Brisbane to Tasmania and back again....an Australian 7 week adventure

[Rumpig]

DAY 18 - STRAHAN

We wake to a wet miserable morning, it's not a big deal though, as today we'll be on a boat and undercover most of the day anyhow. We have a quick brekky then head on into Strahan for our day out on the water. There's 2 different main companies who run Gordon River cruises here in Strahan, we are heading out today with World Heritage Cruises, who operate "The Big Red Cat". Both companies run out of the same location in the centre of town, we arrive about 40 minutes before departure time to try and ensure we get a carpark nearby, which we manage to do. Much of todays boat cruise will be done on Macquarie Harbour, it's the 2nd largest natrual harbour in Australia behind Port Philip Bay, which we sailed out of Melbourne on when we caught the ferry over here to Tasmania. I am surprised to learn that Macquarie Harbour is actually 6 times larger then Sydney Harbour. The boat sets sail pretty much on time and as we leave Strahan i grab a few pics of the town from the water. Fishing boats, sea planes, unit complexes and a steam train pretty much sums this town up really. Like i mentioned previously already, Strahan thrives on the tourist trade, there's a heap of unit complexes and other rooms to rent for accomodation here in town, and things like the Wilderness Railway and River Cruises provide much needed employment opportunities for the town. If you're not envolved in tourism then fishing is another major industry for the town, there's a few small saw mills about the area also, but other then the usual small businesses providing essential services in any town, there doesn't appear to be much else to do as a job around these parts.

THE BIG RED CAT



FISHING BOATS AND UNIT COMPLEXES, THAT PRETTY MUCH SUMS MUCH OF STRAHAN UP REALLY



THERE'S A FEW SEA PLANES AVAILABLE FOR CHARTER HERE IN TOWN



WEST COAST WILDERNESS RAILWAY TRAIN...we'd hoped to go on this tomorrow, but it doesn't run out of Strahan on weekends



The first location the cruise heads for today is out front of where we are currently camped at the moment, it rains on and off as we head to this location, but as we near Hells Gate the rain pretty much disappears and the rest of the day whilst overcast, stays pretty dry.
Hells Gate is the name given to the entrance where Maquarie Harbour and the Southern Ocean meet, it's a very shallow harbour entrance and only 120 metres wide, so you don't have much room for error when it comes to navigation here. Back in the early 1800's prisoners on the newly established penal settlement of Sarah Island named this spot Hells Gate, as conditions were so bad at this settlement, that entering the harbour to go here was like entering through hells gates.
As we crooze out through Hells Gate into the Southern Ocean and then turn back around to head into the harbour again, we are given a running commentary by the ships captain on the history of this area. Cruising back into the harbour we note the break water wall to our right that is built here, it was built back in 1900 to help make the harbour entrance a safer place to navigate through. Also to our right is a house on what appears to be an island at first glance, but is in actual fact still part of the mainland, and is Macquarie Heads. The locals that live here have a routine where they show off to the tourists their daily catch of crayfish, and it appears they done alright for themselves by the looks of it.

PART OF THE BREAK WATER WALL AT HELLS GATE



HEADING OUT THROUGH HELLS GATE...you need to go to the left of Entrance Island, it's to shallow to the right for boats to pass through



ENTRANCE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE



LOCALS AT MACQUAIRE HEADS HOLDING UP TODAYS CATCH OF CRAYFISH (the adults held some up also, but i missed that in my pic taking)



From Hells Gate we head towards Sarah Island where we will disembark the boat for a short while for a guided tour of the island. As we crooze through the harbour though, we are free to explore the boats different floor levels, and you can even join the captain up top and be his co-pilot for a while you want. I grab a few pics of my girls sitting beside the captain in the co-pilots seat, he's a nice easy going type of a guy, happy to answer any questions you might throw at him.

MY 2 GIRLS....TODAYS CO-PILOTS OF THE BOAT





Heading for Sarah Island we get to witness firsthand just how huge the fish farming industry is here in Tasmania. I've already mentioned this fact a few times previously in my report, but here in Macquarie Harbour we see it on a grand scale, everywhere we look there's pens floating on top of the water, it's quite the unexpected sight to see in such a prestine location. The captain pulls the boat up beside one of the pens and gives us a close up look, a few of the fish suddenly leap up out of the water into the air, they must think it's feeding time i reckon. It's a quick stop at the fish farming pen and we are back on our way onroute to Sarah Island once again.

ONE OF THE MANY FISH FARMING SET UPS IN MACQUARIE HARBOUR





It's not long and Sarah Island comes into view, this island operated as a penal settlement from 1822 - 1833. The colony had a reputation as one of the harshest penal settlements in the Australian, It took the worst convicts and those who had escaped from other settlements. The chances of escape from Sarah Island were thought to be next to impossible, but many people did manage to escape, the most infamous of these being a prisoner by the name of Alexander Pearce. Alexander managed to escape the island twice, but this alone is not what makes him infamous. What makes him infamous is the fact that, both times he escaped he cannibalized his fellow escapees that escaped with him. Alexander was eventually captured and hanged and dissected in Hobart for murder.
Sarah Island is not a very big island at all, surprisingly though at one stage it became Australia's largest shipbuilding yard, using it's convict labour to do the work.
We disembark the boat and do the guided walk around the island, you're free to explore the place at your leisure if you like also, just make sure your back not long after the boat sounds it's horn, or they'll go without you. The people leading the tours give a great account of the islands past, to say the guy who is leading our tour is enthusiastic would actually be an understatement i reckon. There's quite a few ruins located around the island, but unlike Port Arthur that we visited previously where large buildings are still standing, most of the stuff here is much smaller in size and fallen down or just not a lot of it left....it's still good to see none the less.
The boats horn sounds and we make our way back to it, we jump back onboard ready to head up the Gordon River from here.

SARAH ISLAND....IT'S NOT REAL BIG IN SIZE
IT'S THIS BIG.....



BY THIS BIG.....



PENITENTIARY RUINS YOU SEE AS YOU ARRIVE AT THE ISLAND



WHAT'S LEFT OF THE WIND BREAK FENCE THAT ONCE PROTECTED THE ISLAND



SOME RUINS WE SEE ON THE ISLAND





THE BAKEHOUSE



THE PENITENTIARY FROM THE LAND THIS TIME





TO BE CONT.....

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 18 CONT....

The boat pulls away from Sarah Island and we soon are having a buffet lunch as we cruise the harbour headed for the Gordon River. It's a nice spread of lunch they put on, they even put out a call for seconds for anyone who didn't get enough the first time around....so there's no going hungry today.
From Sarah Island it's not that far and we reach the mouth of the Gordon River, once in the river the boat is limited to a slower speed at which it can travel so as not to produce too much wash, and thus look after the surrounding environment. As well as being speed limited, the larger boats are only allowed to travel a certain distance upstream also, if you have your own smaller craft then this distance you can travel upstream won't apply to you. If you are reading this report and thinking why does the Gordon River name sound familiar?...it's likely because of the huge environmental campaign that happen here in the early 1980's, which in turn ended up stopping the building of the proposed Franklin Dam. The Gordon-below-Franklin Dam project was originally proposed to provide more hydroelectricity to the state, but in December of 1982 the dam site was occupied by a large number of protestors, and this campaign eventually lead to the stopping of the dam being built. For anyone not familiar with the Gordon-below-Franklin Dam story, check out this link to get a better understanding of what went on here back in the early 80's......the number of people arrested at the blockade was pretty huge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Dam_controversy

THE MOUTH OF THE GORDON RIVER



It's a slow cruise up the Gordon River and there's plenty of time to take in the beautiful surrounding scenery, it's not hard to understand why so many people were so passionate about not wanting the Franklin River dam built at all, as this would have likely changed the eco system we are seeing here. The boat reaches the point it can't travel upstream past and pulls up at a small jetty on the bank of the river, we disembark the boat here for a short circuit boardwalk through the forest. The walk is done on a elevated timber boardwalk, there's some signboards to look at along the way, and a few staff from the ship are about to answer any questions you may have of the surrounding flora and fauna.
The first thing i really notice as we do the walk, is some strange mini volcano looking type mounds in the mud of the forest floor. I was thinking maybe it's something the crabs have made here for some reason, but as we continue along the walk i read a signboard that explains the "chimney's of mud" are actually made by crayfish

THE CRAYFISH MADE CHIMNEYS ON THE FOREST FLOOR



THE ELEVATED BOARDWALK



As we continue along the walk we spot all sorts of strange looking flora along the way, the moss growing on the trees is everywhere and is testament to how much rain must fall around these parts each year. There's strange looking fungus things growing on the sides of trees, aswell as on the ground also. We reach an area where a guide is giving a talk about the local Huon Pine trees, they are a slow growing tree (averaging only 1mm per year) that was heavily logged throughout the 1800’s and into the mid-1900’s, prized by boat builders and the like for the timbers resitance to rot and borers. Logging of Huon Pine trees is no longer allowed, though saw mills can salvage logs they find washed down rivers by flood events and the like. There is a display in a glass case located here showing the age cycle of a large Huon Pine tree, this particular tree was nearly 700 years old, and it gives a better understanding of just how slowly these trees grow....it's not hard to understand why the practice of logging these trees was unsustainable.
As we walk back to the boat we pass by a small Huon Pine tree and are told by the guide that this one would be roughly about 50 years old, any other tree of this size you'd think would be a couple of years old normally. We are back on the boat again, and it's time to head downstream and back to Strahan.

