As part of our commitment sustainable tourism we set out to improve our waste-management. As an incentive we entered the “Waste Not Awards” in 2017. This is not the sort of award where you dress up in black-tie for an expensive dinner. Neither do the media jostle to get your photo. But rather it is a quiet morning tea of scones with school children and local council staff in the back room at the Council Chambers. Never-the-less we believe it is an important award and we are proud of our achievement. Following is the article we released to the media.

2700 Kg of Waste Diverted from Land-Fill

LAUNCESTON, TASMANIA SEPTEMBER 26th 2017 (media release)—Tin Dragon Trail Cottages was awarded one of the Waste NoT (SME) awards for promoting sustainable tourism.

“We estimate our few simple changes have kept 2,712 kg of waste from land-fill this year”, stated Graham Cashion, co-owner of Tin Dragon Trail Cottages, “This may not be the poshest of awards, but we are proud of our efforts”.

Christine Booth went on to say, “By embedding sustainability concerns into our brand we are not only creating differentiation we are promoting sustainable tourism in our region.”

Graham and Christine have achieved this by encouraging guests to compost and recycle. They also encourage guests use re-usable coffee cups and water bottles, by provided these for guests to borrow. Provision of hand-made soaps and shampoo bars (all unpackaged) and compostable starch-based bags, minimises waste even further. Educational material outlining these small changes is available for guests.

We were surprised at how much less land-fill rubbish we generated at home, too.

Awards Hosted by The Northern Waste Management Group Recognises Sustainable Tourism

The Northern Tasmanian Waste Management Group hosts the annual The Waste NoT Awards to recognise excellence in waste management and recycling in the north of Tasmania. In 2017 the awards had 17 nominations, with eight nominees awarded. Other awardees included SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) award to Earthy Eats and Zion Gardens; Individual awards to Delta Witt (Launceston Church Grammar pupil. Grade 5) and Dick and Maggie James; School awards to Glen Dhu Primary School Class 3-4 Jack, Glen Dhu Children services and Riverside High School; and Community Group award to Community Enterprises Australia Pty Ltd.

Awardees received beautifully hand-crafted trophies made by artist Michael Thomson from recycled timber from the Egg Island Bridge, aluminum window fittings and glass bottles

So How is it Going Now?

Graham says, “Some of our guests get it; some aren’t too bad and some don’t care at all! We have certainly made a lot more work for ourselves because we often have to sort through the rubbish. We now have far-more recycle than general wheelie bins on site”

But overall we think the effort is worth it.

Behind this Great Short walk was a Mighty Community Effort

Ralphs Falls in North East Tasmania is promoted as one of Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks. The Ringarooma community can be proud of making this spectacular walk on Mount Victoria available for tourists. It was officially opened in 1998. The casual visitor would not be aware of the huge community effort—spanning some 50 years—needed to make Ralphs Falls accessible. Hence I will give you a short history of their efforts.

Where is Ralphs Falls in North East Tasmania?

Who or What was Ralphs?

The old timber-getters and miners had known about the falls since the early 1900’s. ‘Ralphs’ was a local timber-mill, so perhaps it was the owner of the mill who first described the falls? In 1916 the local paper recounts an excursion made by a party of nine on horse-back to visit Mount Victoria for the enjoyment of the views. The article refers to the New River Falls. (North Eastern Advertiser Tuesday 11 April 1916 p 3).

Pyengana to Ringarooma Link Road Saga

During the early 20’s the local paper records the Pyengana residents’ desire for a link road to Ringarooma. In response, a Federal Government unemployment project commenced construction of the road in 1925. Unfortunately the project halted without completion in 1927. You can see signage commemorating the amazing hand-built stone wall.

The Road Seen as a Valuable Tourist Asset by the Community

In 1951 a petition to the State Minister for Works and Land by the Portland (Pyengana) and Ringarooma Councils failed to see further work on the road. The proponents pointed out that the road would, ‘be a valuable tourist asset, being a scenic road with new access to the magnificent St. Columba Falls’. Furthermore the road would ‘substantially shorten the distance between Launceston and St. Helens’( North Eastern Adverstiser Tues 20 March 1951 p5).

