Saturday 7th January 2017 - The big drive to the west

From Hobart we came all the way over to the West of Tasmania to Queenstown. Although like a village, it is the largest town in the West and the centre of mining in Tasmania, so it is surrounded by barren, polluted hills exploited for copper. It doesn't sound too exciting, butt more of that later. We had a great journey to get here.

GrasslandsHobart is very easy to navigate through and we followed the River Derwent up to New Norfolk, and by then we were in my kind of country with rolling golden hills and in farming country. I love the landscapes like this where you can see a long way, and imagine riding through on horseback - reminiscent of Montanaor South Dakota. The biggest community we came across was Hamilton where we were just a bit too early for coffee, but it would have been a pleasant stop. We went on to Tarraleah which has a massive hydroelectric power station or two, and a perfectly designed small town around it originally for the workers with good coffee!

Currawong - possibly a grey oneFrom here on the road and countryside changed completely to forest, hills and hairpin bends going down and up to lake country. The lakes, used as water storage to feed the power station are high altitude and deep blue on colour. Onthe hottest day of the year with not a cloud in sight, it at least felt cooling.

We had one of our walks planned for Lake St Clair at the southern end of an 8

day trek from Cradle Mountain. It was a beautiful lake with great views of the mountains all around. We hiked a figure of eight loop, starting with the Watersmeet trail, then on to the Platypus circuit- the ranger told us she had seen platypus there this morning - it is a dawn or dusk moment for that. Therewas a small beach where we found a bit of shade for our picnic (prepared by Wilson). We then did the Lamairremener Aborigine walk back, and the last bit along the beach. We saw a big snake - the second one for this trip. Earlier in the day we saw our first Tasmanian Devil - dead in the road unfortunately, but then we saw a very much alive echidna crossing the road, so we had some good sightings today.

Lake St ClairDriving on to Queenstown there were lots of bends and ups and downs, even alake to circumnavigate, but by 4pm we had reached our destination. The last part was through barren mountains laid waste by the mining. I can relate to the description below.

Denuded hills behind Queenstown

Queenstown, TASMining town surrounded by a barren moonscape produced by copper smelters.Can ecological vandalism on a massive scale be considered one of the wondersof the world? Probably yes, because the first time anyone sees the valley at Queenstown (and you always enter it from the hills above the town) they spontaneously gasp in amazement. Having passed through densely timbered Tasmanian wilderness they are suddenly confronted with a moonscape produced, in the space of only twenty years, by the savage cutting of the pristine forests to fuel the local copper smelters and the corrosive, deadly sulphur fumes from eleven furnaces. The heavy west coast rain (it averages around 2400 mm a year) did the rest. Erosion stripped the hills of their soil and a man-made desert was left. Yet, for all this, here is an intensely beautiful and wild area. When the grey clouds tumble in, driven by the Roaring Forties; when the hills are smudged with forbidding mists; the Queen River valley, for all its damage, is unforgettable. It really is one of the wonders of the world while, at the same time, being a reminder of our capacity as a species to destroy.

The Copper Smelters - source of much of the pollutionOrigin of NameThere is some debate about the origin of the name. Historically the settlement was known as Queen Crossing (almost certainly a reference to the crossing of the Queen River) and it was changed to Queenstown on 31 August, 1895. The other, rather obvious, interpretation is that it was named because it came into existence in the latter years of the reign of Queen Victoria and the name honours her position as British monarch

West Coast Wilderness Railway (note: may be part of the reason we are here!)

The Empire Hotel - our residenceIt was always a slightly crazy idea. Trying to build a railway through rainforestand rugged terrain from Queenstown to the coast verged on the insane but, in

1893, in an attempt to convince investors in London, the directors of theMount Lyell Mining Company changed their name to the Mount Lyell Mining andRailway Company and planned a railway to the sea. The route of the track wasto follow the King River for about 7 km, then, at a gradient of 1 in 20, it wouldclimb around the side of the gorge for 5 km before dropping at a gradient of 1

in 15 for about 4 km and then proceeding to the coast at Teepookana. TheParks Tasmania website explains: "The German-patented Abt railway systemwas selected as the best alternative to overcome the difficult terrain of the

King River Valley. A central cog on the engine engaged the teeth of a third railknown as the ‘rack’ which was positioned midway between the two outside

rails. This allowed locomotives to haul loads over sections two and a half timessteeper than was possible for conventional lines."

