Tasmania - West Coast Wilderness

We left Ulverstone and headed for the West Coast, and our next stopover at the beautiful village of Strahan. By Tassie standards, this is a long drive at just over 200km. We had been advised to follow the B18 from Burnie, and approach Strahan from the town ship of Zeehan, thus avoiding the long, steep, and very winding approach, from Queenstown. For caravanners, this is excellent advice, and we were very grateful, especially for our big caravan.

The village of Strahan

The drive was lovely. Firstly heading through beautiful farming country, before hitting the hills and tall timber. Our morning tea stop was the small mining town of Rosebery, where the cheese & bacon sausage rolls at the bakery proved a huge hit! Washed down with a good (not great!) coffee, and we were soon on our way again. The active Zinc mine, looms above the town. The mines of this area are supposedly Tasmania's richest, having estimated revenues in excess of $8 billion!


We are soon at the next mining town, Zeehan, named after the explorer Abel Tasman's ship. Once upon a time "the Silver City" was Tasmania's 3rd largest city. Now it still hosts an active mine, and a small population. There are some great old buildings such as the 1000 seat Gaiety Theatre, and the West Coast Heritage Centre that tracks the mining history of the region.

On the West Coast Beach near Strahan

From Zeehan it is only a short distance into Strahan. The countryside changes dramatically into scrubby coastal plains, which really surprised me. I had expected tall trees and forest all the way!  We pulled up at the Strahan Holiday Park, where our booking had been lost, and they had to do some fast work to rectify the problem. Thank God for Lynne's thorough bookwork! We were unable to be together, but just a few sites apart. It proved to be a very busy, pleasant caravan park, but very tight for big vans, with very limited parking. There was a lot of car juggling as people moved in and out!

Gordon River Cruise

In Strahan, we were blessed by the most beautiful weather. Given what we had heard about wind and rain and cold, we were so lucky! The two big local attractions, are the Gordon River Cruise and the West Coast Wilderness Railway. There are two operators running the river cruises. We chose the "red" boat, as we had been advised it was more informal, allowing access to the wheelhouse, and freedom of movement around the vessel, rather than a reserved seat for the day. What  a day we had!

Hell's Gate Lighthouse

The cruise starts by heading out to "Hell's Gate", the entrance to the waterway, known as Macquarie Harbour. Once through those gates, the next stop is South America. That's right, not South Africa, which shows how far south we are! It is a huge harbour, but it has a narrow (8metre), shallow (5metre) opening, restricting the size of vessel that can enter. Consequently it is not a commercial shipping harbour, other than for fishing and tourism. There are a lot of fish farms anchored in the harbour, some 280 of them, each one holding up to 12,000 fish, either Atlantic Salmon or Ocean Trout. That Tassal or Huon smoked salmon you buy at Woolies or Coles, probably comes from here.
The first white "tourists" to the area, were in fact convicts, who arrived in 1823 from Hobart, to start a Penal Colony on Sarah Island, a small island inside the harbour. This was pre Port Arthur. Their job was to be harvesting the huge huon pine from the forests and to build ships. These were the ones who named the harbour entrance, for obvious reasons. We enjoyed a wonderful tour of Sarah Island, with an animated guide, who ran the show like a play, with members of our group assigned characters from the history of the day, all as we moved among the ruins. It was a huge amount of fun. We could not believe how many people were housed on this small island. It closed in 1835 and everyone was transferred to the new penal colony at Port Arthur.
From Sarah Island, we headed for the Gordon River, along the way enjoying a fantastic buffet lunch of among other things, local smoked salmon and cheeses, washed down with some lovely local wines. As we headed up the Gordon River, we were reminded of the protests back in the 1970's, that eventually lead to the stopping of the proposed Gordon/Franklin River Dam, and the establishment of this World Heritage Listed wilderness area. At a spot called Heritage Landing, we all got off for a walk through the magnificent forest, and a look at a 2500 year old Huon Pine, recently having fallen in a storm. It is hard to imagine trees this old. These monsters grow at the rate of 1mm per year, so it is no wonder they are now protected. Cut one down, and wait 15 generations or more, to harvest its replacement!!

