Macquarie Harbour and Gordon River Cruise

Our primary purpose in visiting Strahan was to enjoy the Gordon River Cruise aboard the Spirit of the Wild, which we pre-booked in June 2024. When we boarded, our seat allocation was in the front recliners, which allowed us to look forward and sideways. I would like to know if booking so far in advance secured these seat options for us.

We hope the weather on Wednesday, February 26th, will be favourable and that we will avoid the rain and strong winds typical for this region. The forecast for Wednesday predicts a high of 26 degrees Celsius, partly cloudy skies, light winds, and a chance of showers later in the day. The weather gods might be on our side!

The Spirit of the Wild is owned by the NRMA. We received a $105 discount on our $700 booking fee by presenting our membership card. This price includes access to the Premier Upper Deck, a chef-prepared lunch featuring Tasmanian produce, complimentary Tasmanian red, white, and sparkling wines, and beer. We will enjoy premium leather recliners with full-length windows and a private viewing deck and lounge area. Additionally, the package includes morning and afternoon tea, along with Tasmanian cheese platters. I also forgot to mention a light breakfast will be provided when we board!

The tour lasts six hours, and the ship activates its electric motors when entering the Gordon River to minimize the wake produced by the boat. We will travel over one hundred and twenty kilometres during this trip.

The cruise begins by crossing Macquarie Harbour to Hells Gates, where the harbour meets the Great Southern Ocean.

We passed by the salmon and trout farming nets in Macquarie Harbour on our way towards the Gordon River.

It then continues across the harbour and into the Gordon River, reaching as far as Heritage Landing, where we will walk through a UNESCO World Heritage rainforest and see ancient Huon Pine.

The dark tea colour of the Gordon River is caused by the natural tannins that seep into the river by buttongrass plains growing within the catchment area.

Afterwards, we took a guided tour of Sarah Island, called 'Hell on Earth', Australia’s first convict settlement between 1822 and 1833. The worst convicts and those who reoffended, or escaped from other settlements were sent here.

Strahan - South West Tasmania

We are currently in Strahan, having arrived on Friday, February 21st. Over the past four days, we have experienced rain each day and one night of gale-force winds that rocked the van all night, resulting in very little sleep. We are camping at the golf club for $15 per night. As mentioned before, arriving early allows us to choose our campsite as others move on to their next destination. We always look for sunny spots for our solar system. Arriving at nine-thirty in the morning provided us with many camping options, but all the vacant spots were taken by ten-thirty.

Water is available near the clubhouse, and our 110-litre bladder we purchased many years ago fits perfectly behind the front seats on the floor. It is an invaluable asset; we use our van's drawbar suction line to pump water into our tanks.

Our Enerdrive solar and lithium system is truly impressive. Even though it was overcast and raining just after 6 p.m., our batteries showed a full charge of 100% on the ePRO monitor, displaying a "house full" message. Only a tiny trickle of amps was still coming in.

One day, we ventured out to view Hogarth Falls, adjacent to the Strahan township. The walk is pleasant, and forty minutes return.

To our surprise, we came across a yard filled with Huon Pine. Island Specialty Timbers sells this wood, and we can only imagine how expensive some of it must be.

Heading towards Strahan

After leaving Stanley, we planned to head south towards Arthur River, spend a few days camping in the National Park, and then drive further south.

That would have taken us onto the Western Explorer, a dirt road towards Corinna, and then to Waratah because we could not fit onto the barge crossing the Pieman River. Unfortunately, one of the bridges we needed to cross needed repair and only had a load limit of five tonnes, which would have put us well over the limit.

While camping in Stanley, we heard about uncontrollable fires in the same area near Corinna. At one point, the residents of this small settlement were told to evacuate. The fires grew, affecting towns like Zeehan, where residents had to evacuate to Queenstown with roads cut through Rosebery and Zeehan.

So, our only alternative was to head east along the Bass Highway and then take the Murchinson Highway toward Waratah. Waratah was constructed to support Mount Bischoff's tin mine. The town was built at the top of a waterfall, and the water was diverted for mine processing. All the infrastructure has now been removed. 

We spent two days sightseeing here, including a walk to Philosopher Falls. The falls walk was three-quarters of an hour either way, with two hundred and ten steps to the viewing platform below. 

We camped at the Alpaca and Pepperberry Farm on the outskirts of Waratah, where self-contained vans cost $20 per night. Fresh water is available in town. We've never experienced a cold like this while camping here, so we were pleased to leave.

The peppberry are dark, almost black, when ready to pick, and red beforehand. It's very labour-intensive picking the pepper berries, ensuring that only the fruit is removed and not any of the leaves, and the purchase price reflects this.

After our stay in Waratah, we continued along the Murchinson Highway towards Tullah, forty-eight kilometres away, where we planned to camp beside Lake Mackintosh. Unfortunately, the camping area is over one hundred metres from the lake, which you cannot see, so we continued into Tullah to camp at the football oval. The oval is now a tent city, which was taken over by firemen from three states, including New Zealand, who are fighting the fires.

We continued passing through Roseberry, where we intended to stay, but we were disappointed to find the walk into Montezuma Falls closed because of a rock slide that had occurred four months earlier. We gathered that no work had been started to clear the damage, so we continued to the Zeehan Golf Club. The fees are $10 per night, and you must be self-contained. The drive out of Roseberry is the steepest and longest pull we've had to deal with, and with the wet roads, we spun the Chevy tyres at one stage on one of the steepest parts.

Helicopters constantly took off from Zeehan to refuel and fight the fires, so we decided that staying here for just one night would be sufficient. We shopped and fueled up in Zeehan before leaving.