The edge of the world

I followed the road to the very north-west of Tasmania. You can go on a sealed (asphaltierten) road until the mouth of Arthur River. There is a point on the coast they named "the edge of the world". When you stand there looking out to the sea, you can imagine this: if you would travel exactly westwards along the same meridian, you would not get to any other land until you reach Argentina.

An outdoor campfire night under a starry sky, with wallabys coming right to the campsite.

Arthur River is a rare example of a Tasmanian river that it is still in untouched form, as created by nature. You can go up the river 14 km in a boat cruise, which is what I did, and get into rainforest. Robert, the guide on that boat, is a really great and cool guy, he reminded me a bit of Crocodile Dundee. He told us everything about the plants and animals. The group was small, only about 10 people. A wonderful barbecue lunch was included in the package, and I had a lot of fun all day with a young family from near Melbourne and their three kids -- and the kids had a lot of fun with me.

Now what is called "rainforest" here is obviously not like the tropical rainforest. It is a temperate forest and not particularly rainy or moist. What sets it apart from the normal Australian forest is the tree species that grow in it, which are *not* eucalypts as everywhere else, and the much greater biodiversity. After a bushfire, eucalypts (gum trees) will grow very quickly and dominate the land. It is then under the shady canopy of the eucalypts, if you are lucky, that the rainforest can begin to grow. If the proto-rainforest grows well, after 350 years, one of the tree species will release a natural toxic into the soil that will kill the eucalypts, which are then no longer needed, and then the real rainforest can develop. Unless a bushfire comes and resets the whole cycle to start over from zero.

A bit north of Arthur River is the westernmost point of Tasmania, and it was a bit of an adventurous gravel road (Schotterstraße) drive to get there. There was no-one there on this magnificent rocky beach except me and an Aussie couple. They had some interesting equipment, a compressor and 270 m hose, and were just about to go diving for abalones (Ohrenschnecken). We had a chat and they told me what a mouthwatering delicacy abalones are, how very expensive if you buy them, and how abundant and easy to collect in this spot. They asked me if I had ever had abalone, and I said no, so they asked if I wanted to try one? Sure, if they tell me how to cook them! Which is what they did.

And if the day hadn't been rewarding enough already: The Lucky Man (yours truly) also got invited by the family with the three kids to join them to the pub "for tea" (meaning dinner, lamb steak, yum!).