THE MOSS GROWS ON EVERYTHING HERE





THERE'S PLENTY OF FUNGUS GROWING ABOUT THE PLACE ALSO





THIS WAS A NEAR 700 YEAR OLD HUON PINE TREE



AND THIS HUON PINE TREE IS ABOUT 50 YEARS OLD



With no more stops to be made along the way, the run back to Strahan doesn't take that long really, before we know we are departing the boat and our cruise is over. There's one last thing to do before we leave here though, Morrisons' Huon Pine Sawmill is located on the wharf here where the boat drops you off, and Snowy an old timer who works here shows us the mill in operation as he cuts up a Huon Pine log. With the log cutting display completed it's time to buy some Huon Pine souveniers if you like, Jeff and Sara buy a lovely timber platter to take home with them, i would have bought one the same if there'd been another one just like it, though sadly there wasn't. We leave here and checkout another timber shop next door, before heading back to our vehicles.

MORRISONS' SAWMILL



OLD SNOWY SHOWING HOW THEY CUT THE HUON PINE LOGS HERE



JOB DONE, IT'S TIME FOR A BREAK



OLD RELICS THAT ARE ON DISPLAY ON A WALL INSIDE THE MILL



JEFF AND SARA'S TIMBER PLATTER THEY PURCHASED



Back at the vehicles and Jeff and Sara are headed to the laundromat down the road next to the caravan park to do some washing. We don't need to do that today, so decide we'll go visit Peoples Park which is just up the road a short distance, and do the walk to check out Hogarth Falls. The walk to the falls is another easy one, there's one small uphill section as you reach the falls, but it's nothing to worry about at all. It should take you roughly about 40 minutes to do the return journey, the track you head out to the falls on you return back on also. We do the walk and take some pics here before hopping back in the fourby and heading up the road a touch further to where the West Coast Railway train is located. Located here also is some old wharf ruins, aswell as an old railway crane of some some description, i take some more pics of these before we then head back to the laundromat to see how Jeff and Sara are getting on.

THE ENTRANCE TO PEOPLES PARK



HOGARTH FALLS



OLD WHARF RUINS NEAR THE WEST COAST RAILWAY YARD



AN OLD RAILWAYS CRANE LOCATED NEAR HERE ALSO



Meeting up with Jeff and Sara again, we find they are still waiting on the clothes driers to do their thing. We tell them we'll meet them back at camp, and we head back there to go and start getting dinner ready. I don't think i've mentioned this previously, but on this trip we are taking it in turns for each family to cook dinner for everyone. We've done this previously on a trip when we crossed The Simpson Desert, where one family cooks for everyone who is on the trip, it worked quite well for giving the others a break from cooking dinner each night, so we are doing the same thing on this trip once again. Leanne gets dinner organised and i get the fire started as we listen to and watch the quad bike riders hoon about the place...i can't say i've missed them at all today whilst we've been out. We get a bit of a shower of rain come through not long after Jeff and Sara get back to camp, but it passes quickly and the sky clears allowing another night to be spent watching the bush telly and enjoying a few beverages of choice to be consumed. We head off to bed not to late in the evening, as we need to be up early tomorrow morning to drive to Queenstown for our train ride.

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 19 - QUEENSTOWN

It's an early start to the morning for us today, we need to drive to Queenstown which is about an hour away so that we can take a ride on The West Coast Wilderness Railway train. As i mentioned previously, we wanted to do this tour out of Strahan where we are staying near but it doesn't operate that service on weekends, so we need to drive to Queenstown where the train departs from and returns back to on it's weekend run. We've made the call to buy our breakfast when we get to Queenstown, we'll get something from the local bakery or whatever shop we find open, so it's fingers crossed we find something open there early on a Sunday morning.
We try not to make to much noise as we leave camp this morning, pretty much everyone camped here is still asleep. We pass back through Strahan without stopping and then hit the very windy road that runs between Strahan and Queenstown. Both our daughters have never been great travellers when it comes to the windy roads, they get that from their mother who used to get car sick all the time when we first started going out many many moons ago. Our eldest daughter has pretty much grown out of it now, but our youngest is starting to feel sick in the back seat as we drive the windy road, so she's handed a sick bag that we keep in the side pockets of the vehicles door for just such an occasion. Eventually the windy road takes it toll and our youngest ends up vomiting, luckily though it's all in the sick bag, so there's not really any mess to clean up. I radio to Jeff that i need to pull over, so as to let our youngest get out of the vehicle and walk around a touch. Right at that moment there's a turn off to a lookout on our righthand side, so i wheel the vehicle into there and we take a short break from the driving. What starts out as a bit of a pain with the car sickness thing, turns out to be a minor blessing really. Looking down into the valley below from the lookout we are stopped at, we see a lovely sight of fog blanketting the entire valley below. We take a few pics of this, and with our youngest feeling a touch better, we jump back in the vehicle and head off again for Queenstown.

THE VIEW FROM THE LOOKOUT WE STOPPED AT



The rest of the drive into Queenstown from here is uneventful, we meet up with Jeff and Sara in town after telling them to continue on when we stopped earlier at the lookout. Jeff and Sara inform us the bakery is closed, and the only place open this morning is the takeaway shop, so we head inside there and try and order something for brekky. Inside the shop is one guy running the place on his own, there's a couple infront of us who are also placing an order for something to eat, so the shop owner takes the order and starts to cook it for them. I would have thought the shop owner would have then taken our orders also as he cooked the food for the other couple, but he's obviously not used to doing multiple orders at once, and we need to wait quite sometime until he comes and takes our orders. Eventually the shop owner has ours and Jeff and Sara's orders taken also, there's only us 2 families and the previous couple i already mentioned to cook for at the moment, but the guy is pretty overwhelmed with this lot and takes forever to get it all cooked (it was mostly just toasted bacon and egg sangas he had to make). The guy running the takeaway shop was quite a nice person, but he's obviously not used to cooking more then one or 2 things at a time from what we've seen this morning, so if you're looking to get a feed before jumping on the train, i'd suggest you get here early or maybe make your own before coming.
Brekky eaten we drive the vehicles down to the carpark area at the train station. Hopping out of the vehicles i am surprise to see it's a metered carpark they have here, we pay the fee and put the paperwork on our vehicles dashboard so as not to incurr a parking fine. Now i'm not 100% on this fact so don't quote me on it, but i'm pretty sure there's no other parking meters in Queenstown other then at this particular train station (which is only a tourist train ride, no other trains run from here). It would appear as though the local council sees the tourists trade solely as a money making venture at any opportunity then can get, something that doesn't wash well with me. We've already shelled out a couple of hundred dollars to go on this train ride today, not to mention the groceries we bought in town here the other day and the breakfast we purchased here this morning also. The parking fee isn't a huge sum to have to pay, but it irks me they have put this one and only metered carpark in the town here, as they know it's where the tourists park to catch the train from. My whinge now done...lol...we walk over to the station and grab our pre-booked tickets, and then board the train just in time for it to depart

THE TRAIN WE ARE GOING ON TODAY



The train track we are travelling on today is a reconstruction of the original Mount Lyell Mining Company railway route that operated here back in the late 1890's, originally when it was opened, it was the only link between Queenstown and Strahan. The track operated right up until 1963, but rising maitenance costs and improved alternate road routes brought about an end to the lines usage. The last train to ever run this line before it's closure in 1963, was actually the first train to ever run it back in 1897. Of the original 5 steam locomotives that ran on this line, 3 are still used today in the running of the tourism venture, one is on display in the Tasmanian Transport Museum, and the other one was scrapped and used as parts for the other 4 locos.
Due to the steep gradients the train line runs on in places along the route (the steepest being a 1 in 15 gradient or 6.67%), the railway utilises what is called the Abt rack and pinion system. Basically this system is a toothed rail line that runs between the outer running rails, the trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail and give a constant drive to the train with no loss of traction as it climbs the steep hills.

THE TRAINS RUN ON A RACK AND PINION RAILWAY SYSTEM



There's a couple of different options you can take as far as where the train runs to when doing this trip. During the week the trains run from Queenstown right through to Strahan or vice a versa Strahan to Queenstown also, but on weekends like todays trip is, it only does a half distance trip running out of Queenstown only. Todays train ride departs from Queenstown and stops off at Lynchford and Rinadeena stations for the train to take on water to run the steam engine and for us to have a look around also, before then reaching the station of Dubbil Barril where it takes on more water once again and then turns around (literally), before heading all the way back to Queenstown where the train ride ends. On the run back to Queenstown from Dubbil Barril station we'll stop off at Rinadeena station one more time to take on even more water once again, but that is the last time the train stops before reaching it's final destination back where it departs from in Queenstown.
To be honest.... i'd have loved to have done the entire trip all the way through to Strahan on the train, i have a feeling the most scenic part of the trip we miss out on seeing today, which is likely where the train runs beside Macquarie Harbour as it nears Strahan.... but not having done this part of the ride, i am only speculating here.

