20 TASMANIA 40ºSouth Great southern land
writer Lucinda Sharp photographer Chris Crerar
I stood on a rock high on a hill and looked down at a panorama of sea, grassland and forest. I was in the Port Davey Marine Reserve, deep in the Southwest National Park. Looking back at me, I thought, was the soul of Tasmania. I had flown in by light plane the previous day. You come here by plane or by boat. This is a soul protected by the law of man and the lie of land. There is no other way in. This is part of land which a panel of objective but hard- nosed environmentalists at UNESCO headquarters in Paris decided deserved the appellation of World Heritage Wilderness Area. This a title not awarded to places where there are more people than peace, where there is more noise than nature, where there is more concrete than bird calls. To earn the title, the environmentocrats in Paris must judge whether the candidate has, amongst other criteria, “natural features consisting of physical and biological formations or groups of such formations, which are of outstanding universal value from the aesthetic or scientific point of view”, and “geological and physiographical formations and precisely delineated areas which constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation”. They wouldn’t have had to think too hard about it. This is the home of extraordinary beauty. It is the home of the
TASMANIA 40ºSouth 21 much-loved and desperately threatened orange- bellied parrot. It is the home of many animals and plants which haven’t been seen on the Australian mainland since the days Tasmania was still attached to it. “Tasmania acts as a living museum of species which reveal Gondwanan origins,” says the web page of the state Parks and Wildlife Service. “Their closest relatives are found in the other continents that comprised Gondwana: South America, New Zealand, Antarctica and southern Africa. Such vertebrate groups as the marsupials, parrots, frogs and freshwater fish comprise many species of Gondwanan ancestry. The invertebrate fauna is particularly rich in Gondwanan species,
such as the 250 million year old mountain shrimp above Orange-bellied parrot (Anaspides tasmaniae), one of the most ancient opposite middle MV Odalisque representatives of the crustaceans.” both images courtesy of Tasmanian Boat Charters
22 TASMANIA 40ºSouth TASMANIA 40ºSouth 23 The shrimp is just a youngster, however. The Bathurst Harbour marine environment The velvet worms (Euperipatoides and Ooperi includes soft corals found nowhere else, sea fans, patellus spp.) have changed little in the past half sponges, tube worms and the amazing sea pen (an a billion years. octocoral so-named because its feathery appear On my rock, in my corner of the Port ance evokes quill pens), plus sharks, skates and rays Davey Marine Reserve, I am close to Bathurst usually found in much deeper water. The cusk-eel Harbour. This is technically a drowned river is unique to Bathurst Harbour, and the endangered valley and is one of the most unusual places on maugean skate is found only there and in one other earth. It has rare physical attributes which create nearby estuary. a phenomenon called deep-water emergence. It’s time to leave my rock, because it’s When fresh water meets salt water, the fresh time for lunch – time to turn from the mind- water takes the high road, forming a layer which stretching vastness of nature to the small matters sits above the denser salt water. The fresh water of that late-comer to our ancient wilderness, that flows into Bathurst Harbour comes from the human beings. Lunch today is pan-fried flathead, North and Old rivers and is tannin-stained. The panzanella salad and raspberry vinaigrette. Lunch staining prevents sunlight penetrating to usual yesterday was tuna tataki with pickled ginger, depths, meaning that as little as five metres below wasabi and ponzu. Tomorrow it will be spiced the surface of Bathurst Harbour the water is as rack of lamb with cauliflower, fennel, yoghurt and dark as at levels found deep in the oceans, and the pomegranate. usual shallow water marine species are replaced The dinners are more elaborate. by fascinating deep-water communities rarely The chef is Ben Hay. He’s planning to open accessible by recreational divers. a restaurant in Hobart one day, but for now he’s
24 TASMANIA 40ºSouth TASMANIA 40ºSouth 25 below Pieter van der Woude middle Peter Marmion leading a party of guests
26 TASMANIA 40ºSouth working a season aboard the MV Odalisque, a on, I was told that there was one left. We walked modern, 20-metre, aluminium-hulled vessel that around, we walked into the hide, but we couldn’t sleeps (and feeds) 10 people in great style. see it anywhere. And then, just as we were leaving, in The Odalisque is why I am here, at the flew the orange-bellied parrot, and landed in a tree. invitation of its owner and operator, Pieter van der It was so exciting to see it, but the volunteers Woude. Pieter has worked for Tasmanian Police, tempered the excitement by telling me of their for the Australian Antarctic Division, for the concerns for the survival of this remaining parrot. Tasmanian Land Conservancy, and for himself as The point of the migration is to seek food – the an abalone diver. If the legendary Deny King was button grass of southern Tasmanian does not the human soul of the south-west, Pieter is close in provide enough food in winter. As there was only line behind him. His love of the area is as vast, and one, however, the volunteers hoped it would find as infectious, as his knowledge. enough food to survive. He has competition in the wilderness The dedication of these volunteers is a story knowledge stakes, however, in the shape of Peter in itself. When Laura Kelly, strategic director of Marmion. He’s here as our guide, our Tom Environment Tasmania, talks about working with Bombadil. He is immersed in myriad ways, “ecologically sustainable tourism businesses”, she including a 30-year involvement with the orange- knows what is at stake. bellied parrot conservation program. The parrot, Pieter van der Woude also talks about which breeds only in Tasmania, was once abundant ecologically sustainable tourism. Odalisque is a but is now one of the rarest birds in Australia. It comfortable companion on a journey into deep is possible there are as few as 30 pairs left. I was isolation. It’s a profoundly satisfying experience. hoping to see one – to see the famous orange- It’s good for the soul. bellied parrot in its own habitat – and I got very lucky. The parrots migrate to Victoria for a period For more information about eco-tourism and Odalisque each year, and although the migration season was charters, see tasmanianboatcharters.com.au.
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