Whilst waiting for the crowds at Bruny to die down, we took a trip into the Hartz Mountains national park.
In southern Tasmania they are around 55 km southwest of Hobart near Geeveston, also a gorgeous little town. The mountains are shaped by ancient glaciers, full of rugged peaks, glacial lakes, and alpine plants.
As we drove down the tracks, we moved from rainforest with by myrtle and sassafras to alpine heath and snow gum forests with stark white trunks. Bennett’s wallabies bounded across the track and an echidna waddled dangerously. There's even a moss froglet here, a species discovered in 1992, but we didn't have the pleasure.
We took a couple of gentle walks, one to a lookout and one to a waterfall. My hip can't handle much more but at least it was something!
The area was declared a reserve in 1939 and was one of Tasmania's earliest bushwalking destinations. In 1989 the area was included in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area in 1989, preserving its natural and cultural heritage which would have been ruined had logging companies has their way. Whilst back in the day logging was small scale as they could only chop down one huge tree with hand saws and drag it over the mountains with horses, these days machinery can raze whole mountainsides and valuable old growth forests are gone forever.
Jamie however did take a longer walk to some beautiful glacial lakes which I skipped. We did skip the Tagine
We camped about 12 km out of Geeveston by a bridge next to a pretty stream, where huge fallen logs whispered of the giants that must have lived here. In other places the smell of burnt rubber filled the air - the Christmas season had bought the revheads out to ruin tyres and throw bottles around. Tasmania is not always a paradise.
In the morning we were driving away from camp and a spotted tail quoll aka tiger quoll was racing after a pademelon. They're on the endangered list now so it was amazing to see one. After the thylacine or tiger cat became extinct Tassie only had quolls as predators. They pick off chickens and small marsupials and lambs. We may have prevented him catching his breakfast! He stopped on a log right next to the passenger window and we got a good look at him. Such beautiful creatures. It's pointless showing you my blurry shot so please enjoy this photo from World Wildlife Foundation.
There's two quolls in Tasmania but this is the larger of the two. They can be super playful and amazing to observe in the wild. We were so thrilled to see one! In Tassie sadly there's a lot of roadkill as people drive fast and animals have no road sense. There was a big push to educate people and bumper stickers that read 'slow for wildlife' but it does worry me that with deforestation and other man made activities there will be no wildlife left to spot soon enough.
With Love,
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Hope people will take care and respect the wildlife. I am glad that there are still protected and conservation areas in that part of the world. There's always a profound experience in the wild that those who go there become one with nature and become the advocates of its protection. All the best !BBH
Looks like a very beautiful picture my friend
How cool to see the quoll and what odd spotting it has!
Of course this was a very enjoyable trip.
We made it to Geeveston and some nice beach near there but as you have shown there is so much more to explore and see in that Southern part of Tasmania.