From Devonport back to Glenorchy
Door: Devils Uncle
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Paul
10 Februari 2008 | Australië, Sydney
The previous story was a bit very long, so I’ll try to keep it a bit shorter from now on. At least this will be easier as I don’t need to translate so much and it will be much nicer for you to read as well.
As I told before the rest of the family would arrive with the Spirit of Tasmania in Devonport on Saturday morning 9th February. So again my alarm clock went of early, this time at 5:45am. At the moment I left the hostel I saw that the ferry hadn’t arrived yet so I decided to drive to the entrance of the harbour and watch the ferry coming in. After I picked up Mirjan (my sister) at the passengers terminal we both went to the vehicle terminal to pick up the rest. It has been 3 months already since I’ve left the Netherlands and have seen both my parents and my sister. During the greetings I’ve heard my father took a picture of the pier but he was disappointed that a person with a red jumper spoiled the view. Guess who was wearing a red jumper this day :). After we discussed where we would have our breakfast and giving Anne a big hug we got in the cars and drove of to Sheffield.
In Sheffield we first had breakfast before we would take a walk around the little town. I hadn’t had breakfast yet and it wasn’t included in the ferry crossing. Like I told in the previous message Sheffield has loads of murals telling the history of the town and the region. At the tourist information they tell you that you could take a circuit walk around town taking you past most of the important murals in about 1 hour. We decided to do this walk in a bit quicker pace as we had more on the agenda this day. Personally some of the murals don’t really look special to me, but others are really impressive. The thing that caught my attention was the fact the murals have a lot of small details. On one you see a kid looking inside through a window and on one of the biggest and most impressive one you see a park ranger carrying a bath tub to one of the huts along the Overland Track. It’s the mural of Cradle Mountain, also our next destination.
From Sheffield we drove for about 1 to 1 and a half hour before we arrived at Cradle Mountain – Lake St. Clair National Park. This time I was at the north side of the park which I also visited last Monday. When we arrived at the visitors centre Mirjan saw a track she thought would be a nice one to walk today. The walk to Cradle Mountain’s summit, a 6km (3-4h) walk one way, but as we probably would have to carry dad up the hill and we also needed to be in Strahan (an easily 2 hours drive) by 20:30 we decided not to do this walk. All together we took the shuttle that took us to Dove Lake, the lake at Cradle Mountain’s slope. Here the four of us (dad, Rob, Mirjan and I) started on the Dove Lake circuit, still a 6km (2h) mostly flat walk. Gerda, Anne and mum walked to the boatshed before they took the shuttle back to the visitors centre where they would walk a few short tracks.
During the walk we stopped a couple of times at nice places around the lake. From Glacier Rock we waved to mum, Gerda and Anne who just arrived at the boatshed. Further on we stopped at a few beaches to take some photo’s of Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake. The great thing about the walk around the lake is the fact that you walk through different types of nature. On the sunny side of the lake you find mostly dry forest and grassland and on the shadow side of the lake the forest and grassland is so much wetter, you think you have arrived in a rainforest. At our last stop I’ve enjoyed a thirsty Currawong and we looked at the people walking in the far distance over the slopes of the mountains. I bet they would have a great view. On the way back to the visitors centre we left the shuttle at Ronnie Creek (from where the Overland Track officially starts) and walked via the Cradle Valley Boardwalk to Snake Plains, from where we would take the shuttle again. On this part of the boardwalk there is a big chance of spotting snakes, we only saw one Tiger snake. The shuttle driver told us a nice fact about why the Tiger snake carries its name. The reptile has white stripes running over its body which you can see when you hold him towards the sun. But because it is a extreme poisonous snake the driver advise is to leave him on the ground.
After arriving back at the visitor centre we went to have a meal at the lounge of Cradle Lodge. Before I walked in I quickly took some photo’s of the 2 local falls as well as a young Wallaby that was hiding in the grass in front of the lodge. After the meal, Rob and I took the Enchanted Walk as it was a short walk (20 min) and we still had time for it. Almost at the end of the walk we met Mirjan, Gerda and Anne and Rob decided to walk back with them. If they turned around and walked with me they would have seen a Wombat. This one was grazing just outside my dads view from the lodge as at the moment I saw the Wombat, my dad called me. At the moment I told my dad to come and take his camera with him, the Wombat took off. I realized this Wombat was bigger than the one I saw at Narawntapu the day before. When I passed a tour I’ve heard a crazy fact about this furry animal. The Wombat can run at a speed of 40km/h over a distance of 150 meters, but as it hasn’t real natural enemies it mostly walks away slowly.
