Strahan, Tasmania

We arrived in Strahan on Friday.  The roads in Tasmania are less than perfect, and we had remembered that from our last trip that was on a bus tour.  They are very windy and narrow in parts but the scenery is pretty spectacular in every direction.  We reached the township of Tullah and stopped to stretch the legs and we found a lovely little coffee shop, with a pet llama, that you were invited to feed from a bucket of carrots.  The coffee shop boasts the best coffee in town and as it is the ONLY coffee shop in town the claim could said to be true :-)

We arrived into Strahan mid afternoon and went for a drive around the town to get our bearings.  Everything is within walking distance of our caravan park so that is always a bonus.  A visit to the tourist information centre confirmed what we already knew, the Wilderness Rail Journey ex Strahan is closed for repairs, but we can still do a small trip ex Queenstown so that is what we decided to do yesterday.

The rain fell on the roof of our van all through Friday night and it was still raining Saturday so it was probably lucky that we were doing the rail journey.  It is just 40km from Strahan to Queenstown but it is an awful road full of S bends and very narrow.  There are road works in some areas and if we were to come back next year the road will be greatly improved.  It won't be fun dragging the fun up this road on Tuesday!

It was still raining in Queenstown and I read that they average 2500mm rain each year.  That's even more than we averaged at Julatten!  We had arrived early for our train trip so we walked around the town centre under the cover of an umbrella.  Thankfully the rain is not heavy.  

Queenstown is not a pretty town and I remember driving through here 12 years ago and thinking that the scarred barren mountains, caused from mining, made the town look very inhospitable.  However, the trees have started to regenerate on those mountains and in another twenty years you will probably not know the place.  I hope so.  Of course it is still a mining town (copper and gold) and large smelters dominate the skyline.  We found a lookout called Spion Kop so we drove up the narrow road and parked the vehicle to walk the remainder.  It was a very steep path to walk, even more so than Stanley Nut, but thankfully only short.  The views over Queenstown from the lookout were pretty impressive.

Back at the Queenstown Railway Station our train awaits us.  She is a lovely train, fully refurbished, and very comfortable for our hour long journey to Lynchford and return.  Once we arrive at Lynchford we are invited to "pan for gold" in a long trough that has been filled with rubble and water.  Philip has a go but I decline.  The water is freezing!  There is a very cute coffee shop here at Lynchford and we are tempted but decided to wait until we get back to Queenstown.

The drive back to Strahan from Queenstown was much easier now that the rain had eased and we could actually enjoy it.  Still not looking forward to towing the van along this road though....

Last night we went to the play "The ship that Never Was".  This is Australia's longest running play - almost thirty years - and it was hilarious.  There are only two actors but people are picked from the audience to play various parts.  It was great to have so much audience participation.  The play starts at 5.30pm and ends before 7pm so we are tucked up and in bed by 8.  Perfect for us grey nomads.

Tomorrow we take a boat tour to Pentecost Island.  We are praying that the rain clears so that we can enjoy the trip more thoroughly, but hey, you just have to go with the flow......