Tasmania
December 2024
An early morning departure; leaving on a large ship is always exciting, and so it was this time. On our way to beautiful Tasmania. We have visited this large island several times before and hope to experience again its stunning nature and parks.
The ferry departs from Geelong, Victoria. The vessel is due to be replaced with a newly built ship (built in Finland, the same as our vessel), however there is a delay with making the Devonport port facilities suitable for the new ship. Therefor, we need to wait a while before the new ferry is crossing the Bass Strait. The ship we were sailing, the SPIRIT OF TASMANIA I, is very comfortable and has very good facilities. The day we sailed the weather and sea was very calm.
There was quite a bit of rain over the Bass Straight, although we did not sail through any rain. The voyage takes about 10 hours, depending on the weather and seas. The Spirit Of Tasmania I was built in 1998 by Kvaerner Masa-Yards at Turku New Shipyard in Finland and is powered by four Wärtsilä 16ZA40S diesel engines.
Setting up camp, near Ouse, central Tasmania. Sunny days, but the wind quite blustery, beaufort 7. From there Brenda, Phil, Lumen and I travelled to the beautiful parks. We also stayed a few days in motels when we strayed too far from camp. A very pleasant time indeed.
The Styx Tall Trees Conservation Area - with the Eucalyptus regnans, the giant ash, which give the reserve its name. Numerous trees measure over 90 metres, make them among the largest and tallest eucalypts. The Styx play a significant role in Tasmania's controversial environmental history. After a bitter campaign the Styx was added to the forest reserve system in 2013.
The undergrowth is dense; mosses, ferns and rich birdlife. On the day of our visit there was no wind and the forest was very quiet, except for cawing of the ravens in the tall canopies.
Lake Dobson, part of Mount Field national Park, is a small glacial lake and is colourful in autumn when the deciduous beech (Nothofagus gunnii) turns. We walked around the lake; a wonderful experience; there were very few people on the day of our visit and so many beautiful plants to see.
Lake Dobson. Flowers in the green.
Lake Dobson. Lichen, a pure cream and white and delicately beautiful.
Lake Dobson alpine lake vegetation.
Ola from Lake Dobson.
Lake St Clair, a cold, blustery and rainy day on our visit. Lake St Clair or "Leeawuleena" is a natural freshwater lake; it forms the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. It has an area of 45 square kilometres, and a maximum depth of 215 metres, making it Australia's deepest lake. The lake marks the start of the River Derwent.
Hells Gates marks the entrance to Macquarie Harbour from the Southern Ocean. Captain James Kelly (a sealer and harbourmaster) came upon Macquarie Harbour and its Huon Pine in 1815 while circumnavigating Tasmania in search of resources. Kelly made this trip in a whale boat with 4 oarsmen discovering huon pine in all the fresh water rivers from the Huon river in the south east coast round the south coast and as high up the west coast as the Pieman River all containing forests of the pine. The greatest amount found was around the shores of Macquarie harbour and up the Gordon river and all its tributaries. Kelly named Sarah Island for the wife of merchant Thomas Birch, who financed his voyage. News of Kelly's discovery prompted L. Governor Sorrell to select Macquarie Harbour for a penal settlement. Sarah Island became this settlement. The purpose of the settlement was to incarcerate the toughest of the convicts barracked in Hobart and to set them to work harvesting the valuable Huon Pine from the nearby rivers.
Hells Gates. The entrance for convicts from Hobart destined to Sarah Island. The passage itself already treacherous. At the top of the map, left hand corner one can see the rock breakwater at Hells Gate. It is 1.2 kilometers long; this breakwater was constructed to channelize the flow through Hells Gate, the mouth of Macquarie Harbour; and it was constructed with labour from the penal colony; rock by rock. Amazing. The breakwater is still there!
Macquarie Harbour. It was all about Huon Pine. Small Sarah Island can be seen on the lower West side of Macquarie Harbour in the highlighted area.
Our visit to Sarah Island. The day was cold, with frequent rain squalls. In winter it's with sleet and wet snow.
Ruins of the solitary confinement building. The bricks were made on Sarah Island and also exported to Port Arthur (near Hobart) for the construction of the penal colony there.
Ruins of the prison warden's house. A nice elevated view.
