Strahan: Friday 22nd March

We were unable to get seats on the rail trip (it was booked out) so booked on the Gordon River Cruise. A 6 hour cruise across the Macquarie Harbour and then up the Gordon River. The cruise options were: premium lounge – where you get a buffet lunch, seats upstairs and an open bar for $300 per seat; the main lounge window seats – where you get a buffet lunch and pay for your own drinks for $150 per seat; and main lounge centre seats – also a buffet lunch, but no window seats for $85 per seat. We booked on line and opted for the main lounge window seats. You’d need to consume an awful lot of refreshments to get to $150 per person. We didn’t end up consuming anything other than a couple of coffees and 2 muffins!

The cruise left at 8.30 am so it was an earlyish start. Fortunately we are all feeling significantly better which barely noticeable snuffles. No more than anyone else anyway.

The boat is a large, 6 year old catamaran with 3 viewing levels and toilets below. It was extremely well designed. The centre seats were largely empty and faced backwards in our rear cabin, but each of the centre levels of seats was elevated like theatre seating so you got great views. We had excellent seats beside the windows and faced forwards but were able to sit in the middle seats for a change when we wanted.

The cruise first headed out to the Macquarie Heads past Sarah Island – a former penal colony. The day was overcast and showery but with not much wind, so the journey over the harbour entrance was pretty smooth but you can imagine how it would be in bad weather. The actual harbour entrance is very narrow: perhaps about 200m.

Apart from the convict history, there is also a history of ingenuity with the harbour (which is 6 times larger than Sydney Harbour). Back in the early 1800s some engineer designed a subsurface wall (which he modelled first as a scale model) so that the harbour entrance would keep eroding subsurface to prevent silting and the need for constant dredging. It was evidently technically difficult to build as all the rocks had to be cut and placed precisely (with convict labour) and it is still functioning well today some 200 years later.

We then turned back past some fish farms. Ocean trout and salmon. Apparently the fish are fed a very well balanced diet that includes various additives they would normally get from eating crustaceans in the wild. Astaxanthin is the antioxidant that makes them pink and customers can order up a consignment of salmon according to an astaxanthin colour chart. The food pellets are then constituted accordingly. The farms are protected from bird predators above and seal predators below. So you see this area of giant netted tanks, each supported by a barge containing food pellet supplies.

The fish feeder arm was rotating on this one and evidently there were salmon jumping out of the water.

We then started our journey up the Gordon River, which is very long (though our journey was only about 20km). It was quite like Doubtful Sound but without the steep hills on each side.

The area is part of a world heritage site because of its history, cultural significance, ecology and geology.

Evidently you get reflections on the water on a sunny day, which would be very pretty in a different way.

The Huon Pines are the ‘special’ species of the area. These Huon Pines grow to 4 or 5000 years and have a special substance that protects the inner wood. There were many photo opportunities to see Huon Pines growing out over the river. They look pretty much like Beech trees to me.

This is a 200 year old Huon Pine. They do not mature until 500 years. Good things take time.

The water is clear but coloured brown. That’s from the leached tannins from the trees evidently. A bit like Milford Sound I guess. It’s a bit unnerving when you flush the loo on the boat.

We stopped at this landing spot and had a walk along a boardwalk. Got a very interesting talk about all the types of plants etc. The young guides did an excellent job.

Then it was back on the boat and back down the river to the harbour again. All along are relics from the former timber industry where pines were cut and then floated down the river for milling. Other trees (celery top pines – look like Tanekaha) were valued for shop masts, for obvious reasons. Like the Kauri milling industry it would have been a hard life.

The buffet lunch was excellent. A selection of salads and vegetables plus cold ham, chicken legs and cold salmon (naturally).

We then made our way back to the harbour entrance to Sarah Island which was the former penal colony established in the 1820s. There the group split into 2 with guides that provide a theatrical explanation of the colony and its history. In short, for the first 6 years it was hell on earth and designed that way as it was for recidivist convicts and former escapers. Flogging was the principal form of punishment and the culture developed a very brutal colony of men and women.

Much of the area was reclaimed land that has now sunk with a lot of the heritage areas preserved below the surface. There is not too much evidence of the colony above ground.

A former gaol that later got converted into accommodation for convicts

Then there was some political pressure on the new governor who appointed a new superintendent and he liaised with this Scottish bloke who had been working there as a ship builder for a few years to create a skilled workforce of convicts that got paid with rum and tobacco rations and the entire place turned around. It became Australia’s most productive ship building port within about 5 years (which is what Mr Hoy – the Scottish bloke, had wanted to achieve when he went there.) All very interesting.

One of the wharf areas where they launched new boats ( not from this wharf clearly).

A bread oven from the original bakery. It had a wood drying area over the top that extended across to the next buildings.

The boat then deposited us back at Strahan Steve and Fiona opted to walk home and Mike and I decided to drive out to the ocean beach and Macquarie Heads. Just as we were going to the car I spotted a pod of dolphins. Managed to get a photo as they investigated the rival cruise boat coming in to dock. I had wondered if dolphins were a thing in these parts.

You can see the blobs have moved. (For those who are dubious). To be fair the dolphins were close enough to be clearly visible when I first saw them.

The ocean beach is about a 10 minute drive away and looks quite like the ocean beach at Raglan except for the sand colour. It goes on for ages in each direction. Pale coloured sand with a few rounded stones and the very occasional shell. The waves looked extremely West Coast beachish. No swimming for beginners! We had a brisk half hour walk which was much needed.

The road out to Macquarie Heads was a further 20 minutes along a gravel road. The beach there was on the harbour and had very white sand. It was very pretty. There is a campground not far away in amongst scrubland beside the road, which seems to have quite a few permanent or semipermanent occupants. Looked decidedly dodgy but I guess the location is great if you are into fishing. We had a short walk far enough to photograph Sarah Island from the mainland.

There was a shower of rain as we drove back to Strahan but were otherwise blessed with great weather for the trip. It was chilly but mostly fine and our puffer jackets did the trick.

I drove Mike down to the end of the Lettes Bay Road as he hadn’t been for a wander down there yet. It is genuine bach territory and there are 3 on the beach side that are for sale. Well 2 of them appear to be single room cells. Maybe they are part of the shacks in front but if so, I’d expect the signage to be a bit clearer. I guess you get what you pay for! Great spot though.

They are wanting offers over $400,000 for this one, but it’s a spacious 33m2 with land area of 44m2. it does have a veranda just metres from the sea. Is that a good thing???

and this one has a garden. Close to the sea though.

We had a snack tea of cheeses and crackers which was more than adequate.