THE WEST COAST RAILWAY LINE ROUTE



Departing Queenstown the train slowly trundles out of town tooting it's horn as it crosses over several local suburban streets, there's a few onlookers at each crossing standing by the line giving the train a friendly wave as it goes by...i mean who doesn't love the sound of a steam train after all. The locomotives that run on this track today no longer run on coal as their fuel source, the engines were converted back in 1953 to run on waste oil instead, a much cheaper fuel to purchase to help with keeping down the costs of running these trains..
As the train makes it's way to each station, a running commentary is given by staff members along on the ride, they rope in a few passengers to help tell the story of how the Mt Lyell Mine came to operate and the history of the train line also, it's all light hearted and entertaining stuff. Before we know it we are pulling up at our first stop of the day at Lynchford Station, we get off the train here and have a look around the place, and take a few photos as usual. Out the back of the station here they have also set up a mining sleuth like set up, where you try your hand at a bit of gold panning.

LYNCHFORD TRAIN STATION



FAMILY PIC INFRONT OF THE TRAIN



THE TRAIN READY TO DEPART LYNCHFORD STAION...ALL ABOARD!!!



Pics taken and water taken onboard the train, it's time to head off for Rinadeena station. Along this section of track we start to climb a few of the steeper slopes the rack and pinion set up was designed to help with, it doesn't feel that steep sitting in the train, but as my phone shows, we are definately climbing at the moment. We soon reach Rinadeena and hop off the train once again, some morning tea is able to be purchased here if you're quick enough, the old cash register they have here on the counter is something straight out of a museum.

PHONE SHOWING THE CURRENT GRADIENT WE ARE CLIMBING



RINADEENA STATION



Back in the train once again and the views along the way in some areas are quite spectacular, as we cross the King River it's hard to imagine this spot was once a popular weekend get away destination for people of this area, hundreds of people would make the trip here together to spend a day out at the river....the train ride home in the afternoons could apparently get quite rowdy with many intoxicated people aboard the train.

CROSSING OVER KING RIVER



LOOKING UP KING RIVER GORGE



Before long we have reached our turn around point at the station of Dubbil Barril (it's pronounced double barrel). The loco takes on more water once again, before unhitching from the carraiges and backing up down another line to a turn around point, where the train drivers then have to hop out of the loco and physically turn around the turn table the train sits on, so that the train can then back up and rehitch to the other end of the carraiages for the return journey back to Queenstown. Whilst here at Dubbil Barril station there is also a short walk you can do to check out the trestle bridge you just crossed over as you come into the station. We do the walk to check out the trestle bridge, and arrive back at the turn table just in time to watch the guys spin the loco around.

TRESTLE BRIDGE AT DUBBIL BARRIL STATION



TRAIN TURN TABLE AT DUBBIL BARRIL STATION



LOCO DRIVERS SPINNING THE TRAIN AROUND...MUSH GUYS...MUSH!!!



OUR GIRLS GET TO STAND IN THE LOCO FOR A PIC



INSIDE THE LOCO...I'VE GOT NO IDEA HOW THIS STUFF WORKS MYSELF...well i know the basic principle of how the steam engine works, but that's about all.



THE ENGINES NO LONGER RUN ON COAL, BUT WASTE OIL INSTEAD..SO NO CONSTANT SHOVELLING REQUIRED



As we arrived at Dubill Barril station earlier, i noticed a passenger had been lucky enough to get a ride up front in the loco with the drivers, so after the train reconnects to the carriages for the journey back to Queenstown, i approach a driver and ask how one goes about being lucky enough to get a ride upfront with them. The driver looks at me and replies, all you have to do is ask, which is what i then do. Much to my disappointment though, because i am wearing shorts i am told i am not allowed upfront due to the possibilty of radiating heat from the furnace burning my legs, had i have been wearing long pants however, i could have jumped in there with them....so make sure if you take this train ride, you wear long pants if you want to ask about a ride upfront with the drivers.
We depart Dubbil Barril and have an uneventful run back to Rinadeena station where the train stops to take on more water, we hop off the train here once again, but it's not long and you get the trains whistle telling you get back aboard, as it's about to leave.
From Rinadeena station there's no more getting off the train until we get back to Queenstown, the train will make a very quick stop at Lynchford station to pick someone up, but it will only be stopped a few minutes before it gets going again. As we head to Lynchford station, one of the lady staff members on the train comes up to me and asks if i was the guy who asked about riding upfront with the drivers back at Dubbil Barril, it appears the drivers have had a change of heart about me coming upfront with them, and when the train next stops at Lynchford station, i'm to come with her and she'll take me upfront for the final run into Queenstown. The train stops at Lynchford station and i make a quick trip with the female staff member from the back of the train to upfont in the loco. We then depart Lynchford station staright away for the final run back to base. Riding up front i don't find it hot in there at all, i'm sure there is a possibilty of you getting burnt if you did something wrong, but in general it's not that hot that my legs could burn i find. It's interesting listening to the 2 drivers talk to each other about the loco as we drive along, "i don't like the sound of that" one says to other as they listen to a knock coming from the engine. For this afternoons customers going on the same journey we have taken today, it means disappointment for them that this loco needs to go in for repair work, they won't have a steam engine pulling their carriages along the track this afternoon, but they will have another loco to do the job, just not an original steam powered one.
We finish our journey back at Queenstown where i thank both the drivers for letting me ride upfront with them, we pay the gift shop a quick visit whilst here also, but don't purchase anything. It's now lunch time, and we decide why not walk across the road to the Empire Hotel located here and have a counter meal..which is exactly what we do. The Empire Hotel is a grand building indeed, we order our lunch and whilst waiting for it to be cooked, we have a look around inside. Located inside the pub is one of the most amazing staircases you'll likely see, it is a National Trust listed staircase made from Tasmanian Blackwood, and it takes you up several flights and landings to access the accomodation that is available here on the upper floor. The pub itself is showing it's + 100 year old age a touch, the architecture is stunning none the less, and we enjoy our lunch whilst watching the Aussie cricket team on the telly dominate India once again.

NATIONAL TRUST LISTED BLACKBUTT STAIRCASE AT THE EMPIRE HOTEL

 

[Rumpig]

With lunch eaten Leanne wants to restock our food supplies some more before we head off to our next destination, i drop her at the grocery store and go for a drive around town to do some sight seeing. I head back to beside the train station to start with, as located here is a big monument that shows just how poud Queenstown is of it's mining past. Sadly for me there wasn't any water running in the fountain that is located here, the sculpture work done in the statues is quite nice, but it would have looked so much better had the fountain been in operation. I take a few pics here and then head off to take some photos of a house we passed by on our train ride earlier today...i'll let the pics talk for themself on this one

MONUMENT BESIDE TRAIN STATION, DEDICATED TO QUEENSTOWNS MINING PAST



THIS STATUE IS AT THE FAR END OF THE NON WORKING WATER FEATURE



IT WOULD HAVE LOOKED MUCH NICER IF THE WATER HAD OF BEEN RUNNING



THE DETAIL IN ALL THESE LITTLE "LILLY PAD" TYPE CASTINGS WAS AMAZING..EVERYONE WAS DIFFERENT AND DEPICTED MINING SCENES



THE HOUSE WE SAW FROM THE TRAIN EARLIER TODAY



COMPLETE WITH BEER CAN TREE



Pics taken of the house i start to head out of town towards Strahan direction, we'd passed by here several times now previously and i'd noticed some old relic on display, so i thought i'd come have a look at what it was. Located here on the edge of town is an old electric underground loco, it's defiantely seen better days, and is slowly rusting away outside here in the elements. I take a few pics as usual and head back into town to go pick my wife and groceries up.

OLD ELECTRIC UNDERGROUND LOCO



Meeting back up with Jeff and Sara once again, we have decided that on the way back to camp we'll try and stop off just outside of Queenstown to have a look at a wood stave water pipeline that is supposed to be located here. We'd spoken to the artist Greg Duncan at the Wall of Wilderness about this wooden pipeline, and when he asked where we were headed to next, he mentioned that located at the Lake Margaret Power Station was a section of the pipeline we were asking about. Greg mentioned the possibility of a gate being locked and this stopping us from accessing this locaction, but we thought we'd go for a look anyhow and see what we'd find.
We head out of town towards Strahan direction and drive past the turnoff we'd normally take to head to Strahan itself. Not far past this turn off we turn right off of the highway at a sign mentioning Lake Margaret and end up on a dirt road, we drive through an open gate here and eventually we end up a few kilometres down the road at a locked gate that stops us driving any further. We know we must be relatively close by to seeing what we want to see going on our GPS's, but we know we aren't allowed past this spot so turn around and head back out onto the highway. As we reach the highway i notice a sign on the first gate we went through saying we weren't even supposed to proceed past that point. It appears from my further research since returning home, that if you want to view this power station and wood stave pieline here, you need to do a tour, and it costs $60 and adult and $30 a child.
Not giving up on seeing the wooden pipeline, we turn right onto the highway and drive down the highway for some distance, before we turn right onto Anthony Main Rd. We can see on our GPS's that this road skirts around the edge of some of the surrounding lakes, and hope that maybe we might manage to see what we want to see from somewhere along this road. It turns out to be a complete waste of time as we drive some distance down this road, we turn around at Lake Plimsoll and head back towards Strahan. On the side of the road where we turn around Sara notices a red flower she'd seen earlier elsewhere, we stop to grab a pic of it before continuing on our way back towards camp.

