I Love Steam trains

I find steam trains fascinating because, I think, they remind me of my youth when I used to go train-spotting in the days of steam power and liked riding in carriages pulled by steam locomotives. I've been on many historic railways in quite a few countries where enthusiasts still keep the old tradition alive. This post is about one such journey from Strahan in Tasmania alongside Macquarie Harbour then up the Gordon River valley until about half way to Queenstown. This railway originally carried considerable mineral freight as well as passengers, but these days the traffic is mainly tourists. So here is locomotive named Mt Lyell No. 5 ready to start its journey, with Max alongside. My Lyell was the goldmine that really put a rocket under Queenstown. And here's the inside of our nicely restored coach with Dot, Max and Bec sitting in their seats on the left-hand side.

 

We were in the up-market carriage where lunch was served, doesn't the food look nice.

The carriage was the last in the train and had a viewing platform where I could take photos in between lunch items. And here's the line.






On the landward side we passed through farmland mostly dedicated to stock rearing - in this case mainly sheep. But as we progressed the countryside became increasingly wooded.











And eventually we came to the picturesque Gordon River which had a considerable volume of water. The line also had many attractive cuttings like the one shown here.


Eventually we came to the end of the tourist portion of the line where most passengers alighted to stretch the legs, admire the Gordon river and watch the engine turn around to haul us back to Strahan.

The next stop was a misspelt place! That's just a guess on my part, but it could have been bestowed by someone with a sense of humour. The place in question is provided in this photo.

I presume that the author meant Double Barrel ... as in shotgun. Anyway we sensed that we were in no danger and alighted for a lovely walk through the rain-forests lining the banks of the Gordon.

All up, it was a delightful trip and highly recommended.

AS 

Queenstown and Beyond

After leaving Lake St Clair we headed to the historic destination of Strahan via Queenstown. Again we were blown away by the quality of the landscapes we encountered en route - and especially the mining landscapes around Queenstown.

En route to Queenstown we navigated some lovely mountain scenery endowed with thick forest cover.

 

But as we approached Queenstown  the landscape was increasingly denuded of vegetation and we encountered piles of mining debris and saw large holes in the ground - relic mining quarries where the ores were exhausted or no longer viable to mine. I pointed out to Max that he 'owned' some of this territory since, like both Dot and I, he's invested in Australia's premier mining, BHP.




On the right you can see the village of Gormanston which is now almost derelict. Queenstown had a population of c. 5000 in 1900, but now has less than 2000. The reason simple. Gold mining has long gone and the copper mines are on care and maintenance pending future price rises. Queenstown can be seen in the following photo.

It's a shadow of its former self and we quickly navigated the twisting highway to the coastal port of Strahan, itself steeped in history. Judging by the bill-board this is an angler's paradise!

But, as we will see in the next two posts, it was for us the base for two great trips. One was on a steam railway and the other on a catamaran across Macquarie Harbour.

AS

Into the Wilderness

Tasmania is home to some Australia's and the World's most acclaimed National Parks. Indeed, nearly all the west and south-west of the island is protected environmentally, and it was our privilege to explore this territory over some brilliantly clear and warm weather over the next few days in mid to late April. We were blown away by the region's beauty - especially in the Mt Field and Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Parks. Once again I feel forced to append a huge number of photos of these locations, so please bear with me.

Let's start with the Mt Field NP. It has stands of Huon and other giant pine species which reach great heights (40+ m or 130 feet) and live to great ages. Huon pines are reputedly the second longest liver trees on the planet and one living specimen in now into its third millenium

 






These temperate forest, which receive by Australian standards high rainfall are dense, have high ground cover and are covered in fungi. Here are me, Max, Dot and Rebecca admiring the forest cover.

 

 

 

Some of the fungi I mentioned earlier. And here's Max rock-hopping - a favourite pastime.

 

The park has many lakes like this one, which had a lovely walk through unusual vegetation.

 

And Max managed to climb this rock, something I daren't try myself.

 

We also visit the beautiful Russell and Horseshoe Falls. The former are shown directly below but with less water than usual after a dry spell.

 

And here are the Horseshoe Falls.
















After leaving Mt Field NP we headed to Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park (CMSCNP) but en route we made a short detour to see one of Australia's most famous hydro-electric schemes at Tarraleah. With lots lakes and water, Tasmania is best-placed of Australian states to develop hydro power.

 

 And, as the sun was setting we arrive at the lovely resort on Lake St Clair where we stayed the next 2-3 days. Our home was a self-contained apartment nestling among the trees. Lake St Clair is the southern end of the famous and very popular 'Overland' walking track, which typically takes several days to complete.

The Lake itself is large and very beautiful - only a small part is see in this photo. And here's a striated rock.






 This next picture shows the lake near our apartment.





And on our walks we saw some interesting plants. I have no idea if these berries are edible.
Does anyone know?

And here are some of the local button-grass planes near the Lake' edge.



 One of the walking tracks, which we took was an Aboriginal culture trail which explained sites of historical importance to local tribes - as explained in the tablet below. And after the walk we were booked on a lake cruise in a smallish vessel. We found the cruise rather choppy because the strong wind generated some surprisingly large waves.

 

Surprisingly on a distant shoreline we saw a pump house designed to deliver water to the Tarraleah hydro scheme. Now no longer used for that purpose it's part of the Lake's tourist accommodation.

 

The journey had had many vistas of lovely and often distant mountain ranges - which is why the Overland track is so attractive and popular. And, in fact, our cruise was destined to pick up a large posse of walkers who had decided not to take the last leg of the journey on the Lake's edge. Here they are awaiting our arrival.

The next day we departed for Queenstown and Strahan the subjects of my next post. But before left the region we visited something that has become famous nationally: The Wall. A local artist / sculptor has developed a 100 m (330 feet) long wall housed inside this building and on this wall are carved wooden sculptures of the region's history. I cannot show examples of these very good sculptures because photography was banned inside. Go to http://thewalltasmania.com.au/ to see something of what the wall is like. It's well worth a visit.

AS