Take a moment to celebrate Tasmania’s trees – the tallest flowering forests on Earth.
Standing inside the trunk of a tree that reaches 60 metres high and 19 metres wide, I place my hands on the bark and shut my eyes. I feel small, but not just physically: this beauty has witnessed over 450 years of history, here on the Blue Tier plateau of North-East Tasmania. I wish I could share her memories.
My kids (who sang and screeched in excitement the whole way along the trail) go quiet inside the hollow base. It is overwhelming even for them; a reminder of the power and endurance of nature when it is left to thrive.
This type of tree goes by various names – mountain ash, swamp gum, and the more official, Eucalyptus regnans. The latter is probably the most apt, with the Latin word ‘regnans’ translating to ‘ruling’.
But the Blue Tier Giant (as she’s fondly known) doesn’t reign alone, and in fact, she’s by no means the tallest – her family of trees have been known to grow up to 100 metres in height.
Tasmania is full of giant trees. It is home to the tallest flowering forests on Earth. And they’re not just beautiful to look at, but also important on an ecological level, explains conservation ecologist and self-confessed tree nerd, Yoav Bar-Ness from Giant Tree Expeditions. Yoav has photographed thousands of trees all around the world, and still feels drawn back to the distinctive forests of Tasmania.
“The individual eucalypt species themselves aren’t so much unique in just their species role, but also in their extreme structural development, and the fact that here in Tasmania they grow alongside these very rare isolated Southern Hemisphere rainforests,” he explains, citing the King Billy pines, Antarctic beech, and sassafras trees as examples.
“This is the only place in the world where these things grow together in this sort of way.” He says that it’s all part of the Tasmanian ecosystem, which is botanically unique in the world. “It’s a very special laboratory and teaching space for learning about botany on the planet.”
With over 3,000 kilometres of walking tracks, ancient rainforests that look like they’ve been plucked straight from a fairytale, and 20 percent of its landmass listed as World Heritage, it certainly is.
So, where’s the best place to see these giants? It really depends where you’re staying on the nature-filled island. But one of Yoav’s top recommendations (for all fitness levels and ages) is Mount Field National Park, which is an easy drive from Hobart, at just over 60 kilometres away.
“These epic trees encourage us to explore the sacred beauty and wonder of the landscape they grow within, and therein lies their magic.”
“Probably the very best place that you can get to – it’s wheelchair accessible – is Mount Field National Park,” he says. “At Russell Falls you can walk underneath giant Eucalyptus regnans, and for the more adventurous people, you can go up to the ‘Tall Trees Walk’, which is just above Russell Falls. This is probably one of the most well-regarded individual hiking trails in Tasmania.”
As he points out – it’s kid-friendly, it’s accessible, and it’s within the National Park, making it well looked-after. Plus, if you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of Tasmania’s wildlife; wombats, wallabies, and echidnas are known to frequent the area.
Meanwhile, if you’re in Tasmania’s rugged north, Yoav recommends the giant stringybark at Liffey Falls, the giant stringybark at Dip Falls near Smithton, and the Blue Tier Giant (the special tree I met), an easy drive from St Helens. All three of these trees are accessible by trails and worth the walk.
Of course, there are many more locations to choose from and each has its own unique landscape to reveal. Some, like the Styx Valley, are also significant due to the battles won there by conservationists against loggers.
Deciding on the best time of year to go on the search for Tasmania’s beautiful giants is easy – any time! Well, as long as the weather is safe enough for venturing out into the wilderness.
“Don’t go on a bushfire day,” says Yoav. “These are the ultimate fire forests on the planet – there is nowhere in the world that will burn hotter or crazier than our giant eucalyptus forests. High wind is the other one you want to avoid – very windy days are not the time to be out there.” One final tip: don’t forget your Park Pass if you’re planning on heading into any of Tasmania’s 19 national parks. In case you’re wondering, ‘Centurion’ in Tasmania’s south is one of the tallest known hardwood trees in the world. It was last measured at just over 100 metres in height, as determined by Yoav and Steven Pearce from The Tree Projects group back in 2018.
But don’t mistake the ‘biggest’ for the ‘best’. They’re just measurements after all. And something I realised on that rainy day when I walked out to the Blue Tier Giant is that it’s not always about the destination, but the journey as well. These epic trees encourage us to explore the sacred beauty and wonder of the landscape they grow within, and therein lies their magic.
Venturing out amongst the eucalypts, musk, myrtle, and ferns along the Blue Tier trail, every footstep was a revelation. “Is that the tree we’re looking for?” my kids would yell, gawking at leg-sized roots and running fingers along the green-tinged trunks that littered the trail.
“No,” I’d say, examining the orange fungus growing along a random log.
“What about this one?” they’d ask again and again, hugging a tree every now and then, pressing cold faces against the soft moss. The answer was “No” each time until we came to the pinnacle of the track and discovered the main attraction, in all her gnarly splendour.
But looking back on the day, we remember the full journey through her kingdom of botanical wonders. Every step was memorable.
WORDS: Lauren Furey