In 1894 a total of 400 men started work on the railway and by 1896 34 km of track had been laid. During the construction cuttings, many of them 20 m deep, had been dug out with pick and shovel; 48 wooden trestle bridges had been built; and the men had worked for six shillings and six pence for an eight hour day. In 1899 the track was extended to Regatta Point, the southern point of Risby Cove at Strahan. The railway continued to operate until 1963. Lobbying from local businesses, who claimed it was an iconic part of western Tasmanian history, saw the Federal Government pour over $20 million into restoring the railway which started operating as a tourist attraction in 2002. Atthe moment it runs from Queenstown to Dubbil Barril and departs Queenstownat 9.00 am every morning. The steam trains used are either the Abt 1 (1896), Abt 3 (1898) or Abt 5 (1938). (Note: a Strahan - Queenstown journey is now possible.)

Empire Hotel (where we are staying)A reminder of the affluence of the town when the mines were fully operational,the Empire Hotel, at 2 Orr Street, was once one of fourteen hotels serving the mining community. It was opened in 1901 and still boasts an impressive,

handmade Tasmanian blackwood staircase. The wood was sent to England to be turned and crafted and returned to be erected here ...

Back of the hotel restaurant placematSunday 8th January 2017 - Railway Archaeology

Breakfast was in the wood-lined dining room with paintings of hunting in England on the walls and old fashioned fireplaces, tables and chairs - it felt likewe were stepping back in time as we ate our toasted currant bread!

The walk today had been much anticipated as it was along the lines of an old tramway down to a former town called East Pillinger where once 1000 people lived between 1898 and 1904, all for the mining industry around Queenstown. Timber was prepared and bricks were made down in what is now one of the remotest places we have been, and now all lost the tangled trees and ferns.

View towards Cradle MountainWe drove 29 kms on sealed roads over the mountains and then another 11 kms on dirt roads to a point where only 4 wheel drive vehicles were allowed, so we parked up, and began walking the five kms to the start of the trail. We really could have driven it, but it was very narrow in parts and there was nowhere to turn, as it was along the old tram and through cuttings. We did seeone wallaby and a bassian thrush on the way, and it was shady from the tall eucalyptus and tree ferns. Today was nowhere near as hot as yesterday which was a real bonus for our long hike.

Bassian Thrush Bassian ThrushWe reached the start of the trail, where we had to sign in, and just as we weredoing this a vehicle came down with three other people, the whole day there were just we five and a couple of other folks who did the whole trail - this is not surprising given its remoteness.

The walking trail was 5.7km one way along the Bird River to the Kelly Basin onMacquarie Harbour, and the site of East Pillinger. As far as was possible it followed the line of the old tramway but there were places where old tressle bridges had gone or there had been landslides, or the undergrowth had just taken over, so the going was not all that easy. The good news was that it was

all in shade, and the foliage of ferns and tree ferns in amongst the eucalyptus was stunning. At times we could not see the trail at all as the ferns completely covered it. We kept pushing forwards, and in places big trees had come down over the trails and we had to either climb over or find a diversion round.

Fallen trees above the trail Fallen trees on the trail

Bird River Clear trackbedIt was a joy to reach the water and our destination. There were some good interpretation boards on the site of East Pillinger to help understand what it would have been like in it's heyday, and we could walk to some huge brick kilns and boilers from saw mill engines, as well as the site of the old pier. It was all interesting, but hard to envisaged 1000 people living here when it has now returned to nature.

Bird River Kelly Basin

remains of the railway jetty East Pillinger around 1900

displaced boiler boiler in situAfter a picnic lunch we set off back, with the promise that once we got onto the four wheel drive road we might get picked up by the couple who were behind us. In fact we were about half way up the road part when they picked us up - it was quite a relief as we had already done 19 kms . It was however a great walk.

brick kiln ruin abandoned rail

trail through the ferns railway cutting

Most people probably miss seeing one of the largest remaining structures on the line - a substantial tressle bridge they walk over at the start of the trail which they probably don't realise is an original structure.

Old railway tressle still in use for the walking trailIt took us about 45 minutes to drive back over the mountains to Queenstown, which is something of a quiet kind of place. The Empire said its restaurant is closed 'due to unforeseen circumstances', so we need to search out somewhere to eat - there are a lot of empty shops and motels around, but John has already sussed out food either at Maloney's or Smelters Restaurant.

(All closed for Sunday night so we had a very basic eat-in fry up at the local takeaway. As Stephanie said, 'Now we need some red wine to cut the grease!)

New photos should be in the Flickr album by the time of our next blog.

Stephanie & John