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Published: November 20th 2014
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WILD TASMANIA...The Tarkine...Tasmanian Tiger Country. Often called Tasmania's Last Wild Wilderness, the Tarkine is the place of legends.
Some of the oldest forests in the World...said to contain the oldest trees.
This is the land of the dreamtime...dreams so old they inhabit the trees.
A place of unique ecosystems...ending in a place signposted as "The Edge of the World".
And in an ancient forest in the middle of the Tarkine...near the Savage River...I stumbled upon a sign "Tasmanian Tiger Country".
I feel eyes watching...could feel hot breath...the whispery hint of panting.
I stopped...head down...eyes darting around.
A tree rubs it's shoulders against another.
Am I sweating more? Is my breathing shallower? Am I really all alone?
Are there thylacines...Tasmanian tigers...with me on this mountain?
So I continued climbing...determined to find out.
******
We left Strahan and headed north to Zeehan...once a lead and silver mining town until WW1 and often referred to as Silver City.
Abel Tasman either saw this area or stopped here in 1642 when discovering Tasmania which he called New Holland.
The Dutch didn't think of settling here but the English
kindly named the town they built after Abel Tasman's ship.
Can't think of another case of such English malevolence so TBers...please enlighten me.
******
We stuck to the coast roads as we headed into the Tarkine...roads that were well paved but very narrow...15 kmph signs not unusual.
Fortunately no cars coming the other way as no room to pass without pulling off.
The road ended at Corunna...or to be exact at a Stop sign on the banks of the Pieman River...requiring the barge/ferry to come over to collect us.
Our fee was determined by weight. Our mobile home was regarded as heavy.
Over the other side was a hotel with a Hatted restaurant. Yep the hatted chef of culinary fame preferred the quiet life so the food on offer was rather special.
Naturally we booked a meal for that night.
Yet a site for our van was not so easy.
You'd think in the virtual middle of nowhere they'd let you park next to the river near the pub in the campground...but "No"..."No vacancies!"
So they suggested there were possibly a few spots by the Savage River...left on the
LOCK UP YOUR CAT
Advert on the dangers of feral cats dirt road then 11 kms or more into the Tarkine Forest.
OK see you for dinner.
******
So into the Tolkien Forest we went.
The trees whispered to each other as the van brushed their britches...ruffled their skirts...the dust from the gravel making them sniffle softly.
Their wooden arms forming arches as we drove through.
Denise not sure this was a good idea...seems awfully lonely to camp out here.
A wooden white bridge...road swinging to the right...a ramp up to a clearing..."Stop. Try up there."
A magic large flat clearing surrounded by giant myrtle beeches...next to a river.
I think we've hit a jackpot.
Time for the West African music compilation on Den's ipad with my Bose speakers...Idrissa Soumaore...Vieux Farka Toure...Rokia Traore...a touch of Ngoni Ba.
Big juicy cherries...raspberries and brie...WHAT...company way out here?
A small red car parked behind us...a couple wandering to the river bank to paddle and read.
Was getting used to the solitude...is it uncool to wish they would leave?
******
When you travel Tasmania...after 4pm other campers turn up...looking for those magic spots...first in best dressed I say.
The occupants of the red car not staying overnight...like this spot for swimming they say...the red car leaves.
So somehow our van is hogging the entrance...imagine that...discouraging the 4 o'clock rush.
Only one problem...when we leave for dinner this spot will be vacant...may not be available when we come back.
Decisions...decisions...cook salmon over a fire here...or the hatted chef?
Listen to the platypuses splashing or the chatter of diners?
Guess what we did?
So while Denise had a loiter...I set up the fire for the night...and went for a walk.
Found a track up a mountain...a sign for the thylacine...the track snaking upward.
******
The thylacine was (is) a carnivore marsupial...not unlike a dog with stripes that reportedly was extinct from about the 1930s.
However, there have been heaps of reported sightings since then...some photos but nothing regarded as conclusive.
But there have been reports around western Sydney bushland of black panther sightings and they poo-pooed those.
Yet a massive black feral cat used to hassle one of our cats at home years back...we next to National Park in Sydney north...and there was no doubt that "panther"
existed!
National Parks and Wildlife report:
There have been a number of searches for the animal in Tasmania.
None of these searches have been successful in proving the continued existence of the animal.
The results of a few of these searches are given below:
From NPWS records:
1937- Sergeant Summers leads a search in the north-west of the state, recording many recent sightings by other persons in a large area between the Arthur and Pieman Rivers, although the party itself did not see any thylacines. He recommends a sanctuary in that area.
1945- Well-known naturalist David Fleay searches the Jane River to Lake St Clair area, finding possible thylacine footprints.
1959- Eric Guiler leads a search in the far north-west, an area which produced many bounties and finds what appeared to be thylacine footprints
1963- Eric Guiler leads a search in the Sandy Cape area but finds no evidence.
1968- Jeremy Griffiths, James Malley and Bob Brown embark on a major search. Although they collect reports of sightings, they find no evidence of the thylacine.
1980- Parks and Wildlife Officers, Steven Smith and Adrian Pyrke, search
THYLACINES
Old photo from early 20th Century a wide area of the State using three automatic cameras. No evidence of thylacines is found.
1982-83- Parks and Wildlife Officer, Nick Mooney, undertakes an extensive but unsuccessful search to confirm the 1982 sighting reported by Hans Naarding near the Arthur River in the State's north-west.
1984- A search in Tasmania's highlands by Tasmanian Wildlife Park owner, Peter Wright, fails to turn up conclusive evidence.
1988-93- Separate photographic searches by wildlife photographer, Dave Watts and Ned Terry fail to record a thylacine.
2014- Dancing Dave is here!
(if anyone can find them...he will)
As I wandered I found a life form that was a real surprise in its abundance.
Not plant or animal...fascinating.
Let the photos reveal what it was.
And as to the thylacine...the Tasmanian tiger...no reason to my mind why it would not live in such lonely climes as the Tarkine wilderness.
The search continues.
Relax & Enjoy,
Dancing Dave
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Laila the Tuareg
Denise Hooper
Silence can be deafening then you adjust
Savage River - the name sends chills down your spine & then you arrive & it's solitude, it's sense of ancientness, it's harmony suckers you in...a magical night...etched forever