Bicheno, east coast of Tasmania
Tag: inspiration
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Unexpected Sights
One of the things I love about traveling is the unexpected things that pop up on your journey. You're looking for a place to stay and you stumble across a great little cafe with the best burnt toffee almond slice you've ever tasted. Or you're trying to find the turn off to the beach and you end up at a waterfall you didn't even know existed.
This afternoon saw us in the Freycinet National Park heading for the lookout to Wineglass Bay. It's part of the Great Eastern Drive on the East coast stretching fro Orford in the south up past Binnalong Bay in the north. It's billed as one of Australia's great drives. I have to say, the Tasmanian tourist board have a positive genius for naming places. There's the cabin of lagoons, Bay of Fires, Honeymoon Bay just to name few. Much more enticing sounding than pools water, red rocks and a sandy beach.
Our walk up the hillside to the lookout for wineglass bay passed through the most incredible scenery. In an island of gorgeous landscapes and vegetation, it was another stunning setting for a walk with magnificent red rocks, rising jagged from the mountain's edge. Trees, mushrooms, flowers and birds all clinging to the side. Evidence of mammals although none actually seen.
The view from the lookout was gorgeous but my money was on the walk the top. Sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination.
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The Singularity
On our drive from Strahan on the wild west coast to Swansea on the east coast, we stopped in Queenstown on the lands of the Palawa People to do the interactive app, The Singularity. It was created by the The Unconformity, an arts organisation creating a cultural conduit into the west coast of Lutruwita (Tasmania).
I downloaded the app while we were still in Strahan and it took us on a walk around key sites in this mining town. We had a map and a compass that used GPS to direct us from location to location. Music accompanied us as we walked through the streets.
At each stop we heard a little bit of a story dramatically told by different voices. A story reaching back from the past and into the present that took us from a house near a water tank to the lookout on top of Spion Kopf. The story was evocative and a little spooky and I would recommend this one for the older kids in your family or at least the ones that are okay with a little creepiness.
The story had a great twist at the and it was fun trying to navigate through the streets and getting lost at times. It was great because it took us to places we wouldn't have otherwise seen on our visit. And I loved the idea of an interactive story app that guided you through a place.
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Cruising Along
After spending yesterday chilling out, we were ready to get super early this morning to catch our boat from the wharf in Strahan for our cruise on board the Spirit of the Wild up the Gordon river with the Gordon River Cruises. Our captain was Doug who sung us sea shanties last night when went to see the play, The Ship That Never Was. It's still early days in our trip but I think it's the highlight so far. Along with the drive through the Tarkine to get to the ferry at Corinna.
We had a whole section of the boat to ourselves at the back of the lower deck. And thanks to my new sea sickness bands, I didn't feel seasick once! Our fellow travellers were a friendly bunch and the guides on board the board were helpful and enthusiastic. We had a commentary about things we passed as well as footage of actors playing the parts of key European historical figures such as Captain James Kelly and Lady Jane Franklin. As well as a First Nations person talking about the area.
Our first 'stop' was to travel from Strahan out through the infamous gates of hell into the Great Southern Ocean where the roaring 40s prevail. We stood at the prow of the ship, holding on to the rails as we rode up and down the waves. It was like being on a rollercoaster – heaps of fun! Not so much fun for the sailors or convicts in the 1800s when it was called the gates of hell. So named because the channel entrance to Macquarie Harbour is incredibly narrow and shallow. Boats had to hug the shore to make it in and out. Or crashed on the rocks.
In the late 1800s, William Damper came up with the idea to build a wall to dredge the sand in the harbour and make the channel deeper. He built a working model of the harbour before work began. It took convict labour three years and tonnes of stone to build the wall. As we sailed along the coast we could see the stops of the rock wall which extends from well inside the harbour, out past the heads. Cormorants were using the top of the wall outside the heads as perch when we went through.
From Entrance Island at the heads, we travelled the 35km length of Macquarie harbour to the mouth of the Gordon river. Macquarie Harbour is Australia's second largest harbour, the largest being Port Phillip Bay in Victoria. We went past the fish farms in the middle of the harbour where we learnt that salmon are farmed in nets that are 20-30 metres deep and house some 40,000 fish. Apparently the ratio of 12 kilos of fish to a cubic metre is some of the best in the world. The salmon are brought here on fish transporters when they are 150-300g in size, then vacuumed up and transported away for processing once fully grown. They are fed pellets that contain number 27 to make their flesh pink. In the wild of the Atlantic Ocean, they eat crustaceans that turn their flesh pink.
