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| Journal | > 2004/05 Trip Index | > Part 1: Perth - Peterborough |
| > Part 2: Peterborough - Sydney | ||
| > Part 3: Tasmania North | West Coast | East Coast | ||
| > Part 4: Victoria |
This page details days 6 - 11 on Tasmania's west coast from Arthur River to Hobart including the Sandy Cape Track, Western Wanderer Rd, Granville Harbour and Trial Harbour via the Climes Track, day trips in Strahan on the Gordon River and ABT Railway, Zeehan Spray Tunnel, Montezuma Falls, Ring River Track, Roseberry, Queenstown and Hobart.
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Although it was New Year, it was just another day in our holiday so we lifted camp again and travelled South.
The dirt road to Temma has a couple of side tracks and we ventured into Sarah Anne Rocks and took the short 4WD track through the back of the beach to Couta Rocks and explored beyond there a bit, then back to main road down to Temma and then we started down the Sandy Cape Track where we went as far as Ordnance Point/ Brookes Creek. We probably should have continued on and stayed in this area, but the weather was turning foul and the coast camping wasn't very protected.
Photos: Sandy Jacka
I should mention a little about the track conditions as there is a lot of fuss made about this track. We would not rate this as a challenging 4WD track but certainly one that is slow going. We found the first part of the Sandy Cape track just south of Temma to be slow and rocky, with potholes etc then after the first 6km there are a number of bridged creek crossings, all in good condition.
 Photo: Sandy Jacka |
We then encountered 2 tannin stained flooded waterholes across the track with no diversion track so you have to drive through them. The water reached up to the side steps when in the centre of the water but the surface of the track bottom was firm meaning it was no obstacle. |
Track conditions and terrain varied throughout the rest of the track from rocky, potholed, sandy, to rutted and muddy and you can see lots of tracks that have been blocked off for regeneration (by 4wd clubs not Conservation Park) but camps are not really possible at all until reaching Brookes Creek. This is a beautiful coast but the weather can change suddenly making it less than ideal.
Sections of Sandy Cape Track
We decided against travelling further as it was late and we wanted to camp away from the coast. On our return towards Temma the rain started as we headed west onto Western Explorer Rd in anticipation of finding more wonderful Forestry areas.
We were very disappointed to find the Western Explorer Road is nothing more than a tiring drive with steep hills, bendy corners, no pull off bays to rest, and absolutely no campsites. Once past the junction of C249 and C214 where you choose to head left to Zeehan or right to Corrina, you enter the southern section of the Western Explorer Road and admittedly it does get better here as you head into forest areas again.
We explored the various logging tracks in search of dry, high ground as it was to be a very wet night. We eventually found a campsite on green carpet-like moss but setup camp in the rain. In anticipation of this kind of weather David and had made an annexe-style tarp at home that was attached to our roof racks and was supported by tent poles on the outer edges only forming shelter in a l-shaped at the back of the vehicle and around to one side. We setup the OzTent and our swag under the tarp and had plenty of room for tables and chairs for us all to sit down and eat in relative comfort. We just managed to get enough fire going to cook a few quick sausages which we served with a salad.
We discussed the likelihood of wet weather over the next few days and agreed we needed to find accommodation for our 2 night stay in Strahan. This weather was too bad to camp out. We had CDMA service, and I had picked up a Jasons Accommodation Directory on the ferry so I phoned all the numbers listed in Strahan for accommodation and found the town totally booked out. I was advised to ring the Visitors Centre after 10am the next day to see what hotels had passed on notification of cancellations resulting in vacancies.
Although it had been a very wet night, the moss covering the ground at our camp was mostly dry which meant we didn't have any mud to worry about. We lifted camp again, and headed towards Corrinna, finding the best camps were not far away on Savage River, one each on either side of bridge. Both sites were occupied.
It was raining as we reached Corinna but we stopped for a look around. The road leads directly to the Fatman Punt through a narrow gap in the trees.
The
Punt at Corinna operates 9am - 7pm in daylight saving hours.
We weren't sure how much we'd be charged as the sign reads:
"
$20 per vehicle, $25 Comb. Vehicle, $25 Large Vehicle" but was pleased that
our large 4WD was $20. A large vehicle must be truck!
After crossing the punt, we stopped at the head of the short 50m boardwalk through fernery to a gravesite to see 2 headstones carved from Huon Pine. The rain continued and it became quite cold and I got on the phone again to Strahan. Sure enough, the Backpackers had some vacancies that sounded just right for us and the right price although only for one night. We were then able to enjoy our day exploring at leisure knowing we had dry beds and hot showers waiting for us.
Reece Dam
We made the short diversion to Reece Dam before continuing onto Granville Harbour. From here we headed north briefly along the first part of Pieman Heads track to just beyond camping area, but the track was badly damaged and flooded so instead we decided to do the coast run south to Trial Harbour (locals call it the Climes Track).
