Fallen Stag

Today me and TJ headed up to the falls. I say the falls in a generic way as we were originally intending to Emily Falls, but instead took a wrong turn at the Rata Stream.

Walking up the boulder strewn waterway, crossing over and over again, we dodged branches and trees, trying to avoid getting soaked in the freezing cold stream. In the end it turned out we’d taken the long way to get to Rata Falls, eventually meeting the path that winds its way down from a fork in the path we’d passed some time earlier in the morning.

Just past the convergence of the paths we noticed a strong smell of death; initially we thought it may have been a possum until we came across this huge carcass of a red deer on the edge of the stream. Upon closer inspection it appeared its back leg was broken, so we were led to the conclusion it had fallen from the steep hillsides way above the creek and met its demise.

This sad sight was a real reminder though of how much the bush is under threat from introduced species. On a happier note though we were treated to a wonderful display of a dozen tiny Rifleman working their way through the canopy.

All in all a great day’s bush bashing - although my poor decrepit knees are suffering now!