Water, Water, Everywhere!

As an Aquarian, I (Lotty) have a true affinity with water!  Many of our walks or views were centred around water in one form or another.  The enthralling waterfalls, of which there seem to be many here in Tassie. The rivers and streams flowing through impossible landscapes. The varied coastlines with such contrasts side by side.  And fascinatingly, the drips and flows found coming from mossy outcrops.

The waterfalls:

We found the first one at our first night camping, not far from Hobart. We were getting used to our mobile home - its handling on the road, and what it could offer as shelter. So we were taking it easy, and found a campsite with all mod cons!

The two-hour walk took us to this tall, narrow waterfall ....little did we know what other beauties we would soon encounter!  I think it is the attraction of downward falling water, visually and aurally, that make them so spectacular.  It is the constant sound ....I won't go as far to say 'music', but it is a powerful, natural 'sound'! Tony may come up with another word to describe the noise.                        

The next waterfall was at our third camping spot. This is the camping spot below.

A wild spot at the end of a little road which marked a walk to the Montezuma Falls.  This was an intriguing walk in the bed of an old railroad track - a 'there and back' walk of 8 kms.  The railway was part of the mining industry.

As a track it was fairly level, and to make it so, it was cut through various rocky parts.  The track followed a high level contour of a ravine that had a rushing waterway below.  So the walk was continually accompanied by the 'water backdrop'.  

What caught my eye best, was the collections of moss and their rivulets of water.  I tried capturing them, there were so many variations of texture, light, reflections .....all contributing to water flow.

Damp, with its own 'mini' waterfall.

 The water finds its own pathway to descend.

 The rock face here glimmers with water, which also influences the colour of the surface.

 The crude power of the the rock surface, combined with the reflections of the water.

 Combinations form a whole illustration of the surroundings.

 There is the rock foundation here, but will it be dominated by the moss over time?

                               The contrasts within the rock.  What story does this tell us?

It's ok, I haven't forgotten the purpose of that walk, the waterfall!  It was spectacular. I think the video describes it all, specially the impressive height.  Enjoy!!

However, what is the best way to capture the power of the water falling this long height: video or still photo?  I have both.  I have decided the photo does it, so just imagine the sound and strength.

Although the waterfall is completely captivating, there are always some jewels in the vicinity, here is one:

The third waterfall we found as we camped at the end of another road, a gravel road. Luckily the gravel roads have been well maintained and easy to drive on.  I say 'luckily' cos they were beyond the bounds of our insurance!!!  After we had admired some huge tall trees, which left us in awe as we cricked our necks looking skyward, thinking about the layers of habitats these giants offered.

Back to the waterfall .....wow, it just fell over the edge.  It is weird to stand beside this relatively gently flowing water, that disappears ...seemingly quiet, into a powerful cascade of rushing water and cacophony of noise!  We could follow it down to its bottom, and look up and admire its strength and glory.  The feature that made this fall different from the others was the rock formation that formed its backdrop - basalt columns.  This created a staggering contrast of the chaotic flow of water and the symmetry of the platforms of hexagons or their supporting vertical pillars.

I had fun playing with capturing this waterfall, so I shall take you through what I was seeing - step by step!

 

Umm, what's so special about this?!

Take a look upstream, the other side of the bridge, early morning. 

A magical reflection! Love it.

Now start wandering downstream....

Finding yourself on the lip of the world.

Now a series of three photos to show how changeable the flow of water can be.

As you may have notice I am not such a prolific writer as Tony, and I have been working on this too long.  I have lost the thread!!  Just check on the photos to see if there is something to get me started again.  No, I shall finish with the quiet moment as we contemplated the sea on the Western coast.  More water.....

 

The Carved Wall - A Bit Kitsch, But Still Good

As we were chugging along the road from Hobart to the west coast, we went past a place called Derwent River Bridge, and saw a sign for something called The Wall, which someone has mentioned to Lotty in the shower at the previous night's camp site as being a place we simply should not miss visiting if we happened to go past it.

So, being obedient souls, we turned in and found a parking place in front of a long blank wooden building, with an entrance at one end.

So in we went, to be received by a very verbose and friendly guy who told us everything we could possibly wish to know about what was about to be revealed unto us inside this rather beautiful wooden building.

What it was is an enormous carved wall of pine wood panels about 2 meters tall and about  100 meters (in 2 sections of 50 meters each)  long.  The whole thing was carved in relief and more or less told the story of that part of Tasmania, with excursions into making points about the wildlife that still lived there, or had become extinct owing to the activities of the white colonists.

Whilst generally such totally realistic wood carving is absolutely not my thing, this has been done with such consummate skill that I was overcome with awe at the guy's work.   The pictures here will give you an idea of the quality of his work.

The artist who is still busy carving this monstrous art work, is still a relatively young man, about 38 years old, and has been doing this for the last 10 years at every free moment he has from his work.

Almost as impressive as his carving is the building that he has caused to be created to house his work.   Totally made of wood, and finished with a totally unbelievable attention to detail it is one of the most beautiful and warm buildings I have ever seen.

So, should you ever find yourself in this part of Tassie, it is worth a visit and the $13 entry fee to see his work.

Here is a link to his website so you can find out more about this extraordinary work.

http://thewalltasmania.com.au/