Forest along the Huon River

The Huon River rises in the mountains west and somewhat south of where we are staying. It then flows east and north until it reaches Huonville where it quickly turns south and broadens considerably to become the river you've been seeing on this blog. But, upstream a ways, only about 50 km from its beginnings it flows through a thickly forested area where the Tahune Air Walk is located. We'll visit the Air Walk in more detail tomorrow. Today, we'll explore the forest from ground level first.

There is a bridge across the swiftly flowing river here. The piers that support the bridge create turbulence in the water. This is what you see above. Notice how dark the water is, like strong tea. It is colored from washing all the tannin out of the soil in these mountains.



Although there were signs explaining that we were not in a rainforest because the tall eucalypts shade out the other trees and the dense forest is all understory trees, this seemed to be a mere technicality. This section of Tasmania gets, on average, about 900 mm of rain each year. Being in a thick forest always being rained on sure feels like a rainforest.

Whatever it is called, it is wet and everything is covered with moss, ferns, and lichen.

This one photo I have today from the canopy is the view of the "wishing tree". the Air Walk is a steel walkway some 30-40 meters in the air that takes you through the upper stories of the forest and eventually out over the edge of the Huon river for viewing. On the way, there is a tree that was cut 2 or 3 meters above the ground that is still well below our location. The idea is to toss money to see if your can get it to stoy top of the stump. Kind of a wishing well inverted. This money is collected for the support of the park.

It is really not possible to describe just how green every single thing is in the place. There are very few surfaces that are not covered with something green growing on it.

The cycle of the forest is very evident here where a fallen tree is first the platform for the moss and then a new tree starts from his ancestor.

This part of the forest was quite except for the rushing noise of the river. Yet, there are birds about and I'm sure some of them eat these berries.

I shudder to think what this place is like the summer. I expect it to be filled with swarms of flying insects and birds racing to gorge themselves with the juicy ones. Of course, the insects will, not doubt, be interested in feeding on me. Be now, in July when the winter is still trying to hold on, it is safe for us tender-skinned tourist-types.

There is lots of evidence of change in the forest with fallen trees and enormous stumps everywhere.

Some trees from to be huge. This one is easily 3 meteres across at the base.

And even though it is relatively dark on the forest floor, there are openings letting in light near some of the huge eucalypts.

We could occasionally hear the cries of excited children or the muted conversation of their parents as we walked along, but for the most part, it is only nature's sounds we hear as we walk through this wooded wonderland.