Hunting for Huon Pines on the Wilson River

At the end of May 2022, Col and I had been planning a packrafting trip down the Andrew River. This would have seen us start on the Crotty River, where it crosses Kelly Basin Road south of Queenstown, and continue down to the Franklin River, where we would have exited via the Mt McCall Track. Unfortunately though, the rain forecast immediately before our departure indicated the Franklin would be dangerously high.

So, in a last-minute change of plans, we brought our trip forward by a day and instead headed to the Wilson River Valley in Tasmania’s Tarkine Wilderness to hunt for ancient Huon Pine trees, who’s discovery had recently been reported.

Not far up the valley we started encountering these magnificent trees, and we in fact surprised at how bountiful they were.

And as we walked, we also encountered a wide variety of fungi.

This valley is truly an amazing place. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to fully explore it, and after camping overnight, we packrafted our way back out down the river the following day.