Chris & John's Travel Log: TASMANIA 9

There are a few places to the north of Hobart that are well worth a visit, including Richmond which is rich in historical buildings and has the oldest bridge in Tassie but since we had been there previously we decided to head west to Strahan. Normally we would have gone out to Strathgordon and on to the Gordon Dam which is truly spectacular as is the scenery along the way. It would also have been nice to visit Lake Pedder but since it is in a national park we couldn’t go in because of Leo. I was especially disappointed that we couldn’t visit Mt Field National Park as well. It is a really beautiful part of Tasmania and not to be missed. There are plenty of walks in the park and all are spectacular.

Hence we took the Lyell Highway out of Hobart and headed to Hamilton where we set up camp in a council park beside the River Clyde (not that there was much water to be seen through the reeds).

The camp ground at Hamilton

While the camp is nothing special, it is cheap, there are gas barbecues, water to top up the tanks and the showers are hot. We discovered that there are some much nicer camping spots further on however. The one on the west side of Lake Meadowbank was particularly nice with lovely views across the lake and the hills beyond and Bradys Lake is also nice.

Lake Meadowbank

We made a brief stop at Tarraleah where we viewed one of the many hydro power stations as well as the beautiful building that is Tarraleah Lodge, a luxury hotel which once accommodated the hydro engineers and architects.

Tarraleah Lodge is a lovely old art deco building.

The hydro scheme here in Tasmania is truly a magnificent feat of engineering and foresight. The system of dams, lakes and power stations is amazing and provides most of Tassie’s electricity. Nowadays as you may have heard, wind power is growing in popularity as well especially in light of the strong opposition to more dams.

Pipelines leading down to the power station below.

This map shows just a small part of the hydro scheme in Tassie. It is an amazing system of dams, lakes, pipes and channels all designed to drive a series of power stations.

Our next stop was The Wall in the Wilderness, at Derwent Bridge. This is an amazing project by sculptor Greg Duncan. The Wall is carved from three metre high panels of timber, most of which is Huon Pine. It tells the history of the Central Highlands and is truly magnificent. He is an amazing artist. Other pieces including gloves, coats, hats etc all carved out of timber are also on display. I can’t show you any photos as they don’t allow cameras but don’t let that turn you off visiting. While it is not finished yet, it is a must see. I would visit over and over again just to see the progress made. When finished it will be 100 metres long. Amazingly beautiful. If you want to see a bit of The Wall go to their website at: http://www.thewalltasmania.com/

This steel sculpture stands at the entrance to The Wall. What is inside is totally different.

We did plan to stay at Lake King William and visit Lake St Clair but when we saw the campsite at King William we weren’t too fussed and we had been told that Lake St Clair was expensive and over-rated so we decided to continue on to Lake Burbury, east of Queenstown.

The landscape east of Queenstown is rugged and spectacular.

The native trees were also in full bloom and were really beautiful.

There are several different camping spots on the lake but again we were a bit disappointed. The last one we came to called Lake Burbury Foreshore was quite nice though. It is situated at the end of the old highway and the bush is slowly growing together, making it a bit of a narrow laneway but it opens up at the end into a pretty little area right beside the lake. We’re told that there are trout in the lake if you have a boat and most of the camping spots are obviously set up by local fishermen.

Our camp at Lake Burbury was a cosy spot.

These delicate little butterfly irises are prolific especially along the sides of the roads all over the west.

Next morning we drove into Queenstown, planning to stay at the local caravan park and have a look around. The descent down to the town is quite spectacular and there are some beautiful old buildings in the town centre.

That's Queenstown right at the bottom.

The railway station services the train from Strahan.

Unfortunately, the local caravan park is very ordinary and the camp spot at the “Gravel Oval” is as uninviting as it sounds. The local service station owner told us that there was a camp about 25 klms out on the south-west side of the lake called Lake Burbury South Boat Ramp which was really nice and from there you can drive further down to a spot called Bird River Bridge. There is then a walk through the bush which leads in to the southern end of Macquarie Harbour. We thought this would be a good walk to do so we headed down there. But the further we went the worse the rain got and we couldn’t even see anything from the lookout on the way. We were in cloud. Since the weather forecast was for more of the same for a couple more days, we decided to give it a miss and continue on to Strahan.

The weather was typical west coast fare when we arrived at Lake Burbury.

