For the Term of Her Natural Life

Sunshine, Rain, Wind, Hail, Thunder and Lightning - we got it all today. However, none of this interfered with the enjoyment of the day in one of the most remarkable of places on the planet.

The alarm at 6.40am had me reaching for the phone to silence it, at the same time noticing that there were some messages from the children castigating me for running a much too ambitious and busy program for their mother, for whom I had promised that I would give a restful experience in Tasmania. Hmmm - no problem. I’m sure they will be pleased with the 10 minute sleep-in we’ve had this morning.

A 40 minute drive down a very windy road to Strahan saw us arriving for check-in and thence a 9am departure on our Macquarie Harbour / Sarah Island and Gordon River cruise. We had already driven through some heavy rain but I wasn’t feeling particularly perturbed as a cruise on these amazing waterways cocooned in airconditioned comfort on our ‘World Heritage Cruises’ purpose built boat would be pleasant enough anyway.

The rain cleared, the sun emerged and we set off on a really professionally run and informative day trip. First stop was ‘Hell’s Gates’ - the entrance of Macquarie Harbour to the might of the Southern Ocean. The history and significance of this treacherous inlet was explained, where ocean swells can sometimes reach the height of 27m under the influence of the ‘Roaring Forties’.

We then headed further up Macquarie Harbour past the numerous fish farms that have become a vital industry in recent decades. Atlantic Salmon and Ocean Trout are the two species, with Ocean Trout simply being freshwater Rainbow Trout grown in these brackish waters where the rainfall is sufficient to create a fresh layer of water on top which allows these fish to grow and thrive. So Ocean Trout on top, Atlantic Salmon below!

Next stop was Sarah Island - the most feared and brutal of the penal settlements well and truly predating Port Arthur. A guided tour of the Island was undertaken and the commentary was informative. The thunder and lightning added a dramatic backdrop to the final part of the tour and we were congratulating ourselves on taking an umbrella to help avoid getting drenched in the final part of the island visit.
Sarah Island was the setting of Marcus Clarke’s famous novel ‘For The Term of His Natural Life’ and the place from where the convict Alexander Pearce and his ‘cannibal’ companions escaped.
Perhaps most remarkable of all was the fact that a young couple seated two rows in front of us chose today to become engaged on Sarah Island, where she agreed to stay with (her now fiancée)for the term of her natural life!
It’s probably best not to overthink the choosing of this location for their engagement 🤔

Heading upstream, we entered the Gordon River and enjoyed an excellent onboard lunch with much of the history of the controversy in the early 1980’s about the proposed dam / hydro proposal being recounted on the screens. Loss and I remember well the still simmering intensity of feeling when we were here in 1984 and seeing cars with bumper stickers declaring ‘Do the environment a favour - bulldoze a Greenie today’. Of course sentiments are now very much in favour of the wisdom of having preserved this pristine Wilderness which would have been irreversibly damaged had the scheme gone ahead.

Just before we disembarked at ‘Heritage Landing’ about 12km up the Gordon River for a boardwalk tour of the pristine rainforest, we were treated to a hailstorm which cleared as quickly as it came. This is as far as commercial vessels are now permitted to travel, whereas in 1984 we motored right up to the Franklin River itself.

Of particular interest on the guided tour was seeing and touching a still-thriving Huon Pine that was estimated to be 2,600 years old.

A leisurely cruise back to Strahan in the early afternoon concluded with a visit to an historic Huon Pine mill and a poke around inside the woodworking artisan shop.

With an hour and a half to kill before the commencement of the locally produced and acted play “The Ship That Never Was” (which is a comedic take on the last ship built by convicts at Sarah Island which was stolen by 10 convicts and sailed to Chile!)
we took a drive out to Ocean Beach and watched and felt the roaring forties in action; then a drive out to Macquarie Heads (Hell’s Gates); back to town to fit in a quick drive and 30 minute walk to Hogarth Falls on the outskirts of Queenstown which left just enough time to purchase some fish and chips (delicious) from a local vendor before taking our seats for the play.

Audience participation was required - I became John Barker (one of the convicts who was a gunsmith) and Loss played a sensational, cameo role as a jelly fish.

A forty minute drive through the steep and winding mountains that separate Strahan from Queenstown brought us to our accommodation again - which I have now downgraded to only 3 star, as they forgot to service our room.もっと詳しく