STEAMY STRAHAN

Macquary Harbour

I’m sorry to say time has once again run away from me and I am still in catch up mode. I write this not from Steamy Strahan but from a distinctly chilly and wet St Claire. We are almost without internet and so I am taking the opportunity to catch up on writing my blogs in the knowledge that I will be unable to post them for at least another 3 days if not longer. We are currently in ‘The Central Highlands’ and will be for at least another 6 or so days, no internet (for my laptop at least) and no TV – I think this will test DD somewhat but I am fine with it, although would have liked to warn friends and family first that we would be out of range. A......oh wait a minute, DD has now managed to get some internet service on his laptop, but guess what folks, that will not extend to mine. Long story – so I will leave it out.

To add to my own woes I have either developed an allergy to these highlands/rain forests or I have picked up some weird adult version of measles. I am covered in some sort of rash and have become rather ‘sniffy’ all over again. I have hit the anti-histamines and they have helped somewhat but that almost overwhelming urge to scratch is hard to resist.

Beautiful Gardens



Quaint Old Houses


Anyway, enough of that! Since my last entry we seem to have been around the world and back. We stayed in Strahan for 8 days (a strange but fortuitous mix up with the CP) and from there headed off to Queenstown where we stayed for yet another 3 nights. While in Strahan we ‘did’ the Wilderness Railway and the Gordon River Cruise. Rather than drive you nuts with a great long winded blog I will split these wondrous events into 4 separate blogs, Strahan, Railway, Cruise and Queenstown. By the time I get to publish these blogs there will probably also be Lake St Claire. So folks, bear with me as we go back to Strahan.

The drive from Somerset to Strahan was absolutely amazing. We pulled Jezzy thru’ some incredible country. Unbelievably steep and winding roads surrounded by lush rain-forest clung to the edges of sheer rock walls; the tree-ferns and gums dropping away hundreds of feet on the off side of the road. I thought I was exercising those clenching muscles when we drove the Gt Ocean Road but friends you have no idea! The saving grace of the drive, aside from the extreme beauty, was the lack of traffic. DD did us proud, having determined beforehand that this particular road was fairly quiet. It used to be the main drag through the region but a later straighter road has since been built for the first part of the trip and that now carries the bulk of the traffic including all the big trucks.

Windy and Steep Roads Along the way to Strahan

The drive was a fairly long one by Tasmanian standards and took us the prescribed 3 ½ hours. Down here, rather than tell you how many ks to go, they tell you how long it will take. It works rather well, particularly from a tourist viewpoint. We are still trying to get used to the road-signs here, some of which we are still to figure out.

Strahan itself is very pretty, sitting on the banks of Macquarie Harbour – the second largest natural harbour in Australia, second only to Port Phillip Bay in Victoria. Strahan has plenty of history, having been discovered in 1815. A convict settlement was established in 1822. Abysmally harsh conditions and treatment of those poor souls sent there has been recorded. One of the worst areas was at Sarah Island, where the so called worst of the ‘offenders’ were sent. We visited Sarah Island as part of the Gordon River Cruise and heard and saw for ourselves how life was for those sent to that dreaded place.

Mountains Watching Over the Harbour

Strahan is a place of unusual beauty. The lush temperate rain forest rambles right down to the waterfront and thus almost every garden sports a plethora of giant tree ferns. Wherever you look there are mountains watching over and protecting the tiny village. Once again the theme is designed to capture the tourist dollar, but I have to say they do it well. We only had one meal out whilst we were there, choosing what looked to be the locals pub and having a simple seafood meal looking out over the harbour. The price seemed to be on a par with most other places. A local IGA proved to be sufficient for our meagre shopping needs and the town sports a good post office.

The place was just full of tourists and many people were turned away as the CP was full to the point of overflowing. It seems that March is the main tourist month here and as there are strong indications that the Wilderness Railway is about to become defunct, even Taswegians are flocking to Strahan to take a ride on the iconic train. Many folk had to either free-park or try their luck in Queenstown (another story!). It seems that the Golf Club here allows camping and from what we hear it is quite a good spot.

It seems that the main purpose of Strahan is to act as a huge booking office for both the cruise and the railway. There is also a sea-plane there which does tours of the Gordon River and surrounds. We didn’t fancy this, but were told by someone who took t he tour that it was excellent, albeit rather expensive at around $200 per head (give or take $50).

Mud Flats along the Mouth of the King River

Between cruises and trains we took a drive out to the little town of Zeehan, once a thriving metropolis (Silver Mining) and to the Ocean Beach at Strahan – around 25ks gravel road. We also found a little dirt road which meanders alongside the mouth of the King River. We were fascinated with the dry mud beds surrounding the River. So fascinated in fact that we drove all around these dry mud flats. We have since been told that the mud or rather lack of plants is due partly at least to the rubbish that has made its way down the river from Queenstown. Amongst the other pollutants was a high amount of Sulphuric Acid and copper. We were told that there are still unusually high levels of some unwanted chemicals in that water.

Old Buildings in Zeehan

Trial Port Just outside of Zeehan

One of the more unusual facts about Macquarie Harbour is that the surface water is fresh and the lower level of water is salt. This means that only certain types of fish that are both fresh and salt water tolerant are able to thrive in those waters. That leads me to a strange thing we have both noticed and that is the apparent lack of bird life in this part of the world. We were told, whilst on board the cruise, that there is very little of value fodder wise for many birds in the rain-forests and so they are not called to live there. It feels quite odd, all that verdant green and so few birds. It seems that much of the fauna there is of such ancient origins it doesn’t utilise a solely seed propagation method – thus the lack of food for birds.

Water Skiers at Sundown

You may be wondering at my use of the word Steamy in conjunction with a town on the west coast of Tasmania – well, the whole time we were there, it was hot and humid and I do mean humid. The nights were uncomfortable indeed – not at all what we expected. It did start raining finally, on our last day there – not that the humidity abated any at the onset of rain.

The caravan park there is OK – there used to be two but they have now amalgamated into one park, albeit split into two sections on opposite sides of the road. The amenities were functional and the park was reasonable but expensive at $40 per night. The sites were not particularly spacious and we didn’t see one pooch whilst there so presume that it was not dog friendly. The big bonus was that it was strolling distance from the water and we had a lovely little beach almost to ourselves.

It seems that we (translate I) took around a million photos whilst in Strahan, I have been practising with DD’s awesome lenses which very conveniently fit my camera as well as his. I now seem to have become mildly addicted to photo taking. I will try to pick the eyes out of them for the blog.

In the meantime, share like there is no tomorrow – Steph.

Great Life for a Dog

Don't Think He Was Watching the Dog!



Goodnight From Me