I had been looking forward to this part of the trip ever since failing to make it just before the pandemic hit. I had booked a cruise up the Gordon River, and really looking forward to seeing this very remote bushland up close. Years ago, one of the captains about Melbourne's punt commuter ferry for cyclists would tell me sea shantys (OK, maybe they were just stories, but he really was a genuine salty old sea dog and therefor a shanty is appropriate ) about him sailing his boat across Bass Strait, down the west coast of Tassie and into this wild harbour. I used to love these chats, and it was partly his stories that inspired me to ride down here.
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| Hells Gate on the left here, a very narrow channel |
We started off with a visit to Hells Gate, so named by convicts getting shipped to the penal colony further up the harbour. It looked mighty treacherous as the harbour is huge, 5 times the size of Sydney harbour, and the tide has to funnel through a narrow channel with rocks on one side and sandbanks on the other. Coming through in a sailboat in the early 1800s would take some serious skill.
No such ssues in our jet powered tourist palace, which then goes way down the harbour to Sarah Island, the site of Australia's oldest penal colony, and by any standards especially rough as only the worst were sent here. It seemed so close to shore, but papparently not so easy to swim with iron shackles on. If one survived the swim, the terrain to any kind of civilisation would be nearly impossible to pass. No first nation people lived here, but did pass through for its resources. There were many escapes though and some were even never caught...but for most escape ended with 100 lashes at best, or death.
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| Sarah Island - former Penal colony |
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| Sarah Island - Ruins |
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| The shoreline - so close! So stunning |
Walking around the island, now thickly Forrested and save for a few brick ruins showing few scars from its former life, it is hard to imagine putting a penal colony somewhere so remote.
Equally interesting was the piece on cultural history on the boat. A bit of a shame it's just a recording, given the local people were here so much earlier than the penal colony. The area was abundant with natural life and I especially enjoyed hearing more about the more complex seasons that the first people used to sustain the environment here. But 90% of the tour was about logging, penal colonies and white men, with 10% left for the other 30,000 years of human history here, its seemed more than a little unbalanced to me.
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| The Wild Gordon River |
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| Heritage Landing Walk |
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| True Wilderness |
Putting those thoughts aside, my goodness this area is breathtaking. The forest huges the river, and some of the Huon Pine's here are more than 1000 years old...simply incredible.
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| Ancient Trees |
As for tomorrow, I am expecting it to be the hardest day of the trip. When I checked in to my accommodation yesterday the kind owner tried to talk me out of riding the next stage altogether. It is always hard to know what to do with advice like this, local knowledge is gold but when it's not from a cyclist's perspective you may be getting the views of someone who thinks "push bikes are only for the pavement" despite only the best intentions. People tend to either woefully underestimate bikes, or, think of their capabilities as the same as what they experience in a car... "It's 15 mins away and totally flat" for example.
However, I will respect the advice to a degree, and be prepared do a shorter day...it's a heck of a lot of climbing anyway!!
The other issue is that it's due to get much colder with a bit of snow forecast down to 1200 soon, and I haven't really got the gear for sleeping or riding that cold. So, I'll go as far as I can tomorrow, with a chance of being off the highest bits before the cold arrives. Let's see how that goes!
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