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.