Hills, falls, ferals, ferns, fungi and foragers

A mixed bag today. After waking to a damp, grey and overcast morning I thought it might be a day to avoid outdoor activity. However, those in the know said it would be a lovely day, so perhaps it is normal for lovely days to start as anything but. Today was a lovely day, but not until about 10:30am, which corresponded to when we were ready to do anything, so that was good.

We may have been 400m up last night, but Liffey Falls, our excuse for being in the area, was up higher again. A short walk in through towering rainforest rewarded us with many sights. The tree ferns with mosses on their trunks, the tall trees with huge fungi on them and the carpet of tiny myrtle leaves all in the atmospheric dampness gave a magic to the scene.

Liffey Falls is a series of cascades, none of which fall any great height, but with beautiful clear water and rocky pools. I imagine it runs all of the time as there seems to be a continuous supply of rain to keep things topped up. The sun came out just in time to make everything sparkle for us.

Back in the carpark a small sign simple said “Big Tree 100m”. Now Tasmania has a register of its “Biggest Butts” but it isn’t for the perverted, except in a geeky kind of way. This one must be up there as a rough calc estimates it to have 350m3 of timber in it and I think the biggest on the state list ran to somewhere a little over 400m3. At somewhat more than 10m around the base, Elliot felt it would be pointless to hug it for the photo, as apparently you have to hug a tree from the back and you’d never be able to see him. I’m not sure I know how the back is defined though…

From there is was back into Launceston, but that was for essentials only and we were soon back out to other pursuits.  A pointless side trip to Notley Fern Gorge was greeted with a track closed due to storm damage sign, so from then we ran late into the lavender farm before a pass through Beaconsfield and points north planning the return journey tomorrow when the attractions are open. The nice man at the seahorse display told us of possible wombats on the north coast so that pretty much sealed the choice of the campsite for the night.

So tonight we are at Bakers Beach on the north coast, only a few km east of Devonport. The National Park campground is rich in pademelons and wallabies, and as we found out later, cheeky possums and the odd rabbit. Having missed them on the way in we made a return trip to the park entrance and were rewarded straight away with wombats. We have been told before that they are very short-sighted, not the best at hearing, and get very single-minded in their foraging. This means that if you get reasonably close up ahead of them they will likely walk straight into you. Lynne found an old one happy to be patted.