TASMANIA -
THE WILD AND SCENIC ISLAND

Aussies flock to Tassie for the walks, culture and pleasant climate: one hour and only $49 from Melbourne, this Australian state about the size of Ireland offers rocky headlands, sandy beaches, mountain ranges, a lively arts and crafts culture, and a vast ancient forest wilderness crammed with wildlife: wallabies, possums, Tasmanian devils, echidna (like porcupines), and platypus. One fifth of the state forms the Tasmania Wilderness World Heritage Area.

To walk in this temperate rainforest is to explore an environment descended from the days of the dinosaurs, the canopy pierced only by the taller trees, only the fallen giants revealing their colossal height and bulk . Breathe the purest air on the planet and wonder at the myrtle beech, pines, eucalyptus, and the lush array of shrubs, ferns, lichens and fungi. A van load of us were led by the Wilderness Society through a variety of ancient forest scenes, and shown how to understand and appreciate the fragility of the forest, and the horrendous damage being wreaked by logging.

You can drive into the “Styx Valley of the Giants”: pick up a leaflet and follow the walks laid out. This area contains the tallest trees in the southern hemisphere and the highest hardwood in the world, measuring up to 95 metres. All this is unprotected and under threat from a bulldozed annihilation. First the roads, then the chainsaw, the dragging of selected trunks to the trucks, followed by aerial fire-bombing with the aim of destroying any chance of rainforest revegetation. After re-planting with uniform fast growing conifers, poisoned bait is dropped to kill any grazing marsupials. The pristine forest is replaced by a sterile plantation harvested for woodchips every 15 years .

Find out how you can help: www.wilderness.org.au/tasmania

In Cradle Valley excited hikers head off on the world famous Overland Track, a hut-based 5-8 day tramp across the Cradle Mountain and Lake St.Clair National Park through high alpine moors, rocky scree, gorges and tall forest. A web-based booking system organises up to 10,000 hikers each summer.

You can climb the 1545m twin-peaked Cradle Mountain or walk the high path across its face. At its foot the delightful 3 hour circuit of Dove Lake is a walkway suitable for almost anyone, and takes you through lush wildlife-filled forest and heath, where pandini, (grass trees) grow 6m high. The setting is just stunning - savour every footstep and bend in the path. I saw wombats and wallabies: others spotted an echidna and a platypus

On the east coast is the Freycinet peninsula, where a popular path takes you up between the granite peaks of the Hazard mountains, providing views over the turquoise waters and white sands of aptly named Wineglass Bay. A swim is essential, and you can complete a gorgeous circular walk back through wooded tracks along the coast. There are further tracks over the peninsula which take you to idyllic camping sites, on the list for my next trip.

In the south is the Tasman peninsula, and there are walks along the highest sea cliffs in Australia. Whilst walking here with my brother a chunky 1.5m tiger snake crossed our path: these are known to attack in late summer (which it was). Thereafter I noticed that most sandy paths were marked by numerous snake tracks!

Overlooking the lively state capital of Hobart is Mount Wellington (1270m). Take the bus to Fern Tree and follow the signed tracks through the wooded hillside for a 5 hour return hike, passing organ-pipe rocks formations on the way to the panoramic views from the summit.
Each Saturday Hobart holds its Salamanca market, and I was deeply impressed by the originality of design, quality and variety of the crafts and other produce on offer, and especially the furniture and wooden products, all made from native timber. The flourishing arts and crafts have attracted some of the best craftsmen and artists in Australia, but these and Tasmania’s Greens don’t sit well with the miners and loggers.

At Launceston I loved the walks around Cataract Gorge, and could not stop myself relaxing on the manicured lawns and in the free open-air swimming pool by the lake and swing bridge, whilst others look down from the chairlift above.

Finally - a walk to avoid? The 7 day South Coast Track, accessible by light aircraft only, appears to require extraordinary strength. One group setting off had packs towering above their heads, and were expecting to make progress through parts of the bush by taking turns to fall backwards onto their packs!

At the end of my 4 month trip down under, and having spent my time with people of all nationalities, I have been left with a profound sense of the significance of England in the world, and especially for our intellectual rigour, which I attribute to a long tradition of good education, and the BBC. How I missed John Humphries! However, travellers from the rest of the world are generally very active, exploring, working on organic farms, swimming, climbing mountains and so on, and are astonished by the English backpackers, of whom the majority appear to do little and have no real interest in where they are, or the culture surrounding them. But they do sleep late, watch DVDs, drink, and occasionally find the energy to lie on a beach. It is a shame that the English backpacker is seen in this light.

I returned to England’s nuclear winter: at least the snowdrops had waited.