THE WALL, QUEENSTOWN and STRAHAN

1^st December, 2013

The first day of summer and the weather is perfect – a beautiful sunny morning after a freezing cold night where the doona finally made its debut from under the bed.  We hit the road and it’s not long before we make our first stop.  Near Derwent Bridge is the ‘Wall in the Wilderness’ – an impressive 350 foot long (work in progress) historical artwork carved on wooden panels and housed in an equally impressive building.

Metal sculpture of a wedge tailed eagle at entrance to 'The Wall'

With Tasmanian Oak floors, Celery Top Pine beams, a wooden staircase leading to a mezzanine level and Blackwood Pine carved reception desk the interior of the building is remarkable in its own right.  All of the work has and is being carried out by 56 year old Greg Duncan who has certainly created a major project for himself. 

Wok checks out part of 'The Wall'

The ‘wall’ has wonderfully carved figures of men, machinery, animals and landscapes and although still unfinished was very interesting.  There are other pieces of fascinating wood sculptures displayed in the main reception area which are just so realistic that it is hard to believe that they are made of wood and not the real thing.  We really enjoyed our interlude at the ‘Wall’.  As our drive continued we skirted along the northern edge of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park.  Nearing Queenstown the lush green forests and meadows gave way to stark, yellow streaked mountains.

Queenstown

Queenstown is a copper mining town and the forests that once grew in the valleys and hills surrounding the town were quickly cut down by the miners to provide fuel and building materials.  It is a marked contrast to the lush green countryside that we have been travelling through.  There are many old buildings in the town but the gravel football oval is definitely a tourist drawcard.  Playing a game of footy on this oval certainly takes the meaning of ‘gravel rash’ up to a whole new level.  From Queenstown it is only a 45 minute drive to the pretty village of Strahan situated on the northern edge of Macquarie Harbour.

Strahan

Once the major port during the West Coast’s booming mining days, Strahan is now a base for tourism and the aquaculture industry.  Many of the old mining cottages have been restored and are used for tourist accommodation.

Cottages in Strahan

We make our way to the golf course where self contained rigs are allowed to camp for $10 a night.  There is a dedicated area for the campers with access to water set well away from the clubhouse and it is nice and quiet.  Best of all we have no qualms about leaving the van by itself and taking Mitzi out for a look around.  We’re up early the following morning and decide to take advantage of another sunny day and do a cruise of Macquarie Harbour.  At 9am we are on board the Eagle – a 35 metre catamaran operated by Wold Heritage Cruises.

Our cruise boat - The 'Eagle'

The wharf is a busy place in the mornings with lots of boats vying for a spot

Crayfishing boat trying to squish into a spot beside the wharf

and even seaplanes trying to fit in somewhere.

Seaplane at Strahan

The Eagle is very luxurious with three decks.  There are dedicated seats for passengers on the lower deck and the middle deck and the captain’s cabin is on the upper deck.  All passengers have access to the forward and aft outside deck on the lower level, the aft outside deck on the middle level and anywhere on the top deck.  Even the captain’s cabin can be visited at any time should one wish to do so.  There are different prices for the seating with the cheapest being on the lower level.  We opted for the higher priced seating on the middle level and were extremely pleased that we did.  We were initially given seats beside the windows looking out the side of the boat but once we were under way our hostess asked whether we would like to move to two seats looking out the front as they were vacant.  We happily moved to the new seats and had an unobstructed view out the front. 

Wok is happy with the view from new seats

Our deck had seating for seventy passengers but there were only ten of us.  The lower deck was a different matter with about sixty people taking up the eighty seats.  Two people from the lower deck tried to occupy seats on our level but the hostess was having none of that and politely sent them on their way.  Really – the hide of some people … LOL …

Macquarie Harbour is many many times larger than Sydney Harbour.  We were told how much bigger but we’ve forgotten.   Unfortunately it has a problem … a narrow and shallow entrance.  Originally only two metres in depth the harbour entrance was deepened to seven metres when a rock wall was installed along the southern side of the entrance.  The outgoing flow of water from the harbour naturally deepened the entrance and it is still doing the job after one hundred years.  The entrance to the harbour is named Hell’s Gates and quite a few boats have been wrecked with lives lost.

Entrance to Macquarie Harbour - Hell's Gates

The light houses were manned right up until the latter half of the 1900’s.  The three lighthouse keeper’s cottages were put up for sale about twenty five years ago at $8,000 each.  Quite a bargain if you liked fishing and wanted an out of the way place!  The downside?  No road access … only way in (and out) is by boat.  This means one may be stuck when bad weather rolls in and from all accounts that happens pretty often.