Granville Harbour - Trial Harbour
This ended up being one of our "Top 2" days of our Tasmania trip. The track is very much only for experienced 4WDrivers and for vehicles with decent ground clearance but is not a challenge for those that do have experience. It's just a fun track, with terrain that looks worse than it actually is - and great views the entire way. Every 4WD club in the country would wish for this in their back yard - is the perfect training track to prove to a driver how capable your vehicle is and gives a driver the opportunity to tackle visually daunting obstacles.
Granville Harbour - Trial Harbour
It is slow going, has lots of steep hill climbs, rock climbs, rotting timber bridges, waterfalls, and wonderful coast and mountain views but takes about 3 hours (more or less depending on how long you stop at lookouts, how many times you stop for photos etc). I don't know if there's anywhere you could camp along this track, we certainly didn't find anywhere but I'm sure you could find an access track to the beach somewhere. This track doesn't actually go down onto the beach at all as it traverses the cliff tops above.
Once in Trial Harbour, its a great place to stay - but all campsites were full to overflowing on our arrival. We spent quite a bit of time here however firstly stopping at the Trial Harbour "History Room". This is a fascinating room of a house that has been lovingly carefully prepared to show bits and pieces of memorabilia and relics showing the history of the area including mining and fishing. There's photos, gemstones, relics, and bits of general flotsam and jetsam that has washed up from the beach and lots more. Perched on a grassy headland to the south of town, the outside area is also full of treasures for the kids to explore. I've never seen anything quite like it!
We were told about some sperm whales that had washed up a few days earlier onto the back beach (the start of Ocean Beach) so even though it was raining and quite miserable we drove out there (past sign to Little Henty River) to beach start and walked to the right a few hundred metres to find an adult female whale and calf very dead and smelly. The adult had her lower jaw sawn off earlier in the week by National Parks people apparently for research so it was a pretty awful sight.
This is a beautiful beach and we could have stayed here much longer had the weather been good. Leah was less interested in the whales and more fascinated by the beautiful shells she collected as we walked along. We had originally hoped to drive the full stretch of Ocean Beach down to Strahan but it was currently impassable at the river crossing - and I was put off by the thought of the quicksand to even try to investigate.
Leaving Trial Harbour we headed through Zeehan in the rain and directly onto Strahan using tar roads, passing lots of lovely looking forestry tracks on the final approach to Strahan. We found the Backpackers was very friendly and helpful with nice rooms, great showers and facilities. We felt it was very good value for $50/cabin. But even though we were staying in cabins we still had to go through the routine of unpacking just as much as if we were camping.
Dinner tonight wasn't at a restaurant as we had all dreamed - it was just not practical for the kids so David and Dad went into town to buy dinner - "surprise us" was the order. They returned with 3 dozen oysters and flathead and chips from Morrissons, which went down beautifully with a cold white wine sipped on the balcony of our cabins.
It was all too much luxury for Leah who decided tonight was the night to display the worst behaviour we've ever witnessed in her 4 years with tantrums, arguments and an outright attack on her parents! Totally unexplainable and unexpected.
After all our fuss about wanting to escape from the bad weather, we scored an absolutely perfect day in Strahan for our river cruise. The sea was very calm, the sky was blue and clear and the weather was actually warm and sunny for the very first time in our trip so far.
Travelling in comfort
The cruise started in Macquarie Harbour and then briefly out to Hells Gates (the name for the Heads at the entrance to the harbour). Coming back into the harbour we cruised past Tasmanian salmon farms, and then onto Sarah Island where we disembarked for a guided tour of the ruins. Back on board the boat we were treated to lunch Tasmanian style - although this was an extra $12 to what we had payed when booking ($65 per adult), you are free to gorge out on Tasmanian smoked salmon, brie, ham, salads, biscuits, rolls etc... and so we did! The boat cruised slowly down into the Gordon River while we ate until finally we all disembarked at a boardwalk that lead us through the wilderness. Interpretive signs along the walk assisted us to identify Native Laurel, Huon Pine, Myrtle, Leatherwood, etc. Back on board we cruised up the Gordon River and back into Macquarie Harbour where we visited a sawmill for a demonstration of Huon Pine sawing using a straight cut saw.
The girls were left to walk through town window shopping, while the boys walked back to our accommodation to pick up the cars. When they returned we all had coffee together at an outdoor cafe, but then had to resume the usual trip chores such as fuelling the vehicles and grocery shopping. Today's public holiday meant we could not buy meat, bread, vegies or fruit, so we will have to return tomorrow.
