We had a leisurely sunny morning, waiting for the temperature to rise before starting off on our hike around the 3 Falls Trail in the National Park. After an informative conversation with the campground host we decided to hike the route backwards in order to descend the hundreds of steps, rather than to ascend them! We started off hiking uphill anyway, into the eucalyptus forest.

A huge tree with a hollow trunk, Robert inside to give perspective!

We then descended the 239 steps into the cooler, shady forest of tree ferns.

along the creek bank the eucalyptus was shedding it’s bark, draped across the underbrush.

The first waterfall, Lady Barron Falls, in a sunny clearing.

After a 30 minute more hike we reached the “Tall Trees” trail and walked through an open forest of tall eucalyptus, reaching 235 feet tall! We reached the second waterfall in another half hour.

Horseshoe Falls is probably more impressive with more water, maybe in spring rather than fall! Many more tourists here, it’s a shorter walk from the Visitors Center.

A short walk further and we reached the top of the third falls, Russell Falls, as it flows over the edge, with a view out across the forested valley.

After hiking down the 200 steps to the base of Russell Falls, you can’t even see the top where we saw the water begin it’s fall to the base.

The hike back to the Visitors Center passed under this arch of two tree ferns seeming to grow together at the peak!

We completed the almost 5 mile loop hike in 3 hours and had a good rest! After dinner we returned to the last spot, under the tree fern arch, in the dark, passing our first live possums we’ve seen as they crossed our path. We relied on the moonlight as we reached the spot and then looked for the tiny blue glow of lights from the glowworms that live in the embankment behind the railing! They looked like tiny twinkling fairy lights among the vegetation!

…or ‘Into the Heart of South-West Tasmania’. After a cold, damp night, the coldest we’ve experienced so far, we woke to fog over the lake and a very autumn scene.

The bottom land that was filled with sunshine, cockatoos and a kookaburra yesterday, was quiet and cold this morning! It really is Fall here now!

We had breakfast and packed up to head into the interior on the Gordon River road, built by the Hydro-electric Commission of Tasmania with funding from the Australian Government to service the construction of the Gordon and the Serpentine dams, leading to the flooding of Lake Pedder. We stopped at the Mt. Field National Park to secure a powered campsite for 2 nights, to insure we had electricity for our little electric heater! Then we commenced up the road.

The high point on the road, 2135 ft., with 6.2 ft. of rain fall!

Mountain views at some points, with mountain meadows. As we penetrated into the interior, ascending passes and descending into wooded valleys, the weather cooled and the skies clouded.

We reached Lake Pedder near the end of the road to see a rainbow forming in the misty skies over the lake.

This area was a hotspot for environmentalists in the late 1960’s when it was proposed as the site for hydroelectric dams.

The original glacial Lake Pedder was eventually inundated with the impounded water from the dams that were built.

There is still a campaign to drain the lake and restore Lake Pedder to it’s original state.

We continued to the end of the road at the Gordon Dam.

The land here is incredible! Folded on itself and draped with thick vegetation. No wonder it is still so isolated!

The dam is holding back Lake Gordon.

The ribbon of the Gordon River flowing at the bottom of an incredibly deep canyon on the other side of the dam!

We were amazed that we were free to walk across the dam, with no guards, dam employees or even signage except one simple sign on the concrete wall;

I wonder who is an “authorised and licensed personnel” for climbing on a dam wall?

We returned down the road with a stop at Strathgordon, a village to house the workers building the dams in the late 60’s and 70’s. It is now the Pedder Wilderness Lodge .

This ancient 2200 year old (at felling) pine trunk is on display at Strathgordon. Interesting that is is termed “salvaged” from inundation by the dam construction. I would term it “sacrificed” for human power consumption.

And finally, a beautifully lighted mountain view on our way down to our campsite at the National Park.

Today we headed east and then south through almost the center of Tasmania towards Hobart. The whole south-west quarter of the island is inaccessible, by car anyway, consisting of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, the Southwest Conservation Area and the Southwest National Park, with only one road penetrating between the three large land areas. Our first stop was at a beautiful waterfall accessed by a boardwalk through the rainforest.

Nelson Falls in the rainforest.

Continuing on, we rose up into grasslands and crossed the island divide!

Not the ‘Continental Divide’, but the divide between the higher, wetter west, and the lower drier east of the island.

The tussock grassland, a little more wet today due to the low clouds and occasional sprinkle of rain.

And along the roadside, the distinct square poo of the wombat! We haven’t seen a live wombat yet, but here is proof!

