Strahan & Queenstown

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