Mount Field

Mount Field National Park was declared in 1916 and is, along with Freycinet, the oldest in Tasmania. It lies little more than an hour from Hobart, which makes it the most accessible part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, and its appeal lies in the contrast it offers within a very short distance.

The lower part, at the park entrance, is occupied by temperate rainforest and by forests of Eucalyptus regnans, the mountain ash, the tallest flowering plant on the planet, with individuals exceeding eighty metres; the Tall Trees walk runs through one of those stands. There too is Russell Falls, a stepped cascade that is the park's classic image and one of the most photographed landscapes in Tasmania.

Driving up the road one reaches within a few kilometres Lake Dobson and the alpine plateau, a completely different world of heathland, glacial lakes and stands of pandani, the giant rosette plant endemic to Tasmania that gives one of the walking tracks its name. In winter the upper zone receives snow and holds a small ski field. That complete succession of environments, from rainforest to alpine tundra in less than twenty kilometres of road, is what makes the park an exceptional place for understanding the ecology of the island.