South West Wilderness

  Maydena, Tasmania, Australia
Sunday, March 1, 2009

From Wayatinah we travelled on a hilly, winding back-road through dense forests to Mount Field National Park. A local had recommended this road, which is not shown on many maps, and it is much more attractive than the main road. We were a bit nervous as people sometimes underestimate the difficulties of towing a big caravan but we were fine and the road was wide enough for us to pass through easily.This journey gave us a taste of the days to come exploring this wonderful, wilderness area.
We set up in a beautiful spot surrounded by tall Eucalyptus trees in the Mount Field National Park and this would be our base to explore the area .A river ran behind us and there were wallabies hopping around and brightly coloured green lorikeets in the trees. One wild creature that David did not appreciate was the scorpion that appeared as he was in the toilet cubicle.

Scorpion in mens toilet

 There are many walks in the park itself and one included the spectacular Russell Falls.

Russell Falls

There are Platypus in the river but despite several forays at dusk we never saw one though we did see lots of glow worms at night in the ferny areas along the river banks. There are also trout in the river but there was so much else to do and see that there was no time left to fish. We did drive up a very long, steep and bendy road to an alpine lake where David fished but not for long as the cold temperature got the better of him. I stayed warm, reading in the car after a brief walk.

Gordon Dam

We had a wonderful day out driving to the Gordon Dam and having a picnic lunch on the shore of Lake Pedder. It is so quiet and peaceful driving around this area. We passed hundreds of trees covered in white flowers and also hundreds of bee hives.

Leatherwood flowers

Putting the two together we guessed that they were Leatherwood trees and the bees were making the Leatherwood honey for which Tasmania is well-known.

Bees making Leatherwood honey

It has a distinctive 'love it or hate it' flavour and we are definitely in the former category.

Tall trees

Another day we drove into and walked in the old-growth forests which contain some of the tallest trees in Tasmania.

Forest protest

They are magnificent and there are protests currently going on in the area to save some old-growth trees marked by Forestry Tasmania for logging.

Florentine protest

We had been reading of these protests almost daily since arriving in Tasmania so it was interesting to see the protesters and their 'camps' among the trees.

Angled seat for looking at talll trees

I wore my T-shirt with a big tree on it in case we came into contact with any 'greenie' protesters but we only came across a handful of people all day and did not engage in any controversial topics of conversation; g'day mate and such greetings sufficed.

As we drove through the small village of Maydena near the National Park there was a sign outside a house advertising organic produce so I went in while David parked the car. Lucky that he didn't come in as I had an interesting conversation with the lady grower about the local situation of 'Forestry' against 'Greenies'. Most people in the village work for the 'Forestry' including her own family for generations but she supports the moderate 'greenies' so she has to suffer people calling her a 'greenie slut' (her words) and being excluded from village life. Brave woman and intelligent but I am sure that David would have found it difficult (as I must admit I did initially) to look beyond the tattoos, dreadlocks and piercings. I enjoyed hearing the views of an informed 'greenie' as one tends to hear the extremists who get all the publicity. The whole issue is so complicated and facts distorted by both sides that, I find, I do not have enough information to take sides. Anyway it was an interesting encounter and her salad veggies were so fresh and tasty as was her homemade blackcurrant syrup.

We both fell in love with this area; so wild and deserted with towering trees and peaceful lakes and rivers.

After all this communing with nature we spent a few days in Hobart and stayed at a caravan park north of the city. We were on a bay on the river looking across to the Cadbury Australia chocolate factory. Seeing it in the distance each day, how could we resist the temptation to visit so we did and while there  got tempted by the bargains to be had in the factory shop. Still Easter is coming so that is our excuse.

Cadbury chocolate factory in Hobart

From here we will wend our way to the East Coast and its famous islands, bays and beaches.