Veronika Wild

  Shelter Peter Walsh is a Tasmanian Wilderness photographer. I caught up with him at His Ancestral Dreams Exhibition at The Art Society of Tasmania's Lady Franklin Gallery just before I left. Peter talks about his work Peter is passionate about trees. At a time when almost anyone one can take a picture of what they see, Peter seeks to capture what he feels when he sees them. Peter is a thoughtful, softly spoken man. He gives me the impression that he would rather be out among the trees than talking about his work. He tells me that he is inspired by the words of legendary photographer, Ansel Adams: “A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” ~ Ansel Adams ~ Here's how Peter describes it: "I enjoy spending time in the forests of lutruwita/Tasmania. After a while, plants and trees begin to take on their own identity, a more sentient presence. The trees often emit an eccentric persona, ...

Early morning at Tulampanga (Alum Cliffs) At sunrise I continued on to Tulampanga which means Possum Rocks, or Alum Cliffs as it’s been known. There’s a lookout here which overlooks  a spectacular gorge with the Mersey River far below. Together with Quamby Bluff in the South and Mt. Roland in the East, it forms part of a triangle of significant peaks.  Although the Pallitoree People were the custodians of this area, three different Aboriginal Nations came together here, making it an important ceremonial site. It was also part of a network of trails used by many others to access other parts of the island and to obtain a rare ochre which could only be collected by women. The ochre was then ground up and used to decorate the body, for ceremonies, including funeral rites and as an article of trade. A well -formed track leads you to an impressive lookout. It officially takes about 50 minutes I know all this because of the excellent interpretive signage along the trail. There are ...

  Awful photo, but it's too early in the morning and there's very little light in these clefts between the hills Westmorland Falls at Caveside While I was in the area, I thought I’d visit Westmorland Falls again to see if it had recovered from the disastrous floods in 2016 which had washed away its banks and tracks and had made it unsafe. It had been closed for a long time but had now become part of the Karst National Park and was managed by Parks and Wildlife.  Unfortunately the last   800m of the road to it is still rough, so it would have been better to have left the van at the unmarked parking area on the RHS near the turn -off, but from   the main parking area onwards,   there are new signs, clear tracks and a new bridge. Although classed as a Level 3 Walk, the track wasn’t especially hard. There were a few ups and downs and some places which could be slippery after rain. It passes through light wet sclerophyll forest – think tree ferns, mosses and t...