Hellyer Gorge

The Hellyer Gorge is a

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, through which flows the

Hellyer River The Hellyer River is a perennial river located in north western Tasmania, Australia. The river flows for before joining into the Arthur River. High quality cool temperate rainforest and tall eucalyptus forest grows along much of the river. Si ...

, named after

Henry Hellyer Henry Hellyer (1790 – September 1832) was an English surveyor and architect who was one of the first explorers to visit the rugged interior of the north west of Tasmania, Australia and made the most comprehensive maps of the area up to that time ...

. It is the subject of the Hellyer Gorge State Reserve. The

Murchison Highway The Murchison Highway is a highway located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The highway runs generally north–south, with Somerset, near Burnie, as its northern terminus and Zeehan as its southern terminus. The highway was ...

passes through the area with many sharp and steep bends, which provides the setting to a stage of

Targa Tasmania Targa Tasmania is a tarmac-based rally event held on the island state of Tasmania, Australia, annually since 1992. The event takes its name from the Targa Florio, a former motoring event held on the island of Sicily. The competition concept i ...

. Being subject to

black ice Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, is a thin coating of glaze ice on a surface, especially on streets. The ice itself is not black, but visually transparent, allowing the often black road below to be seen through it. The typically low levels ...

, this portion of road has now been bypassed by the newer Ridgley Highway. Nevertheless, the area is quite picturesque and some bush-walking tracks have been

blazed Trail blazing or way marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with signs or markings that follow each other at certain, though not necessarily exactly defined, distances and mark the direction of the trail. A bla ...

for tourists. Circular Head Council {{CircularHead-geo-stub