Day trip to Strathgordon - Lake Pedder #2

Carmen Friend
Dec 29, 2017
1 min read

Leaving Lake Pedder behind us, we took a detour on the way out stopping at the Styx Big Trees Reserve. How do we describe these giants? The extremely large Swamp Gum Trees are estimated to be between 400-500 years old. To put it into perspective as the photo does not do justice, it would take 6-7 adults to link hands to go around the base of the trees!! They are approximately 100-120meters in height. We both had a ‘oh wow’, ‘holy shit’ moment when we saw them both.

We took a walk down to the river and came across an old swamp gum which had fallen and been cut to allow access. Whilst I know I’m not tall - 165cm or 5ft4in, you can see just how round the trunk is with me standing in the picture. They believe there are many, many more of these trees within the National Park and possibly some which are much taller than what we already saw. One of the trees we saw has had a protection order on it since 1955!

Whilst not tree huggers, these trees put longevity into perspective – why destroy something which has already stood for hundreds of years!