THE RED FLOWER WE STOPPED TO PHOTOGRAPH



We make good time back to Strahan and then split from Sara and Jeff, they head back to camp to start getting dinner ready whilst we stop in at the laundromat to do a few loads of washing. With that job done we head back to camp ourselves to rest up after a big day out. Back at camp and the quad bike riders are hooning about the place once again, we can't wait for the sun to start going down, because as soon as this happens they all disappear back to their campsites. I'll say it once again... they have many tens of kilometers of beach to ride on around here, yet for some reason they don't stray more then a few hundred metres away from where everyone is camped to hoon around on the beach...****** is with that?
The sun sets and we finally have our peace and quiet back, dinner had and a few drinks consumed around the fire once again and it's time for bed. As my head hits the pillow some drunken yobbos nearby decide it's time to set off a few fireworks, i hope this doesn't go on all night i think to myself, and thankfully it doesn't last long at all, before the quiet of the night returns once again. An uninterrupted nights sleep is had from then on which is a good thing, tomorrow we are packing up camp and heading for our next destination.

 

[RMAC67]

Hey Mal.....

Great Trip Report.... Love to take my family down touring through Tassie in the near future..... What sort of ferry fees to cross bass straight in a 4WD+Camper ??

cheers..
Rob

 

[Rumpig]

Hey Mal.....

Great Trip Report.... Love to take my family down touring through Tassie in the near future..... What sort of ferry fees to cross bass straight in a 4WD+Camper ??

cheers..
Rob

Cheers Rob, it's a beautiful place mate, i'd love to head back there in the future again and spend even more time looking around the place.
The ferry fee obviously varies depending on what size vehicle and camper / caravan etc you take over, and also what option you take as far as choosing a cabin to sleep in or not. In my particular case it cost $1310 for the return trip, that was just me sailing over and back sleeping in a shared 4 berth (2 double bunks) room with 3 other random guys (we actually sent through an email asking could Jeff and myself be in the same room, and they accomodated us as such). I could have done the journey $80 cheaper by choosing to sleep in the recliner type chairs they have on a certain deck, but for the risk of having my phone or wallet stolen whilst asleep i didn't think it was worth it. I think from memory if we'd chosen to take the whole family over on the ferry, we would have gotten a family cabin that sleeps 4, and that would have cost something like another $200 - $300 extra to do that...hence why we chose to pay a tiny bit more again and flew them all the way to Tasmania instead.

 

[Scott H Murray]

Great write up mate, I lived in Tassie for half my life and would go back there in a heart beat for the tracks and camping.

 

[Rumpig]

Great write up mate, I lived in Tassie for half my life and would go back there in a heart beat for the tracks and camping.

cheers Scott...i can't say i'd ever want to live there as i prefer the warmer climate myself up here in Qld, but yeah the amount of 4wding and camping available to do there in such a small state is amazing

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 20 - MACQUARIE HEADS TO ZEEHAN

It's a slow start to the morning today, as we lay in bed we hear a small thunder storm rolling through the campground, there's some thunder action happening but we don't get much in the way of rain out of it thankfully, so the canvas on the camper stays fairly dry. We eventually have brekky and pack the campers up ready to head to our next destination which is the town of Zeehan. As we are about to leave our campsite, i notice the campers across from us have finished their packing up and are about to leave also. Their vehicle is chock a block full of camping stuff and kids, and i wonder just where it is they are going to put their large garbage bag of rubbish that they have. As i start to drive off i see the fella is about to start walking with the rubbish bag as if he's going to carry it all the way to the industrial bins up at the caretakers house which is several hundred metres away atleast, and looking at the bulging rubbish bag i reckon it'll split open long before he ever gets the bag there. I pull up beside old mate and tell him i'll chuck it on the top of our camper to take it to the bins for him, but we need to double bag it first. Seriously, the bag was pretty heavy and i doubt this guy would have gotten 50 metres down the track before the bag split open, my main concern was he might have then just thrown the rubbish into the bush instead of doing the right thing, so i though best be safe just take it up there for him.
With the rubbish now double bagged and on the back of my camper we drive up to the caretakers house, we haven't paid for our camping stay yet, so we fix him up for the cost of that and throw the bags of rubbish we have in the large bins that area located across from here also. As we walk back to our vehicles we notice a fisherman at the boat ramp cleaning his catch, we go over to have a look at what he's caught, and he seems pleased with his mornings effort.

A RANDOM FISHERMAN CLEANING HIS CATCH AT THE BOAT RAMP



Jumping back into our vehicles we head off towards Zeehan, we drive back into Strahan but don't stop there and make a turn onto Zeehan - Strahan Rd. Cruising along this road we stop off at a lookout on our righthand side somewhere, the views aren't to bad up here, but the overcast conditions mean no decent pics were taken. Somewhere along this same road we hit what we joked over the uhf radios to each other was, "The Longest Stretch of Straight road in Tasmania".....lol...geez it made a pleasent change from all the twisty roads we'd drive on of late. The run from Strahan to Zeehan is only a short drive of about 50 kilometers, it's not long before we reach the town, and we find the local caravan park and set up the campers for an overnight stay. With the camper trailers set up, it's now time for lunch.
We have our lunch and then jump in the 4wd's and head off to do a 4wd track about 10klms out of town that takes us to view Montezuma Falls. This 4wd only track is approximately 14 klms long and follows the old North East Dundas Tramway that was closed back in about 1930. Opened back in 1898, the old tramway route we drive on today originally comprised of a 2ft gauge line, it carried steam trains hauling ore between Williamsford and the smelters South of Zeehan. The track takes us pretty much all the way up to the falls themself, though there is a very short walk to do at the end to get to where you view it. At 104 metre drop, Montezuma Falls is one of the highest waterfalls in Tasmania.
We reach the start of the 4wd track and stop to air down our tyres, it's been raining abit of late and we aren't sure what we will be in for as we drive in here. The track itself isn't what you'd call difficult 4wding at all, it's really just a rough wombat holed muddy track with the odd small creek crossing along the way, but constant concentration and care should still be paid at all times, something that i learnt the hard way...we'll get to that in a minute though.
We drive through the track and after a while start to hear uhf radio chatter from some other vehicles already in the forest here somewhere,. We originally think they are headed to the falls just like we are, but eventually we meet up with them as they come towards us just after we've crossed one of the creeks i mentioned earlier. The track in most places is only one vehicle wide, just like right here where we currently are now, there's nowhere to pass each other. The other vehicles say there's nowhere to back up to where they've just come from, so we start to reverse back down the track to try and get out of their way. I find a spot on the side of the track and manouvre into it, it's deep mud where i've ended up in, so hopefully i'll be able to drive out once the others have gotten past us. Jeff however has to reverse back past me and down into the creek we just crossed over, if he takes the wrong line here it could end up badly, so i run back down the track and guide him down into the creek slowly. As we are doing this 2 more vehicles come up behind us headed for the falls, eventually the 3 vehicles going the other way get past us all, and we can continue on forward.

