West Coast Wilderness Railway

Had to be at Queenstown by 8.30am to catch the West Coast Wilderness Steam Train. Left Strahan at 7.20am. Suggested time for the 42km trip is 45 minutes. Because the road is extremely winding and it's very wet weather, we allowed an hour plus. Received several ice warnings in the car as the temperature went down to as low as 3 degrees at high altitudes.

Arrived in plenty of time to pick up our boarding pass and have a coffee and, of course, check out our loco.

Nice group of people on board. Stopped at three stations where we were able to stretch our legs. I think the main reason for the stops was for the loco to take on water. At the second stop we had morning tea on the way out and lunch on the way back in. There is a cafe, museum and an area for passengers to try gold panning.

The terrain is spectacular. I know why, but I sure don't know how they constructed this railway line through this country.

The line has the first and second most steep sections of line in Australia. To navigate these ascents and descents, those stretches have a rack and pinion system. This was the first to be used in Australia.

Back to Queenstown about 2pm. Headed off straight away to see 'The Wall in the Wilderness' at Derwent Bridge which closes about 3.40pm…Read more