Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 360

lucky you may spot one of these
small flightless birds during the
walk.
The scenery varies rapidly
throughout the ascent; one
minute you're peering out over
the entire span of the island, the
next you're scrambling through
dense and misty subtropical
rainforest, clinging to ropes for
a fair portion of the trek. But
once you reach the summit, the
near-vertical ascent will seem
well worth the effort as you look
out over the island's thickly
forested slopes and turquoise
lagoon, framed by an azure
ocean stretching to the horizon.

old-growth rainforest was threatened with
commercial exploitation. Among them were
the founders of Tarkine Trails, whose trekking
operation funds a protection campaign.
Only on foot do you appreciate the epic
quality of the Tarkine. To traverse the southern
hemisphere's largest temperate rainforest,
camping beneath moss-bearded myrtles and
bathing in waterfalls of chilled spring water,
is to timewarp into a world of myth forged
when mankind was just a glint in evolution's
eye. To hike 30km up its empty coastline is to
be humbled, whether by evidence of tens of
thousands of years of Aboriginal existence or by
waves that travel unopposed from Patagonia.
Everyone loves a travel secret. Yet after a
moratorium on logging was lifted in 2003, the
Tarkine is “still wild, still threatened”, as the
conservation slogan puts it. This may be one
secret to shout about.

Tree ferns in the Tarkine, Tasmania

Need to know: For more background on the
island, including accommodation and directions,
visit W www.lordhoweisland.info. Jack Shick's
guided walks to Mount Gower take place every
Monday and Thursday; for further info on tours see
W seatosummit.googlepages.com. Bookings can
be made by phone ( T [phone]) or email
( E [e-mail]).

492 walk The wild Tarkine,
TasMania

The little known Tarkine region in the remote
northwest of Tasmania is almost certainly the
next big thing in Australian wilderness. In
2004 the Worldwide Fund for Nature described
the state's last frontier as “a world beyond
human memory, a living link to the primeval
supercontinent of Gondwana”. Three years later
Australian TV's Channel Nine called it “the last
unknown wilderness in Australia”.
Except that the Tarkine does not exist, or
at least not on official maps. Inspired by the
Aboriginal group known as the Tarkiner that
once roamed in the area, conservationists
coined the name to refer to the blank space in
the northwest whose swathe of raw coast and

Need to know Tarkine Trails ( W www.tarkinetrails.
com.au; T [phone]) operates the
six-day Rainforest Track (2-3 monthly) and five-
day Wild Coast trip (monthly) from November
to April. The price includes transfers (from
Hobart, Launceston, Devonport or Burnie), tent
accommodation, food and wine. Only experienced
bushwalkers should attempt the Tarkine Trails
independently.