Strahan Dec 2nd - Dec 4th

Now that xmas is over I can finally get some time to update the blog.

So where was I - oh Yeah Tasmania and Strahan. Strahan is a small town on the west coast of Tassie which basically serves as a starting point for very expensive cruises up the gordon river - which I did not do. You can also go on the West Coast Wilderness railway to Queenstown which is also expensive and which I also did not do. You can even do sightseeing tours by seaplane which - yep - I did not do.

What I did do is walk around the wharf area of the town which took about 10 minutes and then went back to my cosy cabins bunk and had an early night.

The plan the next day was to do a day trip to Lake St Clair and do a bit of walking before coming back to Strahan. Along the way I would do small detours.

So at about 10am I got in the car and headed out along the windy roads to Queenstown. Queenstown is bloody awful looking because its basically built in a quarry. It looks like a moonscape.

Next stop was Nelson Falls which was a 5 minute walk from the carpark and was an absolute torrent probably due to the recent rains. I got soaked with spray from it while taking this picture.



It should be like this! (from information board):



After Nelson falls I drove on for another 15 odd minutes passing by the carpark for the Frenchmans Peak bushwalk which is supposed to be an even harder trek than the overland. After another 20 minutes I stopped for another small walk - this time to the Franklin river - but it was quite boring with nothing of interest.

Back into the car and more driving along windy roads. I passed another carpark for the Frenchmans Peak trail. After about another 20 minutes of windy roads I started to wonder just where the hell the Mt St Clair turn off was. I was also wondering how it was weird to have 2 carparks for the Frenchmans trek when I turned a corner and seen the carpark for Nelson Falls. I had bleeding gone back the way I had came! I pulled into the carpark and sat cursing at my stupidity for about 10 minutes. (Its not a good idea to take your frustration out on a partly open bottle of water which went all over the place). I finally decided that it would take too much time to go back to Mount St Clair and decided to head back to Strahan.

My doubling back actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as after some food I made my way to Oceans Beach for the sunset via Macuarie Head.

Rainbow and Boat at Macuarie Head

Sunset at oceans Beach

As well as a wonderful sunset I also got to witness another magical twilight animal moment. Thousands of shorttailed shearwaters (or muttonbirds as they are called) nest along the dunes of oceans beach and every night during summer they head back at dusk to feed their chicks. It was an amazing sight to see. I stood looking back at the dunes as these birds flew and squawked around me in the sky getting ever and ever closer to earth as they circled. They looked just like giant bats and some of them ended up coming very close to me as they flew about. I tried to take some photos and video but it was just too dark. Its just one of those things you have to see for yourself.

Here is some guff on a noticeboard about the birds.



The next day I left Straham and went the same route to Mount St Clair. This time I actually stopped at the Frenchmans Peak car park and myself Dm and Taz went down to this great ropebridge.


DM and Taz

Of course for Dm this was not dangerous enough so he tried walking on the siderails!

Dm Acting the maggot

This time I actually got to Mt St Clair and was able to do a small walk near the lake. It was not as spectacular as Cradle Mountain but was still a nice wee walk.

The Great Divide - on way to Lake St Clair

Lake St Clair

After the Walk I had a long long drive back to Hobart to finish off my trip.

ANIMALS I HAVE SEEN
Wombat - Cradle Mountain 1st Dec
Potaroo - Cradle Mountain 1st Dec
Shorttailed Shearwater - Ocean Beach 3rd Dec
Green rosella - Shraham 2nd Dec