Quamby’s Enchanted Glade

AUGUST 2018 | Tara Ulbrich

THE PEAK of Quamby Bluff is an identifying silhouette on the horizon of the Meander Valley. Along the high street of Deloraine it seems as if the buildings have parted so you can see its form.

Residents of the area use ‘Quamby’ as a weather station. Snow on top? Sun shimmering off wet dolerite? Less often enjoyed is a direct contact with the mountain. For this, a trip to the Fairy Glade is recommended.

From the roadside-parking bay, it’s a mere a ten-minute stroll and a walker is already passing through chin-high bracken into tall melaleuca forest. Mist rises from still pools. Whatever the forecast, this microclimate is moody, the light, the bark, the fallen branches, the dulled effects of sound.

At first glance only the verdant moss rocks offer proof of vibrant life. But getting down at ground level opens up a delicate universe.

Soon the forest shifts into a dogwood stand so dense you might have to turn sideways to pass by. Throughout the walk huge tree-fall suggests the trespass of some giant, prehistoric creature, one that has noisily wrecked havoc. Can it only be the forces of decay and wind?

Keep following the red arrows. There is no signpost to declare you’ve arrived at the Glade. As the path builds to climbing you can turn back at whim. After around forty-five minutes of walking a scree slope is reached.

Consider taking photographic images as a report for those back on the lowlands. They might not believe all you’ve seen.

Photo | Jade Hallam