Tasmania Trip (6)
Strahan, Zeehan & Gowrie Park
On 10 January, 2002, our mission was to travel to Strahan and through Zeehan to Gowrie Park. But first we ventured down a road to the South of Queenstown for no reason in particular.
If you wish you can trace our progress on the map.
Once again the riding was divine and once again I blessed the spanners of those German engineers. As with the previous day, every few kilometres seemed to bring another lovely little place which merited a short walk.
We headed South from Queenstown along the Queen River until we got to the King River. The we followed the Mt Jukes Road. The scenery was the best of the entire trip.
The reservoirs that have been created in Tasmania by the HEC are not for drinking water and the restrictions that we are used to in the rest of Australia ie no fishing, boating or other water sports which are designed to maintain the quality of drinking water simply do not apply. The HEC has gone to great lengths to beautify these areas and they have succeeded. A trip to Queenstown without a trip down this road is not complete. The only downside is that one has to return the same way.
We returned to Queenstown and then headed off to Strahan. We stopped on the way and took one of the walks to a lookout. Once again the walk would have been pleasant without the full protective motorcycle gear but was somewhat tedious with it. However, as always, the effort was well worth while. This picture was taken almost vertically downwards. I looked for a 'No Fishing' sign but there was not one there so I suppose there is no reason you should not throw a line in if you took your rod to the top.
Then to Strahan for morning tea. Strahan is on Macquarie Harbour, a natural inlet guarded by 'Hell's Gates'. Strahan is a tourist town and does it well - well certainly at lunch time. There is an abundance of places to dine at tables on the footpath or inside. Lunch was a reasonable price and delicious.
We rode out to Hell's Gates along the rough dirt road. In a car it would have been fine or even in a motor cycle more suited to dirt roads. The road was not bad by any stretch of the imagination but the beemer loves bitumen. Hell's Gates themselves were impressive but by no means overwhelming.
Onwards and upwards or vice versa and we headed for Zeehan. From there we were supposed to take the road directly to Gowrie Park through Rosebery but there was a bug in the navigation equipment and we ended up heading further North and then turning right to pass to the North of Lake Pieman. What a delightful mistake to make. The road was just wonderful and the scenery exquisite. The view below could be seen from a place called Whaleback Ridge. I should have taken more photographs but they just would not have done the area justice.
I am not actually sure where I took the pictures below. It may have been before Tullah or after it. Nevertheless, the sight of the distant Cradle Mountain and Walls of Jericho was certainly impressive. These photographs were taken from almost the same place but with a different zoom setting.
Our accommodation for the night was at Gowrie Park. Gowrie Park is an old mining camp which was taken over by an enterprising Swiss couple who seem determined to made the restaurant into Tasmania's best. The menu was extensive and impressive as was the wine list. I chose an excellent South Australian red which magnificently complemented the main course. The wine was as good or perhaps better than any I had consumed at Jim Crotty's place but his wine was far better value for money.
So impressed were we with Gowrie Park that we tried to book in again 3 days hence but sadly they were booked out. In the morning it was off to Stanley.