River Songs & Railway Dreams

Through curtains of rain and wisps of cloud, our journey to Lake Burbury became a meditation on nature's mysteries. The mountain peaks played hide and seek through the mist, offering fleeting glimpses of their majesty before disappearing again into the white void. Each lookout point along our route held the promise of revelation, yet delivered only whispers of the landscape's true character - a reminder that sometimes the most profound experiences require patience and faith.

Our arrival at the lakeside campsite stirred something deep within us - that familiar thrill of discovering an untouched sanctuary, the kind of solitude that had become precious to us throughout our Tasmanian adventures. Setting up our temporary home at the water's edge, we felt that peculiar mix of gratitude and anticipation that had become the heartbeat of our nomadic life. Though the lake remained veiled in rainy mist, our experiences at other Tasmanian waters had taught us to trust in the promise of dawn's unveiling.

That trust was rewarded as the next morning painted our world anew. The lifting of clouds felt like nature drawing back heavy curtains, revealing a theatre of beauty that left us breathless. Mountains stretched toward the heavens in every direction, their reflections dancing on the lake's surface like mirrors to infinity, creating a moment of pure wonder that reminded us why we chose this life of perpetual discovery.

The generous gift of long summer days in these southern latitudes allowed us to ease into the morning, savouring the simple pleasure of unhurried time. Our destination, East Pillinger, beckoned with promises of stories etched in rust and stone. This ghost town, once vibrant with the dreams of a thousand souls on Macquarie Harbour's edge, now stood as a testament to the impermanence of human ambition.

The journey to the trailhead became an adventure in itself, our bus navigating the old train line cutting like a time traveler threading through history. The humid forest pressed close, creating an almost primeval atmosphere that demanded respect and careful navigation. Anth's dance with the landscape - trimming branches here, inching through impossibly tight spaces there - became a metaphor for our broader journey: progress often requires patience, skill, and sometimes, the humility to move forward one careful inch at a time.

Our hike through the World Heritage area became a symphony of natural and human history. The constant companion of the Bird River, its waters stained rich amber by tannins, provided a mesmerising soundtrack to our journey. Like a ancient storyteller, its fast-flowing waters seemed to whisper tales of the countless seasons it had witnessed, its voice rising and falling as we traced the ghost-path of long-vanished train tracks. Though the iron rails had surrendered to time, the chronicle of human enterprise remained etched in the landscape - carefully constructed embankments stood as monuments to determination, weathered sleepers emerged like verses in a poem of progress, and abandoned telegraph lines reached toward the canopy like fingers trying to touch the past.

Reaching East Pillinger, we honoured our arrival with a quiet lunch at the pier's edge, where Macquarie Harbour's waters lapped gently below, singing lullabies to the ghosts of industry. The town's remains spoke to us in different voices - the preserved boilers and kiln brickwork stood proud like elderly storytellers, while the slowly vanishing deluxe train carriage reminded us of nature's patient reclamation of all human endeavours

Our return journey along the historic track became a meditation on time's circular nature. The Bird River's song, which had accompanied our outward journey with such enthusiasm, now seemed to carry a different melody - more contemplative, as if matching our own reflective mood. Each step retraced was a reminder of how differently we experience familiar paths when viewed through the lens of fresh understanding. The late afternoon light filtered through the ancient canopy in entirely new ways, highlighting details we'd somehow missed earlier - a fallen sleeper half-buried in moss, telegraph wire glinting like silver threads in the sun's slanting rays, the way shadow and light played across the weathered embankments. Our footfalls fell into a natural rhythm with the river's flow, and we found ourselves walking in comfortable silence, each lost in private thoughts about the lives that had once animated this wilderness. The ghost town of Pillinger seemed to follow us in spirit, its stories now woven into our own ongoing narrative of discovery. By the time our waiting bus emerged through the forest's embrace, we carried with us not just memories of what we'd seen, but a deeper appreciation for how places like this mark us, changing something fundamental in how we view the delicate dance between human ambition and nature's patient reclamation..

As afternoon shadows lengthened, we made the decision to continue our journey rather than spend another night at Lake Burbury. With Sal's precious holiday time ticking away, the call of unexplored trails pulled us northward back toward Queenstown.

Yet before leaving this chapter of our journey, we paused at the Confluence - a powerful metaphor made manifest in the meeting of waters. Here, the orange-stained Queen River, bearing the scars of human industry, met the pristine dark flow of the King River in a dance of redemption and reminder. We sat in contemplative silence, watching this beautiful collision of human impact and natural resilience, each lost in thoughts about our own place in this delicate balance.

A practical stop at the cemetery for water became our final farewell to this landscape of contrasts. As we pointed our compass north into the unknown, we carried with us not just full water tanks but fuller hearts, enriched by another day of discoveries both physical and spiritual in this remarkable corner of Tasmania.Read more