After Cradle Mountain, I made my way to the Wild West. The main town out here is Queenstown. It is located at the base of Mt. Lyall where they have been mining copper for over a hundred years. Because Queenstown was once surrounded by thick temperate rainforest, it was very difficult to get the copper out, and a railway was needed to the closest port, Strahan. Strahan is located about 80 km away on MacQuarie Harbor. MacQuarie Harbor is the second largest natural harbor in the Southern Hemisphere, but also has one of the smallest and a very difficult entrance passage.
The mining and the lumber (Huon, sassafras, etc.) made this area of the world a very busy place for several years. The infrastructure they had to put in place to get these things out of this region has made it a tourist destination. Strahan is also located on the fringes of the Unesco World Heritage area that has been set up to protect the temperate rainforests that are still located in the region.
Everyone who comes to Strahan does at least 1 of 2 things here - a Gordon River cruise (goes through the World Heritage area) and the Wild Wilderness Railway. I did both.
Both of these trips looked to be in doubt when I arrived. The drive from Cradle Mountain was full of rain and wind. I figured I wouldn't be seeing much scenery if this was going to be the weather out here. Apparently they get about 300 days of rain out here and we're not just talking a nice little shower. At times (at least once a day), there is a torrential downpour that can last for just a few seconds or a few minutes. The weather is absolutely nuts!
The next day, the sun actually shone and there was very little rain, so my river cruise showed some views and made some of the walking we did enjoyable. I was more enthralled by our visit to Sarah Island than anything else. Sarah Island was another convict island. The history here is so amazing. There is very little left of the prison site on this tiny island, but we were taken around by a acting group and they really made the history come alive. They made the people and the horrors they faced everyday real. The island was once called Hell Island by the convicts as their jaillers were quite cruel. Food was in short supply (for the prisoners) and they had to endure backbreaking labor. The island became more bearable when a shipbuilder named Hoy made his way to the island. He treated the men like human beings and taught them skills that turned out some of the best boats made at the time. The final story told on the island is also the subject of a play that goes on every night in Strahan. The men on Sarah Island were to be moved to Port Arthur but there was still one more ship to be built. Some men, Hoy and the ship's captain were left on Sarah's Island to finish while the rest of the men and soldiers were shipped around to Port Arthur. The men building the boat had heard about Port Arthur and had no real desire to go there, so they dragged out the ship building for as long as they could. They also began to make a plan....
The ship was to be one of Hoy's finest, so the men thought it would be a great idea to steal the boat and sail away, and this is what they did. The left Hoy and captain along the shoreline and took the boat through Hell's Gates (the entrance to the harbor) and to Chile. They lived in Chile for a few years, but were eventually sold out to the British by the Chileans. The men were obviously brought back to Tasmania for trial. At the trial (which the funny little play is about), the men were eventually found not guilty on a technicality. It seems the boat did not exist on any record, therefore, they could not have stolen it. A fantastic way to the end the story of Sarah's Island. The play was fantastic as well, as there was audience participation and I got to play the Scotsman Hoy for the scene of the actual mutiny. I got to do my best Scottish accent and everything.
The Gordon River is also famous for the Huon Pine. This tree has natural oils that do not break down and rot, so it was much valued for ships. It is now protected in the World Heritage Area, but they are still able to use it for woodcrafting as trees that have fallen in the past can still be salvaged from the forest floor. Because they don't rot, logs that have been on the forest floor for hundreds of years can still be used. It's really quite amazing. The pine also has a very distinctive smell to it.
The next day, I did the train tour. This train was built up and over the mountains from Strahan to Queenstown. They needed to bring in a special type of engine and track called the ABT System. This allowed them to do grades of 1:12, 1:16 and 1:20 (for every metre horizonal, you go up 12 (or 16, 20) metres). They did this at a time when most railways avoided anything worse than 1:40. They also had to build it through the temperate rainforest jungle. It is an amazing feat. As you get closer to Queenstown, the land becomes more desolate and the rivers are lifeless. This is because the mines on Mt. Lyall created so much acid rain and they dumped so much crap in the water that the Queen and King Rivers are now dead and much of the land around Queenstown is just scrub grass. It's amazing to come out of the rainforests into the scrubland. They are doing lots to try and clean up the area, but it is of course a long and slow process.
After the train arrives in Queenstown, you take a bus back to Strahan. I don't get carsick, but on that bus I was definitely feeling it. That road is ridiculous. I'm very thankful that I rented a car and got to drive it the whole time as I may have this way for the entire trip otherwise.
Once the bus made its dizzying trip back to Strahan, I hopped in my car and started to make my way back to Hobart.
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