The Community Overcomes Petty-Minded Professional Bureaucratic Obstructionists

In 1979 the Ringarooma Progress Development League became determined to complete the link road. In addition they decided to construct a walking track to Ralphs Falls. . Ringarooma resident Norm Brown spear-headed the campaign. Despite local bureaucratic opposition, in 1983 the Mt Victoria Forest Reserve was gazetted. However the struggle to have forests of the North East protected from clear-fell destruction continues. Here is an impassioned letter written by Norm in 2002 (pdf download).

Hard Work of Volunteers over Twenty Years

Over the next 2 decades many local farming and business families chipped in to work on the road from Ringarooma to Mount Victoria and the Ralphs Falls walking track. Trees had to removed and land-slips and large holes repaired on the original abandoned road. A local resident remembers this being rather scary because it was just a narrow track with precipitous drops. A local mining contractor donated his time and heavy machinery on the proviso that the group supply the diesel. Finally a new road was pushed across the mountain to meet up with the existing rough track coming up from Pyengana.

Other volunteers then worked on constructing a walking track out to Ralphs Falls. It was hard going because all the cement, sand and stone had to be carried in using wheelbarrows and buckets. Volunteers often included parents and children. In some cases there were three generations of the same family working on the trail. One family even came from Victoria!

State Government Funding for the Great Short Walk

In Norm’s words the group, fought petty minded professional bureaucratic obstructionists to eventually achieve the State Government funding to complete the project. The State Government provided funds and encouraged Forestry Tasmania (FT) to approve the construction of Norm’s Lookout. FT then provided picnic tables, a composting toilet and on-going track maintenance.

The track, which includes ‘Norm’s Lookout’ over the spectacular falls, was officially opened by the Deputy Premier John Beswick in  May 1989. Upgrades linking the Mount Victoria Road to Pyengana were eventually completed in 1998. In 2015 the area of the Ralphs Falls walk was placed under new land tenure. Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) now maintains this asset.

After severe storm damage in 2014 PWS undertook major repair work. The gently sloping well-drained pathway, sturdy bridge and lookout now enjoyed by tourists was the work of legendary “Snapper” John Hughes, one of Australia’s leading track-builders in 2015.

Ralphs Falls & Cash’s Gorge Circuit Walk

Ralphs Falls is a popular walk with tourists to North East Tasmania. Our family has enjoyed this walk on many occasions over the years and it always delights. The 4 km easy circuit walk passes though lush myrtle rain forest, tea tree and button-grass plains. It features Tasmania’s tallest single-drop waterfall. Ralph’s Falls plummets down 100m of vertical dolerite fault to the valley floor. On a clear day the views out to the ocean over New River Valley and Cash’s Gorge are an extraordinary bonus! In the summer months the wattle birds, parrots, wrens and finches are active, insects buzz and the scent of honey is heavy in the air.

You want to spend some serious time here trying to see the bottom of the waterfall and just gazing at the rocks…and trying to take the best-ever photograph!

You can actually stand on top of Ralphs Falls. But I prefer to sit. Do be careful! Of course, this is not part of the formed track.

The track follows the escarpment.

I don’t know who Cash was. At this lookout you can see out to the ocean.

The button plains are full of life. I think the boardwalk is a regular wombat highway at night. After the boardwalk the track continues through a short section of tea tree bush to emerge back at the car park and picnic ground. So now it’s time for you to enjoy that picnic basket of goodies we supplied you for your lunch!

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March 16 2019: It was quiet at home in Branxholm, so Graham and I went exploring. We had two objectives in mind, firstly to find the Mount Victoria entrance to the Rattler’s Hill walk and secondly to visit the Rock Shelf. We have been completing some reconnaissance for the North East Highlands Walk. But here I describe the Rock Shelf Walk.

