Veronika Wild

Mt. Huxley -View from the Crotty Road, south of Queenstown. The debates on the Origin of the Species were raging when the area around Queenstown was being explored in 1862, so whoever was responsible for naming the mountains, had a bet each way, naming  two peaks Jukes and  Owen after critics of the theory of evolution, one after Darwin and one after Huxley who was initially against the idea, but became a staunch supporter of Darwin, after the great debate at Oxford in 1860  The day didn’t start brilliantly – grey, overcast and a little misty and cold. We hadn’t slept well and now we had to rush to get my friend to the Gordon River Cruise. That, and the “The Ship that Never Was”  -Australia’s longest running play (in years, not hours that is),was sure to keep her pleasantly occupied for most of the day, so taking the winding road back to Queenstown, I head for Kelly Basin,   40 km South.   Where it belongs to the Hydro, the road is awesome in bot...

This is the real West Coast - rugged mountains, rich vegetation I wanted to show an American friend the West Coast with its rainforests, lakes and waterfalls and   those crazy mining towns clinging bravely to life. Unfortunately, I totally wore her out just getting there. She did like the leatherwood flowers though. It's Leatherwood season   No matter how often I travel the Lyell Highway- more times than I care to count, it never fails to thrill me to leave behind the relative bleakness of the plateau, or the smug pastoral hamlets of the lower slopes and plunge down through the Surprise Valley with its sharp, richly clothed mountains stretching almost to the sea.   It is almost always an adventure, some of which I would rather forget, but today the sun is almost shining and the leatherwoods are in bloom. Like much of Tasmania, Hobart to Strahan doesn’t look far on the map. Only 299.7 Km from Hobart according to Google, but don’t be fooled. Whoever wr...