Strahan

We decided we had had enough of Lake St Clair. The privately run campsite (and the only one available) was too focused upon making a profit for us. Nothing wrong with that, but we prefer the more laid back approach that a true Nat Park run place displays.

So we packed up and headed off to the coast and the town of Strahan, hoping to leave the cold and the miseries of the Lake St Clair campsite behind us.

It isn't a long journey so we broke it up by stopping at as many points of interest as we could.

Our first stop was at Franklin River where we found a beautiful walk alongside the river to allow us to stretch our legs. As you can see, it is a lovely place.

In among the trees we found one that was growing out of a fallen log. Moss covered roots trailing down to the soil, it was a strange sight.

The next stop was at Donaghy's Hill. Donaghy must have been a tough old bastard as the climb up there was pretty tough. Pics are below, showing the valley with the buttongrass meadow at the bottom.

One thing that has surprised me is just how much buttongrass resembles spinifex. They MUST be related, but as one grows in hot sand and the other in cold and boggy peat it is quite startling.

Other points of the compass are below:

Our last stop was at Nelson Falls. An easy boardwalk to the falls and a beautiful falls they were too.

We bypassed Queenstown - the place was a polluted desert and a real eyesore. If you ever get down here, avoid the town like the plague!

Strahan - what a cool little town. Old buildings in good repair and just lovely. We took a look at the golf course (the in-town alternative to the caravan park which we wanted to avoid) and then drove out to Macquarie Heads where there is a campsite that offers a bush experience. Long drop loos included.

We found it to be a great little place, we had a small paddock to ourselves and the ability to have a fire at night and we loved the tranquility of the place. It is well known that the west coast has over 300 days of rain each year, but we were lucky enough to find it dry and sunny for the whole of our stay.

For the 4WDers among you, I managed to lock the hubs in and do some beach driving.

As you can see, the beach is hard packed sand so it was easy driving and the 4WD was only required to get back off the beach. The Maxtrax stayed strapped to the roof.

The pic below is our campsite with the fire in the foreground.

We took advantage of the campfire to cook a beef roast in the camp oven - pic below. The meal turned out pretty well and we continue to eat well!  :)

Macquarie Heads is 10km out of town, right up at the infamous entrance to the harbour known as Hell's Gate. The drive back to town was around the harbour and as you can see, it was very pretty with the different ranges in the background.

We took a really touristy cruise around the harbour (the second biggest in Australia after Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay) and were educated as we went.

The pic below shows the "Training Wall" which is a submerged wall of rock that was built to "train" the flow out of the harbour to keep a channel free. 300 men for 3 years to build it.

We seem to have visited lighthouses around this state so this stop wouldn't have been complete without a pic of the lighthouse at the southern side of Hell's Gate.

And this is Hell's Gate - a 40 metre wide gap between the headland and the rocky outcrop from the other headland. Even on a calm day it looks daunting.

After Hell's Gate we took a trundle across to Sarah Island, a vicous convict settlement, and then we cruised up the Gordon River to look at where the dam builders got their collective butts kicked.

Pretty eh?

We like Strahan!