The Balfour Track

A wintery walk through the Tarkine rain forest in NW Tasmania.
On this trip we did the Tarkine Drive which is a loop road (C218) starting near Edith Creek. Trowutta Arch is quite other-worldly and well worth a visit. The walk takes around 15 minutes each way and is pretty easy. Other highlights are the Milkshake Hills walk, Beckett Falls (currently closed in 2024) and Sumac Lookout. The entire drive will take you around an hour without stops.
The Balfour Track is an old pack horse trail that once led to the historic mining town of Balfour which, at it's peak, housed around 900 people. The township has a rather grim history with many of it's residents falling victim to typhoid, including physicians who were sent in to help.
The actual township of Balfour can be accessed via 4WD from a different direction; note that the Balfour Track is not the same as the 4WD track of the same name and doesn't actually lead to Balfour. It is around 3km each way and has no specific destination. It is simply a pleasant walk through the Tarkine rain forest. For photography the best time to visit is March to June when the fungi is in bloom. Unfortunately Dad had some camera issues on this trip so we didn't get many fungi shots.
In this video we covered about two thirds of the track which was mostly easy to follow however there is a section around the first river crossing (about 5 minutes from the carpark) where it can be a bit misleading. According to reports I've read, quite a few people have come unstuck here - and we were no different as it turns out.
Photography by Don Hawley.
Music by Electric Den.

[@myunknownland9272]

Lovely memories to have with your dad. Thanks for taking us along.

[@michaelbiggs7129]

Great video..great photography..loved the ending 😅

[@richardhawley8041]

Thanks. Much appreciated

[@petemellows]

Another wonderful part of Tassie that I have not yet experienced! I'm keen to follow the track all the way to the coast.

[@WallaceLivingFree]

Good video mate , well filmed and edited, cheers

[@richardhawley8041]

Thanks very much

[@jonathanm9436]

As one of the Tasmanian diaspora, I really enjoyed your video. Too funny about losing the track though!!

[@richardhawley8041]

Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it

[@jonathanm9436]

@@richardhawley8041 Keep it up - I've subscribed!

[@TasHikingAdventures]

Nice video mate....keep up the west coast videos loving them have not been up that way yet,

[@richardhawley8041]

Thanks. Yeah it’s a nice part of the world that tends to get overlooked. Probably the locals like it that way I suspect but I’m always keen to promote the area.

[@TasHikingAdventures]

@@richardhawley8041 yeah just don't share some secret spots locals tend to winge about it just keep the good spots to yaself....keep up the good work 👍

[@KhurshidsChannel]

Fantastic video. The views are awesome. Thanks for sharing. subd & 👍26

[@richardhawley8041]

Thanks. Much appreciated

[@cbolenski]

I’m a big fan of your videos and wondered when you’d get to do The Balfour Track.
Too bad you didn’t see much fungi. We made a special trip
in April to do the walk. All the way from Sydney just to see the fungi.

[@richardhawley8041]

Thanks Chris. Apparently it's renowned for being a fungi hot spot. Out of interest, was there a lot there when you visited?

[@cbolenski]

@@richardhawley8041, compared to what we see up here yes there was a lot of fungi, although there did seem a lot more when we visited last year.

[@eggmammal]

Nice. At 43sec: do you know if they are a chanterelle?

[@richardhawley8041]

I’m not sure sorry. I’m not much of an expert when it comes to identifying fungi, I just like filming them.