We paused for a leg stretch at the picturesque Hellyer Gorge and wished we had more time to wet a line.
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| Hellyer Gorge |
We made our way slowly to Strahan and set up in one of the caravan parks in town where we set about punishing one of the washing machines with a huge pile of laundry. The weather sort of holding off, we walked down to the waterfront and treated ourselves to dinner before starting a game of soccer in the camping area.
Life was good, but about to get a whole lot better.
We had thus far been a little disappointed with the West Coast of Tassie. We came looking for magnificent forest, yet came upon mile after mile of plantation forest. Whilst the forests are slowly changing from Radiata Pine to Tasmanian Blue Gum, the occasional massive stump gave a clue to what was here before. Previously I wouldn't have called myself a greenie, but suddenly for the first time I think I began to really comprehend what the whole forestry debate is all about.
We decided to take a drive as far into the South West wilderness area as possible, and we were blown away. We followed an old rail line to the Bell River Bridge, and glimpsed the true beauty of this part of the world.
The drive itself was spectacular, but walking around the bridge, seeing the forest up close and personal was something extremely touching, and seeing its remarkable ability to regenerate, yet in such a fragile state was something I don't think I'll ever fully comprehend,
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| Bird River Bridge Track |
The track follows an old railway line - to the former township of East Pillinger in Macquarie Harbour. A testament to what can be done when a determined man sets his heart on a dream. Within a two year period, James Crotty split from the Mount Lyell company, and essentially duplicated the entire existing Mount Lyell Mine infrastructure - building a port at East Pillinger in lieu of Strahan, and railway to the port from his mine - a task of similar engineering difficulty to the Queenstown - Strahan railway that has been recently restored.
Unfortunately Crotty died in 1898 - and his mine, despite holding richer ore deposits than the Mount Lyell mine was eventually merged, and the operations consolidated to the Mount Lyell infrastructure, leaving the East Pillinger line to fall into disrepair. It is a 6km walk from the Bell River Bridge to the ruins of East Pillinger - a bit too far for little legs - but the 4wd track in is a nice easy grade through magnificent hand cut cuttings where the canopy closes overhead and feels more like a tunnel.
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| Bird River Bridge |
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| Near Bird River Bridge |
We then returned to Queenstown and stopped in at the Wilderness Railway. Unfortunately the trains weren't running due to maintenance on the line, however we will be back in a couple of weeks to see the incredible engineering feats worked here too. We were lucky to see them manoeuvring some carriages around the yard - including turning one by hand!
Coming back to Strahan, we decided to head out to Hells Gates, the mouth of Macquarie Harbour. I was parking the car to walk the last bit onto the beach when Jo spied a 4wd only sign... And said do it.
What could possibly go wrong! Fully laden and still at highway tyre pressures, we drove onto the beach near the infamous Hells Gates, and thankfully on to hard sand!
The tide was out - and we had a little drive along the beach before returning back to the camper. It was a glorious day. We had found some pristine wilderness with some magnificent forest - and also driven on the beach near one of the most infamous harbour mouths in the world. As far as 4wd touring goes, it doesn't get much better than this!
The next day it simply got even better.
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