Banks of the Gordon River, Macquarie harbour. Upon arrival on Sarah Island, the convicts were tasked with clearing the island of its vegetation. Working in chain gangs, they then became Tasmania's first piners. Huon pine and other timbers were cut from forests near the streams and rivers of Macquarie Harbour. The forest was dense and most huon pines were cut from the banks of the waterways as access was (somewhat) easier. As one can see in the photograph, the banks often steep and treacherous. Initially huon pine was shipped to Hobart, but the difficulty of transport (due to frequent poor weather) required a change of plan. Within a decade, authorities had transformed the island into an industrial penal village. Under the guidance of master shipwrights (even from the East coast of America, lured by the unique and special huon pine), over 100 vessels of varying sizes were built. It was hard, cold, wet labour, but the convicts that survived departed as skilled tradesmen. In 1833, after 12 short brutal but productive years, the settlement and its shipyards closed due to access difficulties, frequent escapes and the opening of Port Arthur. Shortly after the island became a base for local piners harvesting in the area.
Huon Pine (Lagarostrobos frankilinii). A podocarp conifer, endemic to Tasmania is found only in rainforests. To survive they need to tap in a permanent water supply, thriving in dense forest close to streams and rivers; in this way Huon Pines are somewhat protected from the frequent destructive forest fires. Huon Pines are contenders for being the oldest living plants; one clonal grove may be 10,000 years old and individual stems have been dated 3,400 years. It has a very slow growth rate of about 0.3 — 2 mm per year, taking 1000 years to reach a height of 30 m and a diameter of 1 metre. The timber is truly unique and valuable: it has a very high oil content (methyl eugenol), which makes it impervious to insects, marine borers and resists wood rot (unlike the European and American oak built ships which were very susceptible to marine borers; only in the late 19th Century the introduction of iron-clad ships, signaled a shift towards metal shipbuilding from oak built vessels). The high oil content of Huon Pine also means the timber can be bent, shaped, worked and sculpted without splitting and finishes to a superb, fine lustre. Fallen submerged logs are preserved, without affecting the quality. Once harvested unsparingly, they are now a protected species. 85% of remaining Huon Pine forests are conserved in National Parks while 15% is managed by Forestry Tasmania for salvage. Forestry Tasmania controls and surveys all salvage/harvest sites and only a few sawmills are licensed to process logs. The Huon Valley, along with its local government authority, several towns, the Huon River, and the Huon Pine, were named after Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec, a French Navy officer and explorer who visited Tasmania as part of Bruni d'Entrecasteaux's expedition in the 1790s. (In the table below, the Ginko is a gymnosperm, however is not a conifer. See the travel section of Shikoku)
The Tahune River - Huon Valley, Southern Tasmania. A natural habitat for huon pine and other endemic conifers and broadleaved plants. The water seems black, however it is clear, tinted by rich organic matter.
Huon pine has distinctive, feathery foliage characterized by tiny, scale-like leaves. These small scales give the tree a unique, almost moss-like appearance and contribute to the overall delicate, drooping habit, especially in shady areas, further enhancing the feathery appearance. Huon pines reproduce vegetatively by layering or root suckering, as well as by tiny, pin-head sized male and female cones in spring, sitting at the end of the scale-like leaves.
A young huon pine, near the bank of the Tahune River
A trunk of a huon pine near the bank of the Tahune River. Considering the size, this tree is a 1,000 years or so old. Generations come and go, a continent taken and settled, and this tree already here and well established. Sculptor Anne Ferguson aptly described the huon pine: "The quality of huon pine is that it is forever".
A young King Billy Pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides), near the Tahune river bank. A cupressaceae, also at times named "Australian Cedar". The King Billy Pine was named in honor of William Lanne (c.1836 – 3 March 1869), also spelt William Lanné and known as King Billy or William Laney, was an Aboriginal Tasmanian man. The King Billy pine is endemic to Tasmania, grows in rainforest, normally at the higher altitudes It can grow up to 40m; the King Billy is now a protected species that was very sought after for boat building and now for musical instruments.
More frequent forest fires has made the King Billy an endangered species. King Billy pines have been known to grow to 1,800+ years. Their rot-resisting qualities are not as phenomenal as Huon, but they can be successfully stockpiled for perhaps hundreds of years, an ability unheard-of in most other timbers. Several decades of salvage and careful husbanding of the logs has created a stockpile at Tasmania Special Timbers mill; probably the world’s only suppliers of sawlog King Billy pine. All of the resource – including the hundreds of fire-killed skeletons dotting the western ranges – is now fully protected.
