Laura's Lighthouses

Cape Sorell Lighthouse (listen to captains commentary - sorry if anyone gets seasick watching, I was trying to film and get photos with my other camera at the same time!) was commissioned here to mark the entrance into Macquarie Harbour and the other two lighthouses were placed here as a reminder to ships of the high rock line and steer the ships through this treacherous area by sailing between the two lights.

You will note the houses here and may find it interesting that there are no roads leading to the houses. The cars and all the goods are shipped to the houses and the light keepers! I’m still not sure why there are cars and trucks here if there are no roads - where do they drive to?

After leaving the lighthouses, it’s only a 20 minute ride to Cape Sorell, we went to the fish farms. They raise salmon and trout. We saw about 20 farms and one ship feeding the fish and a second ship bringing in the fish. The farmers inject CO2 (I think) into the water to remove the O2 and the fish become unconscious and it’s easier for the farmers to catch and kill them. It was kind of sad, but our lunch on the cruise was salmon. Since we didn’t get close enough to see the live salmon (it stresses them out), I didn’t feel too bad eating lunch. Plus it was delicious!!



Before lunch, we walked around Sarah Island which was a penal colony in the 1830’s. Originally it was a male and female colony, but the women were too bad and had to be removed to Port Arthur out side Hobart. (You may remember my other trip to Port Arthur in October.) The men remained on Sarah Island and were first time repeat offenders (second + repeat offenders were sent to Port Arthur.) I don’t remember what crimes the women committed to end up here in the first place, as the men were repeat fraud and embezzlement offenders.




We then got back on the ship and went up the Gordon River and had lunch. This is a tidal river. The tide from the ocean pushes salt water up the river, but because there is so much fresh water runoff flowing down the river, the salt water never makes it to the top of the river and trees grow out of the river. Also the water is suitable for drinking. Our captain said the river is alive at night with the wildlife here. Wombats, Tasmanian Devils, possums, etc. He said if we kept our eyes peeled we might even see a Tasmanian Tiger, but since it was daytime, it was doubtful. Also they are believed to be extinct (since 1934 or 36), and our captain said he hadn’t seen one in 4 years. The water was so still and the reflections were just amazing!!



After lunch we had a 30 minute walk through a rain forest and saw the Huon pine. These trees were the main source of logging (pining) in this area in the 1930’s. Lovely trees and very sturdy. They also don’t rot and can bend without breaking, so you can imagine how good they are for building boats!



Then back on the boat to Strahan, where we walked through a working saw mill. Huon pines of course.



The cruise was over at 3pm rather the 1pm as I was counting on. (Note to self - look up cruise times on internet before leaving next time!) And then the drive through the mountains took an hour longer than I thought (I did look up the drive times - whereis.com.au like the US mapquest.com, but I don’t think it took into account the windy S curving roads out of Strahan for 86+ km’s (53+ miles)!! But it was a pretty drive through forests and national parks. (Well pretty until the sun set at 5pm and all the wildlife came out and the car radio conked out!) I may have been more alert because I was not singing along with CD’s and the animals walking on the side of the road were easily missed!! I saw so many possums, an occasional wallaby, and even a wombat! (Wombats, possums and roos, Oh My!!) The drive out of Strahan reminded me of the pass outside of Breckenridge (Mom, you know the one I’m talking about) and I was looking out for deer. Right at dusk, I saw something hopping across the highway (one lane each direction) and wondered to myself what could it be? Deer don’t hop! Then I remembered I’m in Australia, not Colorado and I thought, of course, the hopping thing was a wallaby! Since the drive took a hour longer and the cruise was 2 hours longer than anticipated, I am spending the night in Hobart. From here, Bruny Island is a 2 hour drive and then a 30 minute ferry ride to the island, a 30 minute drive from North Bruny (paved road) to the South Island and an hour drive on a dirt road one way. So I’m going to miss the Bruny Island Lighthouse. Tuesday was going to be jam packed anyway, so I had to make a cut somewhere and a 3 ½ hour drive on the island alone is going to be a lot!! But stayed tuned for what I did end up doing on Tuesday, I hope it’s a good day!
The river boat captain mentioned that it rains 300 days per year in Tasmania. I was lucky to be there on one of the 65 days that hit didn’t rain. Plus one lighthouse on Mon = - 1 lighthouse on Tues. it’s only fair!!