Today I'm of for a trip to Mt. Fields , Mt. Wellington, and Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. The tour is smaller than any of the others - only 10 people. The give is extremely knowledgeable of the wildlife, plants, and area - probably the best I've had this trip.
Four of the others are from Japan. One of the young girls went to college on Wyoming and worked in DC for a while. One couple is from Canada but have been working in Adelaide for 6 months, returning home in January (they've lived all over Canada, including Vancouver and Edmonton). Another couple is from Italy. A single girl is from Germany.
We were unable to go to the top of Mt. Fields like were planning because there are brush fires to the north and there's a chance they could turn and go up the mountain, making it potentially unsafe there. So were just went on a walk at the lower past of the mountain. It is a "mixed forest", meaning a mix of cool-temperate rainforest and tall tree forest (ie. Eucalyptus, aka Gum trees). The top is mostly firs.
The walk was nice. We saw two waterfalls: Russell and Horseshoe (again the American name for a place).
There are over a thousand varieties of eucalyptus trees. Today we saw the eucalyptus regnus. With the eucalyptus regnus, the bark at the bottom of the tree, called a stocking, is different from the bark at there top. The bottom is more like the bark we're are used to (rough, dark brown). As it moves up the tree, is more like strips peeling off the tree and is a lighter tan (like the dried pulp of our trees). The top looks bare, and is very white. When a fire occurs, the bark at the bottom push the fire up the tree to the white house part, where the seeds are. The seeds are pollinated, fall, and create new trees. The top of the tree dies, but the lower part survives and continues took grow.
I found out last time I was here here that fires are a normal part of the Austrian ecosystem. They occurred naturally prior to the aborigine (this is why certain plants/trees survived). The aborigine practiced regular slow burns to clear out the underbrush for farming, or to attract kangaroos, etc. to the new growth for hunting purposes. Once the Europeans arrived, they stopped the slow burns. This has created two problems: 1) Many plants in Australia require fire to pollinate, and 2) undergrowth has become so full, that when a cute does occur, it is extremely hot and less manageable. There is note some belief that some slow burn would be beneficial and help them to manage fires better, but not all are in agreement. Each state is able to make its own decision.
All of the tap water in Hobart comes from Mt. Fields (20%) and Mt. Wellington (80%). It is all snow and low cloud water. Because of this it is very pure and requires little treatment - just a little chlorine to kill any microorganisms.
Stopped by a winery for a little wine tasting. The wines were okay, but what I liked were the fermented ciders. I had the pear cider, which is fermented pear and apple juices. Its considered a type of beer here, but you can tell its made by a vintner. It tastes like a fruity wine on steroids with a lite carbonation. Very refreshing on a hour day like today. They grow most of Australians hops in Tasmania. To export, they turn the hops into pellets. Beers made here use fresh hops , giving it a different flavor.
After the winery, we went to Bonorong, where we saw wallabies running free, tasmanian devils, wombats, koala bears, emus, and various other animals indigenous to Tasmania.
We ended the trip with a drive to there top of Mt . Wellington at the edge of Hobart.
Random Thought Of The Day: At a site we were near today, 42,000 year old artifacts were recently discovered. If people found our artifacts in 42,000 years, what would it say about us?
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