The King Billy Pine was named in honor of William Lanne by early European settlers in Tasmania. They referred to him as "King Billy" due to his status as a tribal leader. From 1859, Lanne found work as a whaler in the Tasmanian whaling and sealing industry. Lanne worked on many whaling ships, including the Aladdin, which sailed under the well-known whaler Captain McArthur, the Jane, the Runnymede and the Sapphire. The latter worked the waters of the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Lanne had a good-humoured personality, was well-spoken and admired among the Hobart community. He is recorded as advocating for improving the living arrangements of the women at Oyster Cove Settlement by writing to colonial officials in 1864. He formed a relationship with Truganini and was generally regarded as being her spouse during this period. Truganini, a famous indigenous woman who, as a teenage girl, was held for sexual purposes by British sawyers. In 1868, Lanne was a guest of honour at the Hobart Regatta, where he met the Duke of Edinburgh. It is here that he was also introduced by the governor as the "King of the Tasmanians". (Photo courtesy Tasmania Library archive)
The Celerytop Pine (Phyllocladus aspeniifolius), a podocarp, is endemic to Tasmania and is the most widespread and abundant conifer in Tasmania. It is a common constituent of cool temperate rainforest vegetation types in Tasmania. The largest Celerytop Pine are found in wet sclerophyll forests with a canopy of Eucalyptus spp, and can be up to 800 years old. They grow on acidic soils derived from dolerite, granite or quartzite, that is well drained and may be on boulder or scree slopes, in high rainfall areas with no marked periods of drought. They are less shade tolerant than their fellow rainforest species, relying on a higher fire frequency for regeneration in these areas and regenerate freely in burnt forests. The wood is hard and strong with little shrinkage, bends and works well, and is very durable. The beautiful wood is used for railway sleepers, flooring, ship masts, furniture, and cabinet work.
A mature tree near the Tahune river; a large portion of Celerytop Pine is located in protected forests in Tasmania or in forests open to logging with management that allows for the persistence of native trees. The IUCN, lists the species as “Least Concern”, indicating its persistent abundance in Tasmania.
Nothofagus cunninghamii, commonly known as myrtle beech or Tasmanian myrtle, is an evergreen and the dominant species of cool temperate rainforests in Tasmania and Southern Victoria. It has low fire resistance and grows best in partial shade conditions. Height range from trees of up to 50 meters in protected rainforest valleys to low-growing alpine shrubs less than 1 m tall in exposed conditions. Nothofagus means “false beech” . There are 43 species of Nothofagus, with only three occurring in Australia: N. cunninghamii, gunnii, and moorei. Nothofagus gunnii is a deciduous beech endemic to Tasmania that grows in low-fire, alpine regions. Nothofagus moorei, or Antarctic beech, is another cool temperate rainforest evergreen found in patches in New South Wales and Southern Queensland. (Nothofagus spp., also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere, found across southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and New Caledonia).
Eucryphia lucida, the leatherwood, is a species of tree or large shrub endemic to forests of western Tasmania, Australia. Ranging from 2–10 m in height, it can sometimes grow to 25 m in favourable conditions. It is widespread and common in moister forests in Tasmania, occurring mainly across the western parts of the state, from the northwest in such places as the Tarkine and through the South West Wilderness. It grows as an understorey plant and prefers wetter climates of 1500–2500 mm annual rainfall. Their white flowers produce nectar that attracts honeybees. Leatherwood honey is rare and has a unique and strong taste. The leatherwood tree only blooms for six to eight weeks out of the year. Many beekeepers camp in the Tasmanian forests during the honey harvesting season. This gives the beekeepers the best chance to collect leatherwood honey.
Sources Tasmania trip: Australian National Herbarium, The Gymnosperm Database, Wikipedia, Tasmania National Parks, Tasmanian Special Timbers, Tasmania Library Archives, personal files.
Shikoku
October 2024
Shikoku, Japan. We had a wonderful drive and walk 15 day visit to rural Japan. The first stop Itano-Gun (Tokushima Town). Situated at the mouth of the Yoshino river, from the camera's position pointing Northeast.
Mount Bizan, Cafe and restaurant with a view to Tokushima.
One of the many maples on our way to Hyakken Falls, Tokushima Prefecture.
Hyakken Falls. There were no people. Timeless, patience, respect and achievement.
A field with a feeding butterfly, near the Kashihara Rice Terraces. The rice terraces are located 700 metres above sea level.
