Apsley River Waterhole and Gorge

Easy

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3-4 hour walk from forest track down to the Apsley River waterhole and gorge, returnable via the same track or by rock-hopping downstream, per parks.tas.gov.au.

☰ Trail details

Hide panel — map only✕

Distance

0.44 km

Est. time

7 min

Elevation gain

8 m

Route type

Loop

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Douglas-Apsley National Park, East Coast, TAS. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

+ Add to tracks / plans

Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Inland Sickle-FernDocumented on this trail

Pellaea calidirupium

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened▾

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened

Pellaea calidirupium, the hot rock fern, is a fern of eastern Australia and New Zealand restricted to rocky areas in relatively arid environments. In Tasmania, where it is considered rare, it is only found on the East Coast, the Midlands, and lower slopes of the Central Plateau on dry rock faces. It is also found in Victoria and Queensland. The species was originally described from New Zealand.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Douglas-Apsley National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 1993) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Pteridaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Pellaea calidirupium

Fairy FanflowerDocumented on this trail

Scaevola aemula

Endangered — TAS: Endangered▾

Endangered — TAS: Endangered

Scaevola aemula, commonly known as the fairy fan-flower or common fan-flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae. It has mostly egg-shaped leaves and blue, mauve or white fan-shaped flowers. It grows in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

How to spot it

Scaevola aemula is a mat-forming, perennial herb that grows up to 50 cm high with brown, coarsely hairy, terete stems. The leaves are elliptic to egg-shaped tapering near the base, sessile, edges toothed, up to 10–88 mm (0.39–3.46 in) long and 4–31 mm (0.16–1.22 in) wide, decreasing in size near the flowers. The fan-shaped flowers are white, blue or mauve with a yellow centre are borne on spikes up to 24 cm (9.4 in) long, corolla 17–25 mm (0.67–0.98 in) long, flattened hairs on the outside and b

Family Goodeniaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Scaevola aemula

Tall HeathDocumented on this trail

Epacris grandis

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, TAS: Endangered▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, TAS: Endangered

Epacris grandis, commonly known as grand heath or tall heath, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a small area of Tasmania. It is a robust, erect shrub with smooth stems, lance-shaped leaves and tube-shaped flowers with white petals.

How to spot it

Epacris grandis is a robust, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long, has smooth stems and usually a single stem at the base. The leaves are glabrous, lance-shaped, 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) wide on a petiole 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils along the branches, each flower on a pedicel about 4 mm (0.16 in) long, with hairy egg-shaped bracts near the base. The sepals are white with pink streaks

Family Ericaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Epacris grandis

Clubmoss BushpeaDocumented on this trail

Stonesiella selaginoides

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, TAS: Endangered▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, TAS: Endangered

Stonesiella selaginoides, the clubmoss bush-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. It is the only member of the genus Stonesiella and is endemic to Tasmania. It is named to recognise Australian botanical illustrator Margaret Stones.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Douglas-Apsley National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 1998) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Fabaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Stonesiella selaginoides

White Peppermint

Eucalyptus pulchella

Tasmanian endemic dry-forest eucalypt▾

Tasmanian endemic dry-forest eucalypt

A small to medium eucalypt endemic to Tasmania, growing to about 20m with smooth white or pale grey bark. Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service lists it among the more common tree species of Douglas-Apsley's dry eucalypt forest, alongside Tasmanian blue gum and brown-topped stringybark.

How to spot it

Smooth white-to-pale-grey bark (sometimes rough and fibrous near the base), narrow glossy dark-green linear leaves 33-120mm long, and flower buds clustered in groups of nine or more, flowering white from November to March. Grows on well-drained, dolerite-influenced hilly terrain.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (Douglas-Apsley National Park); Wikipedia: Eucalyptus pulchella

Photo: Krzysztof Golik (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons