THE GAY GORDON

Our Lift For the Day

Beautifully Appointed Inside

As I mentioned in the previous blog, one of the ‘must do’ things in Strahan is to cruise the glorious Gordon River; not a hardship I can assure you. ‘Doing the Cruise’ involves selecting which of the large luxuriously appointed catamarans you wish to travel on. Our advice is to take the one which leaves earliest in the day – I will explain why a little later.

The cruise offers 3 levels of comfort – Captains Table, Window Seats, or Centre Aisle. The Cats are decked out a little like an aircraft with window seats and raised centre seats and then on the fly deck they have the Captain‘s section for those who wish to truly indulge themselves.

Coming Back in From the Mouth

We opted for the Window Seats, priced between the other two levels. Frankly, were we to do it again, we would opt for the cheapest seats, in the centre. The Window Seats are fine, but the drop down aeroplane style tables leave something to be desired, especially if you are not built like Twiggy (look it up if you’re too young to know!). The raised seats in the middle of the cat provided very good visibility over the heads of the window seaters plus very good stable tables – everything else was the same. Both the lower levels provided an ample buffet lunch with more fresh smoked salmon than anyone could possible wish for. The Captain’s deck provided a hot meal and wine and nibbles throughout the cruise. All levels enabled movement about the craft out onto the observation decks for photo shots and fresh air. The whole production was extremely professional.

On leaving the wharf early in the morning, the cat first took us out thru’ the heads, explaining as they went about the extremely tight and shallow mouth of the harbour, named aptly enough Devil’s Gate. Due to the shallow draft through the entrance, the early settlers, constructed what amounts to a submerged groin which protects the depth of the channel into the harbour. This rock wall was made by hand – all the rocks carried out in row-boats and painstakingly placed along the rock wall. Only traces of this wall are visible above the water. Prior to the construction of this rock wall entrance into the harbour was very treacherous and more than one ship foundered there.


Submerged Rock Wall



From the mouth of the river we then backtracked thru’ the picturesque harbour and headed inland up the Gordon. One of the main attractions here is the supremely photogenic river – on a calm day the reflections here are just amazing, due largely to the same heavy tannin levels as previously explained in the Arthur River blog. We were lucky (as usual) and whilst there was light rain and mist that day there was very little wind – we managed to get some fantastic photo shots. This is why you need to get on the earlier boat – it takes (they say) around 1 hour for the river to settle down after the passing of one of these cats and so the second boat doesn’t get quite the same photo opportunities as the first one.


Amazing Reflections


After providing some wonderful photo opportunities the boat stopped to let us off for a short but quite informative Rain Forest walk along a constructed boardwalk. We learned quite a lot about the Huon Pine (one of the reasons for the original settlement) and the other flora and fauna in the region.

Still Reflective

Once back on board, they provided us with lunch – nobody could have complained about either the quantity or the quality. We elected to purchase a nice bottle of red with our lunch. Sadly either the wine or the sample of Leatherwood Honey provided ‘did me in’ and I was rather unwell after the honey and half a glass of the red and so poor old DD had to drink the bottle all on his own – life is tough sometimes!

Interesting Fungi (Not DD)

Once lunch was over we cruised back to the harbour and over to Sarah Island – the once penal island. We went ashore there and a very talented lady took us for a tour of the island. She took on a very theatrical role as she portrayed the dreadful life experienced by the poor souls imprisoned there. The ruins were interesting and strangely I didn’t feel a pall of misery there as I once noticed at Port Arthur many years ago. The place has a beauty all of its own and I think perhaps that and the sheer unreality of that life to those of us fortunate enough not to have experienced it, made the whole thing seem quite surreal. I’m not saying that you don’t feel any vibes there; just that they didn’t linger. There are many historical stories regarding the penal colony and the officers who ran the place – really worthy of investigation if you are interested in human nature and all its dark foibles.

Once An Oven for The Daily Bread On Sarah Island

Poignant Memories

From the island we were taken in leisurely fashion back to the wharf. The whole cruise took 6 hours, commencing at 8.30 and docking at 2.30 – on the whole a pleasant experience and well worth the money spent. The odd thing is that my peasant blood must be showing through as I actually preferred the Arthur River experience – perhaps it was the simplicity of it or perhaps the fact that you were a little closer to nature on that little boat, but whatever it was if I had to choose, I would choose the Arthur River cruise – it all depends on what you are looking for I guess.

Until next time when we will take a Train Trip, keep an even keel – Steph.

Magical!