Circling Back

I picked good weather for the visit to Queenstown and Strahan and left as the wind picked up. After a drive to Zeehan (a long way for coffee and only a couple of important buildings), I spent another night at Queenstown. I had intended to stay a bit longer in Strahan but it was quicker to return to Queenstown than to go back to Strahan. Queenstown is proud of their historic sports ground, with a gravel oval. I wanted to see a game of football to see how the players coped with gravel rash. The gravel is very fine and during the night I got good taste of it - in more ways than one. The sports ground provides free camping. On my first stay, there were about twenty rigs. This next night there were only eight. Perhaps they knew something. Early in the night the wind got up and all night the sand swirled around the area, sandblasting the outside and sneaking into every part of the van. I drove off eventually knowing that everything I touched was gritty with sand. (Two days later the road into Queenstown was closed because of a snowfall.)

I wasn't in any great hurry to get back to Hobart so I made a large detour. I spent one night at Bothwell. Some of the small towns have worked hard to encourage tourists. Bothwell has published a heritage walk, with more than twenty buildings explained. With a substantial number of buildings more than a century old, they have a real slice of history. Ten dollar camping with good hot showers and free laundry encourages people to stays at least overnight. From there, I went to New Norfolk, quite a bustling modern town mingled with historical aspects. New Norfolk was the place that I got phone coverage back after five days in the wilderness. If I ever come back, I will have a Telstra phone. Even that is not always available, but is much more reliable.

I had eleven messages waiting for me. It's good to know that friends and relatives are following my trip. It is also nice to see occasional comments on Facebook and emails. Thank you all. One message was from Zudi who repeated her invitation to return. So here I am again at Geilston Bay, Hobart. Today I just played ladies. I had to find a chemist and get some medications. Apart from that, I had a rest, had a read and watched a DVD. Yesterday I had pulled everything out of the van and swept out the sand. So it is ready to hit the road again tomorrow. I am making a big loop south, doing the Huon Trail, before I head north for the ferry on Monday 26th.

Different Towns, Different Emphasis

Queenstown and Strahan couldn't be more different. Both are isolated on the west coast. Both have had their heydays and both are now important parts of Tasmania's tourist route.

Queenstown is unashamedly a mining town, from its inception and still now. Initially there was a small gold rush and then vast deposits of copper were found. There is still a tall chimney visible but one hundred years ago there were eleven, all spewing poisonous clouds of choking pollution into the air and, with acid rain, into the soil and rivers. In contrast to the amazing temperate rainforests all around, the  mountains are totally bare and will probably take thousands of years to regenerate. The rivers are yellow and thick with sediment and just beginning to flow again after many years. Someone told me that a couple of years ago you could throw a stone into the water and it wouldn't sink!

The railway was the only way in to the town initially and it took years to build, hacked from thick virgin forest by hand. Cuttings were gouged into the mountains and amazingly intricate bridges built to support the rail line. When the inclines were too steep, a rack and pinion track was built with cogs on the rail meshing with cogs on the engines to drag the train up and down the mountains. This is now a daily tourist train but in older times it was the only contact with the coast and the only way to get the copper to the coast at Strahan. I took lots of train photos for the boys. The scenery was too difficult to capture.

The Queen River is classed as dead

This gorge is on the other side of the mountains

Strahan is also isolated and until quite recently the only access was by sea, with a return trip to Hobart or Melbourne taking weeks or months depending on the weather. Strahan has managed to escape most of the devastation of the mining. Thanks to strong environmental lobbies, the Gordon River is a world heritage area and the cruises on the river show the wonderful wilderness at its best. A six hour trip yesterday flew by. Again I didn't take many photos because it was so wide and impressive that it was impossible to record.

Lighthouse at Hell's Gates

Floating Fish farms

Marilyn and Paul were on the train trip with me on Monday. I could have missed them all together except that she got into the wrong carriage and saw me sitting there. Praise the Lord for the family sense of direction! I parked with them and with Nancy and Geoff and friends Jane and Lindsay at Strahan the past two nights. Last night we had some wonderful fresh salmon - and a care package for tonight.

Paul with the fish that all the men 'caught'

Travelling cousins - Marilyn and Monica