I Have a Date
For the last few days I’ve been making my north to meet the Spirit of Tasmania, starting with Monday. I finally woke up in a caravan park. Desperation overtook me the afternoon before. A shower would be good but clean clothes had become a necessity. I stayed in the Dover caravan park.
Once the clothes were clean and dry I started south again. My goal – reach the southern most tip of Australia before days end. Luck was not on my side. The paved road turned gravel with about 50 kilometres to go. Large water filled craters dotted the road and the recent rains had turned everything else into mud.
My alternative – Hasting Thermal Pool and Caves. Warm water seeps from the ground and for nearly 100 years has been used as a retreat. In 1913 the hillside near the pool was being logged. As tree crashed to the ground. The ground shook. The fellers clambered from their planks (spring-boards) a couple metres above the ground and moved to admire the fallen giant. Beneath the giant gum tree was a hole into the ground. They ventured in. It went deeper then they expected. Soon darkness replaced day. They had discovered Newdegate Caves. In 1916 the area around the pool and cave was declared a nature reserve.
I arrived just in time for the 1:15 cave tour. Newdegate Caves is unique in that it is one of few dolerite (I believe its calcium magnesium carbonate) cave systems – slightly different from the more common limestone (calcium carbonate) cave. In my opinion it made the cave formations slightly rougher than a limestone cave. The cave had all the normal cave structures; flow stone, stalagmites, stalactites, heliotites, straws, veils and darkness. My favorite was a bent straw.
After the cave tour I ventured into the thermal pools. It wasn’t the hot spring I am accustomed to but the naturally 27 degree water was good for a pleasant and therapeutic dip. If I had forgot or needed barbeque supplies the gift shop sells fully stocked picnic baskets to have a family barbeque by the pool – something I had not found anywhere else.
My goal for the evening was to be somewhere north of Hobart by evening.
Instead I found myself still an hour away camped along the Avre River on my way to the Tahune AirWalk. I wasn’t going to visit – it was another Forestry Tasmania site – but at the last minute I decided to visit. It is touted a grand tourist destination. I better make sure and give it a chance.
The picnic/camping area on Avre River is close to the road but being a dead-end road there wasn’t much traffic. For 90 years the spot has been a used for picnics – first as a destination – now just a short drive. The twenty minute loop walk through the forest and in between several truly enourmous trees was worth the stop alone. Fairy wrens, scrubtits and flame robins added to the enjoyment.
I arrived at the AirWalk just after opening. The temptation to walk in through the clear, plastic swinging gate without paying was there but I did pay. I was a little put off by the cashier – she spent 10 minutes talking to the café waitress while I waited to pay. Next time I may not be so honest. It wasn’t a good start to my visit.
I walked the Huon Pine Trail. After seeing a buttress of a huon pine at the Zeehan Pioneer Museum I was expecting to see large trees. Instead I found trees barely 30 centimetres in diameter. Huon pine was favoured for wood working because of the ease with which it could be worked and for building ships because it resists rot. The large trees were already taken – perhaps stolen. Today the tree is protected. Most of the trees harvested now come from wood reclaimed from along the shores of rivers now buried beneath Hydro Tasmania reservoirs and stumps left after the canopy was harvested.
Next the AirWalk.
It is an elevated walkway through the forest’s canopy. At its highest point it is 37 metres above ground. The focal point of the AirWalk is the final arching cantilever – walkway into the air. There is no support under the final 25 metres of walkway. At the end I was 34 metres above the ground looking to the river 43 metres below at the valley bottom. As the wind blew the structure swayed and bounced.
After gaining terra-firma I chose the long way back to the parking area – a very enjoyable walk through the forest and crossing the rivers on two suspension bridges.
Was the experience worth the $22.00 I had to pay? My opinion is a resounding, “No.” The tree top walk at Walpole in West Australia cost $8.00. The forest interpretation panels were better and the staff more friendly – never mind it cost 1/3 the Tasmania price.
Tasmania has repeatedly been overpriced! I believe Tasmania is unfairly burdening tourists with overpriced attractions – cashing in on its “unique status” in Australia. An island off the shore of the continent proper.
Leaving the AirWalk I stopped at Keogh Creek walk – another short walk. Keogh Creek was a result of the Esperence Coalition. Forestry Tasmania desired to extract resources – timber – from the World Heritage Area. The concession was made and Keogh Creek was established to be managed by the Esperence Coalition.
Unfortunately Forestry Tasmania now manages the site.
The panels along the trail are clearly made to diminish the values of a native and natural forest and promote forest consumption to support industry:
Ø our timber profits have allowed paving this road into the forest;
Ø we have you tricked, you like forests along the roads so we leave corridors along the roads so you don’t know what is happening further back and you think we are preserving the forests;
Ø old trees die so we have a right to remove them for industry before they die – we don’t like waste;
Ø we leave riparian zones along the streams so the streams stay clear like Keogh Creek.
Never mind
Ø There are a number of cavity dwelling animals and birds which require cavities in large, old-growth snags. These species are diminishing in numbers and were not even mentioned on the panels.
Ø The logged areas are hardly being restored to a native and natural condition. The forests will never reach old-growth status after being logged. They are entered into the harvest plan to be cleared every 80 to 120 years.
Ø Keogh Creek is one of the few streams I saw which was flowing clear. I wonder, was that because Hartz Mountain National Park is just upstream from it – not because of riparian stream zones?
Again my plan was to be near Cradle Mountain or at least on the Central Highland Plateau by evening.
Instead I was camped on
Belcher Road
near National Park and Mt. Field National Park. Ten years ago I promised myself I would visit a waterfall I saw during my first visit. I still had not found it but today I finally realized it might be in Mt. Field National Park. I was delayed again – looking for a waterfall.