THE START OF THE MONTEZUMA FALLS TRACK



FOR THE MOST PART IT'S JUST AN EASY WOMBAT HOLED MUDDY TRACK





Now remember how i'd just written earlier that "constant concentration and care should still be paid at all times"?...well this has just come to bite me big time as we negotiate our way up out of one of the small creek crossings. Leading the way, i was looking at my watch and then looking at my GPS to see exactly where we were, thinking this trip to the falls is going take longer then the one hour time frame the sign at the start of the track says it will. I then come to a small creek crossing that has a bit of a tight lefthand turn in it, and an off camber muddy hill to climb out of the creek on. Not really concentrating to much on what i was doing, i start my climb out of the creek about 200mm to far to the left then what i should have done. All of a sudden the vehicle starts to slide left where i don't want to going, and instead of hitting the brakes i foolish turn the steering wheel hard right and give it boot full of accelerator thinking i'll just pop up to where i want to be. Well lets just say things didn't go anywhere near what i'd hoped they would do here, i managed to make it up out of the creek, but i ran off the track and slammed the front end of the vehicle into a fallen tree, the loud crack sound the vehicle made didn't sound good at all, but thankfully we'd now stopped moving and currently weren't going anywhere. I was just about to hit the lockers and try and reverse back when i decided no that's not a good idea, lets get out of the vehicle fist and see just what's happened here, and it's oh so very lucky that i made this decision. I radio up to Jeff and say i need some help up here, he can tell by the sound in my voice it's not good news.
Jumping out of the fourby it's raining quiet nicely now, i walk around the front of my vehicle and note the steering and front end still seem to be ok from what i could see of them, there's some minor panel damage been done for sure when the bullbar has smashed into the tree we hit, but as i peer my head further around the side of the vehicle i note things are much worse then i first thought, and i need to get the family out of the vehicle ASAP. Where i have ended up is right on the edge of a massive drop into the valley below where the creek we just crossed over drops into, my front passenger tyre is sitting in a massive hole with absolute no ground beneath it, and the only thing that has stopped us from going over the edge here to what most likely would have been a fatal accident, is the fact the vehicle is resting on it's side step / door sill on a mound of small fern trees. I get the family out of the vehicle straight away and then Jeff arrives at the creek to come help assess the situation. We eventually come up with a solution of how we are going to get the vehicle out of this predicament, and right about now would be a perfect time for the winch to be working on the front of my fourby, but as i have already mentioned several times previous in the report...IT"S NOT!!!!
Jeff engages his lockers and slowly drives up past my vehicle taking the line i should have taken, he turns his vehicle around infront of mine and we run the winch out to hook up to the front drivers side recovery point. Now remember the 2 vehicles that had caught up to us early...the vehicle behind Jeff has a winch on the front of his vehicle also, we park him up down in the creek we'd just crossed over, and run his winch out via a pulley off of a tree up a huge embankment behind the drivers side of my vehicle. Getting the pulley anchored up to the tree here was an effort in itself, the embankment was pretty much vertical and about 4 metres high, but thankfully the guy in the fourth vehicle was pretty athletic, and he managed to scale it so we could throw him the recovery gear to hook up. Now the plan we came up with here was to anchor the rear of my vehicle to the tree so it can't slide down over the hill, at the same time Jeff is going to pull the front of my vehicle back around onto the track, and whilst all this happens, i'll have front and back lockers engaged and slowly trying to give some help by driving out as required. This whole process wasn't a quick thing, we spent probably 20 - 30 minutes assessing just what we were going to do to recover the vehicle and running the gear out, add to that another 20 minutes atleast of one vehicle winching in whilst the other vehicle winched out at the same time, and eventually we manage to get my Cruiser back onto the track where it should be. Everyone is pretty wet by now with the rain that has been falling as we recovered the vehicle, we pack the gear up and i thank the 2 complete strangers who helped us with the recovery, before we all continue onto the falls.
NOTE...there's no pics of this recovery sadly, we were way to busy trying to get the vehicle out, and the rain falling at the same time meant nobody took any photos. Jeff did have his GOPRO running, but the battery went flat on it, so i think he's missed recording the recovery sadly.
I make sure the vehicle still drives ok at the start as i slowly make my way along the track, all appears to be good except some cosmetic damage, and before long we reach the end of the track where we park the vehicles up for the final walk to the falls. The walk to the falls is only a short one of a few hundred metres, you'll then reach a footbridge you need to cross over, if you're scared of heights i suggest you don't look down...lol. We cross the bridge and then turn right and walk up to the falls, we try and get some decent pics of the falls, but the rain that is now falling again is making this difficult. We eventually get some pics taken and then turn around and head back to the vehicles. With all that is going on today with the rain and the recovery, we clean forget to go have a look at the old trestles that once formed part of the rail line here. Where we turned right to go look at the falls you can turn left and walk down to see the old trestles, i'm not sure how far away they actually are, but we clean forgot all about them.

END OF THE 4WD TRACK... IT'S TIME TO WALK



THE FOOT BRIDGE YOU NEED TO CROSS OVER



DON'T LOOK DOWN IF YOU'RE SCARED OF HEIGHTS...SERIOUSLY, IT'S A LONG WAY DOWN



THE BRIDGE IS ONLY BUILT TO TAKE 2 ADULTS AT A TIME



WET FAMILY PIC AT THE FALLS



MONTEZUMA FALLS...IT DROPS 104 METRES



We head back to our vehicles and start the return drive back to the highway, we reach an intersection we passed by earlier on the way in, and toy ever so briefly with the idea of taking a different route back to camp. Being it's been raining quite a bit already and the afternoon is fast getting away from us, we decide that us not knowing what this route is like is a bad option to take, so we continue back along the same track we came in on. The drive back to the highway is an uneventful one, we reach the same spot where we deflated our tyres, and we reinflate them back up to road pressures once again. I walk up to the guy who had the winch hooked to the back of my vehicle earlier and offer him $50 to say thanks for helping us out today, he'd run a heap of his gear out in the recovery process, and i just wanted to thank him for doing so. As is the case with many 4wd'ers, he says no thanks to money, he was happy he could help out, which is exactly what i likely would have said had the shoe have been on the other foot. I thank him one more time and other guy also who had helped us out, then they head off. It's only here that i really start to assess the damage that i did to my vehicle when i ran off of the track. The drivers side guard needs replacing now and doesn't line up with the bonnet at all, the drivers side head light has popped out of position and my guess is something that locates it is likely broken, and the bullbar appears to bent back / twisted slightly out of shape, and the panel that runs above the bullbar across the front of the vehicle needs replacing also. I don't know it now, but in a few days time when i go to open the bonnet on my vehicle, i'll have to bend the uhf aerial out of the way to be able to do this.... so that passenger side corner of the bullbar is pushed back quite substantially actually. At the end of the day it's all cosmetic damage to a vehicle that can always be replaced, had we have gone over the edge there however, i am certain several members of my family if not all of us could have been fatally injured, a pretty scary thought i think each time i stop and think about it.

AN ALTERNATE ROUTE BACK TO CAMP...WE'LL PASS ON THAT TODAY THANKS





SOME MUSHROOMS WE SAW GROWING ON THE SIDE OF THE TRACK



THE DAMAGE DOESN'T LOOK THAT BAD, UNTIL YOU START LOOKING REAL CLOSE AT IT, THEN YOU NOTICE ALL THAT'S WRONG



Arriving back at camp we find the grass at out site is several inches deep with water. At first glance it doesn't look that bad to look at, but the minute you walk on the grass, it has water coming up out of it big time and your feet get absolutely saturated. I open the back of my 4wd to get a drink from the fridge and notice there's been more damage sustained today then i though, 4 cans of coke have also been lost, several of them exploding due to the vehicle bouncing around on the very bumpy track. I then clean the mess up in the back of the vehicle. It's a cold wet and miserable night, the grass all around our site is soaking wet also, so we don't have a very late night at all before heading off to bed where our nice warm heaters are running.

4 COKE CANS WERE LOST TO TODAYS BUMPY TRACK

 

[Scott H Murray]

cheers Scott...i can't say i'd ever want to live there as i prefer the warmer climate myself up here in Qld, but yeah the amount of 4wding and camping available to do there in such a small state is amazing

Same reason as to why I am living in the Northern Territory

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 21 - ZEEHAN TO ARTHUR RIVER

It was a wet and windy night last night, we wake to a miserable morning and yet another small thunder storm rolls through our camp site just like it did yesterday morning as we lay in bed thinking about getting up. Unlike yesterday though, much to our surprise we get some small hail falling amongst the rain this time, thankfully it's bugger all though. We've got the diesel heater cranking away in the camper once again, and even though we've had rain overnight and early this morning, it's doing a pretty good job of stopping the canvas on the camper from being soaking wet....the canvas is slightly damp but not to bad. Eventually in between the passing showers we manage to pack our campers up, we've been watching the weather radar on our phones the past hour or so, and we knew a small break in the rain was coming, so timed it to perfection to get both our campers packed away before the rain starts up again. With the campers packed up we make our way over to the caravan parks camp kitchen where we have some brekky indoors, out of the cold wet conditions going on outside. Breakfast had, we then use the water tap on the side of the park owners house to fill our water tanks on the campers back up, where we are headed for to camp the next few days has no facilities at all, so we'll need to be fully self sufficent, stocked up on water and food etc.
Yesterday when we checked into the caravan park, Sara was told about some discount vouchers they can give you if you plan to visit the local museum that is located here in the centre of town, so we head over to reception and pick these up before departing the van park to go there. Originally we hadn't really planned on visiting the museum at all, but this morning we had a change of heart about doing that, and let me say now after having visited there, it is well worth stopping in at for a look around. The West Coast Heritage Centre which the museum is actually called... " incorporates the West Coast Pioneers' Museum. Attractions include photo galleries, locomotives, mining machinery, blacksmith shop, marine display, Masonic Display, crocite cavern, pioneer womens gallery, the historic Gaiety Theatre (Edwardian films playing daily) and a world class mineral collection. "
We spend a few hours looking around here, but if we didn't have young kids to try and keep amused we could easily spend twice that amount of time if not much longer, checking the place out. The heritage centre is absolutely huge, from the entrance on the main road it doesn't really look anywhere near as big as what it is, but once you enter the place, you soon realise there's many buildings here to walk through and look around in. As we walk around the outdoors area located at the rear of the centre, the rain starts to bucket down in yet another heavy shower, we seek cover inside one of the many buildings located here and continue on looking around. You may recall 2 days ago, we'd gone for a drive on the way back to camp from Queenstown to try and find the old wood stave pipeline at Lake Margaret, well as if to rub salt into the wound of us not being able to view what we wanted to see, when the rain does stop, we find a section of the old pipeline on display here in the heritage centre. It's only a small section of pipeline they have on display, but atleast you'll get an idea of what it was we were trying to go view yesterday. Aswell as the pipeline we find outside, inside the main building we find an old photo hanging on the wall of Montezuma Falls which we had visited yesterday. This old photo shows the trestle bridge complete with a train crossing over it, running right infront of the falls, pretty much were the pedestrian bridge is located that we walked over yesterday. It's amazing to actually see a train running so close to that massive waterfall, not something i'd visualised at all on our visit there the day previous. Time is getting away from us as usual, so we call an end to looking around the museum and head back to our vehicles once again.
Hopping back into our vehicles, we drive down the main street to go to the grocery store and local bottle shop, to make sure we are fully stocked for the next few days of camping. As you drive down the main street of modern day Zeehan, it's hard to believe that this town once had approximately 10 000 people living here and also had 20 hotels located here aswell. Once know as The Silver City, this small town is a shadow of it's former self, it now has a population of less then 800 people, and there really doesn't appear to be very much at all going on around town at all these days.

