Go West! part 1

This weekend we headed off on an adventure to Tasmania’s West Coast. We stayed three nights in Strahan, which is a small town near Macquarie Harbour, with a history of fishing, timber, convicts and mining.

The West Coast is a fascinating area less than 300 km away, but getting there takes pretty much all day (taking into account your relatively late start, the winding road through the mountains, and the various stops you need to make along the way).

The thing that captured my attention on our journey was the ever-changing scenery – from the burnt out areas and sheep grazing of the Central Highlands, to the massive pipes of the hydro-electric scheme, the sclerophyll forests, the rainforests of the Franklin river, the massive mountains of the south-west and then the bare hills coming into Queenstown. It’s times like this trip that I wish I could remember what sclerophyll vegetation actually is and how those mountains came to be formed.

I’ve got too many photos for one post, so I’m aiming to spread them out over the next few posts.

Tonight, some things you might see on your way to the West Coast.

Some of the bushfire affected land near Hamilton

From Tarraleah

Tungatinah Power Station near Tarraleah

Franklin River

Nelson Falls, Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park

Near Nelson Falls

Near Nelson Falls

On the road to Queenstown

I really wanted to stop and take a better picture of this mountain – it was overwhelming

Iron Blow lookout near Queenstown

Iron Blow lookout near Queenstown

Coming into Queenstown

Coming into Queenstown

Coming into Queenstown