It had now been a week since I had arrived in Tasmania. The jet lag had lasted a surprisingly long time. The biggest hurdle was probably not the time difference. Due to the 40-hour sleepless journey, I had gone to bed around midday after arriving and woken up eight hours later. This rhythm later shifted into the early hours of the night, so I had to sleep a little during the day, then a few more hours at night and finally woke up from 2.30am to 4am. If you like night walks or want to photograph the starry sky and sunrises, this is of course ideal. Not so much for a conference with long days until 6 pm!
To keep shifting the rhythm of time towards normality, you should do a lot of travelling. My first real excursion into the deep Tasmanian wilderness was the Tahune Nature Reserve in the west, in the Hartz Nature Reserve. On the way into the remote jungle, the number of passing vehicles quickly dwindled and I got a feel for the endless forests of Tasmania. The reserve is 80 kilometres outside Hobart. A ticket to the Nature Reserve and the airwalk can be booked online in advance or purchased on site. The price is $30 for an adult. If you get hungry in between, you can also get meals there until the early afternoon.
There are three hiking routes in the reserve, which are briefly explained by the friendly staff with a map. One small eastern trail and two to the west. One of the two western routes includes the airwalk. The extension of one of the routes leads over the Huon River and two suspension bridges. During the tour, I was able to observe my first wallabies hiding under a tree trunk. The animals may be shy, but they come quite close to humans and don’t flee immediately when encountered. Nevertheless, you should of course keep your distance and allow everyone their peace and quiet.
In winter, the west of Tasmania is generally relatively wet and it rains a lot. The cold means there are hardly any active snakes. The other advantage is the scenery. Several layers of cloud constantly move in changing weather conditions and immerse the mountains and endless primeval forests in new spectacular scenes that could hardly be more varied.
On the way back I decided to take a detour to Mount Wellington… A moderately good idea! What I hadn’t realised beforehand was that most people wanted to leave the mountain in the evening and the sometimes very narrow road made it almost impossible to avoid it. So I squeezed past countless SUVs and buses to reach the top.
Once we reached the top, a storm of 100 to 120 km/h (sustained, not just gusts) first shook my car and then me. With temperatures just above zero, it took all the warmth out of me in no time. I felt the icy wind especially on my head. The wind didn’t seem to take a break. I didn’t feel any gusts but an unstoppable current, like in a wind tunnel. But the evening scenery over Hobart was far too spectacular for me to want to go back straight away. So I circumnavigated the plateau and tried to get a decent panorama from the viewing platform facing Hobart. Countless shots…but the wind was so extremely strong that basically not a single photo was unobstructed. It reminded me of my whale-watching tour from Victoria to the Strait of Georgia, during which the boat shot across the water at 70 km/h at 0°C and I kept a lookout outside, almost freezing to death.