The Gordon river was incredible. Gliding upstream in the boat was like entering a zen zone of wilderness. It was quiet and the river was calm and still, reflecting all the vegetation on the banks of thriver as well as the clouds and the sky.
The best bit of the cruise was walking along the elevated boardwalk at Heritage Landing. A tree spotting trail had been created with gorgeous metal symbols placed next to different native Tasmanian trees.
Once you spotted the tree and its symbol, a nearby sign gave you information about the tree and its uses. After wandering through the Tarkine and wondering what we were looking at, it was wonderful to be in a place where you could easily identify and learn about the vegetation around you.
People from the ship were also there to answer questions and help you find the trees. Trees featured were: blackwood, celery top pine, horizontal, huon pine, leatherwood, myrtle beech, native plum, sassafras, scented paperbark, Tasmanian laurel and whitey wood.
Back on board it was time for a buffet lunch before a guided walk on Langerrarerouna, known to invaders as Sarah Island and home to a penal colony in the early 1800s. The colony was so bad it was known as hell on earth by the convicts and death was seen as a means of escape.
Our tour guide was Kiah, the main actor in the play we saw last night and she brought the same fantastic blend of humour and history to our tour around the island. We saw the remains of the penal colony and visited the sites of the ship building areas. There was a fantastic oven that had been built from bricks made across the water on the mainland. The roof of the oven is created from vertical bricks laid in a spiral pattern without any mortar. A fire is lit to one side of the opening and the oven can bake 400 loaves of bread with one load of wood and no smoke.
Before invasion, Langerrarerouna was visited seasonally by the Toogee and Mimegin people to gather swan eggs and meet with people in other tribes. Sadly, in the winter of 1833, sixty-one First Nations People were rounded up from the surrounding area and housed in the lower level of the Penitentiary before being shipped off to islands in Bass Strait. The story of the Tasmanian indigenous genocide is a myth we were fed at school. Along with all the other myths used to justify dispossession and colonisation.
While there, the convicts on the upper level tormented them by pouring water through the floorboards and urinating on them. Sixteen of the First Nations Peoples died of white man's disease while imprisoned. History is not pretty and the convict ruins on the island hide the brutal treatment of First Nations people at the hands of the invaders.
I have conflicted feelings about this area and the pristine wilderness that hides such an ugly past.
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Treading The Boards
I've tried to find a whole range of different things for us to do on our Tasmanian adventure. We're mainly travelling in the northern part of the island on this trip and doing coastal regions as well as inland areas. I'm hoping to come back later in the year so we can explore Hobart and surrounds in the south. I personally like a variety of things to see and do but I am conscious of planning a trip for the whole family so I am trying to pick something for everyone in the family. The lovely G has a passion for waterfalls so the more of them the better. Miss Twelve wants to see all the big ticket natural places – the Tarkine, Wineglass Bay and Bay of Fires. And Miss Sixteen wants to do as many different things as possible and I am happy to oblige!
We got into Strahan last night in the dark and the rain. It's been raining all day so we spent it in our cabin at the caravan park reading, playing games and for me, writing. After all the travelling along bumpy gravel roads and packing and unpacking the car it was heaven to spend a day being still.
Tonight we bought some tickets and checked out the play, The Ship That Never Was. It's Australia's longest running play and has been going for twenty eight and a half years with over 6,500 performances! Written by Richard Davey, it's now produced and performed by his daughter Kiah and the Round Earth Company.
It's performed outdoors and under cover in all weather from September to May. It was freezing tonight but the Round Earth Company had our backs. The wooden boards had soft, squishy cushions for us to sit on, woollen blankets were provided to cover laps and they handed out hot water bottles to warm hands. It's definitely the cosiest performance I've ever been to in spite of the cold and the rain!
It's also the most fun theatre experience I've been to in a long time and great for families as there's heaps of audience participation. Lots of people are pulled from the audience and given props and costumes to be part of the cast. Be that a parrot, cat, octopus or convict, there's something for every budding thespian!
Our evening began with sea shanties sung by Captain Doug whose day job is sailing the River Gordon cruise ship, making his traditional shanties particularly authentic. He told us tales of the 12 metre waves he had seen outside the gates of hell earlier in the day. The gates of hell is the name for the entrance into Macquarie Harbour where Strahan is located.
The play tells the story of the dramatic convict escape from Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour. It was dubbed hell on earth by convicts for its atrocious conditions. The set was incredible. Sails painted with various scenes formed the backdrop. Various pieces of timber lined the stage and over the course of the evening were transformed into the brig or ship (that never was).
