Tall Trees and Waterfalls

We spent the night in the central highlands in an old hayloft attic, at reputedly Australia’s oldest golf course at Bothwell. It was a real Scottish experience, with the water cutting out halfway through Georgie’s shower then returning a short period later with icy temperatures! And, of course, Rod bonged his head on the low ceiling.

Unfortunately an early morning walk to the stream failed to provide views of the large Tasmanian platypus – as big as a wombat, one bloke enthused to us!

Heading off towards Lake Pedder, we enjoyed a wander up a mossy valley to a pretty waterfall, and a steep walk to a brilliant lookout atop a rocky ridge, each were included in the numerous stops along the heavily forested roads that we followed.

Our next major call-in along the way was Mt Fields National Park, where we walked a long circuit that took us over four hours to complete. Most people could do it in half that, but we tend to stop to investigate and photograph the beautiful stuff we encounter multiple times along the way.

There were lots of wonderful waterfalls to marvel at, huge 12 metre high tree ferns, and gorgeous encounters with wallabies, pademelons, a blue wren, pink breasted robins, and blue winged mountain parrots. But perhaps the very best thing about that walk was all the magnificent towering mountain ash trees that we wandered beneath, mouth-agape. Those stupendous giants are the tallest flowering plants in the world, reaching up so high that we stood awe struck by their absolute grandness. We were absolutely dwarfed by such massive living things. Those beasties can reach heights of 90 metres or more, and the incredibly thick bases were just so huggable! This was on Georgie’s definite bucket-list, and we were both very happy to finally tick that off.

We proceeded further up the road to our next accommodation at Lake Pedder, stopping briefly to check out a few places along the way that we hoped we would have more time to investigate fully the next day. At one place Rod managed to photograph a gorgeous little echidna having a scratch! That was unusual, and very cute!

Unfortunately the rain began closing in on us, and many of the brilliant views began to be obscured by misty clouds. We hoped that the forecast of possible snow (!) would not eventuate the next day for when we returned along that same road en route to Hobart.

We awoke the next morning to 4 degree temperatures. The Bureau of Meteorology said felt like minus one. Brrrrr! Back at our home in North Queensland it was currently 30 degrees on our farm. Those are far more civilised temperatures!

Our first stop along the road was a detour to the Styx River valley and the Big Trees Reserve. Before setting off on a walk along the trail a gorgeous pademelon allowed us to photograph her, without panicking and hopping away. Eventually we wandered up the boardwalk and became totally gobsmacked by the fabulous twisted tree ferns and the absolutely astronomically towering mountain ash trees. We saw the biggest tree we have ever laid eyes on there, it must have been at least 90 metres high, perhaps more. The freezing conditions, the rain, hail, and the howling wind didn’t put us off. Even when it began to sleet.

After looking at a few other pretty sights we drove up high onto Mt Field with a plan to do a walk around an alpine lake. But before we arrived at the top, it began to SNOW quite heavily! On the cusp of Summer, no less! We even photographed a wombat who was trundling about amongst the white stuff. The zero degree temperatures deterred us from doing that walk around the lake, but Georgie’s gleeful giggles were wonderful to hear. She even managed to build a little snowman.

In a matter of a few hours that day we had experienced rain, hail, sleet, snow, howling wind, a blizzard, and bright warming sunshine, and a gorgeous rainbow. At one point the temperature even doubled within half an hour, it went from 3 degrees to 6! It was a real welcome to Tasmania for us!

Click the pics to enlarge

Nelson Falls

A magnificent view with Frenchman’s Cap in the far distance with ice upon it in patches

Weird moss along the Franklin River

Tree hugging in the Franklin River forest

Russell Falls at Mt Fields National Park

Horseshoe Falls in Mt Fields

Gorgeous tree bole in Mt Fields

The Mountain Ash just go up and up and up

Lady Barron Falls in Mt Fields

Orangutan fiddleheads

Lovely pademelon in Mt Fields

Echidna having a scratch! That’s unique!

Gorgeous pademelon posing for the camera at Styx River

More tree hugging of giants at Styx River

Amazing tree ferns

Gushing clear water at Junee Cave

Then it began to snow!

Wombat undeterred by the frigid conditions

Making a snowman whilst giggling gleefully

Then the blizzard hit