Forest bathing

On Easter Monday I went for a rather long walk. More than 25km, according to Runkeeper. After weeks of being cooped up in 'iso', like (almost) everyone else, I was desperate for a leg stretch and some forest bathing, as I believe the Japanese call it. I turned left after leaving our front gate, then left again and just kept walking, up into the hills. Up and up, past the houses and fields of cows and chooks, to the land of wallabies and lyrebirds. Ah, the smell of fresh rainforest air.

I visited the Old Mill site in the forest for the first time since the surrounding coupe was logged a few years back. Then hiked down some forestry roads, in the hope of finding my way through to the top of a different road to return down the hill. However, it has changed a bit up there, and I got stuck and had to return the same way. It's been more than a year since bushfire roared through some of these lands, and I was a bit surprised how little has grown back in places. I was expecting much more green regrowth and undergrowth I guess. Next time I'll try the walk in reverse to see if I can work out how I got through last time. I love exploring the hills of the Huon.

No alert level

Finally over the weekend, the alert levels on the Tasmanian Fire Service web site for the Huon Valley areas around the Riveaux Road fire that started in mid-January were dropped. Hooray! You could almost hear everyone breathe a collective sigh of relief.

On Thursday we heard a number of enormous explosions as fire affected trees were felled in the forestry area behind us. The house shook and my PC monitor wobbled dangerously on its stand! Fire services vehicles are still patrolling up our road regularly. We are grateful for the huge amount of work that has been done and still continues to keep our community safe. I haven't been far into fire affected areas, but you can see below what it looks like just 1km from our house. The burnt smell sure penetrates the nostrils.

Hazy days of autumn

As the temperatures start to drop and the summer bushfire danger abates, the forest burn offs begin. Some are conducted by Forestry Tasmania, some by Parks & Wildlife and some by private land managers with permits from the Tasmanian Fire Service. Many people hate it due to the thick smoke and pollution it causes (and the health risks for those with breathing difficulties) and due to the risk of fires getting out of control, like one in the north of Tasmania this week. I'm in two minds about it, living right next to forestry plantations, many privately managed. I'd prefer a few fuel reduction burns now to out of control bushfires next summer in dense bush with poor access for firefighters, but agree with the concerns above. And I'd still prefer we farm timber than destroy more old growth forest that may never regenerate. The water bombing helicopter has been flying past our place since 6.45am today, I guess to make sure the burns from the last couple of days are out. Hope the haze clears and we have clear blue skies again soon.