After spending the night in our cabin in Strahan we are off for our most extravagant activity of the trip, a river cruise in Maquarie Harbourand along the Gordon River. There are 2 cruise operators in Strahan a family owned operator and another run by a conglomerate company that owns the majority of the tourist attractions in Strahan.
The cruise travels out through Maquarie Heads, across to Sarah Island a Penal settlement where the Round Earth tour guide gives an insight into the interesting history of the island and from here you travel up the Gordon River.
After the cruise we are heading back towards the caravan in Snug, back through Queenstown where pictures just cant capture the landscape.
A stop and walk at Nelson Falls, which we didn’t stop at on the way through prior due to the rain and cold.
Franklin-Gordon National Park looks very different on a fine sunny day and we are glad we saw it in both weather conditions.
We once again stopped at the eerie township of Tarraleah in search of dinner. I say Tarraleah was eerie because it was like a Ghost town, except more beautifully maintained than any town could possibly be.
It wasn’t until we read the history of town in the deserted pub that it all became clear.
“Work began in the 1920's and the land was heavily forested. The Lodge was built in the 1930s by the Hydro Electric Commission (HEC) at a time when money and craftsmanship was no object. It was the centrepiece of the Tarraleah settlement and was originally built for the visiting engineers and directors. At the same time the HEC needed to attract quality engineering staff to Tasmania and Tarraleah and the cottages were constructed.”
“Well built and with every modern convenience of the time, housing was provided to some of the worlds elite hydro electric engineers. At its peak in the 1980s the town boasted the cottages, 3 pubs, 2 churches, extensive workshops, sports ovals, a post office, butcher, police station, supermarket and school.”
“In 1996 the town officially closed and the majority of the housing was sold. Houses were literally cut up and loaded onto trucks and relocated around Tasmania. The land slowly reverted back to scrub and by 2005 the population had sunk from 1600 to 4. The current owners acquired the property in 2005 and the renovation and relaunch of Tarraleah began.”
I had hoped we would be closer to Hobart before dusk, but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way and we made the slow and arduous task of dodging wildlife crossing the road for the next couple of hours until entering the more populated areas.
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Holiday 2010 (Tasmania), Day 13 - Holiday 2010 in Tasmania
Slideshow
Friday, 19 November 2010
