23 Feb 10 - Macquarie Heads, Strahan and the West Coast

By Craig: Hills, hills and more bloody hills, how I long for a straight flat stretch of road. Bring on the Nullarbor I say. Getting to Macquarie Heads (just south of Strahan) across mountainous narrow roads tested both the vehicle and the driver and with no alternative route it was slow as you go and get there safe. It was raining upon arrival, very cold and the moisture in the air made using paper to start a fire very difficult. Ah! A packet of fire starters did the job. No go acting like a boy scout when the family and not to mention my fingers are bloody frozen. The first night was spent under a tarp in front of a fire with a bottle of old heart warmer (red wine). The sun did eventually come out through a storm and we explored the region. The trip up the western coast was wet and wild. The long windy and windy road to Arthur River was enjoyable with a river crossing at Corinna (The Fatman Barge) and a visit to Couta Rocks being the highlights. As we sat and had lunch at Couta Rocks (in the Cruiser), with the wind blowing 40Knots+ and the rain pelting in horizontal we looked into the small bay at a fishing boat struggling at it’s mooring and wondered about how tough this area would be for the occupants. My disappointment in the west was not being able to tackle the Balfour track. The track in it’s time at best difficult was very wet and local knowledge and track updates told us that taking this track on alone was not recommended. I’ll do it in company next time. In all, the west was conquered and I was looking forward to seeing Strahan.



Strahan, a nice little town come port etc had a good feel to it and in particular a visit to the local theatre saw us involved in a play called ‘The Ship That Never Was’. Now I won’t spoil it for those who may venture to Strahan one day but suffice to say this play had us all laughing at and with the two main characters and audience roped into different roles. One such member of the audience was Sam and he played the role of Billy. Billy was the hero, a good pirate you might say. Billy saved the day and Sam just loved jumping about (acting seems to come naturally) as Billy took on pirates and steered the ship out of trouble.
Well a very funny time had for all with Sam playing it up as good as any 7 year old and the crowd egging him on, a great night!

By Lou: Before we headed over to Tassie mum offered me dad’s diary from their last trip to Tassie in 2007 to see if it offered any hints for what we might want to do. His diary entries were all pretty much based on the weather or mileage accrued so when I came across an entry that actually reflected what he felt my interest was piqued and my page turning finger paused mid air. He was quite tickled by the performance of Tasmania’s longest running play in Strahan called ‘The Ship that Never Was’ and this was endorsed in person by a good family friend. So we braved the chill straight off the Arctic and attended the outdoor theatrette for the nightly performance. It was a pantomime style re-enactment of convict escape and while there were two formal actors on stage there were at least a dozen audience members roped in, costumes and all. Sam got picked to be young ‘Billy’ and enthusiastically carried out all instructions from the director much to the delight of the audience. He improvised beautifully and in two subsequent towns strangers called out “Hey, there’s Billy!” From day dot he’s had dance in his pants and if he’s not in Sydney’s 2017 production of Billy Elliot, I’ll go He. No pressure,son. When I was 13 years old I came on a family holiday to Strahan and we went on a cruise along the Gordon River. I remember being bitterly disappointed as I’d expected a Disneyland scene, along the lines of hippopotamus’ gently opening their jaws and butterflies flitting out, as you sailed past in your 4 seater boat, fairies sliding down rainbow waterfalls etc etc. So when in 2010 the weather was miserable I wasn’t so disappointed that we decided not to do the Gordon River cruise. Mum’s recollection is that is was “so boring” so all’s well that ends well. When you don’t want to sit around your campsite in the rain, you go for a drive. I was keen to do the drive up the western coast in order to experience the reportedly stunning Tarkine wilderness and expected dense, lush rainforest but the landscape was quite diverse including expanses of plains and low lying bush. Beautiful but not at all what I was expecting. Apparently the real treasure is only accessible by foot. Would be so much better if they put in a 2 lane highway through the guts, with a Maccas for the hungry traveller. We really didn’t do a lot else in Strahan. Despite the fact that we were camped on the doorstep of a natural salmon farm Craig didn’t have the time, opportunity or tools to throw in a line. Couldn’t find a shop to repair his surf fishing rod (we learned not to assume that any waterside town in Tassie would have a fishing store – they are actually heading for the same fate as the Tassie Tiger).

By Sam: It was really hilarious because I got picked in the play and everyone laughed when I did something funny. I did things really silly, like when the man said ‘Trip over the cat” I tripped over the cat and everyone laughed.