On the way to Strahan (the most southern town on the west coast) we stopped on the side of the road to take one last photo of Cradle Mountain and Mt. Ossa. It was worth it as the view was spectacular. And the arrival in Strahan? That one was just in time.
The reason for staying the night in Strahan was that we would take the West Coast Wilderness Rail Way to Queenstown. This journey of 35km takes you into nature and beside some old railway bridges and some historic stations you won’t see any civilization, only pure nature with one of the highlights, King River Gorge. Just before the rail way turns into the rainforest to start the climb to Rinadeena Saddle, you got a spectacular view into the gorge. Another highlight of the journey is the climb to Rinadeena Saddle (at 240 height). In general a train can’t climb any hill steeper than 2,5% (1 in 40). The climb to and descent of this hill is resp. 5% (1 in 20) and 5,25% (1 in 16), a bit steeper. To get up this hill we changed locomotives at our lunch stop. The first part of the journey we were pulled by a diesel loc built in 1953. The second part we would be pulled by a steam loc built in 1938. This loc has an Abt wheel mounted in between its usual wheels. This Abt wheel is part of the technique that is invented and developed by Swiss engineer Dr. Roman Abt. The Abt technique was first used at the Harzbahn in Germany in 1885, back then it was a revolutionary technique. The Abt technique uses a rack and pinion principal creating extra traction for the train to get up a hill without sliding down. In between the rails there is a 3rd rail containing broad pins and the Abt wheel on the loc has pins as well fitting in the rail. Another reason that they use a steam loc at this part of the track is that it uses so much water that we could drink for about a year. Just imagine how much diesel that would be. I’ve to say it was a great journey. To bad for Phoebe that her old college friend Kate wasn’t working on my train so I had to send her regards through Kate’s colleagues.
From Queenstown we were brought back to Strahan by coach where we took the cars to start on our journey, via Queenstown and the Lyell Highway, back to Glenorchy. Great thing that I saw this road from again now in the other direction than I did on Monday. In the Franklin – Gordon Wild Rivers National Park we stopped for a short walk to Nelson Falls, a good break to stretch our legs on our 5 hour drive. This walk is really suitable for little kids and this is also visible on the interpretation signs along the track. They contain easy child friendly explanations about the history of the area.
And back in Glenorchy there was an unique situation. Due to the fact that there was no food in the house and all the shops were closed we stopped at Burger King (here in Oz Hungry Jacks) for our take away dinner.
As I told before the rest of the family would arrive with the Spirit of Tasmania in Devonport on Saturday morning 9th February. So again my alarm clock went of early, this time at 5:45am. At the moment I left the hostel I saw that the ferry hadn’t arrived yet so I decided to drive to the entrance of the harbour and watch the ferry coming in. After I picked up Mirjan (my sister) at the passengers terminal we both went to the vehicle terminal to pick up the rest. It has been 3 months already since I’ve left the Netherlands and have seen both my parents and my sister. During the greetings I’ve heard my father took a picture of the pier but he was disappointed that a person with a red jumper spoiled the view. Guess who was wearing a red jumper this day :). After we discussed where we would have our breakfast and giving Anne a big hug we got in the cars and drove of to Sheffield.
In Sheffield we first had breakfast before we would take a walk around the little town. I hadn’t had breakfast yet and it wasn’t included in the ferry crossing. Like I told in the previous message Sheffield has loads of murals telling the history of the town and the region. At the tourist information they tell you that you could take a circuit walk around town taking you past most of the important murals in about 1 hour. We decided to do this walk in a bit quicker pace as we had more on the agenda this day. Personally some of the murals don’t really look special to me, but others are really impressive. The thing that caught my attention was the fact the murals have a lot of small details. On one you see a kid looking inside through a window and on one of the biggest and most impressive one you see a park ranger carrying a bath tub to one of the huts along the Overland Track. It’s the mural of Cradle Mountain, also our next destination.
From Sheffield we drove for about 1 to 1 and a half hour before we arrived at Cradle Mountain – Lake St. Clair National Park. This time I was at the north side of the park which I also visited last Monday. When we arrived at the visitors centre Mirjan saw a track she thought would be a nice one to walk today. The walk to Cradle Mountain’s summit, a 6km (3-4h) walk one way, but as we probably would have to carry dad up the hill and we also needed to be in Strahan (an easily 2 hours drive) by 20:30 we decided not to do this walk. All together we took the shuttle that took us to Dove Lake, the lake at Cradle Mountain’s slope. Here the four of us (dad, Rob, Mirjan and I) started on the Dove Lake circuit, still a 6km (2h) mostly flat walk. Gerda, Anne and mum walked to the boatshed before they took the shuttle back to the visitors centre where they would walk a few short tracks.
