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.....

Strahan

Hogarth Falls

We've booked 2 nights in Strahan but were a bit early to check into our accomodation so we decided to walk the short trail to Hogarth Falls essentially just on the outskirts of town.

We were a bit over sitting in the car so it was nice to go for a walk and stretch the legs.

The trail follows the creek through reasonable thick forest, and is lined with tree ferns. and at the end is a nice little waterfall. I was pleasantly surprised there was such a feature so close to the main town.

Regatta Point

We were staying at the Regatta Point Villas across the water from the main part of Strahan. We checked in and took a break in the air conditioning, but not until we had 'flattened' the march flies that had followed us in when we were unpacking the car.

Late in the afternoon, we heard the loud whistle from the incoming Wilderness Railway train.

The train pulled into the station which right across the road from where we were staying (our room was the 2nd to end one to the left of the picture above). The passengers filed out and most of them loaded onto a waiting coach to be taken to their hotels. Tomorrow we get to experience the train for ourselves.

Meanwhile, the loco detached and backed & filled into its overnight maintenance workshop.

As the light faded, I wandered the point with my trusty camera in hand trying to snap some sunset pictures. I had some success but it did flag a concern that the fires that had been following us around the island were now closer than we would like. It did make for some nice golden light in the photos.