We continued down into the drier, lower east, past the town of Ouse and found our free campsite for the night at Bethune Park Camping Area on Meadowbank Lake.

We saw and heard our first big flock of sulpher crested cockatoos here, as well as a lone kookaburra that sat in a gum tree for quite awhile.

We had a beautiful morning, breakfast and packed up to move on.

We drove back through Zeehan and took the route south to Strahan (“Strahn” pronounced the ‘Irish way’ we were told).

We didn’t have much time to spend in Strahan, but it is known for the Gordon River cruise and fresh seafood, as well as the Guinness World Record for most water skiers towed behind a single boat! We continued on to Queenstown, another boom and bust mining town! A short visit to view a few outstanding sites.

The Empire Hotel built in 1901, next to the railroad station that now houses the scenic West Coast Wilderness Railway.

A feeling of Colorado mountain mining town came to us walking down the main street!

As we drove out of town, we saw the trail to Horsetail Falls, and it looked very intriguing! The barren hills are due to logging and the sulfurous fumes of the copper smelters that killed vegetation throughout the valley.

We found our nights spot at Linda Creek Campsite on the banks of Lake Burbury, a reservoir surrounded by hills.

We woke to a misty morning and enjoyed a continental breakfast at the restaurant, toasting our bread over a gas burner on an antique toast grill! Then we strolled outdoors and along the short Huon Pine walk into the rainforest. Huon Pine (not a true pine at all, but the only species in it’s own genus) is found only in the south and west rainforest of Tasmania and was nearly wiped out by logging in the mid 1800’s up to 1970. It is prized for it’s golden hue, fine grain and rot resistant oils. It was especially prized for boat building due to it’s rot resistance. “Extensive logging in the past has removed nearly all large trees, but there is regrowth nearly everywhere. One stand of the species has been made available for access to craft wood from dead and downed timber under a strict licensing system. It is illegal to cut living trees.” per Wikipedia. A great story about the magnificent trees is HERE!

The mist over the Pieman River. You can see a faint ‘fogbow’ above the trees on the right.

We had booked a 3 hour cruise on the Arcadia II on the Pieman River to Pieman Heads where the river empties into the Great Southern Ocean. The only Huon Pine river cruiser operating in the world!

The mist was lifting and the sun was shining as we 19 passengers boarded and we set off down stream at 10 am.

The trees of the rainforest crowded down to the river and were reflected in it’s dark tannin rich waters.
The skipper Norm pointed out features; tributary inlets where miners worked the river bed for gold, huon pine trees that were too gnarled for the mill and were spared the axe and saw, young huon pines beginning their long and slow growth along the bank, while his wife Lorainne served us coffee or tea and a plate of cakes and fruit.

The golden huon pine was evident everywhere. The boat was built as a pleasure craft in 1939.

We reached the dock at Pieman Heads, a tiny community of shacks that have been there since the early 1830’s, self sufficient, now with solar panels and rugged 4WD vehicles. There is a track along the beach and through the forest, but the easiest mode of transport is by river. We disembarked with a bag lunch and had 1.5 hours to meander, explore and eat our lunch before boarding for the return journey.

A boot tree at Pieman Heads.

We walked along the river bank to the windy sandy beach at the river entrance. The bar at Pieman Heads was difficult to navigate in the sailing ships and steamers of the 1800’s and boats would be moored in the river, or tacking outside, maybe for days, before conditions were suitable to cross. The huon pine logged and bucked in the forest with hand saws and axes were rafted down the river then loaded onto ships for the cross then shipped around the bottom of the island to Hobart for milling. The beach was littered with old logs, some we could even see on the tops of the rocky outcrops extending out to sea, attesting to the storms that must batter this coast!

Binoculars revealed logs up on the rocks and the color difference between the dark tannin rich river water and the blue seawater meeting in the rough waves.

We reboarded our boat minus 2 passengers who were waiting for friends to pick them up for a visit across the river. What a fantastic remote place to visit friends!

I don’t think this dingy would hold all 17 of us and the skipper and crew in case of emergency!

It was a wonderful cruise! We had to continue on our way, taking the one vehicle barge-ferry across the river to the road to Zeehan, another mining town, which usurped Corinna’s crown, and population, when a railroad was completed from there to the north coast in 1900.

Views of the wonderful buildings from the early 1900’s and the importance of mining in the area.

We took a side road from Zeehan to a free campsite on the coast at Trial Harbour, a tiny community that in the past was a bustling port serving Zeehan. We had a fantastic, rugged site overlooking the rocky coast at sunset!

The waves rocked us to sleep!