Ex lighthouse keepers cottage at Hell's Gates

In the entrance channel lies Bonnet Island – home to another lighthouse and a colony of fairy penguins.

Bonnet Island

Back in the harbour we head south.  While motoring along our hostess serves morning tea.  We have a choice of beverages … coffee (normal or cappuccino), tea, hot chocolate, soft drink, juice, etc … and a variety of cakes, slices or bikkies.  Wok enjoyed his cappuccino and caramel slice and Robyn enjoyed her hot chocolate and rocky road.  YUMMM!   Our next stopover (well idle the motor while we have a look) was at one of the salmon farms.

One of the ponds at a salmon farm in Macquarie Harbour

These large round cages hold thousands of salmon as they are reared for market.  The waters of Macquarie Harbour have proved to be very good for raising salmon and this year over 23,000 tonnes of salmon were harvested.  One thing that is noticeable in the harbour is the colour of the water.  It is stained brown – very much like the colour of tea.  This comes from tannen that is washed into the rivers from the buttongrass which grows prolifically in this area.  The boat is underway again and at the southern end of the harbour we stop for an excursion on Sarah Island.

Going for a walk on Sarah Island

This island was used for building boats out of the huon pine which grew in the forests surrounding the rivers and harbour.  From 1822 to 1834 over one hundred boats of different sizes were built using convict labour.  The island was known as Settlement Island but the convicts called it Devil’s Island.  The convicts transported here were second offenders - those who had offended again after being transported to Australia.  It is fair to say that they were treated harshly with the lash used often.  Many escapes occurred but most convicts never made it to freedom due to the isolation and harsh terrain.  Conditions must have been horrendous for the convicts to even contemplate an escape attempt.

Boats were built in this cove on Sarah Island

We meet up with Janelle (our tour guide on the island) who is very informative and explains what life would have been like on the island for the inhabitants.

Janelle (our tour guide) explains the workings of the lime pit

All of the buildings now lie in ruins but Janelle explains where each building was located and their use.

Ruins of the bakehouse on Sarah Island

It’s easy to see that Janelle enjoys her work and she brings the island to life with humourous tales and anecdotes.  She tells us to check out the foundations on some of the older houses in Strahan and explains that the island was often used for summer picnics and stones would be collected and taken back to Strahan. This goes a long way to explain why the buildings on the island are in ruins.

These ruins were once three stories high and housed the male convicts

We spent about an hour wandering around Sarah Island before returning to the boat.  Hard to imagine this peaceful picturesque island being the scene of so much misery

As we left Sarah Island and headed for the Gordon River a buffet lunch was served.  Wow!  This was some buffet.  Oodles of different salads and meats which included smoked salmon direct from the Macquarie Harbour salmon farms and a platter of Tasmanian cheeses.  YUMMM  YUMMM!

The lower reaches of the Gordon River

As we travelled up the river the Captain filled us in on the history of the river as well as pointing out the different trees and plant life growing along the shore.  The Huon Pine was heavily logged by timber cutters prior to the formation of the National Park but these trees can still be seen from the river and number in their thousands in the more inaccessible areas of the park.  At Heritage Landing the boat stopped so that we could take another excursion.

Wok on the boardwalk at Heritage Landing

This time we got up close and personal with the rain forest.

Loved the moss growing on the rainforest trees

Mosses and ferns grow with abandon along with different fungi.

Fungi growing on fallen trees - some look like oysters

A fallen huon pine laying beside the boardwalk is nearly 3,000 years old.  Now that is really old … !  The boat whistles and we head back onboard.  As we cruise back down the river and head north up the harbour a well earned cappuccino and hot chocolate tops off a lovely day.  At Strahan we are dropped off at Morrison Bros. Timber Mill where third generation timber cutter Snowy Morrison is cutting a slab of huon pine.

Snowy Morrison cutting slabs of huon pine

All of the huon pine that is now processed is from reclaimed timber.  When the timber cutters went into the forests they only took the best parts of the huon pine and the rest was left on the forest floor.  This felled timber is now being reclaimed and there is a large stockpile in a secure yard on the outskirts of Strahan.  It is lovely timber and wood carvers like to work with this soft wood.  That evening we headed back to the wharf area to take in a play that has been running for 21 years called ‘The Ship that Never Was’.  This is a two man play (helped along by some audience participation) and is a humourous take on the actual escape of ten convicts from Sarah Island.

'The Ship that Never Was'

We enjoyed the play which followed the historical events of the escape and capture of four of the convicts.  There were lots of laughs with the actors interacting with the audience and it was amazing to see a few planks of wood and some canvas strips morph into a ship before our very eyes.

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We’ve had a wonderful day cruising on Macquarie Harbour followed by an entertaining play.  The weather has been great.  We hope our luck will hold …