The ABT Steam Engine on the West
Coast Wilderness Railway

Along the banks of the King River

Next day, it was our turn to take the train. This time it was just Carol and I. We had booked the "Premium Class" carriage, which gave us better seating, and included all our food and lovely Tasmanian wines and beers, plus a pick up and drop off at our caravan park. We reckoned it was well worth the extra. It was another picture perfect day, we had some great company on the train, and had a ball. The journey is one way between Strahan and Queenstown by train, with return coach transfer. We opted to do the train from Strahan, with a coach trip back from Queenstown. We left under diesel power following the King River as we wandered through the rain forest. This is one of the most polluted rivers in the world, having had millions of tons of heavy metals washed down from the mines, up until the government finally forced the mines to build tailings dams. Some sections of the river bank still cannot support vegetation! When we pass the junction of the Queen River, the rocks turn a bright orange, further evidence of that pollution. There are stops along the way, and walks into the forest to view the bridge structures and other points of interest.

A stop along the Wilderness Railway

Lunch is at the station known as Dubbil Barril, where the engine is swapped to the ABT Steam engine. This engine uses a third rail that has a cog system allowing the engine to climb steep slopes, similar to what operates in Europe, and we know as fernicular railways. It is quite amazing to look out the window and realise just how steep the hills are. This is an unbelievable engineering achievement, and as we reach the station at Queenstown and look through the museum, we learn just what an achievement it was.

Tutts Whittle Wonders

Outside the big two attractions, we took a walk through the Peoples Park to Hogarth Falls, drove out to the west coast beaches and drove along the beach to "Hell's Gate". Not much to see except a few fishermen. We took a look at "Tutts  Whittle Wonders" a local eccentric guys look at life through driftwood and some 300 plus wooden sculptures he has collected and made. Most of them are just bits of wood he has added some eyes or slightly carved. It was a lot of fun, and if his wife is any guide, Tutt is surely an eccentric, with a warped sense of humour! For an entry fee of a gold coin, it was a very worthwhile stop!

Valentine's Day Dinner at Strahan

Last day in town was Valentine's Day, so four old romantics headed into town for a nice dinner at the local pub called Hamer's Grill. It was a lovely way to end a fantastic few days.


Next morning we headed for Richmond. We stopped in Queenstown for breakfast. It really is mining town. For those of you who know the beautiful Queenstown in New Zealand, this one couldn't be more far removed! Barren mountains of gravel, all scarred from decades of mining, still active mines belching dust and steam, tailings dams and their hectares of reclaimed sludge, and no trees. From town it is up that steep, winding climb, and back through the mountains and the Gordon & Franklin Wilderness Area, as we make our way towards Richmond.

Entry to The Wall.

At a little town called Derwent Bridge we come to one of the most amazing artistic wonders we, or anyone else, will ever see. It is called "THE WALL." Sculptor Greg Duncan has commenced, what will ultimately be, a 100 metre long wall of scluptured Huon Pine panels, each about 3 metres tall, depicting the rural, mining and construction workers of the Western Wilderness. At present, The Wall is 50 metres long, or in fact 25 metres back to back. It is housed in a new iron building, which from the minute you pay your $10, and step into the subdued lighting, takes your breath away. The sculptured wooden raincoat and hat are so life like you feel you could put them on! You then turn and look down the first side of the wall and are blown away by the scope of the work and the detail in it. It is like being in a cathedral, so quiet and reverent, as we all just stand and look at what is being created. We will have to come back, just to see the end result in 2015. What a remarkable piece of work.


We continued our trip to Richmond, knowing that we had just seen something very, very, special, all in the middle of nowhere!