There were only two actors but helped by the audience they told the dramatic tale with flair and humour. There were lots of puns and pop culture references as well as a lot of information about the place and time of the escape. It was a great way to learn some Australian history and Miss Twelve was pulled out of the audience to play the past of Russen, one of the convicts. She loved being able to 'fire' a musket and spray the audience with water during a 'storm'.
If you're in Strahan I highly recommend catching a performance of The Ship That Never Was. I haven't laughed so much in a long time!
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Dusty Roads
Yesterday we had an exhilarating and at times harrowing two and a half hour drive on gravel roads through the heart of the Tarkine from when we turned off the bitumen road of the Tarkine tourist drive down to Corinna.
It is some of the most stunning countryside I have ever seen and definitely the most remote I have ever been. We only saw one other car going in the opposite direction in the entire time were on the road. The gravel road twisted and turned up and down hills as we travelled 78km bouncing along the potholed roads. Occasionally a small bird would fly across the front of the car or water would form a creek and run alongside the road. Every fifteen minutes or so we would be in new terrain with different vegetation.
My favourite part was the rolling hills of the button grass moorlands dotted with trees. I'm assuming it was button grass, but I don't rightly know. I wished for a local tour guide, well versed in plant knowledge snd geology of the area to tell me what we were seeing. I wondered if this was what the country looked like before invasion, when First Nations peoples cared for the land.
About two thirds of the way in after hitting a rock that scraped the undercarriage of the car (not hard to do as our Subaru Liberty is sporting roof racks, a bulging roof sack, a full boot and four bodies) I had the realisation that if we broke down or had an accident, there would be no-one to help us. The thought of having to unload the boot to change a flat tyre made me break out in a sweat. If we had a crash…there was no-one who knew where we were or where we were planning on going. There would be no-one in Strahan waiting for us to arrive and calling emergency services if we didn't show up.
Luckily for us, the lovely G is an excellent driver, the car held it together and the rain held off for most of the way. There were also stretches of bitumen on steep parts of the road which were a welcome relief from the bone shaking, car rattling and ear deafening crunch of rubber on rocks. If you do this drive I would highly recommend you do it in daylight hours as at night there is lots of wildlife (especially the endangered Tasmanaian devil) and it's recommended that you drive at 45km/h from dusk till dawn to avoid killing them.
In spite of my fears, we managed to get to sleepy Corinna with plenty of time to spare to catch the Fatman Barge across the Pieman river.
It's the last remaining cable barge in Tasmania. If we didn't make it by 5pm we were going to have to turn around and retrace our steps to find somewhere to spend the night. Corinna consists of the Tarkine Hotel and a handful of historic cottages which have been converted for tourist accomodation-all of which we fully booked-and nothing else.
We made it!
It was a stunning drive and I am so glad that we did it and that the Lovely G is such a calm and steady driver. I would like to come back one day and spend the night in Corinna but travelling north from Strahan rather than south from Arthur River to avoid the intense drive.
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The Edge Of The World (Tarkine Take Two)
This spot on the Tarkine Drive is billed as the Edge of the World. It's definitely remote and wild. I don't think I've ever seen surf as rough as this with rows on rows of waves dumping one after and on top of another. And there was all this foam on the beach. It looked like it was laundry day for the ocean with the sand getting a really good wash.
The rocks were amazing. All jagged edges with spots of rust and blooms of orange. It makes me want to study geology so I can say, 'Oh that's a sedimentary rock with lichen growing on it.' Or whatever is going on here. I have no idea what kind of rocks these are.
But I do know that they are incredibly beautiful. Shaped by time, tides, wind and rain. Holding their own against the incoming waves, giving a little of themselves to add to the sand and the surf.
Sky by Cloud.
Mother nature is the best artist.
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The Nut
The Nut is the stunning backdrop to the town of Stanley. It's a huge, looming lump of rock that sticks up and out from the end of a bit of land that pokes out of the northwest coastline. It's a solid and reassuring piece of geology that the town leans against to get out of the wind. It's a solid walk up the steep sides of the Nut and alas we didn't have time to make the climb, not if we wanted to see the Tarkine as well. It's the tough life of a traveller – always having to choose between seeing or doing one amazing thing or another! Luckily it's a task I'm willing to take on 🙂
I didn't think we were going to get a chance to ride the chairlift to the top of the Nut while we were staying in Stanley. I was a little sad as it was one of the things that had been on my list of things to do before we had left Melbourne. Along with the wilderness railway in Strahan which we were also going to miss as it was fully booked out until June when we were going to be back home.
