Gordon Dam

 

My final destination with Quentin was the Gordon dam. We drove an hour from Mt. Field west into the mountainous western region of Tasmania where we stopped along the way to climb a mountain (The needles) and do a few smaller walks. The needles was a steep climb up to some marble (?) stones that jutted out from the tops of the mountains. Looking almost placed on top of the buttonwood fields. One of the walks was called the Creepy Crawly walk. It was a beautiful short walk along a boardwalk in a dense nothofagus forest. The trees were so large and dense that very little light reaches the forest floor. Everything was covered in mosses and mushrooms the diversity of which I have never seen before. I saw orange mushrooms that seemed to burst from the dense moss like flames. Bright red mushrooms that looked like cherries along the path. Mossy green mushrooms hid below logs and small chestnut brown mushrooms lined the trunks of trees. A pale fungus looked like coral reef at the base of a tree, and a charcoal black mushroom shown like coal along the path. The path wound between trees forcing you to bend and crawl around branches, and the boards were cut in order to not disturb the growth of the trees. Despite the lack of light from above the forest around me shown green with moss and lichen. It was absolutely stunning. It was a nice day despite the cold and the fog and we sat in the campground shelter making a delicious dinner and reminiscing on our journey. 

The next day we headed to the dam and then decided to climb a nearby mountain, mount sprent. The climb was short, but steep. Very steep. In the first kilometer , standing straight you could put out your arm and touch the ground in front of you. The steps were muddy and slippery, the sky was grey, and the wind howled. It wasn't what you would call an ideal day for a hike, but we persisted not quite to the top. We eventually made it up to the serpentine rocks near the peak, fueled by snacks and lots of chocolate, and spent some time climbing on and over the unique geology marveling at the diversity of plant life. Despite the weather we had a great day exploring and headed back to camp for a final dinner together before we part ways in the morning. It was lovely and bittersweet.

In the morning Quentin's deathtrap, I mean car, finally had given in and his tire was flat. A none too surprising event as the tires were nearly bald and he had to fill his tire every 2 days with air. Luckily the nearest town was only 2 km away and I escorted him there to fill up the tire and he was finally convinced that a new tire was needed. We parted ways as he headed east to get a new tire, then go to his new job at an oyster farm, and I headed north for Lake St. Clair. I'll miss traveling with him. He's a good friend and a great travel companion. I've slowly been working on him to head north after his work on the oyster farm and to drive west with me this winter, but time and happenstance will tell. I'm optimistic that we will cross paths again some day, even if its long off.