SOME OF THE BEAUTIFUL ARCHITECTURED BUILDINGS IN THE MAIN STREET OF ZEEHAN









THE ENTRANCE TO THE WEST COAST HERITAGE CENTRE



WHAT IT NORMALLY COST FOR ENTRY TO THE MUSEUM IF YOU DON'T GET A DISCOUNT VOUCHER



AN OLD PHOTO SHOWING A TRAIN CROSSING INFRONT OF MONTEZUMA FALLS



SOME OF THE TRAINS ON DISPLAY HERE



KRAUSS LOCOMOTIVE.... this loco sat in a local park in the town of Devenport for 18 years before it was donated to this museum, it is believed to be the loco that travelled up and down the main street of Zeehan back in 1907



A SECTION OF THE WOODEN STAVE PIPELINE FROM LAKE MARGARET



A SECTION OF HUON PINE TREE ON DISPLAY HERE.... the tree this section belonged to was estimated to be 2190 years of age, it's diameter at the base of the tree was 2.7 mtrs, and the tree was estimated to be 33.5 mtrs in height



Heading down to the local convenience store i need to fuel up before we leave town also, i pull into the servo and am surprised to see that it doesn't have anyone working here at all, it's fully automated and you just need to swipe your card to use it and select which fuel pump you are located at. We don't have this type of set up back home, we do have fuel bowsers you can use your card at if you want to, but i don't ever recall there being an entire service station that doesn't have anyone working at a console inside the station atleast....well none that i've been to anyway. Vehicle refueled we head down to the convenience store and restock on the food supplies, before ducking next door to the hotel and restocking alcohol supplies aswell. It's now lunch time and the weather being what it is, we can't be bothered making lunch in a park anywhere, so stop into the local snack bar and grab some hot food to go. We jump back in our vehicles and head off, eating our lunch as we go. As we reach the end of town, my wife suddenly exclaims that she didn't pay for our food before we left the store, so i spin the vehicle back around in the opposite direction, and we go back to pay for what we had "purchased". Back at the store and the people running the shop were oblivious to the oversight of not paying, i'm sure some people might have just kept driving and not gone back to pay like we have, but i'm a firm believer in what goes around comes around...so i can only hope the good karma bus will stop by my place one day in the future sometime.
Back in the fourby once again we leave Zeehan for a second time, we head North on Heemskirk Rd for about 35 klms before taking a left turn to head towards Corrina. About another 12klms further on down this road and we come to the Pieman River. Located here at the river is the Fatman Ferry, we need to cross the river on this ferry service, and we need to pay a fee for doing so aswell. Now here's something you need to be aware of if you plan to ever visit this area, the ferry is not very big and has a size limit for what it can carry, it has a 6.5 T weight limit which shouldn't be a problem for most people, but the main thing you need to know is, that it has a wheel base limit of 9.0 mtrs...so if you're towing a trailer like we both are doing, then you need to make sure from the front of your vehicles front wheels to the back of trailers tyres, is under 9.0 mtrs in length. We'd already checked these measurements before we left home for this trip, as we knew we were coming this route to get to our next destination. We both just fit on the ferry with the wheel bases that we have, Jeff is pretty close to the maximum limit they allow, but the main thing is he's under the 9.0 mtr mark. Jeff being in the lead goes on the ferry first, it's one at a time for the crossing, you pay the operator when you're on it and crossing over to the other side. The cost for our vehicles with the trailers onboard is $25 for a one way trip. The cost may seem expensive for the short distance the cable ferry travels across the Pieman River, but let me tell you this now after having done the part of the drive we are just about to embark on now.... the scenery along the Western Explorer Road is absolutely beautiful and well worth paying $25 to be able to get to here.

CROSSING THE PIEMAN ON THE FATMAN



I ACTUALLY TOOK THIS PIC AT THE OTHER END OF THE WESTERN EXPLORER ROAD, BUT TAKE NOTE OF THE LIMITS FOR THE FATMAN
FERRY



Once you cross the Pieman River you land in the township of Corrina, we make a quick stop here for Jeff to try and get a "I Rode the Fatman" ferry sticker, because he didn't see them for sale on the ferry like i did, and thus missed out on purchasing one. With no luck in getting what he wanted in the tiny store that is located here, we push on for the next 100 klms of driving we have to do along The Western Explorer Road.

A RANDOM OLD FUEL BOWSER I STOPPED BESIDE, WHILE JEFF RAN INSIDE THE SHOP TRYING TO BUY A STICKER



Leaving Corrina behind us, we embark on what i reckon was one of many major highlights of our Tasmanian trip. Driving The Western Explorer Road is spectatcular as far as the surrounding scenery you drive through goes, it's a mostly gravel road that at the time we drove on it was in very good condition. The road twists and turns it's way through the Arthur-Pieman conservation area for nearly 100klms, and it climbs up and down some pretty steep sections of road in places also. I have never had to shift back to 1st gear to climb a hill whilst towing my camper trailer on a decent road ever before, but the steepness of some of the hills we encounter along this route had me shifting back to first gear on several occasions. Thankfully though, the climbs are only short and before you know it you are over the top and on your merry way once again. As we drive this route i mention to Jeff over the uhf radio about how much this area reminds me of the Victorian High Country, i'll say now though that i haven't actually ever been there myself, i'm just going off of all the photos i'd seen of the area in peoples trip reports previously. Jeff who has been to the Vic High Country himself agrees with me back over the uhf, the twisty roads that wind their way through the alpine landscape here are very much like some of that area indeed. The weather isn't the best as we drive this road and it showers on off a few times along the way, it's not heavy rain mind you, just enough to be annoying really.

THE WESTERN EXPLORER ROAD...SOME OF IT'S BITUMIN AT THE START



BUT MOST OF IT ON THE WAY TO ARTHUR RIVER IS GRAVEL



THERE'S SOME SHORT STEEP HILLS TO CLIMB ALONG THE WAY



AND THE WEATHER WAS A TOUCH ORDINARY IN PLACES FOR US TODAY



BUT THE SCENRY ALONG THE WAY WAS SPECTACULAR AND WELL WORTH DOING THIS DRIVE FOR



About 9 klms from the end of the Western Explorer Rd we pass the turn offs for the iconic Balfour Track, we are thinking about driving it in the coming days, though we're not sure if we will do it or not just yet. We jump out of the vehicles here and take a quick pic of the track before continuing on our way.

THE BALFOUR TRACK



Reaching the end of the Western Explorer Road we stop to take a few more quick pics once again, before turning left for the final run to Couta Rocks which is where we'll be staying the next few nights. Before leaving on our trip, Jeff has been in regular contact with a member of the Braddon 4wd club, they are a local 4wd club to this area, and they have kindly offered to show us around these parts whilst we are here. The main reason for getting in contact with this club was due to our planned drive to Sandy Cape in the coming days, the beaches around these parts are known for having quick sand in them, so we were after some local knowledge of the area to ensure we don't fall victim to it.
The remaining drive to Couta Rocks is pretty uneventful, we stop one more time as we near the ocean to get a pic of the view that is infront us, before then managing to find fairly easily where the Braddon 4wd club is camped for the New Years break. We say a few quick hello's and introduce ourselves to various members of the club, and we then find a suitable spot to set up the campers. With the campers set up we join the Braddon club around their fire for a few drinks as we get to know each other, they all seem like nice down to earth people, so hopefully we'll have a good time hanging out with them in the coming days.
Dinner is had and then a few more drinks consumed around the fire that night, before we all eventually head off to our beds

ONE LAST STOP FOR A PIC OF THE VIEW



CAMPED WITH THE BRADDoN 4WD CLUB

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 22 - COUTA ROCKS

It's a lazy day we have planned for today, so being we've got nowhere to be, we fire up the stove and cook a lovely hot breakfast of bacon and eggs for a change. After breakfast Jeff and myself then go for a drive to the nearest township which is Arthur River to get some camping and 4wd permits. As we leave our campsite we make a quick stop off to look at a couple of buildings we passed by on the way into camp yesterday arvo, located here we surprisingly find a toilet block with a flushing toilet inside of it in one building, it's not the cleanest most modern toilet block you'll ever find, but it'd be fine for using by the looks of it. We take a few pics of the surrounds here and then head off into Arthur River, which is only about a 10 - 15 minute drive down the road. Arthur River is a tiny township with a population of a touch over a 100 people, and there's not a lot here in this town. The town consists of holiday houses, a National Parks office (which we are headed for now) and a tiny take away / convience store that doesn't have a lot in the way of supplies...so don't come here expecting to able to buy whatever you need in the way of groceries etc, because they likely won't have what you want. Basically the store sold loaves of frozen bread and had a few small shelves of tinned food in it from memory, so not much there at all. The town itself is split into 2 halves, this is because the Arthur River flows out to the sea at this location, and the town has been built either side of this river. Connecting the both sides of the town together is a longish single laned bridge that spans the river, you need to make sure nobody is coming in the opposite direction before you enter onto the bridge to cross the river, or you'll soon be reversing your vehicle backwards as it's only the one lane wide.
Besides the river and the ocean that are located here, the township of Arthur River has one little tourist attraction located in it, and it's called The Edge of the World. We'll be visiting this spot in the coming days when we have our families with us, but basically it's a plaque by the oceans edge, informing us that we are now looking out over the longest uninterrupted expanse of ocean on the globe. I'll explain more about it when we visit here in the coming days though.

