West Coast of Tasmania - Gordon River Cruise

Saturday, Feb.6 - Stuart & Jenny took us to the west coast of Tasmania today.  This is probably where the Beatles were when they wrote "The Long and Winding Road".  We're glad Stuart was doing the driving.  Scenery was beautiful...

You can see what I mean about a winding road!

The town at the bottom is Queenstown, an old copper and gold mining town.

  

This is the town of Strahan where we boarded the boat for the Gordon River Cruise.

This is the boat - Isn't she lovely!  Stuart, Jenny and I are in front of the post in case you were wondering.

A view from the inside, just like a luxury cruiser, which it is.  We were on the posh upper deck, had our own buffet, which was delicious.

I wanted to get the centre of the ship, we sat in the red seats by the window.  It was so spacious and comfortable, we sat up at the very top for part of the time.  In Tasmania you can't spend too much time in the sun because this is where the ozone layer is badly depleted, sun screen and hats are a must.

I am getting ahead of myself though.  We stopped for lunch at "The Hungry Wambat" for lunch where we sat beside some motor bikers, one was talking about how much they would like the next part of the trip because the road was especially made for motorcycles, in his estimation, however, when we caught up to them, one had wiped himself out against a guard rail.  We think badly hurt rather than the other option.

When we got to Queenstown, we stopped to have a look around.  It is not totally deserted but there are some very old homes.  The outside of the home may look old and weather-beaten but you can see the lace curtains in the windows.  The sidewalks are made of interlocking brick, everything looks so well kept and lovely.  There is a "Tidy Town" competition and people take it very seriously.  

Queenstown, after the mining.

This is what is left of the penitentiary at Sarah's Island.  Before Port Arthur was Sarah's Island.

The convicts shipped from England were placed here first.  The Island is beautiful, most of the buildings have been destroyed over the years.  I am sure the convicts that were placed here did not notice the beauty of the place.  Several large ships were built here while the prison was in full swing.  The last ship was built at the convict settlement shipyard at Macquarie Harbour, January 1934 and was about to be sailed to the new prison at Port Arthur when 10 men stole a ship, the Franklin, sailed to South America and eventually became free men.  That was the last of the prisoners for Sarah Island, after that they went to Port Arthur.

This little Island is where they sent the men before Sarah's Island, they could get 40 on it, there is a cave on the other side, however, it doesn't look like it would hold 40 people.  they moved the men to Sarah's Island and put the women on there for a short time before they realized they would be better off housing them in Hobart.

This little opening is known as "Hells Gates", it was a beautiful calm day when we went through but can be very treacherous on a day when they have 27m waves.  It rains 300 days out of the year in this neck of the woods, so we have been very lucky.

  A little stream along the way, just to show some beautiful scenery.

Note the reflections in the water, that what the Gordon River cruise is all about.  We couldn't have asked for a better day.

We started the cruise at 9:00 and were back at the dock at 3:30.  We learned all about the first convicts, the rain forest in this area, the Huon pine, which is a very coveted tree in these parts, as well as all about the "Piners", who are the people who rowed up the rivers, cut down the trees, dragged them out of the bush and sent them down the river to be milled.  What a life, I am glad I was not around then.  We had a wonderful day.  Jenny and I went to a play that evening...the dramatic and hilarious, true story of the Great Escape from Sarah Island!