There is a caravan park at Strahan and you can also stay at the golf club but it is just a bare paddock. We drove on to Macquarie Heads and discovered a lovely spot where the camps are dispersed amongst the bush and very private. There were even fire drums at each camp and it was lovely and green and more importantly, sheltered from the wind. It was cheap too at $6 a night.

Macquarie Heads camp ground.

It is only a short walk, or drive if you like, around the beach where you can see right down Ocean Beach and across to the heads and Hells Gate. You can even catch salmon off the beach.

Looking across to Hells Gate from the beach at the Heads.

Ocean Beach Lookout gives a view back to Hells Gate lighthouse.

The heads are only 13 klms out of Strahan so it was convenient to drive into town to do the harbour cruise and the train ride up to Queenstown.

You will always find lovely sailing boats anchored in Strahan harbour.

Looking back at Strahan waterfront from the cruise boat.

The train station and Regatta Point, viewed from reservoir hill, Strahan.

We also found our dream home in Strahan!

We did both the cruise and the train trip. The cruise was terrific.

The first part of the cruise was a run out through Hell's Gates.

People still live in the old lighthouse keepers quarters at the Heads accessed by boat only.

Hell's Gates in the background is only 70 metres wide. Imagine manoeuvering a square rigger through there!

Looking back through Hell's Gates to Macquarie Harbour which is twice the size of Sydney Harbour.

Next stop was the salmon and trout farms. The birds know where to find an easy meal. Hence the nets.

The staff live on mother ships.

Feeding time.

We also stopped off at Sarah Island, a notorious convict settlement and the setting for the novel “For the Term of his Natural Life”. There is little left now but it has a really interesting history so if you want to read more follow this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macquarie_Harbour_Penal_Station

The Court House

The cruise boat was very comfortable and the lunch was delicious - a lovely buffet with lots of local smoked salmon and cheeses.

Neighbouring Grummet Island was used for solitary confinement

We then continued up into the Gordon River.

We passed a lovely waterfall and note the tea colour of the water. The beautiful reflections obtained on a calm day both here and in the Huon Inlet, are the result of the water's colour.

We thought we'd entered a time warp when we arrived at Heritage Landing. Yes they are some of the original protesters who stopped the Gordon below Franklin Dam. They were celebrating the 30th anniversary of their victory.

The short forest walk from the landing had some amazing plants and endless photo opportunities.

The locals had even come out to take advantage of one of the few sunny spots. There were several tiger snakes sunning themselves in this one area.

The range of fungi was also amazing.

When we returned to Strahan we were treated to a demonstration at one of the local sawmills which specialised in huon pine. No huon pine trees are felled any more. The timber used today is all sourced from logs that are found in the waterways where they were either left or lost in past years. The oil in the wood means it doesn't rot, even after tens of years in the water. No wonder they built boats out of it. That's one of the reclaimed logs on the saw above. The saw is an old deisel belt driven one which was once steam powered. You can see it still does a great job.

In Strahan we also visited Tut's Whittle Treasures - owned by a lovely old guy who loves wood. His collection is amazing as is his knowledge of the timbers of Tasmania.

The train ride was OK but while the scenery was beautiful we felt it was a bit ho hum and could have been made more interesting with maybe more visual information provided along the way about the history of the track, the sidings etc. If you are a train buff you would probably enjoy it more.

One of the engineers was a lady!!

A lot of the track follows the King River which also flows into Macquarie Harbour. The Queen River from Queenstown flows into the King and thus so did the tailings from the mine. The damage is still obvious when you see the yellow mud along the banks - see mid right - although it is slowly recovering with the help of restoration work. In the centre you can the remains of the biggest of the original rail bridges which has been washed away.

The third rack and pinion track which helps get the train up the steep climb can be clearly seen here in the middle of the normal tracks.

The Queen River enters the King.

The engine is turned around in Queenstown.

The carriages were a bit more basic in the old days.

The lunch was nowhere near as nice as the one on the cruise either so if you have to make a choice between the two we’d recommend the cruise.

Unfortunately, while in Strahan John managed to lose a filling and was left with a steel post sticking out of a tooth. Boy were we lucky! It just so happened that the dentist from Burnie visits Queenstown on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only so it was back up to Queenstown before heading further north. It was a good opportunity though to find a laundromat and get the washing done while John was busy. The dentist was great and got the job done with minimum fuss so we were somewhat relieved to be up and away with no dramas.