Veronika Wild

Up before the sun   The sun hadn’t come up yet when I started on the track to the Gnomon lookout - 1 hour return, before breakfast. It was still misty too, but the clouds lifted by the time I reached the summit and allowed me some splendid views over Mt.Duncan, the Western Tiers and some lush looking farmland to the west.   I start with the easiest one, though both go straight uphill The mists begin to clear as I reach the first lookout point which overlooks Mt. Duncan Better and better At the top the sun finally comes up with perfect timing On top of  Old Gnomon After a hearty breakfast, I set off again to Mt. Dial. This was a pleasant walk with a few greenhood orchids along the way and lots of birds. Although it was very early, I encountered a clutch of young men who had walked from Mt. Montgomery four hours away. At the base of the last uphill before the summit, I came upon what was the other end of the Gnomon Trail which...

Fern forest in the valley on the Leven River Walk, Dial Range The Dial Range lies about 13 km south of the quaint coastal town of Penguin. Overshadowed by the scenic splendours of Cradle Mountain, the Dial Range is easily overlooked by tourists and visitors like me who are hurrying on to somewhere else, but it seems well known to locals who pass me on most of the tracks. Only around 500 metres above sea level, it stretches in a southerly direction for about 14 km and gets its name from one of the peaks, Mt. Gnomon, which apparently looks like an ancient sundial from the air. noun: gnomon ; plural noun: gnomons 1. The projecting piece on a sundial that shows the time by the position of its shadow. A quiet walk by the Leven River. It's tame here, unlike at Leven Canyon a day or two later I was hoping to get a few interesting fungi snaps here, but like the summits of the mountains in the West, they all seemed rather dry and there were very few fungi to ...

Early morning at Lake Burbury - there's still snow on some of the peaks There’s a new walking track at Karlson’s Gap, the top of the hill before the 99 – the series of bends before you land in Queenstown itself. I didn’t notice it this time but there used to be a sign here warning drivers of campervans, articulated vehicles and the towers of caravans and boats, to beware of the wind gusts that blast up through the valley on the other side and lead you to lose control of your vehicle. I’m still careful. You don’t know either at this point if there’s frost on the road. The new walking track starts opposite the road to the Iron Blow lookout   The new 30 minute track to Horsetail Falls which you can see from the highway, is a marvellous bit of engineering, yet as it happens, you   don’t see much more of the falls than you could before. They aren’t running so well today and are tucked into the groin of a valley on Mt. Owen. Still, it does give you a chan...

Crossing the Nive River as you come down from the Central Plateau Finally made it out of the house and had some lovely walks in the bush. The destinations, beautiful as they were, weren’t half as important as just being out in the fresh air, being awoken by bird song, wandering amid mosses and tree ferns, or breathing in the scent of wattle and eucalyptus. I love the early spring, when everything is fresh and clean and full of promise. I drove a different way to the West this time – over the Central Highlands , despite a section of unpaved road. That’s the interesting thing about Tasmania. Even though I’ve now lived here for forty years, it reveals itself to you very slowly and just when you think you have seen it all, there’s always something new to discover. This time I wanted to refresh my memory regarding the location of the proposed windfarm and to see how badly last summer’s bush fires had affected this area. Given the way the van was being jostled around, perhaps ...