Flight to the US via Singapore

 

We’re embarking on an exciting journey to the USA! Our Singapore Airlines Boeing 787 flight is about to take off for Singapore, where we’re scheduled to arrive early tomorrow morning.

Salamanca Markets & Constitution Docks

Happy Australia Day!
We were so glad to wake up to clean air this morning! The wind had changed direction so we didn't have to deal with our lungs being choked at long last. Today is Saturday, so it is Salamanca Markets day in Hobart. Now, let's be clear. I'm not a markets person to the point where I actively avoid them. I dislike the over priced junk most of the stalls sell and would rather stay clear of the crowds. However.... The Salamanca Markets are a totally different level!

These markets are huge! Located on the historic Princess wharf outside the original Salamanca Market buildings, the stall tents seem to go on forever.

There are loads of people (unfortunately), but the contents of the rows for stalls is of a much higher quality. During this tour, we have found the fresh produce to be exceptional and that markets have that in spades!

You can buy almost anything there, from hand crafted art pieces....

...to flowers.

And from chocolate, cheese and honey........

.... to crochet hooks and knitting needles.

And from lavendar products....

... to Gin. And everything else in between. It was very impressive.

Also, among the stalls, were various types of entertainers. Some, pretty average, and some, like Cary Lewincamp (above), were really very talented.

There are more permanent shops in the Market building and with them, art pieces, eateries and playgound features.

There was a limit to mine & Harry's tolerance, so we left Kerri & mum to keep doing market things while we set off to Constitution Docks to check out the boats & anything else we could find.

The docks are home to the full spectrum of boats, from the smallest run-abouts and fishing boats...

To Cruise ships. Some of the more interesting ones follow...

We are booked on the The Spirit of Hobart (in the same scheme as the ferries in Devenport) for a harbour cruise tomorrow.

One of the pilot boats that servie the harbour.

This enormous trimarran ferry was bound for Italy having been built in Tasmania.

A float plane docked near the cruise ship.

Tug boats.

And seal sculptures. No shortage of things to see.

Just before lunchtime, we set off out the back of the Salamanca dock buildings and up Kelly's Steps (above) which lead up to Battery point.

I'm not sure what we thought we'd find on Battery Point, but we didn't find it. There were lots of heritage cottages but nothing overly interesting like a canon or some sort of military post.

Harry did manage to meet a new friend.

Transit to Hobart

 

Today was always going to be a long day in the car. We had to get from Strahan on the West Coast, to Hobart all the way on the east. Non-stop, it normally takes around four and a half hours to cover the 300kms.

However, something was amiss this morning. Outside, the light was erie and the air was thick with smoke. We soon learned that the bush fire that was threatening Zeehan yesterday was diverted just in time but was also bearing down on Strahan. We didn't want to hang around to find out and thought it would be better off if we weren't a burnden on the local authorities. So we packed the car and high tailed it out of town. Our route took us back through Queenstown, beyond the range and across Lake Burbury (and, more importantly, further from the fire).

Nelson Falls

Soon we were at our first planned stop, Nelson Falls. The picturesque Nelson Falls Nature Trail follows the Nelson River upstream for less than half a kilometre. I was hoping for a spectacular cascading waterfall. Unfortunately, as for most of the other waterfalls, on this trip, there was only a trickle of water and we were, once again, left disappointed.

We took the obligatory photos and continued on to our next trail stop, the Franklin River Nature Trail (below).

Franklin River Nature Trail

The circuit trail loops around where the Surprise River & Franklin River Converge.

It wasn't the most interesting trail we had completed during our tour, but there were a few things to see including some very interesting fungi.

The rivers were more like creeks because the extended drought conditions were having a major impact on the normal environment. This area is a rainforest, however most of the plants (mosses especially) were clearly suffering from the lack of water.

Lake Sinclaire

At around 130kms from Strahan was to be our final diversion to Lake Sinclaire. The Lake stretches from Derwent Bridge, north toward the Cradle Mountain area.

The Visitor Centre on the Lake shore marks the end of the Overland Track. Remembering, we had been at the other end of the track a fews days previous.

We had originally planned to take a cruise on the lake, but the wind was not friendly and the threat of yet another fire had the rangers a bit jumpy. We explored the shore trails for a little while and let Harry stretch his legs. The rangers had given us some information about the many fires. We had planned to do a hike in the Mount Field National Park, closer to Hobar, however we were told that it was close because of an approaching fire. It seemed that half the island was under threat. We decided that we should get across to Hobart as quickly as posible to avoid being cut off and have to back track and add 600kms to our drive.

About 50kms down the road we were very nearly cut off! An enormous fire (above) in the Great Lake area was tracking south and was a mater of 20kms from the main road. We made it through, but only just. The rest of the drive was pretty horrible because we were essentially driving through smoke and couldn't see much further than a kilometre at best. We stopped at Hamilton to eat our picnic lunch. It was 40 degrees and there was ash flying around so we stayed in the car. We were hoping that Hobart would be a bit more hospitable.

