One of several reports in a series covering the Subaru 4WD Club's Tasmania excursion from 17 September to 17 October 1999
Tasmania
Days 2 - 7
21 - 26 September 1999
Devonport to Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain to Penguin
Penguin to Stanley
Stanley to Strahan
Gordon River Cruise
Tuesday 21st - Devonport to Cradle Mountain via Burnie
Our bus departed from Devonport at 10am to the Burnie Shipping Terminal to collect our vehicles. Great we now have all our gear and it is time to do some shopping for the tour. Our first "touristy" trip was to the Lactos Cheese factory at Burnie where we were to find that they stopped doing tours through the factory about 20 years ago, oh well, we visited the shop and purchased some great cheeses anyway. Lunch was enjoyed at the shop with the cheeses as main course.
From Burnie we travelled down to Leven Canyon. Our first experience of driving on the windy hilly roads of Tasmania. The scenery was spectacular and as we were traversing Matthew was reading from his travel book that one of the hillsides we were about to travel was considered to be extremely difficult in certain weather. Well the Subarus did not find any difficulty but then the weather was absolutely magic at this time. As we travelled around the mountainside the view was worth any hardships.
Our next stop was at the original store where GJ Coles started operations at Wilmot – it was ice-cream time. During our travels Danny asked if we could stop at a liquor outlet before arriving at Cradle Mountain as they, and a few others, had not stocked up on this essential prior to leaving Burnie. Well we looked but none of the settlements we travelled through had a hotel. Looks like being a dry night everyone.
How can we have happy hour and no "happys"? Luckily when we arrived at Cradle Mountain we found the camp shop had a small amount of "supplies".
Wednesday 22nd - Cradle Mountain
The possums try to pinch your food at night; the Currawongs try by day. We had possums foraging in the bin (in the toilets) last night. One possum tried to climb up Pat’s leg! The campground is meant to have a group camping area but we had trouble finding space to put up our dome tent. There is a nice camp kitchen to use here. Completely enclosed with hotplates, BBQ tops, tables and chairs, and fireplaces. This gives you a chance to meet other campers and chat about travelling. Very cosy on a cold night. We walked around Dove Lake today. It was quite rainy at times. A very spectacular walk which is mostly boardwalk. We spent our second night at Cradle Mountain. Most of the other campers are Queenslanders!
Thursday 23rd - Cradle Mountain to Penguin
Australian wildlife - Kangaroo, Wombat, Tasmanian Devil, Echidna, Koala and Penguins
The
group packed up and left Cradle Mountain by 9:30 am. Stopped for smoko beside a
line of hydro pipes descending a steep hillside. The station was hidden below
us. Drove on to Marapooka Cave for a tour at 11:15am. It is a wet cave with many
formations and a lot of glow worms! Then on to Trowunna Wildlife Park. It is
quite run down, but has some interesting animals. Lots of ducks, some Tassie
Devils, plus Koalas and the cuddliest wombat in the world. Drove on to Sheffield
where we got some money from the bank and a few groceries. The town of Sheffield
is famous for its interesting murals. Finally, pulled up at the Caravan Park at
Penguin. A lovely spot, right on the ocean. The park owner suggested that at
dusk we walk around the train tracks to the next beach to wait for the penguins.
We had the place all to ourselves. After sitting very still and quiet the
penguins began arriving just on dark, coming slowly across the rocks by the
light of the full moon. Magic!
Friday 24th - Penguin to Stanley
Left
Penguin at 8:30am. Most did a bit of shopping, then we all met up at Lactos
Cheese Factory where we bought some more cheese. Yum! Drove up the coast through
Wynyard where we saw lots of tulips growing around town. They have a big tulip
festival here every year. Had morning tea next to the river, then went a little
further to Fossil Bluff and climbed to the top of a grassy headland for some
great views of Wynyard and surrounds. Our next stop was a field of tulips in
rows of red, pink, and yellow. We stopped at Table Cape lookout and also checked
out the lighthouse. We drove around the coast to Rocky Cape National Park, but
decided not to stop there, as the park facilities were unusable. Our group kept
on driving around the coastline. We saw a long jetty where minerals are shipped
to Japan – 1.6km long! Then we spied "The Nut". After setting up
camp, Matt and I rode the chairlift to the top and walked around. It was very,
very windy, but the views of the town and countryside were the best yet. The
ride down the chairlift was steep, as you are looking outwards and a long way
down. We drove around the area, past Highfield historic house and onto West
Beach where Matthew simply had to take the Subie off-road even though the beach
was just 3 metres wide, rocky and covered in seaweed. Also walked around town
and checked out the shops. There are some very old and quaint buildings in
Stanley. It was decided that we would all have dinner out together at the local
seafood restaurant where Graham ate a poor little Mutton Bird.
