Queenstown Station |
West Coast Wilderness Railway - a steam train journey |
Our heritage carriage |
Wood-lined carriages and shiny brass trimmings |
Our first stop - Lynchford - fill up with water |
Our lovely train |
The polluted Queen River is slowly recovering (due to mining) |
Lynchford was an old gold mining place |
Pete panning for gold - no luck! |
Pete next to the engine at our second stop - Rinadeena |
Inside the driver's cabin |
Made in Glasgow in 1898 and it's still working |
To get up the very steep slope a ABT system... |
...this was invented by Carl Roman Abt in 1882 |
A rack and pinion system |
Rinadeena station |
King River Gorge |
Hard to get photos through the glass |
King River Gorge |
Surrounded by thick rainforest |
Fast flowing river - white water rafting anyone? |
Our third stop - Dubbil Barril |
Rainforest around Dubbil Barril |
We turn the engine around here for the return leg |
Huge turning table |
Loco 3 on the turntable |
The drivers turn the engine around by hand |
The second engineer is really doing all the work |
Little engine in all her glory |
Pinion wheel that engages the rack |
The turntable roller has gone off its track |
Ready to reverse |
Head on view |
Queenstown - Walkway over Iron Blow Lookout |
Iron Blow Lookout - old open cut mine... |
...was where mining began in Queenstown |
Now filled with water |
Bare, pink hills around |
Lookout - scenery before we reach Strahan |
We spot a wee snake |
The Ship That Never Was... |
...a dramatic, hilarious true story about the last convict escape from Sarah Island - they made it all the way to Chile |
Lots of audience participation - great fun |
Our boat for the Gordon River Cruise |
It's a misty start to the day - a 100 year old man-made wall of rocks to help create a clear water channel |
A lighthouse in Macquarie Harbour |
Hells Gates up ahead, a narrow entry from the wild Southern Ocean to Macquarie Harbour |
Named by the convicts on their way to the hell on earth of Sarah Island |
We slow down and pass through |
Cape Sorrell lighthouse |
Whale Rock - can you see it? |
Jackie helping the captain of the boat |
The captain has it all under control and he gave the commentary as well |
The helm of this modern boat |
Coming back through Hells Gates |
Salmon and trout farms |
Three of Tassie's big fishing companies have pens here - delicious salmon, we can vouch for that |
Sarah Island - the first penal settlement in Tasmania (1822) |
This place was for prisoners that committed further crimes after arriving in Australia |
Their severe punishment was hard manual labour - cutting down Huon pine in the rainforest |
It looks so peaceful now... |
...just ruins and greenery (and the sun has come out) |
Solitary Confinement Gaol - with its grave-sized windowless cells |
The New Penitentiary |
We then sail up the Gordon River |
Dense rainforest |
A gentle cruise to admire the wilderness |
At Heritage Landing, we have a short stroll through the rainforest |
The rainforest is all around |
The Waterfront at Strahan |
Morrison's Sawmill |
Old machinery is still used to cut the wood... |
...the smell of Huon Pine is unique |
We have tried and tried to see platypus....but only saw this one |