Strahan

Thoughts on Location No 29

Strahan, West Coast, Tasmania

We arrived in Strahan following a missed turn in the road on Wednesday, but unfortunately, the rain we had been experiencing in Hobart and New Norfolk followed us.  It was such a shame as I’m sure this little town is quite pretty minus all the doom and gloom.

On Thursday we took a drive out to Ocean Beach where my seal stood and pined for a wave decent enough to warrant getting in and having a paddle.  Truth be told though, the Roaring Forties were certainly roaring and the conditions were so terrible, he wouldn’t have considered getting in – ever!

Leaving the beach, we followed the road past the airport to the north side of Macquarie Heads and walked along the beach towards Hells Gates – as far as the tide would allow.  Can you believe it was so cold we walked along the beach with beanies on our heads?

As the rain set in, we called it quits and retreated back to our mini home and hunkered down for the rest of the day, praying the rain would hold off on Friday so we could venture around the harbour, up the Gordon River and into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area on a cruise with World Heritage Cruises, a family owned and operated company.

Friday early, really early, I poked my head out the door and saw stars and thought “Woohoo!”, a perfect day for a cruise.  As it turned out, the weather wasn’t perfect, with rain rolling in evey now and then, but we enjoyed the day all the same.

The cruise included travelling across Macquarie Harbour (two and half times the size of Sydney Harbour), passing through Hells Gates and out into the rough waters of the Indian Ocean (or Southern Ocean – depending on who you talk to), a stop over at Sarah Island (a colonial penal colony and the setting for the novel “For the Term of His Natural Life” by Marcus Clarke), a trip up the Gordon River, crossing over into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area where we had a walk on a raised platform through the rainforest, and along the way were provided with a sumptuous lunch.

A World Heritage Cruise

(Each photo contains a detailed explanation.)

Outside Hells Gates looking back into Macquarie Harbour. Named as such by the convicts who were sent to Sarah Island, a hell on earth and therefore, this entry into the harbour was the gates to hell or Hells Gates.

Mist rolling off the ocean along Ocean Beach. Were had stood there on Ocean Beach the day before and the waves were brutal.

The jetty onto Sarah Island, a convict penal settlement for both men and women convicts that operated between 1822 and 1833.

Old bricks among the ruins on Sarah Island – I guess I like photographing bricks. I think they show age and heritage in their own special way.

The ruins of the penitentiary.

Water jewels on a delicate spider web. (Finding something of beauty amid the sadness of the ruins on Sarah Island)

The reflection of a lone pylon with the rain and the mist rolling in.

Heading up the Gordon River and into the thick of the World Heritage Area, where the Huon Pine is found. An unusual tree found nowhere else and once (and still) prized for it unusual qualities.

A fallen friend in the temperate rainforest of the World Heritage Area.

Huon Pine age indicators. This tree grows at an incredibly slow rate, on average one millimetre per year (0.039 inch).

This is the remains of a 2,300 year old Huon Pine. The wood of the Huon Pine does not rot. (http://www.huonpine.com)

This (baby) Huon Pine is 70 years old and you could touch your fingers around it’s trunk.

The beautiful reflection on the Gordon River on the way back into the harbour. From there we had to travel more than 40 kilometres (24.8 miles) to get back to Strahan.

(I wish I could share more photos, but I have to draw the line somewhere.)

We stayed at the Discovery Holiday Park while in Strahan and although we opted to say on the ‘beach’ side, it would have been nice to have been told that that side of the park was prone to being waterlogged.  Given the amount of rain before we arrived, this should have been known to the owners and/or the staff in the office when we booked in.

The site we were assigned was below two inches of water and when I told the office this, and that we had placed our mini home onto another, slightly less wet site (there were plenty of vacant sites), I was surprised at the response “Oh yeah, those sites get wet.”

And still, we were not told that we would be dryer, and more comfortable, on the other side or the road, in another (sister) caravan park, equally as empty, but high and dry and without all the water.  It’s a big shame we spent three days slopping through and sinking into grass and mud that could not hold another drop of rain.  I’m surprised our mini home didn’t sink, but then we do have anti-sink plates the stabiliser legs are lowered onto.  Without them, I think we’d have had a hard time getting off the site this morning.

We are now on our way to Cradle Mountain and I’m hoping when we get there the rain holds off and we have at least one clear, fine, sunny day.