OUR HOSTS FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS ARE...



A RANDOM BUILDING NEAR OUR CAMP AREA



Arriving at the National Parks office we need to obtain a couple of permits, first of all we need to get our camping permits and pay the fee for them, it's $6 a night for 2 adults and the kids are free, or $30 for a weekly camping permit. Whilst here we also need to obtain a vehicle permit for our drive to Sandy Cape in the coming days, it's $30 for a monthly permit, so we purchase this one also. When we first caught the ferry over to Tasmania, whilst on the ship we purchased our National Parks Vehicle Holiday Pass, which allows us access into Tasmania's National Parks. These passes cover your entrance into the parks for an 8 week period and can be purchased online, or on the ferry at the information room (like we did), or in Tasmania itself from a large variety of info centres and National Parks offices....the cost of the holiday pass is $60. I mention this other pass now, as it doesn't cover you for when you drive to Sandy Cape, you need to purchase a seperate permit which we have just done now at this National Parks office.
The female Ranger serving us at the office here is very friendly and chatty... and when i say chatty, i mean chatty!!!. We were inside this office for about an hour and a half whilst getting these 2 permits, the lady kept grabbing information stuff for our kids to colour in and getting them stickers etc etc, and then she kept asking us questions about this and that, and we just couldn't get away from her...a lovely lady non the less, but very hard to get away from.
Whilst inside the office here, it's not hard to notice some of the great taxidermy that they have on display of the local wildlife. Mentioning this to the Ranger, she informs us that the eagle and the quoll that they have on display here, were sadly killed in car strike accidents. The eagle is hanging from the ceiling and is absolutely massive in it's wing span, my photo does the bird no justice at all, it's a truely beautiful looking creature they have on display here. The quoll is sitting on display on the front counter, it's an animal we don't have back home where we live, so to see one in the wild here would be an awesome experience, but i don't like our chances of that actually happening on this trip.
We eventually get the permits we require and thank the Ranger for her time, before heading back to camp.

EAGLE HANGING FROM THE CEILING AT NATIONAL PARKS OFFICE



HERE'S A SIGN YOU'LL ONLY FIND IN TASMANIA



Arriving back at camp and find the Braddon 4wd club have been the perfect hosts whilst we were away, some of their club members have been taking our kids on quad bike rides. I know i went on about these vehicles back at Macquarie Heads and how annoying they were, but the 4wd club members here aren't like the crowds we encountered back there. The club members here aren't about hooning around the campsites or anywhere nearby, they respect the campers (currently the only people camped around here are club members anyhow) and they ride very slowly about the place so as not to annoy anyone, it's a nice change to see actually. They don't have a helmet small enough to fit our youngest daughter, so she just gets a short trip around the camp site basically, but our eldest daughter is lucky enough to be lent a helmet from one of the club members wives, so she gets to be a passenger as they go for a spin down onto the beach and back, something she really enjoyed a lot apparently.

OUR KIDS WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET A RIDE ON THE QUAD BIKES





Being we were at the National Parks office for so long, it's now lunch time already. We make some lunch and then get ready to head down to the beach for the afternoon. Where we are camped doesn't have any water views, we are set back behind the dunes with protection from any wind that may spring up, which is what this area is renowned for, and it's something we'll experience in the coming days actually. After lunch i deflate the tyres on my 4wd to 15 psi, as the sand on the beach South of camp is quite soft apparently, so hopefully this pressure will keep us out of any trouble. We head out with the Braddon club onto the beach, the first section of sand is fairly firm and pretty deceptive off what is about to come, as we head South along the beach we soon hit the soft sand we'd been warned about. Running the lowered pressure that i am we crooze through fairly easily though, the side slope of the sand was more of an issue IMHO, and had the rear of the vehicle slipping downhill as we drove along. We don't travel far from camp and soon park up at a headland to enjoy the next couple of hours doing not much at all, we enjoy a few quiet drinks whilst watching some members from the Braddon club try their luck fishing, but with no success. As the afternoon rolls on we eventually call time on our lazing by the ocean, and then head back to camp.

NOT A BAD SPOT TO SPEND AN AFTERNOON



THE HEADLAND WE STOPPED AT ON THE BEACH



SOMETHING THE WIVES WERE DRINKING ON THE BEACH



Back at camp and we soon have a fire going in the large fire ring the club has here, we are enjoying a few laughs when a mayday call is heard over the uhf radio from some other club members, to come rescue some bogged vehicles in the soft sand i'd mentioned earlier. I jump in Paul's 4wd with him and Jeff jumps in Michaels 4wd also, we head down to the beach to help rescue the vehicles before the ocean soon claims them. As we are recovering the 2 vehicles that are bogged here, Michaels 4wd also gets bogged aswell, we've managed to free the 2 originally bogged vehicles using a snatch strap, and now it's just Michaels vehicle that is left in the soft sand. We end up lowering Michaels tyres down to 5 psi and he eventually drives out of the soft sand, we head back up to camp once again, and spend the reast of the evening around the fire, seeing in the New Year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR...IT'S NOW THE YEAR 2015
We don't have too late of a night ourselves tonight, tomorrow Rodney from the Braddon club has graciously volunteered to be our guide and take us to Sandy Cape, so around 1.00 a.m we call it a night and head off to bed.

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 23 - SANDY CAPE

We sleep in a touch this morning after staying up last night to see the New Year in, and are woken by Jeff banging on the canvas of our camper telling us we are leaving in half an hour to go on our drive to Sandy Cape. Rodney from the Braddon 4wd club has kindly agreed to spend the day showing us around an area he is very familiar with, a gesture we very much appreciate.
We quickly get dressed and stepping outside note it's a miserable day weather wise, there's showers of rain all about the place currently, so spending the day inside a nice warm vehicle probably isn't a bad option for today. We grab some brekky on the run and it's time to hit the road for the day, it's just 3 vehicles going on the drive (us, Jeff and Rodney), the rest of the people back at camp are opting for a lazy day after a pretty late night had by some of them last night.
We head back to the main road at the entrance to camp and turn right to head for the tinny coastal township of Temma, the rain starts to fall heavy for a short period of time as we drive along, and then eases up and clears a touch as we reach the town itself. To call this place a town is probably a bit misleading, it's basically about a dozen houses only, located around Temma Bay. The bay is a sanctuary for the fisherman from the at times wild ocean out front of the bay, there's a couple of impressive sized boats we see here sitting up on large slipways that are used to pull the boats up on in bad weather. We park our vehicles on a vacant land area looking over the bay and hop out for a quick look around, and to take some pics. It's hard to imagine this tiny hamlet was once home to 700 people who worked in the tin mine township of Balfour, it even had a horse-drawn wooden tramway that connected Balfour to this port.
We take some pics and hop back in our vehilces to continue on our drive.

WELCOME TO TEMMA...pic taken on the way home that arvo when the weather was better



A FISHING BOAT PULLED UP OUT OF THE WATER ON A SLIPWAY



Leaving Temma and we soon reach the end of the good graded road and start on the 4wd track to Sandy Cape, from here on you need the vehicle permit we purchased from the Rangers station at Arthur River the other day to allow access to this area. The track itself is pretty easy 4wding, though having Rodneys local knowledge is invaluable, and he knows which water and mud holes to avoid as we drive along, some of them are much deper then they first appear to be (sometimes there's muliple short tracks to choose from that end in the same location).

SANDY CAPE ACCESS TRACK



PLENTY OF THESE SORTS OF WATER HOLES TO NEGOTIATE ALONG THE INLAND TRACK AT THE START OF THE JOURNEY...they have a hard base but some are much deeper then others



I am surprised at just how much inland track driving we do as we head to Sandy Cape, i've never looked at a map to see where we are going today and just assumed we'd be doing a heap of beach driving on the way to there, but this isn't the case first up. Eventually we end the inland part of the start of the trip and pop out onto a headland looking out over the ocean, we park the vehicles up on one headland and Rodney proceeds to point out different landmarks to us. It's only a short stop here and we are back on the go once again. From here on it's the beach driving i was expecting the majority of this trip would be, the rain is falling on and off as we drive along, the day is pretty miserable at times. Heading down onto the main beach run we pass by a sign warning of the dangers this beach can pose, the quicksand we know this area is infamous for is mentioned in the warning, and hopefully with Rodneys local knowledge we'll avoid that completely.