Saturday 25th - Stanley to Strahan
Early
start again. Matt and Vanessa went to the Post Office before leaving Stanley, to
send some post cards (some of which took nearly 2 weeks to arrive at their
destinations in Queensland). We led to the Servo back on the highway where Ralph
was filling up. From here we drove southwest past Smithton and Marrawa. The road
turned to dirt south of here. This road was only completed in the early 1990’s,
much to the Greenies disgust. No fuel for 184km. The next town was Arthur River
and on the "Edge of the World" where we had smoko. Kept driving South
and went looking for Balfour, a ghost town once the site of a mine. However,
despite driving along many 4wd roads and through old mining sites, we couldn’t
find any evidence of the town. Once we returned to the Development Road, we met
the Ranger in charge of the northwestern section of Tasmania and had a lovely
chat. ‘Twas decided that the faster cars would lead the way. The slower cars
would be able to enjoy the views of the road. Danny led the Forester and the
silver MY in a rally-style dash for the next smoko stop. The road itself was
white pebble with graded corners. To each side were fields of button grass, so
the view was unobstructed for most of the trip. The poor women-folk in the front
three cars hung on for grim death. Thank goodness for "Oh-S---"
handles! After half an hour of sideways action, Matt got a puncture in the rear
left tyre. Arnold fixed it on the car with his repair kit. More rally driving
until we stopped at the Donaldson River Bridge for a stretch of the legs and to
wait for the rest of the group.
We then continued driving to the Vehicular Ferry at Pieman River. After paying our $10, we were all across and drove into the forest to have lunch on the top of a hill. We get going again but Matthew’s front right tyre needed inflating. We turned onto the black top about 30 km’s before Zeehan. At Zeehan, we drove up a hill for views of the town. Then we went to an excellent museum in town. It was very interesting having displays of minerals, natural history, modern and historical mining practices, mining disasters, steam trains, etc. Before leaving town, we drove out past the golf course to drive through an old train tunnel. It was just wide enough for the cars, and about 150m long. We arrived at Strahan as the sun was setting and set up camp at the Caravan Park. Arnold and Ralph drove to the beach to see the sun set over the ocean but the dunes were too large to climb and unfortunately they missed it. Lots of mozzies at Strahan.
Sunday 26th - Strahan
Got up at 7:00 to get ready for the cruise. We boarded the "Wanderer II" at 8:45am.
First
went to Hells Gates and through to the ocean side. It was not very choppy, much
to Matt’s disappointment. The gap for ships is only75 metres wide. We passed a
man-made rock wall in the harbour, designed to maintain a channel for big ships.
Further down the harbour were the fish farms, where we saw a man feeding the
fish by blowing food out of a large tube using bursts of compressed air.
Our
next stop was "Sarah Island" Penal Settlement. The guide was an actor
and so told the stories very well. He even donned a wetsuit and got into the
water to identify and explain the old slipyards. The water was only 9 degrees.
Then our boat went up the Gordon River to Heritage Landing at Horseshoe Bend
where we were able to disembark and go for a short boardwalk through the forest.
Here we saw some odd little "Volcanoes of Mud" with hole in centre.
They were between 5 and 20 cm high. After much discussion we later found out
that they are part of the crayfish burrows. The lunch on the boat was a
Smorgasbord with smoked salmon, cold meats, cheeses and salads.
After returning to Strahan, Pat, Marilyn, Vanessa and Matt decided to go on scenic flight in a seaplane over the Gordon-Franklin Wilderness. The flight included Hell’s Gates, Franklin River, the proposed dam building site, workers site and the road to the dam, which was partially built before World Heritage Listing protected the area. Touchdown in the Strahan Harbour left our stomachs in our mouths but glad to have seen a pristine area. We spent the night back at the caravan park eager to sleep well for tomorrow we go to Queenstown.
Matthew & Vanessa Abbott SC 451
Previous Report - 20 September - Melbourne to Devonport
Next Report - 27 September to 4 October - Strahan to Hobart
