There is a peculiar magic to a Tasmanian winter that mainlanders and other visitors never quite understand until they've lived it. Even if you have managed to cram in a trip around the state, taking in its major cities and maybe Cradle Mountain and Strahan, you may have missed some of the best things of all.
It arrives gently — in the blue-grey light that lingers even at noon, in the woodsmoke curling from chimneys up and down the streets of its quaint C19th villages, in the cold that doesn't so much bite as settle. There’s less traffic and there are even fewer tourists.
Into the Woods
Take yourself down or more likely up to a forest. Mt. Wellington/Kunyani is closest to Hobart, but Mt. Field or the Hartz Mountains are also among the best places down South. Meander Forest Reserve near Deloraine is one of my favourites in the North, though there are plenty of others – Lilydale and Evercreech in the East, almost anywhere in the West, in fact, just about any bushland will do, so long as it’s not too degraded. Then STOP.
Breathe the air – deeply and slowly, and exhale. Feel the mosses under your feet but try not to trample them. Drink in the scent of eucalyptus, sassafras and myrtle and the fruitful decay of ferns and leaf litter. Now you are doing Forest Bathing even if didn’t know its name. I am reluctant to use this expression - it makes it sound very formal and No, you don't have to get your gear off.
Forest Bathing -Shirin Yoku, is an ancient Japanese tradition brought back by the Japanese government in the 1980’s to counter the stress of modern Japanese life. Since then many countries have remembered their own traditions, Germany particularly, blessed as it is with many forests, but also Finland, Austria, Costa Rica, California and even the Congo. “Forest Cures” were popular in Germany long before science discovered that there were some 8000 essential oils to be found in pine forests, many of which were beneficial to health and well -being.
I am delighted that this way of being in the forest is starting to be recognised. It’s not necessary to have a destination and make heroic efforts to reach it. It just about enjoying what is, without pressure to get somewhere.
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| Meet some mosses and lichens |
Fungi
Keep an eye out for our beautiful fungi. There might be a coral fungus with bright red fingers reaching out, or maybe an orange or yellow or even a purple one. Blink at the bright orange eyelash button fungi, or pagodas piled one on top of the other. There are green ones, a mass of fairylike ones and the innocent blue eyes of Mycena interrupta. I can never get enough of those.
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| Not sure about this one - not in my Fungi Flip - Photo by Jeremy Rich |
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| Hygrocybe grammnicolour- Photo by Jeremy Rich |
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| Mycena interrupta - Photo by Jeremy Rich |
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| Ramaria ? There are lots of different kinds of these - pink ones, purple ones, and white, threadlike, clubbed or like this -Photo by Jeremy Rich |
By all means take photos but please don’t touch – some maybe poisonous or hallucinogenic and the forest needs them more than you. We are only just beginning to understand the importance of fungi and their role in forest health.
We have discovered for example, that fungi communicate with each other through underground mycelial networks, exchanging nutrients, chemical signals, and electrical impulses to coordinate growth and respond to their environment. They also operate a kind of “Wood Wide Web” -a vast underground network of fungi which connects trees warning them of predators and helping them to resist predators and respond to disease or stress. I read somewhere too that fungi are the medium through which trees help other trees to heal, but for now the main thing to remember is that the whole forest, not just this fungus, or that tree, is a living organism.You can see more here or here.
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| Umula camylospora -Photo by Jeremy Rich - [Thanks for the beautiful images Jeremy! It is quite an artform being able to take such good photos in the rainforest]. |
Just Add Water
Waterfalls are often found in the same locations – see for example, Russell Falls at Mount Field or Meander Falls in the Meander Forest Reserve, and they will be even better after winter rains. Though folk wisdom has long held that spending time near water, especially waterfalls and rapids, is also good for you, the field of nature for health is just starting to catch up. Scientists have known for a long time that negative ions purify the air and that waterfalls produce an abundance of them and have positive effects on respiratory health, however, more recent studies which involved simply viewing high quality large screen images of waterfalls also produced positive effects on mental health. Awe inspiring views of the wonders of nature such waterfalls and mountains have been shown restore a sense of proportion and improve both mood and disposition towards others. [The same study also found that viewing ‘ordinary’ nature – images of parks and gardens, had similar effects, but not to the extent that truly amazing scenery does.
Night Comes Early in the Bush
In Winter it gets dark around 4.30 p.m. to make up for our long crazy summer days. This is nature’s reset button and you should take full advantage. Why should we live like battery chooks - always on, and burnt out well before our time?
Do you have shelter? Do you have food? Do you have warmth? Do you have good company? That was enough for most of humanity millennia. Sip hot chocolate and feel the cup warming your hands, or enjoy a glass of wine and the way firelight or candlelight flickers.
It is possible to live without devices -for a little while at least. Most likely you won’t have a signal, even if the lights are on. Music is nice and so are books, but long talks and firelight are their antecedents. Story -tellers were revered. How else did the Scandinavian sagas evolve? Even if alone, it’s the time for dreaming and planning, just as the plants are doing beneath the ground. Great ideas are conceived in the dark. How do you think the Danes thought up Lego or the Swedes created Ikea, or the Swiss perfected the art of watch making?
If you brave the elements and go outside you may get some pleasant surprises. Vast skies full of stars. Satellites moving swiftly across the sky, an aurora perhaps, or a meteor shower if you are lucky. As I wrote this the Lyrid shower is scheduled to make an appearance. The Southern Delta Aquariid shower follows in late July to mid-August. Take the time to notice and wonder. Check here for other celestial events.
You’ll hear strange noises too – night creatures stirring – a possum or two, a beat of wings and a shriek – a boobook owl has found its mark. A rustle in the bushes, the thump, thump of a kangaroo. All pretty harmless. Even the devils prefer carrion or things wounded or weak, though you may hear them compete loudly for territory or roadkill. Leeches like nice damp forests as well. Tuck the legs of your jeans or pyjamas into your socks and check yourself when you go back inside. They are generally harmless too unless you are allergic or a haemophiliac.
The Icing on the Cake
Sometimes it snows - hardly novel for Northern Europeans or North Americans but almost magical for Australians, frosting the mountains and the treetops and sometimes the roads. It will be unbelievably quiet. It’s not hard to imagine wombats snug in their burrows or you might even find one or two wombling about. Make a snowperson, snow angels, a dinosaur or a castle. Throw snowballs. If you have been snowed in, there’ll be hell to pay when the roads reopen – missed flights, fees for not returning the rental car on time, explaining why you are late for work, but the serenity of the forest, where nature rules, makes all seem alien and irrelevant. You won’t care. You’ll be a different person when you return home.
In the meantime, enjoy the luxury of time before it was measured in nano seconds, when it was marked by sunrises and sunsets and by the seasons, when people had time to really taste and appreciate food and really listen and feel the earth beneath their feet. Tasmania in winter asks nothing of you but to be present — to look closely at small things, to breathe deeply, to come inside. Allow yourself to be transformed.
For writers and dreamers it’s the best time of year, but do bring your woollies.
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