TASMANIA 10 - THE NORTH-WEST

Having left Queenstown mid-afternoon we decided to travel just up the road to Zeehan and stay at the caravan park which was nothing flash but pleasant enough. The weather was damp and cold so we decided to take a look at Zeehan before we continued on next morning. There are some lovely old buildings in Zeehan but few shops.

However, we found the locals to be really friendly and helpful. There is a little gem shop in the main street and the owner gave us lots of information about the local area including Trial Harbour. The road out there is OK until you are almost there. The last corner is so sharp I doubt we would get the van around it so we were glad that we had been advised to just drive out to take a look. There isn’t really anywhere to camp anyway so it was a good move. It is worth a visit as the coastline is quite spectacular and there is a lovely little museum there. Why they call it a harbour though I’ll never know. Apparently this was the original landing place for the early explorers until they discovered Macquarie Harbour.

Trial Harbour

Whale's Head

The landscape into Trial Harbour is really interesting.

After returning to Zeehan we packed up the van and headed out to Granville Harbour where we found a lovely campsite overlooking the bay on the northern side of the town. Again there are no shops or anything - just lots of fishing huts and several new houses. Apparently a block of land can cost well over $90 000 here. Honestly, I can’t see why anyone would want to live there permanently. It was windy and cold enough while we were there and it was late December. Obviously the crayfish and abalone are plentiful.

Our camp at Granville Harbour

On a nice day the scenery at Granville is fantastic.

And the sunsets stunning!

There is a 4WD track right up the coast from Granville Harbour to the mouth of the Pieman River and it was well used by both the locals on their quad bikes and others coming in to camp all along the coast. The drive along the track is quite interesting, with lots of inlets and bays. We did quite a bit of exploring and saw small abalone in the rock pools so John took a quick dive but didn’t find anything. It was so cold he couldn’t stay in for long and of course the more accessible places would be picked over pretty well. We also saw plenty of cray pot buoys scattered along the bays.

One of the many sheltered bays north of Granville. Note the road, top centre.

Most of the coastline is rocky and inhospitable.

The cattle here have excellent sea views. This is the hill about 2 klms back that you went to for mobile coverage.

After a few days at Granville Harbour we decided to move on as the weather hadn’t improved and we had seen all we could. We had planned to drive from here up to the Pieman River and take the ferry across to Corinna but they couldn’t take anything over 9 metres so we decided to go across Reece Dam to the little town of Tullah. We met a lovely local bloke half-way across the dam wall and again he told us lots of info about the area.

Reece Dam. The campground is at top right.



Looking downstream from Reece Dam.

There is quite a nice camping spot on the eastern side of the dam, but we decided to keep going. At Tullah, we discovered that the caravan park which was signposted never actually eventuated. It looked like there had been great plans for a little village with shops etc but then the money ran out and most was never done. There are a few shops but it looked like the place was far from thriving. I think only the mine in Rosebery provides some income from rentals for mine workers.

Eventually we ended up at Lake Mackintosh, north-east of Tullah. Again we found a lovely campsite and also met some more travellers to enjoy a drink and a chat with of an afternoon. The best camp is down the track which veers left as you approach the boat ramp but we went to the old boat ramp first and settled in there.

Mackintosh Dam

Sunrise

Mackintosh Dam, like Reece and many others in Tassie are also part of the hydro-electric scheme.

We took a drive into Rosebery while we were close and also did the walk into Montezuma Falls which starts just south of there. Little did we realise that it was a 10 klm round trip. It took about 3 hours and we were pretty buggered by the time we got back to the car. It was worth it though as the falls are quite spectacular and the walk covers some lovely terrain. The suspension bridge at the falls themselves is also quite impressive but a little unnerving if you aren’t fond of heights. The walk actually follows the route of the tramline which was used by the miners in Williamsford to transport their ore down to Zeehan. You actually drive through the area where Williamsford once was but there is little left there now but a couple of little shelters and an informative plaque about the history of the place. On the way back into Rosebery we could also see the remains of the flying fox setup which was also used to transport the ore from Williamsford into Rosebery. Some of the towers are still standing with wheels and cables intact.

The track to Montezuma Falls had plenty of beautiful spots.

The remains of the old rail bridge.

This little tunnel ran off to the side of the track.

The base of the falls.

Montezuma Falls

The diversity of fungi down here is amazing.

