TASMANIA, Australia – If you visit Tasmania, a glance at the map will reveal that almost one quarter of the Australian state is shaded green. Tasmania’s 1.5 million ha of mapped green, 20 times the size of Singapore, was inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List in 1982 for its outstanding natural and cultural values.
To experience this wilderness, I am visiting the remote Southwest National Park. It is an area of muscular, rock-capped mountains, unfathomably fast weather changes, and serpentine tidal waterways.
With no road access, visitors must choose: Spend a week hiking in, sail through the tempestuous Southern Ocean or, like me, arrive in relative luxury on a tiny plane.
Starting in Hobart, I join 10 other guests for a five-day tour with On Board Tasmanian Expedition Cruises. In just 50 minutes, my flight transports me from civilisation into a lost world dominated by buttongrass – tussocks of tiny golden-green spherical flower-heads held high, swaying in the wind.
Our wilderness base will be a brand-new luxury catamaran, Odalisque III, but first, we are exploring this area known as Melaleuca.
Our guide Peter Mooney, former head of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, has spent much of his life protecting this wilderness. It is hard to imagine a more informed guide, and his passion for nature and indigenous culture is obvious.
There is European history here too, and some of the characters were personally known to Mr Mooney.
Bagikan Berita Ini
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