Tasmania Trip Day Six

After a leisurely start, we stopped off to stock up on a real coffee to go from the Strahan Bakery, and headed off to Cradle Mountain, our next stop. We stopped at a look out for one last look at Ocean Beach, 38kms long and home to the giant waves. The highest wave recoded offshore here was 26 metres, at least that is when the wave bouy broke. Not this week though, they are about as ferocious as Mackay Harbour in November.

After a while we were looking for a break and coffee and followed a sign saying coffee and cake and just happened upon this spot. It is Lake Talleh and is was just gorgeous. There is a lodge just behind us, and it is a holiday spot. It looks geared up for winter with massive fires etc.

We arrived at Cradle Mountain Lodge and it was quite a warm day! We were shown our cabin and I looked out the window and look what I saw! The next day I saw a large wombat walk past as well, but the camera wasn't handy. We got some lunch then went for a couple of walks handy to the lodge. First we took a 45 minute walk called the King Billy walk. It was mostly uphill! We spotted these two locals just grazing by the path.

At the top of the walk is this huge King Billy pine. I think it was hundreds of years old. Then we came to a lookout that gave us our first glimpse of Cradle Mountain itself.

Aftera drink we went on the Enchanted walk which took us along this water course, lovely and shady and an easy stroll.

The walk ended at these waterfalls, which were really just outside the front gate to the Lodge.

Another couple of short walks took us to this waterfall. Strangely enough they were called the waterfall walks.

After that warm up, we treated ourselves to dinner in the restuarant. It was very nice, though tres posh. We will try the pub tomorrow.

Tasmania Trip Day Five

Another beautiful day dawned, very early. The sun goes down about 9:35pm and comes up about 5am. And thats with daylight saving. Seems they get more than us regardless! The lawn in front of our room gets these visitors at dawn and dusk. There are usually three or four of them. This is for Miss R. I did some washing, then we were picked up at 10am for our West Coast Wilderness Railway trip. We were going through the mountains to Queenstown on a steam trail with mountain climbing abilities. A Swiss gentleman (surprise, surprise!) named Abt invented a cog rail system. I had been on one before in Switzerland, but there are only two in Australia. The other one is in a steep paddock somewhere. Australia is pretty short on mountains.
We chose the first class option, so we got a carriage at the back, with a balcony. And champagne and nibblies.

The carriages are all restored beautifully and quite comfy.This one has windows in the roof too. It was a hottish day so we could have done without them, but the rest of the year they would be quite handy.

We were not allowed to lean out of the windows or the side of the carriage, lest we lose a limb, as the cuttings were quite narrow in parts. So we got lots of pics of the track behind us!

We stopped briefly at the first of two stations to rewater the engine. This little Huon Pine in a pot is 80 years old. Told you they grow slowly. A plant for the patient.

This rail line was built by hand through some really wild country. This is the remains of some old bridge washed away in a flood.

We followed the King River up into the hills. Due to pollution from the mining at Queenstown, this is a dead river. Nothing will live in it, not even bacteria. This picture is of a junction with a smaller stream, which is a healthy river, it has the tannin coloured water. You can see where they meet.

We stopped at the next station to swap engines and have lunch. Apart from the champagne and nibblies they plied us with on the way up here, the lunch consited of a pastie, a salad roll, biccies and cheese, fruit and some chocolates. We watched the train from Queenstown come in. This engine was having some issues, so we had to wait while another engine chugged up here.

The two engines, hooked up to our carriages, ready to take us up the mountains to Queenstown.It was interesting watching them turn the engines around. By hand.
Like in Thomas the Tank Engine.

Still following the King River we headed up.

And up.

And up.

As we neared the town of Queenstown, site of ecological disasters as mentioned a couple of days ago, we encountered the Queen River. This is what it looks like after NOT being polluted for the last 50 years. It will take hundreds of years for this river to heal.

Once we arrived in Queenstown, we were bussed back to Strahan. We headed back to the hotel for a bit, then into Strahan for dinner before heading out to Ocean Beach to catch a sunset. My first ever sunset over the sea.

It didn't dissapoint.

And you know how much I love sunsets.

We could have stayed on to watch the mutton birds flying into the sanddunes to their chicks. But it was nearly 10pm and we were tired. So we headed back to Strahan. Once back at the hotel, KISA played with the night setting on the camera to get this shot of Strahan at night.