We were pretty relieved to make it to Hobart and our home for the the next few days, Eliza Cottage (above). We are hoping the smoke clears a bit tomorrow with an expected change to the wind direction.

Strahan

 

Back at our hide out (from march flies) at Regatta Point we chilled out in the air conditioning. We did venture out late in the afternoon to explore the town including the Post Office (above).

There isn't much to see in Strahan, to be brutally honest. The harbour has it's fair share of fishing & cruise boats. The waterfront has a number of restaurants and pubs.

One of the fishing boats didn't look to be in the best shape. We asume an electrical fire changed the paint job.

We soon tired of Strahan and set off for Ocean Beach (above). I had it pegged as somewhere we could have a swim and body surf. The smell of smoke form forest fires had been building since we had returned from our railway adventure. The beach was where we realised how serious the problem was. The smoke was being blown toward the ocean, but the sea breaze was haulting its progress. I'm sure Ocean Beach is pristine most of the time, but today we weren't venturing much beyond the car park because it was very difficult to breathe.

So it was back to Shrahan where we learned from the hotel staff that the forest fire was threatening Zeehan! We were only there yesterday! We had been hearing about multiple fires across the island, but had managed to avoid any interference until now. We are heading back to Hobart tomorrow and maybe that is lucky.

The smoke made for some interesting sunset photos, but there was a sinister undertone to them.

Hopefully we can make it across the island tomorrow without incident or a lengthy diversion.....

West Coast Wilderness Railway

 

Finally the day has finally come to experience the West Coast Wildernss Railway tourist train. I had been hyping up this activity for quite some time so there was a bit of aprehension should it not live up to expectation. I need not have been worried.

The day started with a windy half hour drive up to Queenstown as we had booked ourselves onto the half day excursion which leaves from the historic mining town. It is also the main hub for the train operations on the railway with Regatta point being the satelite.

We watched the train being shunted and prepared for the journey. The locomotives and rail carriages are in immaculate condition. Our loco was the first one bought over from Switerland to service the Lyell Mining Company railway in 1897. It is a credit to the team that maintain these very old pieces of machinery.

Sadley, the Queenstown Station isn't a great grand historic building, but it certainly does the job.

Eventually we were away with all the noise & smells you normally associated with a steam engine.

Initially, the track follows the Queen River which flows past the, now decommisioned, Mount Lyell Mine & through Queenstown. Unfortuantly, poor environmental controls during the mine's life has resulted in the Queen River being poluted by the run off from the mine. The mine is responsible for the orange silt in the river. They are only recently, taking measures to clean up the mine polution.

As we progressed, the forest became increasingly rugged and dense. By the time we reached Rinadeena Station (above), it was proper virgin rainforest. Rinadeena is a station, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but when the mine was in full swing, it was a buzzing trade hub. Now the station is used as a whiskey & wine tasting Cellar. 

Rinadeena is also the drop off point for white water rafters.

Rinadeena is where the terrain really starts to get rugged and the track steepens up. The Swiss rack & pinnion system allows the trains to climb much steeper gradients than most normal trains.

As we followed the King River Gorge (below), we could hear the different sound the engine made as the rack an pinion was engaged and could feel how hard it was working.

Dubbil Barril Station was the terminus for our train. The track continues all the way down the valley to Regatta Point but we were going back to Quenstown. There is a bit of a trick to achieiving the going back part. First, we had to wait for the inbound train from Regatta Point (above) to pass by enroute to Queenstown.

Next. Our loco was detached from the carriages and backed along the side track that the other train had just been on....

All the way back to what looks like a bridge to nowhere.

Except it is not a bridge, rather a turntable. Then the driver & fireman, push the turntable around...

...and around...

Until the loco is facing the opposite direction. (see video below).

There is a short loop track that meanders through the wild rainforest and under the actual rail bridge.

With our loco returned to the head of the train, we were off back down the hill to Queenstown. Understand that the scenery was quite spectacular thought the journey. The gorge is incredibly steep and the rainforest is very dense. I can't imagine how the rail contruction crews managed to build this unique railway. Sadly, it was near imposible to photograph so we just sat back and enjoyed the journey.

We stopped at Rinadeena on the way back so that the loco cold be topped up with water before we could continue.

The last stop was at Lyncford Station which is almost back in Queenstown. Everyone disembarked and were given the chance to pan for gold out the back of the station.

We were each given a bag of dirt and a pan so it was time to roll up the sleeves and get to it.

No luck for any of the adults, but strangely most of the kids found little specs of gold.

Harry was pretty proud to have some gold to go with his ironstone.

Back in Queenstown, the station was buzzing. Both trains were in, and there was a lot going on to turn them around and send them out again. Out train was doing another run to Dubbil Barril and the other train was returning to Regatta Point.

This wonderful half day (or so) adventure has definetly been one of the top highlights of the entire Tasmanian adventure.