SAT. 6TH FEB - GORDON RIVER CRUISE , STRAHAN, WEST COAST
Michael bought me some flowers other day, ... awwwUp before 7am to make sure we weren’t late leaving Zeehan to get to Strahan for our cruise through the Macquarie Harbour and down the Gordon River.
Got there in plenty of time and was surprised to see how big our ship ‘’The Eagle’’ was around 130 feet long and very modern (only few yrs old).
Off on our Gordon River cruiseRain looming up about 10mins into cruise
Fantastic commentary the whole way on the River itself, the Huon Pines, logging and convict history, etc, etc. … World Heritage Listed.
The water is dark brownish-red (tannin leeched from the ‘bun’ grass and other vegetation when it rains (which is 360 days a year)…. The whole harbour and the Gordon River are all this same ‘’blood’’ colour – no way could I swim in it, even though it is rich in food for fish etc.
40 Mile Beach in background
Going through Hell's Gates (a narrow 75 metres channel out to Southern Ocean)
Salmon raising cages - note spray from boat, as fish being fed.
Fantastic commentary on Salmon and Trout farming . We watched them being fed in their round cages which hold approx 35,000 fish !!! and are about 20 metres deep. They spray the pelleted food in with giant hoses mixed with water each day.
Stopped at Sarah Island, an extremely harsh Convict penal colony. One of its famous escapees who escaped a few times, always took along couple of ‘’dinners’’ to survive (yep! … he ate his mates!!) If you saw the denseness of these forests, you can’t even imagine forcing your way through the undergrowth at all.
coming in to Sarah Island jetty - harsh historis penal colony
Michael in front of old bake house
Loz in front of ruins of Penitentiary , Sarah's Island
Blood coloured water in all of Macquarie Harbour and Gordon River
''The Eagle'' waiting our return onboard
Beautiful lunch on board – help yourself buffet style, and smoked salmon laid on ......
Can just imagine the beauty of this reflection on a sunny day .....
eerie, Gondwana feel about the Heritage Landing Huon pine forest.
At last ! - a pic together...... in the spooky forest
Raining on our way back even heavier....
Michael with 600 yr old log... the age rings are only 1mm per year -
super fine texture to Huon Pine, and at least 7 times more expensive than other pine timber.
. Fantastic history talks and info. We both really enjoyed this cruise, and it was excellent value for money. Nearly 6 hours. …. Tired when we got off and still raining …. YES! We had the whole four seasons in one day as they said we would !!!
Booked into a cabin at Strahan Holiday Park to spoil ourselves for a couple of days, and to catch up on pile of washing we’ve accumulated already.
Was nice to have plenty of room to spread ourselves around in for a break, as we probably took way more than we needed to, but this was our trial run and hard to know what to take when you know you will be going to somewhere where the weather changes so abruptly.
Tomorrow we intend to cycle all over Strahan (weather permitting) and stay again one more night, then on to Queenstown and Strathgordon on Monday.
Am just waiting for washing to dry in dryer, and Michael is watching telly, then might have early night. Today wore us out, and tomorrow cycling all day will again for sure !
Keep safe everyone x x x
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