In Search of Furmston's Tree (2)

Just down from the intersection we came across the usual Melbourne Water signs saying "Go to Jail, go directly to jail, do not pass Go, Do not collect $200" but given the size of the tyre marks on the road three walkers were obviously going to do far less damage than a vehicle that big. From the map reference given it would only have to be a couple of hundred metres at most from the intersection, and from the photo in the book it was on a reasonable slope.

And so we walked a couple of hundred metres along the track, down the side of hill, scouring the tree tops ahead for a sign. "OK, enough, we should have reached it by now".

Looking back up the track we saw a large stump, well actually half a large stump. The tree had obviously fallen recently, probably in the storms a couple of weeks ago that felled a lot of other trees across the track. The stump was pretty shattered and on the other side of the road lay the remains of a very large tree trunk. "Could this be Furmston's Tree? Are we too late?"

I pulled out the book once more to compare the photograph, moving around on the track to match the angle that the photograph would have been taken from, and then started to compare the other trees behind it with the ones in the photograph. Sure enough they matched. This was indeed the remains of Furmston's Tree. The largest eucalypt was now just a rather long pile of shattered wood, only to have been seen in it's former glory by a very select few.

This proved to be something of an anticlimax to our walk, to say the least. Thankyou Melbourne Water. We stopped for a cup of coffee and bite to eat by the tree, picked up a souvenir, gave the tree a parting hug and set off for the car. Rather than follow the route we came in we headed instead along the boundary "track". It was quite a pleasant walk back through what was essentially a very long clearing. As the sun got lower the temperature started to drop and mist began to form at the ridge tops. Very pleasant walking conditions indeed.

If only we'd done the walk a few weeks earlier....