During the walk we stopped a couple of times at nice places around the lake. From Glacier Rock we waved to mum, Gerda and Anne who just arrived at the boatshed. Further on we stopped at a few beaches to take some photo’s of Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake. The great thing about the walk around the lake is the fact that you walk through different types of nature. On the sunny side of the lake you find mostly dry forest and grassland and on the shadow side of the lake the forest and grassland is so much wetter, you think you have arrived in a rainforest. At our last stop I’ve enjoyed a thirsty Currawong and we looked at the people walking in the far distance over the slopes of the mountains. I bet they would have a great view. On the way back to the visitors centre we left the shuttle at Ronnie Creek (from where the Overland Track officially starts) and walked via the Cradle Valley Boardwalk to Snake Plains, from where we would take the shuttle again. On this part of the boardwalk there is a big chance of spotting snakes, we only saw one Tiger snake. The shuttle driver told us a nice fact about why the Tiger snake carries its name. The reptile has white stripes running over its body which you can see when you hold him towards the sun. But because it is a extreme poisonous snake the driver advise is to leave him on the ground.
After arriving back at the visitor centre we went to have a meal at the lounge of Cradle Lodge. Before I walked in I quickly took some photo’s of the 2 local falls as well as a young Wallaby that was hiding in the grass in front of the lodge. After the meal, Rob and I took the Enchanted Walk as it was a short walk (20 min) and we still had time for it. Almost at the end of the walk we met Mirjan, Gerda and Anne and Rob decided to walk back with them. If they turned around and walked with me they would have seen a Wombat. This one was grazing just outside my dads view from the lodge as at the moment I saw the Wombat, my dad called me. At the moment I told my dad to come and take his camera with him, the Wombat took off. I realized this Wombat was bigger than the one I saw at Narawntapu the day before. When I passed a tour I’ve heard a crazy fact about this furry animal. The Wombat can run at a speed of 40km/h over a distance of 150 meters, but as it hasn’t real natural enemies it mostly walks away slowly.
On the way to Strahan (the most southern town on the west coast) we stopped on the side of the road to take one last photo of Cradle Mountain and Mt. Ossa. It was worth it as the view was spectacular. And the arrival in Strahan? That one was just in time.
The reason for staying the night in Strahan was that we would take the West Coast Wilderness Rail Way to Queenstown. This journey of 35km takes you into nature and beside some old railway bridges and some historic stations you won’t see any civilization, only pure nature with one of the highlights, King River Gorge. Just before the rail way turns into the rainforest to start the climb to Rinadeena Saddle, you got a spectacular view into the gorge. Another highlight of the journey is the climb to Rinadeena Saddle (at 240 height). In general a train can’t climb any hill steeper than 2,5% (1 in 40). The climb to and descent of this hill is resp. 5% (1 in 20) and 5,25% (1 in 16), a bit steeper. To get up this hill we changed locomotives at our lunch stop. The first part of the journey we were pulled by a diesel loc built in 1953. The second part we would be pulled by a steam loc built in 1938. This loc has an Abt wheel mounted in between its usual wheels. This Abt wheel is part of the technique that is invented and developed by Swiss engineer Dr. Roman Abt. The Abt technique was first used at the Harzbahn in Germany in 1885, back then it was a revolutionary technique. The Abt technique uses a rack and pinion principal creating extra traction for the train to get up a hill without sliding down. In between the rails there is a 3rd rail containing broad pins and the Abt wheel on the loc has pins as well fitting in the rail. Another reason that they use a steam loc at this part of the track is that it uses so much water that we could drink for about a year. Just imagine how much diesel that would be. I’ve to say it was a great journey. To bad for Phoebe that her old college friend Kate wasn’t working on my train so I had to send her regards through Kate’s colleagues.
From Queenstown we were brought back to Strahan by coach where we took the cars to start on our journey, via Queenstown and the Lyell Highway, back to Glenorchy. Great thing that I saw this road from again now in the other direction than I did on Monday. In the Franklin – Gordon Wild Rivers National Park we stopped for a short walk to Nelson Falls, a good break to stretch our legs on our 5 hour drive. This walk is really suitable for little kids and this is also visible on the interpretation signs along the track. They contain easy child friendly explanations about the history of the area.
And back in Glenorchy there was an unique situation. Due to the fact that there was no food in the house and all the shops were closed we stopped at Burger King (here in Oz Hungry Jacks) for our take away dinner.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
