Exploring the Gordon River
With a small sub-4m RIB and a 2 stroke outboard, my brother and I ventured across Macquarie Harbour and as far up the Gordon River as we could go, camping and exploring along the way.
The wilderness here is like nothing else - preserved by forward thinkers who managed to get here and act on what needed to be protected, against all odds. A Huon pine tree grows just 1mm per year - we stood next one arching up over the river. How old was it? Perhaps as old as the Pyramids. Not long ago they were felled by axe and floated down the river to be sold as boat making timber, their oils making them impervious to rot. The spans of time here are too abstract... Mimegin Aborigines from the last ice age, some 40,000 years ago, lived among these forests too - now long gone - I can only hope they’re hiding with the Thylacine in a place out of our reach.
