Queenstown, Tassie

10th Feb

Today we travelled to Queenstown, which is about 38klm inland from the West Coast town of Strahan. We were unable to secure accommodation at Strahan, hence our unexpected stay at Queenstown.

Picture this…….We left the St Clair NP and travelled west through the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers NP, which is a very green, pristine wilderness and World Heritage area. We stopped at several walks along the way to see the Franklin and Surprise rivers. The rainforests were so cold and green, thick with massive tree ferns, Myrtles and moss. The river water was so clear it was like looking through glass at the river-stones below. Keep this scene in mind. On we traveled to Queenstown, which is an old mining town. As soon as we passed the “Welcome to Queenstown” sign, the change in the landscape was dramatic! It was still a very mountainous region, but travelling in………WOW….gone were the forest and greenery, the basalt and granite mountains totally exposed with current and old open cut mines, with stone everywhere, oxidizing due to the copper and iron ores that lie within. It just showed us how much damage man can actually do, considering this land would have been the same lush forest as little as 100 years or so ago! Our travels around the country have certainly made us much more aware of the damage we do as a species, both to the land and other animals (directly and indirectly). We have certainly become “greener” and I hope we continue to be so when we return to the luxuries of home.

The town of Queenstown is quite nice, no tourism glitz or glamour (as per Strahan), just a real town, with real workers and real shops for real people, not tourists! The van park itself is a little out of town and has a thick forest backdrop. We travelled to Strahan and had a bakery lunch and a walk to the water falls just out of the town centre. We drove on down to “hells gates”, which is the channel that leads from Strahan to the ocean, but despite it’s name, the conditions today were very calm, with an offshore breeze and waves no higher then 2ft!

We completed a big shop for fresh produce as we are back into wilderness for the next 4 nights. The next two nights will be in Cradle Mountain NP where we hope to summit Cradle Mountain weather permitting. The two nights following we will be in out wilderness lodge. It will be Valentines day during our stay at the lodge, so I plan to cook Emma a beautiful meal which I purchased provisions for today (Roast lamb + honey roasted pumpkin + Garlic and Cream potatoes + oven roasted carrots + Broccoli + garlic bread. For desert: Sticky date pudding + caramel sauce and Cream). It will be a luxury having a kitchen to cook this meal…..I would never attempt to even use the oven in the caravan to make this meal…….it would probably blow us up!

Any way…..Ciao for now

A&E xoxoxox