Tasmania: Strahan and Gordon River (Australia Part 20)

In Strahan we stayed at the hotel 'Strahan Village' and found that it really was a village: half of the houses on the waterfront seemed to belong to the hotel - including terraced houses and a bakery.

Strahan is a rather small city on the west coast of Tasmania, which thrives mainly on tourism. The main attractions are boat tours that depart in the morning for the Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. So upon arrival, we first went on a rainforest hiking trail to a small waterfall. Since the tourist information brochure promised the possibility of observing platypuses, we wanted to go there again in the evening when the animals are active during twilight.

At noon, we didn't see any platypus, but we did see a tiger snake crossing the hiking trail. However, it quickly disappeared into the bushes as we approached.

In the evening, we went out again to search for platypuses and silently observed the river - but unfortunately, none of the timid creatures appeared, so we returned to the hotel without a platypus photo but with some mosquito bites...

The next morning, we set off early for the Gordon River Cruise. First, we sailed to the lighthouses at 'Hell's Gate', the dangerous entrance to Macquairie Harbour from the Southern Ocean.

Then we headed towards the Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Tasmanian Wilderness and is largely unspoiled.

We saw a small part of it from the river and on a boardwalk through the rainforest, where we could see the Huon pines, ancient trees whose wood does not rot and therefore were cut down for the timber industry.

For this work, there was among other things a convict colony on the island 'Sarah Island', where we stopped on the way back.

This camp was described as the 'Hell on Earth' in the early days, but eventually transformed into a productive shipbuilding site where the prisoners had some freedom.

After disembarking again in Strahan, it was time for our four-hour return journey to Hobart.