downunder update

90 minutes’ drive south of Hobart is the little town of Hastings and the absolutely magnificent cave formations.
Hastings Newdegate Cave is one of only two Dolomite Caves on show in Australia. The rock is Precambrian, 600 million years old. Most tourist caves are limestone and are comparatively young — just 450 million years [...]

It’s easy to forget all about Tasmania. Half of the maps of Australia leave it off, it’s small, socially insignificant and generally overlooked. Take a look at the two maps, the one on the left has no Tasmania. I rest my case.
It’s a quiet little place. Nothing much seems to happen except anti-logging protests and [...]

The mighty Huon pine, with its exquisite smell, dominates the southern rainforest wilderness.
Tasmania has large areas of cool temperate rainforest, very different from rainforest found in warmer climates of mainland Australia. The Tasmanian rainforests are silent, dark and damp, and the tree trunks and forest floor are festooned with a luxuriant carpet of mosses and [...]