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Autumn Fungi of the Styx Valley

Name: Codi
Price range: $

The Styx Valley, home to the tallest flowering planets on the face of planet Earth, comes alive with a kaleidoscope of red, green, blue, purple, yellow fungi of all shapes and sizes in Autumn.

We had a guest from overseas and between them and our kids, the excitement of our Styx valley visit was understandably focussed on the tall trees.

Just over an hour's drive from Hobart, near the town of Maydena, the Styx "Valley of the Giants", is Earth's tallest hardwood forest.

Eucalyptus Regnans - (roughly translated - 'King of the Eucalypts'), are the dominant Eucalypt trees of the Styx forest. These trees can live for over 400 years of age and grow to a stunning 100m in height.

As we reached the grove of giant trees, we were transfixed.

Equal to the Californian Redwoods in their grandeur and scale, they are a mesmerising sight to see rise above the rainforest below.

Styx Giant Phill Pullinger — The trees of the Styx valley are of an immense and humbling scale.

We wandered through the forest, arching our necks skyward to comprehend these trees' scale. But at one point, as we kept looking up as we walked through the forest, a splash of orange on the forest floor caught my daughter's eye.

It was a beautiful little constellation of orange fungi.

We all knelt down to look closely, fascinated by how such a bright flash of colour could arise from the forest floor, as if by magic. The rounded shape of each one seemed perfectly crafted. You half expected a fairy to hop out from underneath them.

The Styx valley is part of the wet moist wild landscape of Western Tasmania, and as such, encompases a rich multi-layered rainforest ecosystem under the towering Eucalypts above.

This includes an amazing diversity of fungi, which in Autumn, burst to life in a dazzling array of colours.

Constellation of orange fungi Styx — The flash of orange that caught our eye.

Once our eye had tuned in, suddenly, you could see these pockets of brilliant colour everywhere.

Now not looking up, we wandered through the forest focussed on mossy tree trunks, ferns and the forest floor, to see what other colours or shapes or sizes of fungi we might be able to find.

One by one they slowly revealed themselves.

Yellow, purple, cream, green, black, fluoro orange...

Yellow spindly fungi Styx Phill Pullinger — Tendrils of yellow fungi arising from the forest floor

Purple fungi Styx Phill Pullinger — Cartoon-like purple fungi in the Styx

Pale Fungi Styx Phill Pullinger — Styx forest fungi

Green fungi Styx Phill Pullinger — A hidden green mushroom

Fluoro orange fungi Styx Phill Pullinger — A fluoro orange fungi of the Styx

Black fungi Styx Phill Pullinger — Black fungi Styx forest floor

Lone orange fungi Phill Pullinger — A lone orange mushroom

It became a game as we saw another and another different shape or size or colour hidden in plain sight.

After walking through the rainforest, under these immense trees, sitting by the river, and marvelling at these little pockets of life hidden through the forest floor, we returned home topped up with a splash of colour and joy for the week ahead.

Phill Pullinger

Phill is a GP, conservationist, author of Tarkine Trails, and co-founder of Kuno. Phill has broad...

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The Styx Valley, home to the tallest flowering planets on the face of planet Earth, comes alive with a kaleidoscope of red, green, blue, purple, yellow fungi of all shapes and sizes in Autumn.

We had a guest from overseas and between them and our kids, the excitement of our Styx valley visit was understandably focussed on the tall trees.

Just over an hour's drive from Hobart, near the town of Maydena, the Styx "Valley of the Giants", is Earth's tallest hardwood forest.

As we reached the grove of giant trees, we were transfixed.

Equal to the Californian Redwoods in their grandeur and scale, they are a mesmerising sight to see rise above the rainforest below.

It was a beautiful little constellation of orange fungi.

The Styx valley is part of the wet moist wild landscape of Western Tasmania, and as such, encompases a rich multi-layered rainforest ecosystem under the towering Eucalypts above.

This includes an amazing diversity of fungi, which in Autumn, burst to life in a dazzling array of colours.

Once our eye had tuned in, suddenly, you could see these pockets of brilliant colour everywhere.

Now not looking up, we wandered through the forest focussed on mossy tree trunks, ferns and the forest floor, to see what other colours or shapes or sizes of fungi we might be able to find.

One by one they slowly revealed themselves.

Yellow, purple, cream, green, black, fluoro orange...

It became a game as we saw another and another different shape or size or colour hidden in plain sight.

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