The glorious Gordon

We stopped for one night in Strahan during our first trip to Tasmania in 2013.  The town proved more picturesque and interesting than anticipated.  Our accommodation at Risby Cove also proved better expected.  We decided to spend three nights in Strahan this time around and make the most of everything it had to offer.

We also booked our accommodation early.  During our first visit, we noted that the Risby Cove complex included a couple of waterfront cabins with truly spectacular views of Macquarie Harbour. We were determined to secure one of these premium spots on a return visit.

Our planning paid off.  Upon arrival, we found ourselves booked into the cabin that sat furthest from the main building. Each morning we woke to truly stunning 270-degree views of the harbour.  Every evening we were privy to some of the most jaw-dropping sunsets I’ve seen in years. It really was the perfect setting to enjoy the final days of 2019. 

Each day we were also visited by several pairs of ducks. This includes one family with three ducklings. Sadly, by the time we left the brood had been reduced to just one duckling. Night after night, one by one, they fell prey to the surrounding wildlife.

Strahan’s most famous attractions include the ABT Heritage Railway and Gordon River Cruises. We booked both excursions on separate days. The railway was spectacular. It’s a restored line that travels from Strahan on the coast inland to Queenstown, a major mining centre. It was built in the 1890s and includes a rack-rail system that allowed heavily laden trains to carry ore over the steep slopes that separate these two towns.

We tour the half-day tour that ventured as far as Dubbil Barril before returning the coast. The train stopped several times to allow passengers to walk through the rainforest and sample locally harvested leatherwood honey. The track winds its way along the King River passing through tunnels, cuttings and across a spectacular trestle bridge. Along the way, we enjoyed an inclusive high tea of canapes and bubbles.

However, it was the Gordon River Cruise that provided the most memorable excursion. We book a tour that took us across Macquarie Harbour and out through the heads into the Southern Ocean before returning to venture up the remote and untouched Gordon River.

Macquarie Harbour is enormous. It stretches more than 50kms and opens to the ocean through a narrow, eddying and dangerous passage known as Hell’s Gate. It was so named by convicts transported from Tasmania’s east coast to Sarah Island, a penal colony built on a small island in Macquarie Harbour. The entrance is guarded by the Cape Sorell Lighthouse, built in 1899.

We later learnt that the world’s international reference point for air quality is established by a monitoring station just a few kilometres from Hell's Gate. Apparently, its the world’s purest and cleanest air.  It was certainly a refreshing contrast to Sydney’s never-ending bush fire haze.

Sarah Island has long been considered the cruellest of nation’s penal colonies. Located in the middle of nowhere on a wet, windy and desolate coastline it was used to house the “worst of the worst”. The first settlers arrived in January 1822 and comprised 14 convicts, 16 soldiers and their families. The island was named in 1815 by James Kelly after Sarah Birch, the wife of Dr Thomas Birch who’d financed his expedition.

Our cruise included a guided tour of the colony’s ruins. It was a fascinating tour. The penal colony only latest 12 years. By 1834 it has been abandoned and the convicts moved to the new settlement at Port Arthur. We learnt that island didn’t even have its own natural water source. Water had to be shipped from Phillips Island more than 6 kms away. The male and female convicts were also separated. The woman were housed on a much smaller, rockier outcrop called Grummet Island.

The Gordon River proved to another spectacular highlight. In the 1970s and 80s, the river was the scene of some of Tasmania’s most divisive protests. At the time hydro-electricity was considered an economic bedrock for the state’s future economy. The State Government began progressively damming more and more of the state’s wild and pristine rivers.

A massive 105m high dam was proposed for the Gordon River about 40km upriver from Macquarie Harbour. A battle to save the river was spear-headed by Dr Bob Brown, who later went on to form the Greens political party. In the summer of 1982-83, a total of 1,272 people were arrested. The river was eventually saved from development by the Hawke Federal Government and a High Court decision in 1983.

The publicity generated by the protests drove a dramatic increase in tourism. Within a decade, more than 90,000 tourists were visiting Strahan annually, many of whom did exactly what we did on our visit. That is, travel across Macquarie Harbour to visit Sarah Island and journey up the Gordon River.