On a side road near the Kashihara Rice Terraces, Tokushima Prefecture. Lumen had fun recording a video for Laoise, Nicholas and Matilda.
Ochiai Village along the Yoshino River in the Iya Valley. Unique homes and stone walls built between the mid-Edo period and the Meiji period on a steep hillside. Standing on the walkway of the historical Samurai house - late 17th century.
In Saijo, Maegami-ji Temple (No 64). One of the eighty eight temples of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. Saijo is the "Spring Water Capital of Japan". Water from the Kamo River permeates into the surrounding land and bubbles up in numerous places; at one time Asahi Breweries made their beer in this town. Now there are mainly small craft breweries.
Maegami-ji temple grounds - Advisor to Elders.
From Saijo, a beautiful relaxed hike in Eastern Ehime. Mount Tsurugi, 1,955 metres.
Mount Tsurugi. Autumn colours are starting to be displayed at the higher altitudes. Ground cover bamboo is widespread.
Seedlings, undergrowth near Oku-Iya Kazurabashi (vine) bridges.
Omogo Gorge ("Omogokei"). Located at the foot of Mount Ishizuchi. This Mount is 1,982 meters. The Gorge is 10 kilometres long. Mount Ishizuchi is the highest mountain in Western Japan.
Omogo Gorge. Cristal waters. Stay and rest awhile.
Omogo Gorge, facing the cliff face from the opposite side of the river.
A bridge over Omogo Gorge river.
Matsuyama, Ishiteji Temple house. Temple 51 on the Shikoku pilgrimage.
73% of Japan is mountains and 67% is forested. In the lowlands forests are mostly gone. Much of the forested areas are not natural, but cut and planted with lumber trees. Biodiversity is somewhat lacking in the forests. 1% of Japan forests can be considered primeval. Forests of Kyushu, Shikoku and halfway up the coast of Honshu are home to Pinaceae, Cupressaceae and Southeast Asia broadleaf evergreen trees; the beech family (Fagaceae), laurels (Lauraceae), the asterids (Theaceae) and decidious maples (Sapindaceae). These include Quercus (oak), Lithocarpus (stone-oak), Castanopsis (chinquapin), Cinnamomum (camphor), Machitus (bay) and Camellia (tea, the earliest fossil record of Camellia are the leaves of C. abensis from the early opening of the Japan sea). In the low mountains lives the elegant Pinus thurbergii (Japanese black pine). A revered garden and bonsai tree and is wide spread along coastal stretches. The Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) "Sugi", both beloved and not loved, is the national tree of Japan. An evergreen conifer, some are 50 to 70m tall with a girth of 10m or more, which is amazing for typhoon swept Japan. A close relative to to redwoods and sequoias and it is an important timber tree. After WWII a big program to re-forest the mountainsides was initiated. Both Sugi and "Hinoki" conifer (Chamarcyparis obtusa) were planted; the negative effect of pollen season (late winter to early spring) has millions of people suffer for weeks of hay-fever from the clouds of pollen from the mountains. The timbers are however too important for Japan and pollen releases will continue each year. The Hinoki have a special place in Japan, for its revered wood and fragrant essential oils. (Sources: Botanyboy Plant Encyclopedia, Wikipedia and files).
Conifers are classed as Gymnosperms because they have “naked seeds” which are not surrounded by an ovary. Gymno comes from the Greek for “naked”. Conifers have leaves that are needle-like or scale-like. The word “Conifer” means cone-bearing. They bear pollen cones and seed cones, not flowers and fruit. The male and female cones are borne on the same tree. The male cones are usually found on the bottom of trees and the female cones are usually found at the tops. Pine, Spruce, Cedar and Cypress are softwoods used in construction and furniture manufacture. Also known as the Maidenhair Tree, the Ginkgo is a Gymnosperm but is strictly not a Conifer. It has catkin-like pollen cones like a Conifer but does not produce seed cones. Its seeds develop into round green fruits on the end of stalks. The fertilisation process involves motile sperm, a feature of Mosses, Liverworts and Ferns. Hence it is in a botanical class of its own and is often referred to as a “living fossil”. The Ginkgo, is the only surviving member of a family, which has existed since the Permian period 270 million years ago and the only surviving member of the Ginkgo genus. (Sources: Treeguideuk.co.uk, Wikepedia, Farmpark.org)
Ginko biloba. Near Matsuyama castle. This tree is not uncommon in Shikoku.