Tasmania Trip Day Four

Today was the day I had been looking forward to, the cruise up the Gordon River. This is part of the World Heritage Area of Tasmania, which is pretty much inpenetratable and there fore untouched and unexplored by humans. It is primal forest, part of the lungs of the planet.
We had the best seats on the boat, quite an unexpected surprise, so we enjoyed the whole experience even more. We were right behind the captain, on the Lady Jane Franklin 11, a big 20 metre cat. We left at 8.30am sharp, and Strahan faded away pretty quickly. The day was uncertain weatherwise, it being cloudy with gusts of quite strong winds. We were warned to hang on to our glasses when we were on the deck. Someones sunglasses did blow off and whizzed past my head.We were on the premier deck of the boat, so were plied with champagne almost as soon as we left. We tore ourselves away from the attentions of the stewards to go up on deck as we went through Hells Gate. It is a very narrow entrance to Macquarie Harbour, which is twice the size of Sydney Harbour, and the tide runs through very fast. It was a calm day on the southern ocean so we weren't treated to the massive waves that often feature here making it even more interesting. After a visit to a salmon farm, we arrived at the mouth of the Gordon River. It is hard to see in this photo, but we slowed right down as to not damage the fragile river banks with the wash. The water in the river and Macquarie Harbour is stained with tannin from the surrounding plants. This gives it a tea like colour, although it is very clear and safe to drink. It also means that it reflects the image of the trees and hills above it and when the water is still, it is quite a sight. If we had had a sunnier day I think the photos would have been more interesting. We had a cloudy day and it was a bit windy. Considering how much it rains here, we were lucky it was dry! KISA got to drive the boat once were up the river. Instead of a big wheel like ships used to have, it had a tiny joystick that you operated with two fingers. KISA loved the dashboard though! A washed out shot of the forest. It was actually much darker and greener. Was quite disappointed with the photos. Spent more time enjoying the views, the nibblies and wines they were handing out on the cruise. Was not paying much attention to the camera settings. Here we are on the captains private deck. If you are ever here to do the cruise, pay the extra for the premier deck option. Worth every cent. We stopped at a landing where there was a 400m deck style walk built through a small section of the forest. It was lovely, very dark and cool and very densely grown.The main trees are Huon pine, sassafras, celery top pine and myrtle. Plus tree frens and lots and lots of moss. This tree is over 2000 years old. The Huon Pine is one of the slowest growing and longest lived trees on the planet. They told us they found a log of huon once and had it carbon dated at 30000 years. The timber was till useable. It was this quality that made it so popular for boat building in the 1800s. The tree is now protected and they only use fallen huon timber for products these days. You can see how dense the forest is. We came upon a clearing where 4 snakes were taking the air. Luckily they were cold and quite dopey. This is a tiger snake which is the 4th most venomous snake in the world. I could have reached out and touched it! I didn't though... These are our seats, at the front behind the captain. This ensured we had a 180 degree view through the massive windows. After the walk, they served us a sumptous lunch featuring tasmanian food and wine. I would not struggle being a locovore if we lived here!Our next stop was Sarah Island, a former secondary penal colony. It had the reputation of being a brutal place, even for its day and predated Port Arthur. It is featured in the novel "For the term of his natural life" by Marcus Clarke.This is the ruins of the kitchens and this is a bread oven. This is the remains of the goal or solitary cells which were used as punishment. They practiced total sensory depravation, which basically sent men mad. This is the ruin of the penitentary, which was not a goal, but a dormitory for the prisoners. The island was the goal, there was no way off it. A few tried but most either perished or were recaptured. The guide we had was very entertaining and she told us lots of stories about the people who were here. Over the years the bricks have been plundered by the locals for building their own homes. Once back on shore we wandered over to a harbourside sawmill and wood turning centre. This boat is handmade out of huon pine and is a work of art. In fact it is in the gallery! It can be yours for a mere $15000.I decided against it and KISA bpought me a bread board instead. Being of Huon, it should outlive me! We walked back to our room for a well earned nap, drinking all that wine and eating all that fine food was exhausting!

We wandered back to the village in the evening for a late dinner and on the way back to the room were treated to a spectacular sunset.

Tasmania Trip Day Three

Today we drove from Koonya on the Tasman Peninsula to Strahan on the west coast. It was only 300 kms but it took us 6 hours as we had to go over the mountains. The scenery was fantastic and the weather perfect. Maximum temperature was 23 degrees, lovely. We had to brake twice for echidnas. The echidnas in Tasmania are different to the ones on the mainland. They have more hair and less spines, as it is colder there. A bit of trivia I never knew.

Heading towards Queenstown, the landscape changed dramatically as the copper mining industry destroyed the environment in the early part of last century. It looks like a moonscape.

This is why we need conservationists in the world, all the trees were cut down to power the smelters and then so much sulphur was spewed into the air nothing grew back. They did this for 73 years! We settled into our hotel in Strahan with biccies and wine and cheese with a view.This is the view from our window as I sit with the laptop my lap and type this.