Hard Country

The pioneers in this area were quick to be inspired by the range of possibilities presented by the rolling hills and seemingly endless water. The reality soon showed itself though.

It is hard to find a river in this area that did not have a hydro-electric scheme proposed at some stage or other, but the rugged country made the logistics impossible in each case. The land receives erratic rainfall but the nature of the soils and vegetation means it is soaked like a sponge, to be released slowly into the rivers. The Tia river had it’s longest dry spell of something like 25 days in 1942, and flows more than 25ML a day more than 80% of the time. Combine that with the hundreds of metre drop into the gorge system and it seems to make a compelling argument.

  Pastoral uses seem like an obvious choice. This has been most successful, but the initial attempts were limited by a natural lack of phosphate in the soils leading to poor yields. The introduction of superphosphate as a fertiliser in the middle of last century provided some prosperity, but its use is now limited by the recognition of the general environmental damage it can do. Losing stock into gorge country was also an obvious problem.

And so it was with the area we camp in tonight. Youdale’s hut was on one of a small collection of squatter holdings and selections made through last century in the base of the gorge country. Evidence of the optimism was a farmers solution of the problem of termites eating fence posts, by planting trees along the fence line to act as living posts. The same farmer though could not get a water tank into the steep valley and so had to contend with carting water by hand every day.

These attempts all ultimately failed, and as the leases came up, they were not renewed and the land has slowly accumulated to become the systems of parks and reserves we enjoy today. Perhaps these will continue to grow into the future. On the fringes we travelled through vast tracts of plantation eucalypts, no doubt part of some managed timber production, or perhaps a carbon offset scheme. The number of dead trees in their number may perhaps be a portent of doom for these as well. It is indeed hard country.

However, not so for the travellers. While the heat and the pace was getting to Elliot, we still had a number of waterfalls, gorges, scenic drives and swims to do today. He however, chose not to walk at Tia Falls, opting instead for a sleep later.  That kind of sapped the enthusiasm for the rest of us, so we settled for a relaxing drive to a soundtrack of the Hitchhikers Guide and the philosophy of Douglas Adams.

Youdale’s Hut sits on Kunderang Brook, notable on this journey because it is actually cool enough to be refreshing. We again have the campsite to ourselves, and the picnic tables, firewood and facilities make it all very simple.