Feb 17: Burnie to Strahan, Tasmania

We left the campsite in the morning and headed to McDonald’s for breakfast, not for the food but for the wifi.  Then we were off to Hellyer’s Road Distillery for whiskey tasting at 10:20 am.  Given the number of Scots on this island you knew tere had to be single malt distillery somewhere!

http://www.hellyersroaddistillery.com.au

From here we drove across the mountains of the temperate rain forest of western Tassie.  One of the true temperate rain forests left in the world, the west coast of Tasmania is constantly exposed to the winds that circle the globe from west to east in the southern latitiudes around 40 degrees.  The sailors called these the roaring forties”.  In fact, you could sail the 6000 miles from here to Chile in 6 weeks.

But with those winds come rain, lots of it.  Parts of western Tasmania receive over 100 inches of rain annually, whereas the capital Hobart, which sits on the southeast side receives about 20.  The forest are beautiful, covered with lichen, and moss. 

There are also home to a rare species only found in Tasmanian rain forests, the huon pine.  These can live for 2000 years and are also loosely related to the redwoods.  Prized for their wood, many have been logged off but remaining stands are protected.

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/file.aspx?id=6575

Much of western Tasmania near the coast is mining country. Some are still active around Queenstown and Zeehan where nickel and tin are dug from both open and underground mines.  Much of that land is not very pretty.

Then from Zeehan we drove into the lovely little fishing town of Strahan.  Our camping spot was 40 steps from the beach.

We walked 15 minutes into town and bought local fresh Tasmanian (Atlantic) salmon.  Ironically, it is not easy to by fresh local salmon here.  This is an area of large volume salmon farming done under strict rules. This is farmed salmon worth eating. The Atlantic farmed salmon from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in your local grocery is more controversial.  Some claim the latter is poorly fed, not as tasty, and that the process itself creates a local environmental disaster.

http://www.sustainableseafood.org.au/fish.php/1/6/atlantic-salmon

Here the locals said about the salmon:  “We farm it, we feed it, we send it out, and we buy it back!”  But today we ate it, skipping the sending out phase.  Yum!

We then attended the longest running play in Australia, “The Ship That Never Was”. A highly comical play with two actors, and plus many more drug from the audience. Based on the true story of the last escape from the nearby, brutal British penal colony, it is clever and hilarious.

http://www.roundearth.com.au/ship.htm