A weekend in Strahan along the wild west coast of Tassie

Go slow! Echidnas crossing.
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At last we had a weekend to check out Tasmania's wild west coast. Strahan is the largest town on the west coast and is TINY. Most of the area is now national park.

The drive from Hobart is not far, but is long because the roads are small and windey. Our first stop was at Lake St. Clair, the largest lake in Tassie that feeds many of the states rivers and runs some of it's most important power plants. Although pretty, the weather was a little cold so we ate lunch and moved on.

some of the oldest living trees on earth.

Sean & Avani at Lake St. Clair in central Tasmania.
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We next stopped at the famous Franklin-Gordon river. It was here where there were large, eventually-successful protests in the 1970's to stop the building of a dam and save the area. It was symbolized the start of Tassie's green movement which continues today, with the Green Party being the most-represented party in Tasmanian government.

Before reaching Stahan we drove through the town of Queenstown. Not Queenstown, New Zealand, but Queenstown, Tasmania, Australia. The differences are huge. We were first struck by the barren hills in hues of orange and red. Next came the strongly acrid smells. Then the deserted houses followed by a small main drag with a few folks hanging out outside. Queenstown is a mining town on the decline, a vestige of Australia's mining past, an unsustainable livelihood in an minimally-sustained town. The main hotel was not a bad deal if you don't mind the 'biohazard.'

King William Mountain range from the highway on our way to Strahan.
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After leaving Queenstown, the hills and smells return to normal and the beauty begins as we descend our way towards the Southern Ocean to Strahan.

We felt fortunate the next day to have sun. Apparently it rains 330 days a year there. We took a day cruise which took us around the area. We cruised around MacQuarrie Harbour, out to Hell's Gate where the harbour meets the Southern Ocean. Interestingly, from the latitude where we were, the next land mass to the west was South America!

We cruised by some of the salmon farms in the area, then headed up the famous Franklin-Gordon River as described earlier. It is in this area that some of the oldest remaining forests on earth are located. Also located here are the Huon pines, some of the oldest living trees on earth (second only to the Bristlecone pines in Yosemite). Being old trees, they take forever to grow, reaching the length of a finger after about 20 years! We had a chance to take a forest walk, viewing the trees at various stages of growth, even came across a scary Tiger snake!

The beautiful Franklin River.
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The cruise also stopped at and provided a tour of Sarah Island with it's prison ruins that predate Port Arthur. Overall a beautiful day for a beautiful cruise.

The next day we left early and were able to stop for a couple of great hikes along the way. Avani enjoyed it heaps and did her longest single hike to date. We searched and searched for wild platypus but to no avail.