I've just returned from a week in the Southern Highlands, holidaying with my wife (and her parents!). One of the highlights of the highlands was the Box Vale Walking Track, a walk that follows the route of a disused railway line. The line was built in 1888 to provide transport for a coal mine located at the bottom of the Nattai River Gorge. Unfortunately the mine proved rather uneconomic and it closed in 1896. The tracks, sleepers and wooden bridges were removed, but the cuttings and embankments remain - allowing for an unusually level walk through the bush! The most impressive part of the walk (apart from the view of the Gorge) is just before the end when the line passes through an 84 metre tunnel. Standing in the middle of it is a strange experience - my eyes found it hard to adjust, and so even though I could see the light at either end I couldn't really discern the uneven ground underfoot.
[Box Vale Colliery Tunnel - AF]Given the level of industrial activity this area once witnessed (an estimated 1000 tons of coal per annum were transported along the railway) I found that the degree to which it has been reclaimed by vegetation was a humbling reminder of how quickly many of our labours fade and are lost.
[Box Vale Colliery Tunnel - AF]
1 comment:
I live near the Boxvale Track here in the Southern Highlands and enjoyed reading your description of it, especially the last paragraph where you write: "the degree to which it has been reclaimed by vegetation was a humbling reminder of how quickly many of our labours fade and are lost".
I felt humbled in a similar way, but also felt a sense of relief that the environment is able to recover to some extent from our "labours". I love seeing the 100 year old eucalypts standing in the middle of what was once a mining railway track.
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