Back at the Backpackers we used the common kitchen to prepare our dinner. We barbequed T-bone steaks and served them with a warm potato salad made with sautéed bacon and onion and mixed salad greens of avocado, capsicums, broccoli. Washed down with a couple of bottles of Tasmania wine, chocolate and coffee it was a good ending to a good day.
Our 2nd day in Strahan and we're off on another tour however today is overcast and raining. Yesterday involved a bit of fuss when we checked-in at the right time with pre-booked seats to find it was first in, first seated which meant we had a difficult time seating 6 of us together. Today however, we planned to be 45 minutes early to avoid that happening again on the ABT Railway.
We booked both tours through the same agency a few months before our trip but on presenting our e-tickets for the ABT Railway we had a problem. The computer didn't have us on their system and so we could not board until it was resolved. We watched with great disappointment as everyone boarded and filled the carriages. Once all the passengers were seated we were given our tickets and were the last to board - however they upgraded us to the Premier Class which placed us in the rear carriage with own private outdoor balcony - ideal for photography. Tickets for Premier Class cost $65 extra per person as it is a fully serviced ticket with wine, champagne, beer, and food included for the entire day. With no driving required today we all just sat back and enjoyed a very easy day!
Photos: Sandy Jacka
The trip began with the train pulled by diesel engine to Dubbill Barrill, then lunch was served and we changed trains and a steam ABT engine pulled us up the hills to Queenstown. The trip was full of commentary, a few stop offs, first at Teepoookana Bridge (also accessible by 4WD on King River Track) and honey tastings and shop at station, then lunch stop at another station, then a toilet stop at one more station plus the final "rod" stop for the driver to take us into the final run to Queenstown. The steam ABT engine was driven by a young local girl.
The tour included a bus trip back to Strahan from Queenstown with more commentary - but we're all starting to feel like "tourists" now and need to get back in the bush leading our own way.
Unfortunately, it had been raining all day and we had no accommodation in Strahan. We also had to gather fresh grocery supplies before heading off to find a bush camp for the night. We had planned for this and noted a few gps points just out of Strahan in the Forestry areas but we didn't realise how much the rain would affect the tracks.
 Photo: Sandy Jacka |
We drove for ages along the Tully river area and finally found a clearing at the end of a track that we felt wouldn't wash away if it continued to rain throughout the night. |
Dinner: I was feeling very full after eating all day, but David wanted to eat. Thankfully Mum came to the rescue making a Chinese soup for everyone. I declined - and had a green tea to cleanse out. Mum also gave made everyone a pikelet topped with homemade mango, peach and Contreau jam! (I couldn't resist that!! ha ha!).
Although the sun is not setting until just after 9pm and even the kids are having late nights, we were all in our swags by 9pm but not without incident - David's side of our double swag was wet!! Seems we didn't pack it properly and the last 2 days of rain had seeped in and soaked the pillows, sheets and even the doona. Trust me, there is nothing worse than a wet bed, and nothing worse than hearing someone complain about it all night when there's nothing you can do to fix it.
Thankfully, Chardae slept through until 6am then after a feed went down again for more sleep until 8am. When Chardae sleeps in, we all sleep in! Lots of rain last night but we slept under a tarp (unfortunately, our double swag does not fit inside the OzTent with the kids). We only got the tent a week before we left home and didn't actually realise how much we could have done with the zip on annexe options that are also available. We saw some other OzTents with the annexe room added and realise we could have done this and saved ourselves a fair bit of hassle on wet nights. The locals are saying it is very unseasonal but we've had 10 days of weather that is nothing like summer should be, even by Tasmania's standards.
Waking to a wet camp and really hoping for sunshine to dry things off a little, we took our time and made a leisurely cooked breakfast of eggs and bacon and toast and plunger coffee. David has decided that we should try to cover our "waterproof" canvas bags and swags so he struggled to wrap a tarp around the fully packed roof rack adding more packup time to what is already a big task. Our getaway time today - 11.15am.
Drove to Zeehan but on the way heard a strange tapping sound from under our car, which we deducted was a broken shock rubber. In Zeehan we got a handful of second-hand rubbers for free from the BP and used their undercover workshop for the 15 min task of replacement (they were the upper shock rubbers so just under the bonnet). The Museum costs $9 per adult $8 seniors, $20 family and appeared to us to be an outing you would make a day of.
We just weren't in the mood for passive activities and I think we all feel like some action after being on tour for the last 2 days so we headed off to the Spray Tunnel just out of town and then towards Roseberry to pick up the 4WD track to Montezuma Falls.
It was still raining when we started the Montezuma Falls track at 1.45pm and it took 1hr 10mins to reach the falls at the end of the track (with numerous photo stops, plus tricky passing of 2 oncoming vehicles at the 2nd creek crossing). We expected to catch up with these vehicles again as we all planned on taking the Ring River Track on the way out.