Location of the Mount Victoria Rock Shelf

Ten Minutes from Ralphs Falls

Pack yourself a tasty picnic lunch, prepare the thermos of tea and head out from Tin Dragon Cottages. It will take you about 40 minutes to drive to Ralph Falls. This is one of Tasmania’s Great Short Walks. You can complete the easy 4 km walk in time for your lunch in the Ralphs Falls picnic area.

Now set your car’s odometer to zero and start driving back to Ringarooma. At the 1.1 km pull over into a small parking area on your left.

After parking your car, walk directly over the road and into the forest. You should see pink and blue ribbons tied to a sapling. From this point you can either walk clockwise or anti-clockwise following the pink ribbons. The circuit trail takes you down the hill to the rock shelf, follows under the shelf then returns. I guess the walk is an easy 2 km return.

A Short Easy Walk with Photo Opportunities

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Although it was really dry when we did this walk, it was still a delightful walk. At other times of year the rock-shelf drips water through the masses of mosses and ferns clinging to it’s surface. The forest floor is alive with beautiful fungi, leaches (ugh!) and other invertebrates and small birds chatter in the tree canopy. I saw some awesome bracket fungi and a bright red velvet fungus on this trip. On a previous visit here I saw iridescent yellow snake’s vomit – AKA slime mould.

Then, of course there is the dark mysterious depths of the cave under the rock shelf…

Take a Camera and a Tripod

If you have followed the Blog on my other site, you may recall that my Canon DSLR camera “died” on a walk into the Labyrinth in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park last year. The snow, rain and hail was too much for it. Well, I now have a Canon point-and-click G7x-markII. It’s a lot of fun and very light to carry, but it wasn’t so good for the shady conditions of the rock-shelf walk. Furthermore I didn’t take a tripod… This is my way of explaining why you should at least take a tripod to get the best out of your photography on this walk!

EVENT IS CANCELLED

Graham and I are hosting a workshop at Tin Dragon Cottages to help you get started with your renewable energy project. When? 6 – 9th Sept 2019. You can view the program and register your interest for the workshop on our web page. Registrations close 26th August 2019.

Why Should Small Business Invest in Renewable Energy?

In 2010 when Graham proposed a micro-hydro project for our business I was reluctant. Looking at the costs of construction I thought it would take over 20 years to get our money back. However since then we have seen the cost of electricity and gas increase. In fact a 2018 Climate Council report confirmed this. Electricity prices for small businesses in Australia have increased 80 – 90% in the last decade and gas prices have tripled during the same time. Furthermore rising cost of energy appears as the number one concern for many Australian businesses over the next decade.

Installation of Renewable Energy is a Sound Economic Decision

The combination of a 29 cent per kWh export tariff and Renewable Energy Credits has paid off nearly half our investment in five years. So I definitely over-estimated how long it would take to receive a return on our investment. Steadily rising commercial electricity charges further convinces us that our investment was sound. I’m guessing I don’t need to tell you that many other small businesses are getting on board too.

Installing Battery Storage & Power Back-up

Last year we went even further. We installed more solar PV arrays and connected our power sources to battery storage and back up. So now we are carbon-positive and don’t pay Aurora electricity bills. Actually they pay us – even with the decreased 9 cents export tariff!

So come along to learn more about our journey to power self-sufficiency. Oh, and eat some really terrific food too!

Tin Dragon Cottages Winter

My greatest pleasure of the day is a morning walk with Graham and Rusty. Rusty nearly wags her hips off with excitement with the mention of Rusty! Come for a walk! If you have a dog you’ll recognise this enthusiasm. So, we head off down our front road alongside the Ringarooma River in Branxholm.

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Sometimes we see a rabbit and more rarely–a platypus in our dam. But lately we have been accompanied by our herd of alpacas.

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Occasionally Rusty meets up with other dogs taking their owners for a morning walk on our road.

…and most mornings we meet our Branxholm neighbours and their goats.

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After the walk it’s time for a well-earned rest…

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This photo essay was first published 13th August 2016 by Christine Booth. Originally published on Blogger, it has been re-posted to the Tin Dragon Cottages blog. Sadly, Rusty the Kelpie died in late 2017. She was about 16 years-old.