SOUTH COAST TRACK

As we started our ascent up the Ironbound Range, a brutal 900m climb from the sunny button grass plains below into the cool, misty alpine world above, the loud thwuck-thwuck-thwuck of a chopper filled our ears. Three days into our walk on the South Coast Track, reminders of life back home were few and far between, but this one couldn’t be ignored.

We searched the skyline for a few seconds until it appeared, tracking east to west towards the camp we had left earlier that morning.

There’s something arresting about helicopters, something that makes you stop and crane your neck backwards to get a better view, or, in this case, look down, as we were already halfway up and could watch it circle and land from above. In such a remote part of the world, this steel bird hummed like a bad omen. In my mind I pictured it as a single locust before the plague.

But why did it conjure such an apocalyptic image?

The camp we left that morning is the location of a proposed commercial development consisting of multiple private buildings, deep inside the UNESCO-listed Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

This site, one of six the proponent is hoping to build on, is an oasis of dense trees that hug the slow-moving Louisa River. Here, sheltered from the outside world by ancient myrtles and glossy green rain-loving laurels, we had pitched our tent on a layer of fallen leaves and leatherwood flowers that lay scattered like snowflakes. It is a place of calm. Rich greens, white rock and the amber-coloured tannin-stained waters that wind through all of western Tasmania. The night before, we had sipped whisky on the banks of the river as the sun fell, the sky blackening to reveal a billion twinkling stars and then the pulsing white lights of an aurora.

You can see why The Wilderness Society is campaigning for the Southwest National Park to become a Dark Sky Sanctuary. You can also feel why this land is deeply important to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. It is a landscape filled with a deep history and ancient connection well beyond my comprehension.

As one of Tasmania’s most beautiful and challenging walks, the South Coast Track is special for so many reasons, but perhaps most notably, from a visitor’s perspective, because it’s so remote. It is a chance to experience true distance from the everyday. You walk with the knowledge that there are no structures for miles and miles, save for the drop toilets that don’t exactly scream comfort or luxury. And in this knowledge, you find a sense of wonder. Without comfy beds, solid walls and fancy meals, your mind clears and you start to appreciate all of nature’s precious offerings, without distraction.

And this is what could be lost.

Is it not important that there are parts of the world left to wander without the intrusion of modern comforts? Do all these landscapes need to be turned into commodities? Does every great walk in Tassie need to have bloody buildings?

We watched people, like small ants, scurry from the helicopter and blend into the scrub. Who knows what they were there for… Perhaps they were just rangers checking the campsite? Or maybe they were profiteers searching for soft soil to place their flag and stake their claim on precious public land.

After a while, we turned from the chopper and the oasis below. You don’t do this walk too many times in a lifetime and I wonder if this will be the last time I do it while feeling truly remote.

As of time of writing, it is unclear whether the company that has inherited the plans for this proposal is planning to commit to them. So, right now is a great time for the community to make its opposition heard!

Click HERE to contact Intrepid Travel and let them know your thoughts. Please respectfully encourage them to drop all plans for developing this unique and iconic track.