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Published: March 20th 2014
Nelson Falls 8
This is a rain forest where everything holds moistureA driving adventure unfolded today as we headed north west from Hobart, aiming to reach Strahan over 2 days. Not many kilometres I hear you say, and as a bird would fly, a relatively short trip.
The roads are great too, so, why so slow?
Well, there are lots of things to look at along the way, and the roads are the opposite of the Nullarbor run. On the Nullarbor we kind of counted the few corners we drove around. On this trip, one is hard pressed to find a straight piece of road more than 200 meters long. It really is a fantastic drive, just slow.
Much of the road winds through hills and forests, passes through little towns, and some interesting things to see off the main road.
The aim was to be at Derwent Bridge by lunch, and we achieved that nicely. Just before getting to the bridge, tucked on a short private road is a huge green tin shed. It would be Buckingham Palace if it was a chook farm, but this is the home of The Wall in the Wilderness.
No cameras are allowed in The Wall, so to see what
we saw, you will have to go yourself and view this 100 meter long work of art. More specifically, wood carving. The wall is made of a series of panels, probably a little under 2 mtrs tall each, and joined side to side making a historical flow of recent history (1800s ) and the people, plants and creatures of Tasmania.
To give you an idea of how gifted this artist (Greg Duncan) is, there is a pair of gloves carved from wood that really look like they are leather, and you really have to hold back from picking them up and wanting to wear them. There is a coat and hat on a coat rick. The folds of the hanging coat, and again the appearance of the coat are so realistic.
The entry fee is quite modest, the wall itself is a work in progress with the artist hoping to have the last four or five panels complete late in 2015. In a way, the incompleteness of sections of the panels gives an insight into the hard and skilled work making these panels link up.
Next planned stop was to be Nelson falls, however, wind rain and
unpleasant conditions plus a full car park prevented that exercise. We drove further until we came to our planned overnight lakeside camp at Lake Burbury. Lake Bunbury is one of many hydro electrical lakes in the centre of Tasmania.
The day started off at 12.5c in Hobart, and was by lunchtime only 8.5c up in this wilderness area. Luckily the camp site had some good metal parking spots for us, and Anne and Jim parked alongside.
The next morning was a little brighter, and the overnight rain had clocked off before the next shift of rain clouds came. The four of us back tracked the 6 or 7 ks to Nelson falls, and really enjoyed the wetland forest walk. This walk is listed in a publication called Tasmania's 60 great short walks.
The paths are well developed and crisscross little streams as we climbed to the base of the waterfall. There were so many photo opportunities that it took much longer to get in than to 20 minutes the book had said. Jim discovered that the water is icy cold in these streams. He was lining up a photo, needed to move a little to his right
to get the picture. Unfortunately he stepped off the path into a small stream. While there was plenty of laughter, we rescued him before he suffered too much. We asked him to step back in for a photo opportunity, but he declined.
The falls here are great, and probably so all year round. The rain forest area around here has some rain around 320 days in the year.
The trip back to the car park was quick, and we headed towards Queenstown. Being a good Kiwi by birth, I have beautiful recollections of snow down to the edge of Lake Wakatipu. This Queenstown is nothing like that. This has been from convict days a mining town. Copper, gold, silver, tin and more. None the less, the twisty road in is a sight to enjoy with the rock faces brightly coloured. The rock has a high sulphur content which has influenced the tones.
The old miners stripped all trees from the region to fuel their boilers and heat their huts. One hundred years on there is no regrowth here. Bald hills all around. There is a small plantation on the edge of town, but they seem to be
The Wall
Home of the fantastic wood carving time line of Tasmanian History very slow to grow.
The town is quaint, and home to an important piece of railway history. This would be one of the few rack and gear driven railways still working. This is part of a forestry railway system that ran through the forest from Strahan to Queenstown. The Strahan side of the track needs significant maintenance, so the train goes part way to a turntable and then returns to Queenstown. While this was on our wish list, we have had to say no this time. I spoke to some folks just off the train and they were really impressed. That is the most common assessment of this historic railway winding its way through the forests on a track too steep for traditional railway, and twisting as much as the roads we drove over.
The days journey ended in Strahan mid afternoon after yet another twisty road through forests. The arrival in town is virtually an instant transformation from forest to urban.
We have activities planned in this riverside port which will be in the next blog. Mean time, a cuppa would be welcome.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
THE WALL
Great to see you went to The Wall and advertise its wonder. Having been involved in exhibition woodcarving for a number of years and seeing the extraordinary skill of numerous woodcarving artisans, I can vouch that The Wall is World Class...breathtaking...little wonder it has the air of a sacred place when viewing. The enormity of the exhibition and the skill of the carver is a must to behold when visiting Tasmania. And its a self funded project...staggering. Those carved coats and hats on the hat stands...probably the most beautiful things I've seen in my life!