Despite all my promises, I’m finding it more difficult than I thought to keep up to date with this! It’s partly because I opted for OPTUS not TELSTRA for both the phone and the modem and immediately discovered that there’s very little OPTUS reception outside the two major cities in Tasmania, so roght around the coast I was incommunicado. In some ways that was great: I read and was inspired by Andre Agassi’s autobiography,Openwhich I had bought in the airport at Chiangmai and a couple of other books which I had come across as very good deals in Melbourne. In fact, I finished reading Diana, another attempt to interpret her life, just as we heard that her engagement ring had been passed on to a new young royal. Here’s hoping her experience of a royal marriage will be happier……
But back to that journey..the drive from Cradle Mountain to Strahan. The sky was somewhat grey and there was rain around so I decided to drive through Sheffield, the town renowned for its murals, just to see what it was like. It’s a small, one-street town in the middle of farming country and this was the day when I felt the rolling hills of Surrey or Kent on one side of the road and the foothills of the Alps on the other – confusing!! Sheffield’s mural competition winners were displayed around a small park just behind the main street. Their diversity was interesting, the skill of the artists amazing! It’s hard to find a favourite, so here are a couple to share:
Walking the few yards to the main street to find a dose of caffeine, I was interested to see other murals on the walls of businesses, one representing the community’s appreciation of a long-serving local doctor, another highlighting the wares of a retailer.
This little detour had taken me almost back to the north of the island so it was time to head off to Strahan to see what the west coast was like. I had read a lot about the wilderness railway and the Gordon river cruises, so was looking forward to some time there. The communities to drive through on the way were all small, there was very little traffic, so it was an easy run. I stopped briefly in one small town where the local pub, the primary school and the cafe cum souvenir shop seemed all to be in the same building – and it was up for sale! But there was no sign of any children or even old men propping up the bar – just one person serving coffee…Indeed, I sometimes wondered where all the people were – then, reaching Strahan, I found them!!
Strahan is a very small town but can be full of tourists. The whole of the area near the quay seems to have been bought up by a large hotel company and they seem to own the local tourist attractions, too…so prices are comparatively high. I had booked ahead for the first night so was able to enjoy a view of the jetty from my room – but it was a chilly, windy evening, only improved by fish and chips on the quayside before an early night with my book as there was still no internet connection.
I had decided to do the railway journey on the first day and then decide whether to do the river cruise later, so off I set in the morning to the station, advised to drive myself so as not to have to hang around at the end, though in fact it was walkable. The train was very like the old GWR trains of my youth, but the track more like the one from Coimbatore to Ootacamund that I travelled with Carolyn and the children when they were going back to school one year a long time ago now.
The people near me were really good company and most had cameras at the ready so we compared notes and enjoyed the scenery (and our resident guide’s humour!) together.
The railway goes from Strahan to Queenstown and is the steepest of its kind in the world if my memory serves me correctly and there are two trains in each direction each day. At one point they changed the engine from diesel to steam and, in order to turn each engine around the drivers manouvred them on to a turntable which they then turned manually…
I spent ages at the back of the carriage trying to get a shot of the incline but none really give the effect: they all look flat! It wasn’t!!
Having reached Queenstown we were whisked into a bus and back off to Strahan which for me meant a change of accommodation and my first experience of a much smaller place to stay.
That evening I drove up to Macquarrie Point passing vast areas of forest . For the first time I wondered what would happen if the car broke down…no worries!
Strahan Day Two saw me off on the Gordon River Cruise at 8.30. I decided to go with Gordon Heritage Tours on the ‘Eagle’ primarily because it was a local company, family-owned, and also because it was almost $100 cheaper than the other on offer. I think the difference is primarily about the amount of food and alcohol included in the price – but I was going to be driving so had made a wise choice…
It was also a wise choice because the Captain so enjoyed his job and was keen to take us out beyond the harbour entrance into the roaring forties:
It was interesting to see how everyone was egging him on to go out to sea and what a sense of exhilaration there was in being told that this could only be done safely a few times each year.
On the way back into the river whose harbour covers a greater area than Sydney’s we were able to watch fish farmers at work, each farm using a different technique for ensuring the appropriate feed is given at the right times, before moving to Sarah Island – one of the earliest convict settlements and hearing stories of life there and of how those convicts eventually contributed to the skills of the area particularly through shipbuilding.
Then it was a slow journey back to the jetty, enjoying a lunch of Tasmanian specialities as we sailed gently through this impressive river, on the look out for white eagles swooping and enjoying the calm of the river.
On shore, I took the time to see the woodcarver’s business before setting off to drive to Hobart. Leaving Strahan at 3.30 with less than 300kms to drive, I was reasonably confident that all would be well and I would arrive in Hobart in time to find somewhere to stay.
Living the Journey 