The next day was Christmas Eve so we wanted to be somewhere where we would have mobile phone coverage on Christmas Day. Waratah was the next town on our route so we drove up there, planning to stay at the little campsite behind their council chambers. It is right beside a lovely lake and has good facilities. However, we met a couple who we’d seen in Strahan and they had just come back from Hellyer Gorge out on the edge of The Tarkine, one of Tassies famous wilderness areas. They said it was lovely and since the camps book said it had mobile coverage we decided to go up there instead. It is about 25 klms north of Waratah so it wasn’t far to come back on our way down to Corinna.

Hellyer Gorge

As you might imagine we were not impressed when we discovered that contrary to what the Camps 6 book says, there was no mobile coverage at Hellyer Gorge. Although the Gorge itself is very pretty, camping space there is pretty limited. Fortunately, I had noticed that we had mobile coverage about 10 klms back so we drove back to a lovely spot beside some huge pine trees at the entrance to a blue gum plantation. There were old logs everywhere so John got out the chain saw and axe and filled up all our firewood bags. We were really happy to be able to ring everyone on Christmas morning despite the remoteness of the spot.

Our Christmas Eve camp.

On Christmas Day, we thought it might be nice to go to the pub in Waratah and have lunch before continuing down to Corinna on the Pieman River. Unfortunately, the pub was closed so we had toasted ham and cheese sandwiches beside the lake, topped up our water tanks and headed off.

This waterfall is right in the middle of the town of Waratah.

When we got to Corinna we discovered that the bush campsites which some people use were very small and since we couldn’t stay at Corinna itself because of Leo, we decided to keep going up the C249 to the top end of the Arthur-Pieman Conservation area. We were a bit disappointed as we were quite keen to put the tinny in and go for a run down to the mouth of the Pieman River.

There are some very steep hills on the C249 and although the worst are bitumened, we still had to go into low range  to get up a few of them. The going on this road is slow and while there were a few points of interest like the mine camps, it is generally pretty bleak countryside with little to see. I don’t think I would bother doing it again and we were thinking that perhaps we might have been better off looking for a camp on the south side of the river adjacent to Corinna and putting the tinny in there. Maybe next time! Anyway we arrived on the coast and at Couta Rocks and took a left turn down to take a look at Temma. This turned out to be a little fishing village with quite a small sheltered harbour where the cray boats take shelter. They have even built long slips over the rocks which they can haul their boats onto for when the weather turns really bad and for maintenance etc.

Camping is not allowed along any of the coast in this area now until you get just south of Arthur River itself at Prickly Wattles Campground. The only people allowed at Nelson Bay and Couta Rocks are locals who have permanent huts. There are plenty of options near Arthur River though and we decided that Manuka suited us best as there is plenty of room and the toilet blocks are plentiful. You have to have your own fire drum though if you want a fire. We managed to “find” one and we were glad to be able to have a fire as the evenings could be quite cool.

On our first morning here, we went out to “The Edge of the World”, a lookout on the south side of the river mouth. There were two guys pulling in heaps of cocky salmon(small salmon) off the rocks there so we decided we’d go down and try ourselves.



The "lucky" fishermen at the End of the World, Arthur River. We threw lures from the exact same spot and got nothing.

We went there three times, threw hundreds of lures and caught NOTHING. The local shopkeeper informed us that they were either not there, or there in abundance and it was anybody’s guess when to try. Anyway, the day we put the tinny in was warm and sunny and we went right up the river to the junction of the Arthur and Frankland Rivers. We did have a bit of a troll for some trout but again no luck. We aren’t destined to get amongst the fishies over here. The boat ride was pleasant though and I did manage to catch one small salmon in the mouth when we got back. Sent him back to his mummy though. Again, some friendly locals took pity on us at the boat ramp and gave us a feed of cocky salmon which were lovely.

The Arthur River

You MUST have life-jackets on here even in the creeks.

This lovely old boat does tourist cruises up the river.

Looking across to Arthur River township from the mouth.

While at Arthur River we decided to take a drive up to Marrawah, and check out the campsite at Green Point. We had been told it was a great spot but it is really only  a bitumen carpark with some grass around it and was pretty crowded. The beach nearby is very nice and obviously popular with local surfers but there isn’t much else around there so we thought we might skip it and go further north next day. We were really happy that we made that decision as we ended up on the north coast at Montagu Park, 20 klms north-west of Smithton.

TASMANIA 9 - WEST TO STRAHAN

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.

We managed to see more of Queenstown including this memorial to its history.

Inside the Empire Hotel.

The local museum has a huge collection of old stuff.

This brought back memories of the telephone exchange we had at our house at Mt Dangar (Mum & Dad's property) when we first moved out there.