The weather had been stormy with strong winds and rain the whole time we were in Stanley and the chairlift wasn't operational. On the morning of our departure it was a different story altogether as the sun came out to bid us goodbye and the winds died down momentarily. We had a big drive ahead of us as we were aiming to do the coastal part of the Tarkine Drive and then head down to Strahan for the night via the Fatman barge at Corinna. We had to be in Corinna by 5pm to catch the last trip across the Pieman river for the day.
As we jumped in the car, I saw the chairlift going up the side of the Nut with people in it. I managed to convince the rest of the family that we should take a ride on the chairlift. And I am so glad I did!
It was an exhilarating ride up the side of the Nut and then walking on top with the incredible views of the town and out to sea. It was freezing up there and the woman operating the chairlift at the top said she thought it must be snowing in Cradle Mountain to make it so cold.
It was also super windy and we almost got blown off but it was well worth it. The land up there is 13 million years old and still hosts life. Somehow, it hugs the contours of the land and manages to hold on, in spite of the wind and the cold.
Mind-blowing.
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Don’t Sink! (Tarkine Take One)
Today we did a day trip from our base in Stanley to see the inland part of the Tarkine Drive. Our first stop was the Trowutta arch. We weren't expecting much from our first foray into the temperate rainforest of the Tarkine and were amazed by the sight that awaited us at the end of our fifteen minute walk. Of course, being us, the walk took a lot longer than fifteen minutes as we all stopped several times to take photos on the way!
This part of the world is known as sinkhole country with hundreds of sinkholes in the area. The rocks beneath the surface are dolomite rocks. These carbonate rocks are soluble in water which creates gaps and cracks under the ground that cause slumps and hollows on the surface. This sinkhole and the one at Lake Chisholm are filled with water.
I managed to create a new sinkhole when I walked of the track to get a closer picture of the sinkhole. I didn't realise the earth was so soft here!
Our next stop was the buttongrass meadows at the Desmpster Plains Lookout. After bumping along a gravel road for about ten minutes we came to a wooden lookout by the side of the road. It looked pretty uninspiring until we climbed the track behind it and discovered the actual lookout further up the hill. It started raining halfway up the hill and when we got to the stop we had this breathtaking view. Pus bonus rainbow!
Buttongrass is a sedge that has button like flowers and seed pods. It thrives in infertile and poorly drained soils. Areas such as these that are dominated by button grass are referred to as moorland or plains. First Nations custodians used fire-stick farming to create these moorlands for hunting and ease of movement. During the button grass created some and flames that flushed out animals. Fresh growth after the fires in turn attracted more wildlife.
From there our next stop was the limestone sinkhole of Lake Chisholm and all the amazing trees, ferns and line growing on everything near the 'lake'.
Of all our stops today, the most magnificent scenery occurred in the spur of the moment stops, not the ones that I had planned and marked on our map of the area. I don't know if it was the serendipity if the moment colouring them or the surprise that made them seem so wonderful. Perhaps its something about not having any expectations and letting the splendour of the place carry you away. Whatever it was, I am grateful for this beautiful day in the Tasmanian wilds!
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The Light Between Dreams
Stanely is a super cute and picturesque Tasmanian town situated in the island's northwest. It has lots of historic buildings and was used as a location for the 2012 movie, The Light Between Dreams.
It looks just as amazing by night as it does by day.
We stayed in a cute little flat in the attic rooms of the old customs house. There was a bathroom, kitchenette, bedroom and a lounge tucked into one of the dormer windows. I loved sitting on the couch staring out to sea, watching the storms ride in on the clouds and the waves. I could drink in that view forever! I didn't get to write any poems while in the attic but I am feeling a little bit more like a poet after having an attic of my own, even if it was only for a few nights!
There was a lot of time spent on this couch, reading books and playing games. When we were in Deloraine I managed to pick up a new game by Gamewright called Zeus on the Loose. It's a super fun, fast-paced family action card game based on Greek myths and featuring the Greek gods Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Hera, Hermes and of course, Zeus. It involves lots of maths, quick thinking and snatching. Super good! If you want to get some easy family games, I highly recommend Gamewright – they seem to know just what makes a great family game. Some of their other titles which we have played and enjoyed are Sushi Go, Sleeping Queens and Hiss.
It was lovely to wander around the town, popping into shops, buying yummy nibbles for supper and stopping off at a cafe for a cup of tea when we got too cold. My favourite shops were the volunteer run Heart and Craft shop that stocked handmade items created by locals and the Providore which had lots of tasty treats including an aged cashew cheese by Loudy. Mmmmm!
We followed our noses past the old church and cemetery and down to Godfrey's beach and the penguin viewing platform.
It was the wrong time of year for penguins but the right time of year for gorgeous landscapes and wonderful swept beauty!
As well as magnificent views of the Nut!