Rulers of the forest

Began my day with walks in the Mt Field National Park near Maydena after driving back from Strathgordon. 

This area of natural beauty has been recognised for 100 years. Tasmania's first nature reserve  was created around Russell Falls in 1885 and extended into Mt Field National Park in 1916.

I have never been here before and it certainly doesn't attract the attention like Cradle Mountain but it has really gorgeous scenery and walks are well crafted with excellent signage. 

Russell Falls are probably the most photographed falls in Tasmania  - I remember them on a calendar when I was a child.

Reaching the Falls back then would have taken quite a bit of effort but today a wheel chair friendly path takes you through a forest of  huge man ferns to a viewing platform. From here walkers can make it a loop or continue on to other Falls and eventually back to the VIC some three hours later. It's cool and shaded in the forest and the tree ferns are huge - more than 3 metres high.

This stump and the hollow tree fallen from it show how big the trees grow - I could stand up inside the hollowed trunk!

Next I drove to the Tall Trees walk.  Here are to be found some of the tallest trees in Australia. The species is swamp gum or eucalyptus regnans from the Latin meaning to rule or reign and they certainly rule this forest! They are characterised by smooth white trunks with ribbons of bark at higher levels and a fibrous lower collar at the base. They tower over everything. Also reaching for sky are slender young swamp gums competing for the light. Only the strongest survive to become giants! 

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Underneath in the dappled shadows tree ferns rely on the dampened floor to survive during summer heat. Below these: mosses, lichens and small ferns and continuously falling leaf litter. The forest is home to black cockatoos with their raucous calls ringing through the air - heard but too high to see!

You can measure the height of the trees using a clinometer provided at a viewing platform and check the size on a chart. The tallest measures 90.6 metres! 

Even the tallest and strongest eventually fall but they continue to be part of the forest becoming covered in lichens, mosses and small ferns feeding the myriad of inhabitants living here.

This tree may have died in the fires of 1934 but took years to eventually fall, still playing its part by opening up the canopy for new plants scrambling to reach the light.

This is far from the biggest tree in the forest but it is not the smallest.

If you drive further into the park the landscape becomes Alpine moorland full of shallow tarns and rocky tors - another world really!

VIC staff were very friendly and obviously extremely proud of Mt Field's long history and what it has to offer. A bit off the usual track but worth the effort.

After fresh picked raspberries and home made icecream down the road I drove on,  through Hobart to Geeveston and my accommodation -  The Bears Went Over the Mountain  - a former bank building with a new life as a B&B. I am sharing my room with 2 bears and 3 dolls but they seem very shy - haven't said anything yet! 

I walked along the Kermandie river on the edge of town hoping to see the local platypus - no luck though. Maybe tomorrow....

Now I am sitting in front of the fire chatting to two Queensland  "birders" who have had a wonderful week photographing Tasmanian birds. It is most welcome 'cause " baby it's cold outside"!