West Strahan

One of the must dos in Strahan is the Gordon River Cruise and tour of the Macquarie Harbour. We were advised by many people that the red boat is the one to go on, so that is what we did.
Leaving Strahan at 9 am we spent 6 hours on the visit, both onboard and on shore. All the crew were delightful and the captain was eager to let visitors into the cabin to view the controls and to sit in the engineers seat. We had chosen our day well as the winds allowed for a trip through Hell's Gates - the narrow entrance to the massive Macquarie Harbour. It gets its name from the convicts who were forced to row through the narrows pulling the larger ship behind them. They were on their way to Sarah Island, the most brutal and remote secondary offenders detention centre in Tasmania. It predated Port Arthur which, upon its closure, was where the convicts were transferred. It was to become known as "hell on earth."
A large lighthouse stands on the ocean side of the channel which we were able to view. Two further smaller light houses, within the harbour, help to define the navigable section of waterway.
The harbour is host to a number of fish farms which grow on north atlantic salmon amongst others in large and deep pens.
We stopped off at Sarah Island where Lyle showed us around the ruins of the old settlement. Lyle was a very enthusiastic guide and a member of the Round Earth Theatre Company. His descriptions of life on the island were very vivid. The island is now being claimed back by nature, it having been stripped of all greenery when in use as a prison. The prisoners were put to work making boats of various sizes, the huon pine slips still being in evidence.
We enjoyed a very pleasant lunch on board, prior to venturing up into the Gordon River. We heard tales of the Piners who spent 8 months of their year up here cutting and collecting the huon pine, a remarkable slow growing soft wood, unique to Tasmania. The piners and early conservation activists saved this area from ruination by hydro electric schemes and it now forms part of the World Heritage Wildlife National Park which covers most of the south west of the island. The Huon pine is now a protected tree, the only timber that can now be collected is that which is washed down into the harbour by winter rainfall.
The Gordon River is beautiful, with trees lining all hillsides surrounding it right down to the water line. The boat stopped off at a boardwalk to let people walk amongst the forest.
Returning to Strahan we were given a demonstration at one of the two remaining saw mills in the area which is licensed to deal with Huon Pine. After that, we had booked ourselves into the local open-air theatre to see "The ship that never was," Australia's longest running play (30 years). It tells the story of an escape from the Island by ten convicts in a ship of their own making. There was a cast of two, Lyle being one of them, augmented by many drawn from the audience. The play was hilarious, great fun - and closed an absolutely brilliant day.Read more