TAS, Bastion Cascades

Tassie has been dry again this 2018/2019 summer. Fires dominated the general news, and individual adventures. Fires are burning “wet” forest. Unlike dry forest, these places do not include fire as part of their ecology. This important information has been absent from news coverage.

My family made the modest walk into these falls with friends on Saturday. There was a small amount of water, but not enough to impress. The images taken reflected that, but the more problematic reflections were the blow outs due to glare. Oops, I forgot to put my polarising filter on.

Sunday through Tuesday saw substantial falls of rain. Compelled, on Wednesday I determined to redeem myself, revisit the falls and this time remember my polarising filter. There was a much greater volume of water, so much so that I couldn’t access the position I planned to shoot from.

Getting to these falls is a beautiful stroll through myrtle forest. I saw no one else on it during either walk. The wet ground showed another had slipped recently, and inspired passing fictions. Perhaps another photographer was making to most of the higher water levels?

Being in such amazing places, knowing you’re the only human, isolated, touches the soul. It’s a reminder echoing through time of the connection to the natural world, often obscured by the rush of manufactured 21st century life.