The weather on Tasmania’s
west coast is often wet, wild and windy, but I managed to pull three fantastic
days out of the hat for my mini-break during this week. With no intention of
taking part in the tourist ventures Strahan is famous for, namely the Macquarie
Harbour cruise and Abt Railway trip, I walk, read, write, take photos, collect
rocks and leaves, and eat.
The process of a long walk is
an interesting one. I start out just walking, intending to go from here to
there, but partway in there is a shift from simply admiring the surroundings,
the bigger picture, as smaller details catch my attention and cry out to be
noticed. My eyes change their focus, my pace slows, and I stop. I enjoy the
spectacle of a grand vista, a stunning view, but it’s the finer details that
always fascinate me. Since I was a little tacker, the seemingly infinite
varieties of moss, lichen and fungi have been a source of much delight, so to
find a fungi wonderland on the Hogarth Falls track makes the whole trip
particularly rewarding.
My amateur photographic attempts are rewarded with ducks mid-flight over the water, fungi I’ve never seen before, water dripping off feathery moss, lichen on gravestones which have been standing for a hundred and sixty years, clear tannin stained water, mirror images in the harbour so clear the waterline disappears, smooth pebbles with markings both bold and so fine I marvel at how they came to be.
The seabirds busy themselves near the water’s edge, the trails of their
footprints crisscrossing the sand patterns on the beach lashed by the waters of
the Southern Ocean. A massive lump of bull kelp, stem still intact, stretches
out like the entrails of some marooned monster, twisted strands of dark
chocolate brown rubber, with folds of translucent orange where it catches the
sunlight.
By slowing my pace, I don’t just look, I see. I don’t just hear, I
listen.
