized we were there. It then completely froze just off the track. I didn’t know snakes did this. It would be quite dangerous if someone was walking nearby and didn’t see it.
Beautiful tiger snake
Tiger snake frozen still
I loved my adventure on Mt Roland and was so happy to have finally climbed it. The whole walk is a distance of 16.6 kilometres return and takes around 6 hours. We only saw a few other people on the track. A few days later after going down the East Coast, we had some more adventures climbing South Sister, and rock hopping along the coast from St Helen’s Point to Beerbarrell Creek.
Getting on top of Mt Roland
Mt Roland from the road
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#walks 301880 - 2025-01-26 12:02:07