QUARRIED QUEENSTOWN

Just about everyone we met who had been to Queenstown told us how dreadful it was! Not much to look forward to it seemed. I had even seen a documentary once that declared Queenstown to be the ugliest town in Australia....Hmmmmm........not good! So what can we deduce by the fact that we both actually liked Queenstown. Probably says something weird about us!

Naked Hills Stripped Bare of all Vegetation

Sure the town is surrounded by mines, sure the mines have absolutely stripped the surrounding hills and mountains of all vegetation, sure they have absolutely killed the poor Queen River, sure they have poisoned the earth with sulphuric acid and other toxic waste, but you know what, you just can’t beat the wilderness. Alongside those naked hills tower fully clad mountains of tall trees, tree ferns, thick undergrowth, trickling brooks and streams and bountiful life. These fern and tree clad mountains in fact, form the back yard of many of the ramshackle houses that make up part of Queenstown.

Add to the absolute verdant growth on the untouched mountains, the incredible colours exposed by the years of copper mining and the very visible bare bones of the earth and you have an amazing orgy of colours and impressions for the eyes. The town itself is quite presentable and contains all the shops and conveniences necessary for a comfortable life. Certainly you would have to travel some distance to find ‘real’ shops, but one could live with what is provided there. The houses themselves, I must admit, were something else. They ranged from the odd fairly new and respectable dwelling, through re-furbished quaint old homes to just plain dumps – and every possible sort of thing in between.

Houses Were an Eclectic Mix 

The price of real estate is to say the least, modest and probably to a few retirees, tempting. One could purchase there and still retain a goodly amount of capital on which to live very comfortably. The weather might be a bit of a problem tho’ – the entire time we were there, all three days that is, it was wet, wet, wet. The sky rained on us and the air was just moisture laden. It seemed that like at Stanley, we were simply inside the clouds and the clouds never really left. Just days before, they had been super hot and dry. The CP was very ordinary indeed and very poorly organised. I don’t think there was much choice however and we didn’t see any plausible free camping – not that we really looked! The rain that persisted in falling on top of us, sat in moody puddles around the van and we found our own small stream just outside the door of the van. Lovely! By the time we left Queenstown everything was pretty sodden, including all our mats – nice!

Oh well, we really don’t mind a bit of rain and that is probably just as well as it looks like the dry in Tasmania has well and truly broken and since then we have had far more wet days than fine. They very much need the rain at the moment, so really, it’s all good.

While we were in Queenstown we took a couple of drives out to some of the surrounding lakes and dams and were surprised to see just how low the water levels were. The surrounding countryside is quite spectacular – the little town is completely surrounded by high mountains. We took a drive out to the lookout overlooking the town and the mines. This particular lookout is on the road out of town heading to Hobart – the very road we were to take when we departed from Queenstown. We had heard some drivers talking of the horrors of that drive, and I must say, when we ventured out to the lookout it did look somewhat scary. Doubtless the roads there are no more windy or hilly than any previously travelled, I think it is the fact that as they are bare of trees and any bush at all, one can actually see the degree of the drops off the sides of the road – more clenching in store by the look of things!

Please Tell Me That is Not the Road Out of Here (Up There!)

Thought I Asked You Not To Tell Me That!

We should have gone to the museum while we were there, as being a mining town I’m sure it would have been very interesting. The pouring rain however put a bit of a damper on our enthusiasm and we stayed indoors and stayed dry instead. Queenstown was (and to a small degree still is) a copper mining town. The 1800s saw two major companies vying for supremacy and competing for the copper. It seems that the rivalry between these two companies was extreme until finally common sense prevailed and one took over the other. Somewhere along the line too, the ultimate company learned to be more careful of the environment and started to look after the area much better.

It Is There - Right Behind All The Big Clouds

These Clouds!

I do feel for those folk who were involved in the early mining settlement there – it must have been fairly horrendous – the wilderness would have been a constant pressure as the bush fought its own battle for survival, the weather would have been for the most part unpleasant and bitterly cold in the winter. There would have been no services to speak of and life would have been tough indeed. Speaking of cold in winter, one of the more striking things to a couple of Sandgropers, is the amount of wood each home has stacked and stashed – obviously in store for anticipated freezing weather to come.

Ah well, we liked Queenstown despite all popular opinion and were rather sorry not to have explored it in greater depth – until next time – march to your own beat! Steph.

Low Water Levels in the Dams

It's Own Special Beauty