We didn't have to travel too far south and away from the northern coastline before we found ourselves surrounded by forest. Nobody likes sitting in a car for very long, so about an hour down the road at Hellyer Gorge, we stopped to stretch our legs. The gorge is surrounded by subtropical rainforest and has a sizable waterway running through it.
It was just a nice place to have a wander along the creek and take in the fresh air for half an hour.
And build a cairn....
Waratah Falls
Around 25 kilometres further along the road from Hellyer Gorge, we took a short diversion to the little town of Waratah. I had done my waterfall research and had established that the diversion was worth it.
Waratah sits beside a small lake that spills off a cliff forming Waratah Falls. There is a lookout above the falls across the road from the Bischoff Hotel Waratah (below) that overlooks the falls (above).
Access to the foot of the falls is via a short walk down a dirt road from a car park near the top of the falls. Waterfalls are usually more spectacular from the bottom and this one is no exception.
With the photos taken, we were back in the car tracking south once again. Before long, we could see Mount Murchison rearing up in front of us (below).
Historic Zeehan
It took us a little over an hour to navigate from Waratah to Zeehan along a scenic and often windy road. We spotted a few small mining operations within the last 20kms of the drive. This was a little surprising because my preconceived impression of the west coast was of lush sub-tropical rain forest, not industrial scale mining.
By the time we reached the township it was lunch time, so we stopped at the local playground & shared our picnic with the enevitable march flies.😡 Harry stretched his legs by turning the playground into an obstacle course.
The Zeehan museum (above) was straight across the road from the playground where we could see two steam locomotives (below). They weren't particularly interesting considering our experience at the Don River Railway (Devonport). We chose not to go into the museum.
After lunch we wandered up and down the street checking out the historic buildings. Zeehan has been a mining hub (mainly silver & tin) for a well over a century. For example, the post office (above) was opened in 1888.
We stopped in at the Zeehan Rock Shop which had an astounding array of gems, chrystals and fossils. It was a bit of a shock to see such a large collection in such an obsure little town. Many of the items were discovered locally.
Harry was so impressed that he bought himself a tiger eye polished gemstone. Tiger Eyes are a layered metamorphic rock made up of red jasper & hematite.
Strahan was only another 30 minutes drive fron Zeehan but we'd made good time so we stopped at the Ocean Beach/Henty Dunes lookout about half way there. It was a bit haisy and not the most spectacular view.