Track to Montezuma Falls
The drive into Montezuma Falls is fantastic and one we highly recommend. To get to the bottom of the falls you need to walk across a suspension bridge and it sways a bit! I am not great with heights and wobbly things, but I cannot let myself miss out on doing something when I've come so far so even I managed to get across. I hadn't realised what a daredevil Leah was, until I saw her run across the suspension bridge 4 times on her own. She obviously takes after David with these things. On the other side of the bridge you can turn left and see a mine shaft or turn right to get to the base of falls and read some signs.
Behind the wheel and about to drive out, Dad realised he had lost his glasses. We all looked about in the rain and mud but we couldn't find them. For the rest of the trip he had to make do with his backup pair - prescription sunglasses so night driving was out of the question, and I believe that driving in cloudy, raining conditions with sunglasses is also like driving blind.
Regardless of this limited vision, we managed to make it back along the Montezuma track to the junction of the Ring River track (sign posted). This track actually leads out to the highway towards Roseberry. Taking this track turned out day into the best driving day of our time in Tasmania. The drive was very exciting - steep descents in thick muddy ruts filled with water and long stretches of water across track. The uphill ascents were all rocky so no trouble with traction. Chris Boden's trek book gave a good description of what to do when crossing Ring river - drive upstream to right 50m and take second exit to left. The River was in full flow and driving against it seemed visibly challenging but I was only a passenger and the drivers tell me it was no trouble. The crossing was deep - with water over the bonnet even with the bow wave. This was a definitely a moment for video footage, hence I have more video tape than photos but here's a few snaps...
From here to the highway the track eased and pretty soon we popped out of the wilderness back onto a highway. We turned right to head into Roseberry where we stopped for hot coffee, and bought more red wine before driving on towards Tullah to find a bush camp. We find our camps by viewing 1: 250,000 scale map sheets on the laptop looking for features such as rivers, camps, and small tracks for wherever we happen to be at "that" time of day. Tonight, we found a lovely camp on a river bank of Lake Roseberry. There were other camper nearby but they had a couple of kids so Leah made some friends and when she's happy - we're happy!. The only thing not in our favour was the heavy rain. It really was pouring, and we had to put up our big tarp again. Unfortunately, our swags did not get any drier today with my side now very wet too. Tolerance is growing thin.
Although the rain started to fall quite heavily, we managed to gather dry firewood from the inside a fallen tree and once we got the fire going it could overcome the rain just enough to cook our meals. We cooked beef fillet for no more than a couple of minutes and made wraps with lettuce, tomato, capsicum and a fiery red chilli chutney given to us by the friends we had stayed with earlier in Peterborough (seems such a long time ago). Leah ate baked beans heated in the tin on the fire.
Rain during night destroyed tarp and pole supporting tent annexe fell where my chair had been left out so I found the seat had collected a puddle of water. Our swag got even wetter, tables and stuff under the big tarp all wet. Martin camp not happy...Took ages to pack up. Waited for patches of sun/no rain and used the car heater to dry out wet sheets, pillows and doona. By around 11.30am we departed and headed south to Queenstown and as the day progressed and rain continued we headed directly to Hobart and a hotel room.
| Just east of Queenstown the main road ascends and winds around the hills of
Mt Lyell with wonderful views.
Further on, we stopped at a wonderfully peaceful (although popular) rainforest walk at Nelson Falls (raining) which made us all feel a little better. |
 |
David and I once again took it in turns to do the walk so one could stay with Charade sleeping in the car. We ended up continuing all the way to Hobart today because of the wet swag situation, although I had originally thought we'd camp along the Mt McCall track near Queenstown. The weather is not letting up and we need to give everything a chance to dry out. We did try to get some accommodation at Lake St Clair/Derwent Bridge area at around 4pm but the $50 backpackers bunks were not to the standard of what we had in Strahan and we really needed a place we could stay for 2 nights and spread out everything to get it dry. We really needed a hotel room with a heater to do this as sunshine was not likely anywhere in Tasmania this month. It was 7pm before we reached Hobart and I was on the CDMA phone most of the way trying to find us some accommodation from about 4pm onwards. Waterfront Lodge in New Town just 5km north of CBD was able to accommodate us and it was very much to our liking. Tasmania's hotels are very understanding of family needs, especially that of campers and 4WDrivers. We were even given a safe place to park our vehicles as they realised we had so much equipment and gear on them that we'd prefer to keep them away from the main carpark (or did they not like the look of the muddy vehicles messing up first impressions for the other guests I wonder???). Thankfully, by 9pm we were in good shape once again with a load of washing and drying done, a beef stroganoff with fresh mushrooms cooked and already settled into an evening of normality in front of the tele! All had a good night sleep, and enjoyed the luxuries of showers and flushing toilets.
Read on - East Coast