WE EVENTUALLY POP OUT AT THE OCEAN FROM THE INLAND TRACK DRIVNG



HEED THE WARNINGS, THIS BEACH HAS CLAIMED MANY A 4WD OVER THE YEARS



A BIT OF A MISERABLE DAY AS WE DRIVE THE BEACH TO SANDY CAPE



We drive along the beach for a while and circle right around a bay until we can go no further driving on the beach, we pull up for another look around and the weather is finally starting to improve a touch. A few more pics taken here, and we jump back in the vehicles once again for the short drive from here to the Sandy Cape Lighthouse. We head up off the beach along a sandy track that takes you through the dunes, it's not far and before we know it we have reached the lighthouse. We park the vehicles up and do a short walk to it for another look around and more photos once again. This lighthouse located here is not what i expected to see by any means, i was thinking it would be the old style grand looking type of lighthouse similar to what we visited earlier on our trip at Bruney Island, but this lighthouse is nothing at all like that. This lighthouse is more of a small ugly looking beacon then a grand old building IMHO, i'm sure it does just as good a job as the the type of lighthouse i expected to see here would do, but it's a touch disappointing to see such a simple structure located here when i expected to see something so much nicer looking. Ugly looking or not, the location of this lighthouse is certainly not disappointing, the 270 degree views out over the water from this location are worth the effort alone to come visit here. The combined colours of the local flaura, red rocks and ocean all combine to paint a beautiful scenic picture, and best of all the weather is improving by the minute aswell. We spend a short while here looking around and taking more pics before moving on once again.

FAMILY PIC AT THE SANDY CAPE LIGHTHOUSE



A NICE VIEW HAD FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE



I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE HERE ON A WINDY DAY THOUGH, AS BEAUTIFUL AS THE AREA IS



Continuing on from the lighthouse we pop down onto one last beach before we once again end up on a bit of inland track driving. Having Rodneys local knowledge of the area here is invaluable, none of the tracks we are driving on show up on my GPS, so if we didn't have him leading the way we'd have no idea where we are headed at the moment. There's various tracks running off in all different directions, to where we don't know (i'm sure Rodney knows though), the track we are driving is a touch overgrown in places and the old bush pin stripe action starts to happen. It's not to far and we are soon stopping off at our lunch stop location for the day. The Sandy Cape Cattlemans Hut is our lunch stop, a hut the local 4wd club people have built here to act as a safe haven, should you get caught out stuck in this area and need to get out of the weather. Inside is a fireplace to help keep you warm and a couple of simple beds to lie on and a kitchen bench of sorts... it's a very basic set up, but one that may well save peoples lives if they need to use it, with the extreme weather conditions this West Coast area often encounters.

POPPING BACK DOWN ONTO THE BEACH FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE



WHERE WE ARE AT THE MOMENT



HEADING BACK INLAND ONCE AGAIN



TODAYS LUNCH DESTINATION



SANDY CAPE CATTLEMANS HUT



We spend a bit of time having lunch at the hut and then head off for the run home, Rodney takes us on a few other tracks on the run back towards the lighthouse, and even points out one particular location where he recently wrote a vehicle off at. The location is nothing special and there's no sign at all of the deep water that Rodney and another friend encountered here, in fact there's no sign of any water at all here. 2 vehicles were lost at this particular point, both victims of a large deep waterhole that normally doesn't exist here at all....so even the locals get caught out here at times it seems.
We push on and soon are stopping to check out what's left of the wreckage of a small plane that crashed here many years ago. I believe the plane was trying to take off from this area but was overloaded with it's catch of seafood, it never got into the air properly and promptly crashed. I'm not sure if anyone was killed in the crash or not, there's no signage here to tell the story of the crash, and i can't remeber what Rodney told us of the accident now.

THERE'S NOT A LOT LEFT OF THE PLANE WRECKAGE HERE



We push on from the plane wreckage and soon find ourselves dropping back onto the main beach we'd previously travelled earlier today as we headed to the lighthouse. I stop for a few pics along the way as we drive back towards camp, and Rodney takes us down a few side tracks to checkout various headlands we'd passed by on the run to the lighthouse.
Turning down one track called the Gannet Track, we end up on a headland overlooking the ocean once again. The water here like so many other places we've visited in Tasmania is crystal clear, so i grab a few pics of it to add to the holiday memory collection.

A RANDOM PIC ON THE RUN BACK TOWARDS CAMP ALONG THE BEACH



ANOTHER RANDOM PIC AS WE START TO EXIT OFF THE BEACH



HEADLAND AT THE END OF THE GANNET TRACK



THE WATER FROM THE OCEAN IS CRYSTAL CLEAR



We head back to the main track we drove in on and continue our drive back towards camp. We pass a few vehicles heading towards the lighthouse direction along the way, but all up we'd have been lucky to have seen about a dozen other vehicles all day today.
As we near the end of the 4wd track we pass by a memorial that is located here, dedicated to a young 18 year old boy who tragically lost his life in a vehicle recovery gone wrong. I remember reading about this particular tragic event several years ago on various 4wd forums but had no real idea of where the incident occurred, it's a lesson to learn regarding how dangerous a snatch strap can be when things go wrong. Details of this sad event can be viewed here for those interested in learning more about it http://test.justice.tas.gov.au/magi...010_tascd_418?SQ_DESIGN_NAME=printer_friendly

HEADING BACK TOWARDS CAMP



MEMORIAL TO JOSHUA



We stop a few more times to take pics on the run back to camp, and when we do get back there i go for a walk to take a few more pics of the trees that surround our camp area. Looking at the vegetation that grows around these parts, you can tell the weather gets pretty extreme here regularly, strong winds are pretty common for this area which is why we aren't seeing big tall trees around these parts, the vegetation is more of low shrubs or these types of trees we have around our camp area. Pics taken, i return back to camp where we spend the rest of the afternoon / evening sitting around the fire having a few more drinks and laughs, before calling it a night and heading off to bed.

THE TYPES OF TREES THAT SURROUND OUR CAMP AREA

 

[1leglance]

Great write up and I am really looking forward to the rest of it...
I actually like that you are doing it in stages so I can read it in stages and not just zoom through.

Scary reading about that recovery gone wrong...and very cool of the local 4wd club to let you join.

The great mix of 2 lane and gravel in your report has been pretty cool.

Always nice to see a family get out and travel.

Question for you....with the ferry cost, all the food and fuel and various camp fees...would this be considered an epic/rare trip for an Aussie, or something not that unusual?

Oh and very jealous of your long vacation times

 

[Rumpig]

Great write up and I am really looking forward to the rest of it...
I actually like that you are doing it in stages so I can read it in stages and not just zoom through.

Scary reading about that recovery gone wrong...and very cool of the local 4wd club to let you join.

The great mix of 2 lane and gravel in your report has been pretty cool.

Always nice to see a family get out and travel.

Question for you....with the ferry cost, all the food and fuel and various camp fees...would this be considered an epic/rare trip for an Aussie, or something not that unusual?

Oh and very jealous of your long vacation times

Hey Lance, how are you mate....when are you and the family coming back to Australia next? it'd be good to catch up with you all again
The doing this report in stages thing, is mainly because it takes me atleast 3 hours to write one day of the report.... by the time i sort through 4 memory cards worth of pics we have saved on our computer (there's 2 X DSLR cameras we took away, aswell as 2 X i phones we took pics on also), then resize the pics i decide to use and upload them to photobucket, then upload them to a private forum i am writing the original copy of this report on, then try and put writing down to go with those pics, then correct my spelling mistakes, then reread the whole thing several times more correcting even more spelling mistakes as well as trying to make the report read better...and before i know it i just spent 3 - 4 hours of my night writing one day of the trip report...lol. As you can understand, with it taking me that long to write up, i'm not overly motivated to do it every day...but i'll get there in the end. It's nice to hear from people that they are enjoying the read though...so cheers on that mate.
As to the question Re: cost of trip etc....taking a big 7 week trip isn't a super common thing for families to do in Australia, it certainly does happen for others through out the country, but most people only get 4 weeks paid holidays allocated for their jobs each year, so to take 7 weeks off of work is not an ordinary holiday exercise for most. Many people in Australia (not everyone though) also get what's called long service leave...basically if you work at the one work place of employment for 10 years straight, you get 10 weeks paid holidays (or long service leave) allocated to you, to go with your regular 4 weeks holidays you'd get each year. There's job industries where you get portable long service leave also, so you can move from one employer to another in the same industry and still get long service leave allocated to you...i get this in the building industry i'm employed in. So when you see Australian families taking long holidays like the one i'm writing this report on, it's likely because they as i did on this trip, have used their normal paid yearly quota of holidays, aswell as some of their accrued long service leave to fund the trip. The other thing is, to leave our country and fly somewhere else on holidays with a family costs a fortune most times, we can take say a 5 week holiday in Australia cheaper then it's cost us to fly to another country. Fuel is our main cost normally (though this time there was the $1300 in ferry fee also we had to pay), but if you camp whilst away, the food and camping fees aren't what i'd call a substantial part of the cost, as you'd normally be paying for food back home anyway.
Hope that helped explain it some, let me know if you want more info or not on that subject.
Cheers
Mal