World Heritage on the Wild West Coast

After our diversion at Hollow Tree we continued to explore the West Coast of Tasmania widely regarded as having some of the most pristine wilderness areas in the world....which seems somewhat contradictory when you drive through swathes of felled forests which leave a large, ugly scar on the landscape. The confronting vista of acres of tree stumps, discarded logs scattered all over and the earth exposed to the elements was not just a few isolated pockets but miles and miles of these so called plantations. "Rip Rip wood chip" kept going through my mind.

An example of the destruction we saw in patches on the way to Strahan.

When we add to logging, the impact of mining...... and the rugged, remote West Coast has certainly been exploited over the years. The Queenstown I remember from nearly 50 years ago was a working copper mine where the fumes from the processing stack denuded the hills of vegetation for miles around and left a colourful petina on the surrounding hills. I hardly recognised the place....no working mine now and nature slowly reclaiming what is rightfully hers .....trees and greenery everywhere. Here's the rub though, when we stopped for a rest in Queenstown we thought we had arrived on a Sunday....dead as a door nail. Wilderness and humans don't mix well and it is a an issue not easily resolved....wild country vs industry, jobs and livelihoods?

                        The road into Queenstown when it was a working mining town.

Strahan was our destination and here is a wonderful example of where one industry, tourism, is flourishing. It is a small, quaint village with a Harbour and wharf closely attached to the village.....and a long history of a working port which they have preserved very well. It was busy ( had to wait to be seated for dinner!) with lots of accommodation and young people working everywhere. We really liked it.

The view from the bar having drinks before dinner.

Once a harbour, alway a harbour.

The weather was very kind and we had a magnificent excursion on the Lady Franklin on Macquarie Harbour and up the Gordon River....World Heritage wilderness at its finest. This huge catamaran took us across Macquarie Harbour (the second largest in Australia) past the fish farms growing their salmon  and out to the harbour entrance known by the convicts as "Hells Gate." So called  because when they came here they were entering Hell...and we "got the picture" through the stories, vivid descriptions and explanations from our guide on our tour of Sarah Island.

Hells Gate is a very narrow entrance (80meters) and many sailing vessels were wrecked negotiating its channel. Most vessels had to wait, sometimes days, for favourable winds. I read about this in books like "For the Term of His Natural Life" and others and I must say my imagination could not have dreamed up a more dangerous channel....nor could it have imagined the horrors and deprivations the convicts suffered on that extreme penal outpost of Sarah Island in the middle of the harbour....a place instigated for the "worst of the worst" including Alexander Pearce...the cannibal convict.

Hells gates- the entrance to Macquarie Harbour and Hell on Earth for the poor unfortunates sent there

                            Before the light houses, many ships and lives were lost.

Entering the Gordon River was quite a moment considering the history of this controversial river. The proposed damming of the Gordon below Franklin was a political, moral and social flashpoint in the 1980s and really put the Greens as a party on the political map.  Thank goodness for those individuals and groups who fought so hard to preserve this Magnificent World Heritage Park. We just couldn't imagine such a place being ruined by another thoughtless dam project.

We witnessed magnificent forests with Huon Pine that lives for over 600 years, huge Celery Top pines and a temperate forest that has been here for milenia. The crisp, clear reflections in the dark, glass like water were the most impressive I have ever seen.

The Lady Franklin- a very comfortable way to enjoy the Gordon River

Magnificent Temperate Rain Forest trees hundreds of years old.

The water - so dark and still it is like a mirror.

We all agreed that we are so fortunate to have such magnificent areas right on our doorstep....areas that photos really don't do justice.... and that some forward thinking people saved from development.

The West Coast of Tassie is wild and rugged and still appears not nearly as developed as the rest of the state. Beautiful and well worth a visit.