Lee & Di's Escapades: 10/2 - Strahan's Gordon River Cruise

10/02/2012 - Gordon River Cruise

We started at 9 am and came back to the dock after 3.

Weather looked bleak, but our karma kicked in and when we were outside the ship... no rain. While inside... rain. Cool!

Nice ship, we had front row seats on the upper passenger deck... middle one in this shot.

Macquarie Harbor is the 2nd largest harbor in Australia; however, to get to it you have to pass through Hell's Gate.

Hell's Gate from inside the harbor

It was impossible to dredge the entrance so they cannot allow the big ships to come in any more.

Cannot go on the right - too shallow and too many rocks

They even tried lining up rocks so ships could see the channel

They took us through Hell's Gate to the shoals. This is where many people try to get crayfish and other seafood, but come up against the "Roaring 40's" - heavy winds between 40 and 50 latitudes. They and their boats suffer for it!

Shallows here...

... Rocks here

Not much room between the two!

Another factoid... go west from Tasmania and you do not hit land until you reach South America!!! Waves that hit the Tassie west coast can be 2 years old.

South of Hell's Gate is perfect for fish farming. We have tried the Salmon (Atlantic we are told) that are farmed here and it has great flavor, not like the North American Atlantic farmed salmon.

The ship then took us to Sarah Island, the penal colony set up in 1822. The prisoners are the ones that gave Hell's Gate its name... claiming they were going to Hell on Sarah's Island.

Our tour guide got everyone involved in the story...

... including Lee.

This is the tiny island where the female prisoners were held.

Towards the end of its life, the penal colony actually changed to teaching prisoners a trade, so the island became a Shipyard.

When we left Sarah Island, we made our way to the southeast end of the harbor to enter the Gordon River.

In the early 1900's, men went up this river in row boats (the story is amazing) to cut down the huge Huon Pine trees and sent them down the river.

The Huon Pines are now protected and only those already downd by weather can be used.

The Huon only grows a few millimeters in a year, hence a very fine grain. Huon pine's oil resists rot and insect damage which is why it was so valuable for ship building.