Queenstown to Maydena (Mt Field)

Working our way back towards the east, we visited points of interest along the way. Climbing out of Queenstown on the highway known as 99 bends, we stopped at the town lookout. The landscape is no longer the moonscape it once was. The vegetation that had been destroyed by the sulphur gasses that were produced from the copper mining and smelting has regenerated somewhat, although some areas are still quite barren. We also checked out the old Iron Blow mine and Nelson's Falls.

At Derwent Bridge, about halfway to our destination, we visited the attraction I had been told about, called The Wall in the Wilderness. The Wall is an art installation that consists of a mural, 3m high by over 100m, carved from Huon pine. Generally, the scenes are of farming type scenes, and the detail is incredible. Other items, such as a coat hanging on a peg or a pair of work boots, looked very realistic. No photographs were permitted, but you can get a bit of an idea from the postcards I purchased.

We stayed in an AirBnB in Maydena and the next day drove out to Gordon Dam. On the way there was a sculpture called Bitumen Bones. It was supposed to represent an animal bone on the side of the road with a crow picking at it. The inspiration was from a poem about a wombat - a road victim. There is plenty of roadkill in Tasmania (mainly possums and pademelons).

At Strathgordon, the township near the dam, there was a veteran huon pine tree log that was 2300 years old when it was felled in 1975 to make way for the dam. There are markers on the rings with such historical events such as Julius Caesar, signing of the Magna Carta etc. The dam was quite impressive. Of course, we had to walk down to the wall, around 200 steps. The trouble is, we had to climb back up.

Final stop in this area was Mt Field National Park, home of the beautiful waterfalls often seen on the tourism brochures (Russell Falls). They are very beautiful, however perhaps not flowing as much as the brochures show.Read more