sunday selections: hunting the fagus

Today’s post is a Sunday Selections post for River, which I haven't participated in for ages.
 

One thing that wasn’t on my 100 things to do in 2013 list but should have been because it’s something I’d wanted to do for ages, and that is to go and see the fagus in autumn. 

 

Fagus, for the unaware, is also known as deciduous beech (or if you want to be scientific, Nothofagus gunnii) and is the only winter-deciduous tree in Australia. The only place it grows is Tasmania, mostly in remote highlands areas above 800 metres.

Every year around this time I see spectacular pictures that people have taken of the turning of the fagus, as the leaves go through the autumnal colour change. And every time I think I should go up and have a look, and it never seems to be the right time, and I miss out, thinking I’ll do it the next year. And by the time spring and summer have hit, I’ve forgotten all about it (which is why it wasn’t on the list).

This year it was different. I started seeing posts about people’s trips to Mt Field a couple of weeks ago, when the colours started changing and decided that this was the year I was going to go. 

So we blocked out the day and headed off to Mt Field. We had a vague idea of where to start looking and thought that bright yellow and orange leaves should stand out pretty well – which indeed they did.

Our first stop was at the boulder field, where there is a short walk amongst the rocks, and a few fagus trees growing nearby. These had only just started to turn yellow, so we hoped we hadn’t come too early. 

Oh yes, there was also snow. It’s pretty cold up there at the moment.

We drove a bit further up to Lake Fenton, which is in Hobart’s drinking water catchment. There’s some spectacular trees around the lake, including the beautiful snow gums that we saw last time we were there. 

There’s also fagus! The trees here were more advanced in colour than the ones lower down and we weren’t the only people taking photos. The main problem I had was trying to take photos of some delicate little leaves that were constantly moving in the wind. Not an easy task. But I got a couple of photos I was happy with, so it was worth the trip.

 Apparently there is another area in the park where the fagus grows; this is the Tarn Shelf, which is higher up in the park and involves a two-three hour walk. Not really an option with Juniordwarf in tow (based on previous experience of longer walks), but perhaps that can go on next year's 100 things list.

the year is 1/3 over

It's the end of April. Well actually we're almost a week into May, but I've been so frantically busy at work I hadn't noticed. So it's still the end of April as far as I'm concerned.

This means it's time for my end of month review of my 100 things to do in 2013. 

I think I missed the March update, so that means there should be heaps I've done since the last update, right?

Not necessarily, but still, I've made some progress and I'm happy.

1. Improve my eating habits to make at least 90% of my diet free of processed food

I think I'm getting there. Cutting out food (or "edible foodlike substances") with added sugar has eliminated much of the processed food. I still have a long way to go though.

2. Reach my target weight (lose about the same again as I lost in 2012)

I'm getting closer. The best sign is that I can now fit into the post-huge-weight-loss-before-I-got-pregnant-and-stacked-it-all-back-on-again jeans and have discarded a lot of clothes that have started to hang off me. I'm far from being my ideal size, but I'm no longer 20 kg overweight.

11. Finish the DVD from our 2011 holiday for Juniordwarf

If my computer hadn't decided to spit the dummy and make every attempt to edit a movie into the most agonisingly painfully slow process, I would have done this by now. I need to fix up a couple of minor glitches, but apart from that it's done. 

19. Blog at least three times a week

Um, no.

23. Get back into yoga

This is happening most mornings. And Juniordwarf is joining me.

26. Buy decent walking shoes

Done.

27. Go to a National Park I've never been to

We went to the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park on our way to the West Coast. If you want to be really pedantic, I have been there before. We stopped off at the picnic area for a short break on our holiday about 10 years ago.  But we didn't actually look around or anything, so in my mind (and it's my blog, so my rules) that doesn't count. So this trip was the first time I've actually been there.

53. Get a notice board for the kitchen

I ordered it last week.

56. Order the new blind for the dining room

We decided we didn't need this. 

62. Go to MONA

Done! 

76. Change my hair colour

I went darker for a while. It looked shit and made me look washed out. I'm glad it was semi-permanent and has gone now.

85. Avoid footy tipping 

I'm not in any tipping competition, and Fridays are a lot less stressful now.

96. Keep better track of my spending & the household budget 

I have a spreadsheet. I use it regularly. It is quite a thing to behold.


98. Stop using the couch as storage 

I'm getting better at this. 

