Huon River, township, valley, forest
Skytrack amongst the trees
Tallest flowering tree in the world, Eukalyptus Red Gum
Cabbage leafed pine
Selective timber felling
Modern problems with Tasmanian timber trade
Hot springs for lunch, wee walk then swim
Hastings Caves, old Precambrian dolerite (like limestone with magnesium in it) no fossils. Shallow, 20m, under rainforest, grows and changes quickly, few floods, tiny river
100th night on the road!
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Today began with a new tour company. However, unlike my other tours we wouldn't, initially be going from one place to another. Instead my first two days will be centred around Hobart. Today we were off to the far south. Once it was all virgin forest. Much of this was cut down and replaced with orchards, making Tazmania the "Apple Island". This didn't last though with supermarkets altering the restrictions and requirements. There are still a few orchards, but also cherry tree orchards plus cattle and sheep farms.
We got to the Huon township early in the morning. This area was named after the middle name of a naval captain from Brittany, France, who landed here in the early days of western exploration. The valley, river, township, forest, and a few trees now bear his name. From the township we turned off towards his forest to go find some of his trees.
Tasmania, like much of Australia and New Zealand, has a history of timber. Initially this was selective logging, only taking the very best which had to be hauled out of the forest. This had the benefit of leaving some of the oldest, slightly rotten, trees, and the youngest which would become regrowth.
What followed resulted in much more debate. Tasmania is one of the few places in the world to still be cutting down its native forest. They do have vast tracts of land set aside as national park, about a third of the entire island, so the ecosystem is relatively safe. Yet they still have large areas of native tree which they have been strip felling since the late 60s. In parts this has regrown quite well but there are many slow growing species struggling to return. Hence there is an ongoing debate, and occasional protest, one side wanting to protect the forest, the other side wanting to protect their jobs.
The main timber company here is owned by the state of Tasmania. Over the years they've been trying to increase the amount of tourism the forest can bring. If the business from this could compete with the timber trade whilst providing jobs it might stand a chance of changing the situation. A number of projects have been tried, but only a few have been successful. The company has shrunk though, with occasionally laying off or workers. It's not easy for Tasmania to sell its wood internationally- most of e major Western nations have banned the trade in native forested timber and timber products. The future of the business isn't looking too good. As one of the major employers on the island though it would be an economic disaster if the logging simply stopped. Personally I wonder if the state government knows this can't go on forever and is going to steadily reduced the business, hoping other work will take over, as the opportunity to trade dwindles. It would seem like a smarter move, especially given that as much as the business might be struggling the island's economy and unemployment figures are not doing well.
On a happier note we did go to see some of the tourist attractions that are actively working.
The Skytreck is a walkway in the canopy above an area of forest running next to the Huon River. From here we learnt about trees such as the Huon pine- the local tree used for EVERYTHING it would seem, particularly the local boat builders, one of the few businesses still making wooden boats. There was also the Cabbage leaf pine, a pine that unusually has broadened its spines making them into something more like leaves. And finally we saw a few of the young Red Gum Eukalyptus. These take hundreds of years to grow and most were felled in the Victorian era. Only those that appeared too old to fell and the youngest now remain. They grow tall and straight- the tallest still alive is around 99.6m high, far taller than the tallest building on the island. We didn't have time to go find this one but we did see some at over 50m high. If we're honest though, after the first 30m it's very hard from he ground to see much further up. Once old enough they will grow above the rest of the trees in the forest. This exposes them to the harsh weather so the trees must the strong enough to resist the worst of it. Hence the strong, thick, tall trees that the first colonists loved.
For lunch we went to the Hot Springs near the Hastings caves. I quickly walked around the local track to see the springs- small and no where near as hot as in New Zealand. Afterwards I jumped in for a quick dip in the swimming pool of spring water. It's small, busy, and about 20'C. Nice, but no NZ. I'm sure it feels much better on a cold day though- we had overcast weather, but still warm.
Afterwards we were off up the road to the Hastings Caves.
During the felling of trees in the days of the colony they found the tall, thick trees the world wanted. Rather than cutting through the wide base steps were cut in the base and four men placed ledges around the point where the trunk started to narrow, about 2-4m up. From here they'd cut away until the tree started to fall. They wouldn't be entirely too sure which way it would go, so time to jump down and run and hide. So much for health and safety.
During one such felling the men managed to find a cave to hide in. No one had noticed it before and they had to come back later with lanterns to discover that the cave ran deep and grew into a great many chambers filled with geological structures formed as water from the rainforest above flowed through the dolerite.
One small problem though. Companies were granted access to specific pieces of land where they could fell. Often these areas would border one another in places deep in the forest. Who would know if the workers occasionally stepped over a border for a particularly profitably specimen? This is what had happened on that day- the men were not supposed to be in the area where the cave was!
The cave was a local secret for years until it was eventually opened as a tourist attraction. Even then it took days of travel through the bush to get to it. It wasn't until after the Great War, with returned servicemen needing jobs, that the government funded the building of a road to the area. Stairs down into the caves were added, as were oil lamps.
During these early days people carved graffiti into the rocks and took souvenirs by snapping off rock formations. Much of this damage can still be seen today. However the roof is around 20m below the ground level- in some places less. This means that, in conjunction with the amount of rain that falls here, the formations here are some of the fastest changing in the world. Our guide very jubilantly informed us that one of the pleasures in coming in here is how often features grow and change.
The features themselves are numerous, and similar to what I've blogged previously- though these were significantly more numerous and spectacular. As well as stalactites and stalagmites, some having fused into columns, there were fantastically long "straws" of mineral, flow stone, knobbly features that looked like pipe organs and rock formed into pockets by dripping water, making slippery puddles. From time to time the cave can flood, so there are a few branches lying around and atop formations, as well as a tide mark formed by the mud which flowed through the cave. There is a very small stream in the cave where much of the dripping water descends to. This flows down from the mouth and down into the rock.
It's unknown if the native people ever came here. With the changing in the rock any evidence could have been washed way. But also the cave is incredibly deep. Having passed into the mouth, through stoat iron gates, we met a steel fence. Beyond this the floor falls away. We were stood on the top a a large cliff, maybe 30ft high. Other than the modern stairs there's no obvious way down- the original European explorers climbed down with ropes. It would have been possible but both dangerous, and of relatively little value, for the Aboriginal people to have come in here.
Once onto this level we followed paths and stairs through around 5 large chambers with a different combination of features within each. These ranged from the size of a large house to a master bedroom.
That nigh was spent at the Tassie Backpackers in Hobart- possibly one of the worst hostels I've stayed in! But the beds were good, so night 100 of travelling wasn't all bad.
