Day 11 Gordon River Cruise, Strahan

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Today we were booked to go out on the Gordon River Cruise. We boarded the vessel at 8.30am and set off towards “Hells Gate”. This is a very narrow channel at the mouth of the Macquarie Harbour where the harbour flows into the Great Southern Ocean. It is a very small channel and it is amazing that ships can navigate this opening. Originally this channel was not deep enough for ships to pass through so a rock wall was built on the right hand approach to the channel and the channel was dredged.

We then cruised on through Macquarie Harbour (six times larger than Sydney Harbour) and down the Gordon River stopping at the Heritage Landing Nature Walk. This was a lovely walk through the Huon Pines and other natural vegetation.
Our walk was followed by a delicious buffet lunch on board the ship. The cruise then continued on to Sarah Island. Sarah Island penal colony was established in 1822. Our tour guide was interesting and entertaining, he told us great tales of the convicts and how they had lived and worked on the Island. The main activity on the island was building boats from the Huon Pine and the island soon became the most productive shipping yard in Australia.

Following our lovely full day cruise we drove to our next destination, Cradle Mountain.
Our accommodation at the Cradle Mountain Chalet was lovely. There were lovely lounge-rooms with fireplaces burning, the perfect place to sit and look out at the gum trees.

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Photos

The narrow channel
Macquarie Harbour meets the Great Southern Ocean through this tiny channel

The Rock Wall
built to maintain a channel opening

Salmon Ponds
This area produces a lot of Salmon!

Heritage Landing
We both had a lovely walk through the rainforest

Lunch on Board
A beautiful buffet lunch with lots of fresh salmon

All that remains of life
on Sarah Island

Comments

[Robyn]

Yummy salmon for lunch!
That's another good day out for you both - it's a good idea to go on organised trips sometimes because you learn such a lot!