Near Nishinooka village. Our Kondoke inn Ryokan host drove us up the mountain and we made our way up to the splendid water falls of the Kompinaje mountain.
Bridge in Toon, Nishinooka village. Some rain during the day. We had a very rewarding day.
Falls on Kompinaje mountain. Wonder about dense growth on steep inclines, light and the ever sound of cascading water.
A prepared path up the mountain. These paths are part of the pilgrimage trail and cross the entire Shikoku.
Toon, Nishinooka village. Bamboo and tea.
Water feature in Nishinooka village, near Joruri-ji temple.
Pilgrim path. Namekawa waterway in the valley near Nishinooka village. Pilgrims left many small river stone shrines.
Otoyo, in Kochi prefecture. Small building near the temple, adjacent the 3,000 year old giant cedar tree (Cryptomeria japonica), "Sugi no Osugo".
"Sugi no Osuge"- 3,000 years. It may look like two trees, however the two trunks are connected at the root, hence its nickname, "the wedded cedar". Typhoons have damaged the tree and to protect the tree ceramic tiles and copper plating is attached to the damaged bark to protect from further damage and contamination.
Takamatsu. Ritsurin garden. Maintained for 400 years.
Miguel.
Visitors to the garden and teahouse.
Garden tea house. Beautiful sugi and hinoki woodwork, standing the test of time.
Cook and bbq area for pilgrims and overnight campers. Mt Kajigomori.
Mount Kajigamori.
A pilgrim path. We did not walk all path's and made good use of our roomy Daihatsu cube car. We enjoyed so much nature, tranquility and what Shikoku mountains made us experience.
Tierra del Fuego
April 2012
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On our way to the Uttermost Part of the Earth, reflecting by a still pond with dropped leaves from winter, in early spring (Amsterdam). Highly recommended to read: UTTERMOST Part Of The EARTH by E. Lucas Bridges – A History Of Terra Del Fuego And The Fuegians. Buenos Aires, August 1947. A personally fitting dedication by Mr E. Lucas Bridges:
TO MY DEAR WIFE -
And o’er the hills, and far away
Beyond their utmost purple rim,
Beyond the night, across the day,
Through all the world she followed him
TENNYSON
USHUAIA Port. From where we departed for our sojourn through the Terra Del Fuego Channels. The port has few ships – and one has a vista to the Beagle Channel.
From WIKIPEDIA: The channel was named after the ship HMS Beagle during its first hydrographic survey of the coasts of the southern part of South America which lasted from 1826 to 1830. During that expedition, under the overall command of Commander Phillip Parker King, the Beagle's captain Pringle Stokes committed suicide and was replaced by captain Robert FitzRoy. The ship continued the survey in the second voyage of Beagle under the command of captain FitzRoy, who took Charles Darwin along as a self-funding supernumerary, giving him opportunities as an amateur naturalist. Darwin had his first sight of glaciers when they reached the channel on 29 January 1833, and wrote in his field notebook "It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow."
Taking a 360 degree view, it always rains somewhere. This is the home of the Yamana people, decimated and now absent from these lands, through pestilence and disease, brought by European settlers.
Today pathways are made and passage is easy – Cape Horn, a 'Graveyard of ships' is an apt name; the coastal line is marred with too many sunken ships. Thinking of the absolute terror experienced by its crews and loved ones left behind… The Cape Horn monument for all those perished.
From our comfortable small cruise liner, it was only a short trip to the Cape. We are privileged people.
Early settlers built homes and brought sheep and tame the land. Not Terra Del Fuego, most, if not all settlements were proven indeed foolhardy in ignoring the extreme and severe conditions.
Photograph: Courtesy Ushuaia Museum. 1580 – 1600 First European visitors, Samiento de Gamboa and others. The YAMANA, a sea-going people living in the channels. Living on canoes, men hunting seals from the prow and the women diving the icy waters for shellfish; only a layer of seal grease to protect from the cold. Only the women swam. Fires were lit in the canoes, for comfort. When not at sea, the Yamana stayed in dwellings made of evergreen beech branches. Terra Del Fuego – Land of Fires, because of so many canoes with fires.
Silence, ice in mirror like water and rising mountains. One can only be spell bound by this unique and stunning beauty.
Photograph: Courtesy Ushuaia Museum. The YAMANA, a sea-going people living in the channels. Terra Del Fuego.
Terra del Fuego Canals - light changes continuously, the sun is there, then covered by dark clouds in minutes - snow on the ranges, and not a soul present.