Blogs from Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, Tasmania, Australia, Oceania

WILD TASMANIA...Wild Rivers N.P...Up the Gordon without a paddle. One of my sisters was in the protest years ago. The Tasmanian Premier would have called her and others: a "ratbag collection of mainland unemployed''. Others would later call them "Greenies". Their banners were "No Dams" stickers on cars...in bus shelters...on telegraph poles...on our bedroom walls. They formed a human blockade across the Gordon River in a campaign against a proposed hydroelectricity dam across Tasmania's Gordon-below-Franklin River. It led to a massive court case. The Greenies won. The dam was stopped. It led to groundbreaking environmental legislation. The Gordon and Franklin Rivers are now part of a National Park...World Heritage protected. Only one boat is now allowed way up the Gordon...and that little boat recently sailed up there...on board were Denise and me. ... read more

Today we set off from Hobart to travel to Hamilton. We drove to Lake Pedder and the Gordon River Dam. It was a long, hilly and windy drive to the dam and we passed snow on the sides of the road. The Dam is amazing. It is a huge structure and you can climb down the many steps to walk across the top of it. The Dam was completed in 1974 and is 140 metres high. It is the highest arch dam and this dam is the largest storage dam in Australia (12.4 million ML). Lake Pedder is a beautiful huge lake surrounded by mountains. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold, windy and wet so we had to eat our lunch in the car again. We then drove back to the Mt Field National Park and into ... read more