Tasmania, the wild and wonderful
By DARCY FREY
Tasmania Is Out of This World
Harf ZimmermannDolerite crags in Ben Lomond National Park, in northeast Tasmania.
Tasmania, said to be the world’s most mountainous island and perhaps also its rainiest, is a wind-lashed, wave-carved atoll, the Southern Hemisphere’s last terrestrial gasp before it sinks into the Southern Ocean. In the southwest corner of this dense, drenched island lies Tasmania’s wildest region: hundreds of miles of steep dolerite cliffs, cool dripping rain forest and glacial valleys virtually untouched since the last ice age. The highest peak in this ancient wilderness is a denuded, boulder-strewn uplift called Mount Anne, where not far below the summit a small stone hut offers shelter for hikers caught in the sudden, violent storms that rake this open ridge and give Tasmania’s southwest its unforgettable sobriquet: “Hell without the fire."
Tasmania Travel Guide
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