Trip Report Contents
Day Five: Zeehan & Queenstown (Day of desolation)
Quick Summary: On our last
day on Tasmania’s southwest coast we explore the towns of Zeehan and
Queenstown, and wrap-up our time in Strahan.
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A Diversion
For Thursday, we planned
to have a relaxing morning in Strahan, and then drive to Zeehan to check it out
and then head over to Queenstown to see what was there.
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| We did both, Zeehan first, then Queenstown, a full circle |
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| Our hotel again, in the sun |
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| On the cove |
On the way out of town we
got a little sidetracked when we saw a sign pointing the way to the beach we’d
seen from the boat the previous day.
The beach was relatively
easy to get to, and pretty close to the parking area. We went down to
have a look and take some photos.
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| Looking out at the ocean. Looking closely, one sees the tannins and coloring of the water, owed to the outflow from the Gordon River |
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| Looking down the beach |
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| Philip, with the beach at his back |
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| Me, with the Southern Ocean at my back |
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| Quick, take a photo! It's blue sky; fleeting blue sky |
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| Looking toward the lighthouse we'd seen the previous day |
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| Some creek that came from somewhere and flowed down the beach |
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| Blue skies against the Southern Ocean |
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Me, on the beach
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| Misty beach |
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| The beach |
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| Philip snaps some photos |
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| The ocean again |
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| That odd little creek, flowing across the beach |
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| At first I thought this was an instance of the ocean finding its way up a low spot in the sand, but it is actually a creek |
On the way back to the
main road, we saw the dirt road to go down to the gate between the harbour and
ocean, so we decided to follow it. It was a good fifteen miles before we
finally got to the end of the road and the water. And, oddly enough, some brilliant sunshine.
It was very isolated
and we thought we were alone. Until we got to the beach and saw a half
dozen police digging a big hole on the beach. No, we didn’t ask any
questions: we just got our photos and headed back to the car. No
clue what was going on!
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| Quiet, still waters of the harbor |
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| Me, the beach, the calm waters, and ... sunshine |
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| Wide, sandy beach |
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| Panorama of the beach and sunny skies |
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| Me; but, the main feature is the cops in the background, digging in the sand, for what we had no clue |
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| Another panorama |
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| Wide, sandy beach again |
Zeehan
The road between Strahan
and Zeehan is completely desolate and we scarcely passed any vehicles on the
45-minute drive there. In Zeehan we found just a main drag, and that was
completely deserted. We were hungry for lunch and were left with the
choice of Carol's Café in Zeehan, or pressing on to Queenstown and hope for something
better. We went with Carol and were actually quite pleased with the fish
and chips that we both ordered.
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| Lunch at Carol's |
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| Only show in town... |
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Looking down the main street of Zeehan. The hustle and bustle of downtown
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| Philip, dodging the lunchtime rush hour to sneak a quick photo |
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Another of Zeehan
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| Me in Zeehan |
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| If we'd have stayed in Zeehan, this would have been our hotel |
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This is the other side of the main only drag |
After lunch we
walked down the main drag, which took all of five minutes. We made it
back to the car and onward to Queenstown.
Queenstown
We’d passed through Queenstown on the way to Strahan, so we had seen part of it. The roadway into Queenstown was amazing: extremely steep, winding, and narrow, barely hugging onto the side of the mountain. The mountains and hills around Queenstown are also impressive. The town itself, though, was far from compelling. We strolled around a little and took some photos, and then swung into the local IGA for a couple of items before returning to our hotel in Strahan. When I was making our plans, I had looked at staying in Queenstown; we were glad that it was booked and that we ended up in Strahan.
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| Coming into Queenstown. Notice the stripped mountains and hills |
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| Welcome to Queenstown |
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| Coming into Queenstown, from Zeehan |
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| Downtown Queenstown |
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| Downtown Queenstown |
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| "Meet me at the Scrap Inn." (Or not.) |
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| This place looked like it was about to fall in on itself! |
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| Mountains surrounding Queenstown |
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| Queenstown. Notice how steep the hills rise up at the end of the town |
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| Miners' memorial |
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| Miners' memorial |
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| Miners' memorial |
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| Miners' memorial |
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| Miners' memorial |
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| Miners' memorial |
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| Building at the top of downtown |
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| Queenstown's main drag |
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| Queenstown's main drag |
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| Clouds shroud the mountains that flank Queenstown |
Last Night in Strahan
Back at our hotel in
Strahan, we headed back to the hotel. Philip did some laundry and I
started to pack my things. I soon noticed ducks and geese out in the
water just off the room’s front door. I started throwing them some cookie
crumbs. Eventually, the duck found his way up onto the deck. He ate
right out of my hand and was super friendly.
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| Geese coming for a visit |
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| "Anything to eat?" |
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| A little bit of sun on our last night in Strahan |
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| From our hotel room's balcony |
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| Looking toward Strahan village: this was our boat from the day before |
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| A last photo in front of the cove |
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| Poor little duck needs something to eat |
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Time to eat
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| He was really keen to eat out of my hand, but he drew the line at letting me touch him |
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Getting up all of the crumbs
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| Idyllic scene |
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| Oh, that we'd had at least this much sun more often |
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| Sun going down at the end of our last day |
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| Philip, with Strahan village at his back |
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Me, with Strahan village behind me
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| Sunsetting over Strahan village |
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Beautiful skies at sunset
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We went
back into town for dinner at Bushman's Bar and Café before heading back to the room and soon to
bed. Friday would be a long day and we’d need our rest.
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