St Helens

Our last day in this part of the island before we move south saw us drive back towards the village of Pyengana.
This time though we took the dirt roads up into the hills to have a look at the old mining area known as the Blue Tier. The day started cloudy and as we climbed up into the hills we were soon shrouded in a light mist with an occasional shower.
We parked up in the day car park at the top of the valley and donned our wet weather gear.
This area was extensively mined for tin back in the day and a quite large Chinese community grew up there. Long since abandoned the hills are being reclaimed by the rain forest.
The landscape is quite extraordinary. There are blankets of cotton wool like lichen covering the ground interspersed with grassed areas. The grass is nibbled short by potoroos and wombats. We saw one or two potoroos on our walk and evidence of wombats too (cuboid poo).
The day brightened up considerably and we returned to base via the local museum in St Helens to learn a little bit more about the tin dragon and the Chinese miners. We have enjoyed this part of the island, with the highlight being the walk through the Freycinet NP to Wineglass Bay. Tomorrow we move on to pastures new.Read more