So things are slowly happening. It's nice to be able to cross things off the list.

 

Go West! part 3

Continuing the series on the West Coast weekend, some three weeks later (I blame a combination of a very heavy workload and illness - why the two always seem to coincide I'll never know - and a sick child), here are some photos from our morning in Zeehan.

Zeehan is about 40 km from Strahan.  It’s a very good road, and there’s a nice lookout along the way where you can see the coastline with that view to South America on one side, and the spectacular mountainscape of Mt Heemskirk, Mt Agnew and Mt Zeehan on the other. 

Zeehan is in one of Tasmania’s early mining areas, dating back to the 1880s when deposits of silver and lead were discovered, and got its name from one of Abel Tasman’s ships, the Zeehaen, which, if you are familiar with the Dutch language, means ‘sea hen’.  (That’s something I didn’t know before.)

It’s also the birthplace of my grandmother (daughter of my great-great grandfather of the Dunalley Hotel fame), and her father worked at the Post Office in Zeehan in the 1890s and 1900s.

We went to the West Coast Pioneers Museum, which I thought was going to be focused mainly on mining – which is true – but there was so much more to see in there. The West Coast Heritage Centre incorporates several old buildings on the Main Street, including the restored Gaiety Theatre, the police station and court house, and the Freemasons Lodge, all of which are open to museum visitors.  The Freemasons Lodge is set up to give visitors a glimpse of how the Lodge operated, which was particularly interesting.

The museum also includes a display of classic cars, some wonderful old trains and a replica underground mine. It was well worth the cost of admission and was one of the highlights of our trip.

Part of the underground mining display

Zeehan Court House with Magistrate Juniordwarf & defendant Slabs

Zeehan Police Station

Another one that required some explanation for Juniordwarf

Old school desk

Mt Lyell map camera (I would love a setup like this to take photos of my layouts...)

Steering wheel of an old Plymouth

Byer-Peacock train 1902 (these ran in Tasmania 1884-1961)

Zeehan Post Office

Zeehan Main Street with the Gaiety Theatre in the foreground

Go West! part 2

Following on from our journey to the West Coast, today's post is some pictures from in and around Strahan, where we stayed for three nights.

We didn't do any of the cruises, or the train trip or the seaplane flights that Strahan has in abundance. Instead we pottered around the town, went to the edge of Tasmania, walked through a beautiful forest to Hogarth Falls, and saw a play.  (The play (The Ship That Never Was) was great - it has been running in Strahan for 20 years.)

Here's some of what we did and saw.

My take on the postcard shot of Strahan

Strahan wharf

Strahan wharf

Strahan wharf - I loved how the shimmering water was reflected on the boat

Strahan from across the bay

Strahan from across the bay

Entrance to the harbour, from the Strahan cemetery

The very funny play "The Ship That Never Was"

Some of the interesting old buildings near the waterfront

Ocean Beach. Next stop: South America

Arty boaty shot

Ocean Beach. Wild West

Near Hogarth Falls in Strahan

Cool rainbow in Hogarth Falls

Go West! part 1

This weekend we headed off on an adventure to Tasmania's West Coast. We stayed three nights in Strahan, which is a small town near Macquarie Harbour, with a history of fishing, timber, convicts and mining.

The West Coast is a fascinating area less than 300 km away, but getting there takes pretty much all day (taking into account your relatively late start, the winding road through the mountains, and the various stops you need to make along the way).

The thing that captured my attention on our journey was the ever-changing scenery - from the burnt out areas and sheep grazing of the Central Highlands, to the massive pipes of the hydro-electric scheme, the sclerophyll forests, the rainforests of the Franklin river, the massive mountains of the south-west and then the bare hills coming into Queenstown. It's times like this trip that I wish I could remember what sclerophyll vegetation actually is and how those mountains came to be formed.

I've got too many photos for one post, so I'm aiming to spread them out over the next few posts.

Tonight, some things you might see on your way to the West Coast.

Some of the bushfire affected land near Hamilton

From Tarraleah

Tungatinah Power Station near Tarraleah

Franklin River

Nelson Falls, Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park

Near Nelson Falls

Near Nelson Falls

On the road to Queenstown

I really wanted to stop and take a better picture of this mountain - it was overwhelming

Iron Blow lookout near Queenstown

Iron Blow lookout near Queenstown

Coming into Queenstown

Coming into Queenstown

Coming into Queenstown