Boat Harbour, Tasmania

Photos 6 and 7 are of Tablecape which is a farming area where they grow crops and have animals as well.  Tulips are grown up there for the international market and have begun flowering I presume.

The remainder of the photos are of a place called Boat Harbour which is safe for swimming, has gorgeous sand which is like silk between the toes :)

Boat Harbour is not far from Wynyard in Tasmania.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Sea, Tasmania

At the Wynyard Caravan Park in March 2020 and the below photos is the view from just a few steps from the Caravan Park....so from the mountains to the sea.

It's wonderful listening to the sea with it's waves rolling in with the tide late at night then early morning.

It's here we heard more about Covid-19 and that is was on/in our Island and had been for several days but not in the area where we were.  We stayed where we were, then headed back to Launceston to where our house/home is.

 

 

 

 

 

Up on that hill, Table Cape are tulips which are grown and can be viewed in springtime.

 

Above, the pathway from the caravan park to the sea.

 

Above the owner of the caravan parks home over looking the sea = Bass Strait, Tasmania.
Below, outside the gate of the caravan park.

 

Roseberry, Tasmania

We left Queenstown March 2020 and headed up the highway to Wynyard on the North West Coast of Tasmania. Map below.

 

A house at Queenstown which would have once been a miners cottage.

Then a few photos of the main street in Roseberry, a mining town, not so much today.

The road photos  were taken in the vehicle as we moved along and gives idea of the terrain as we went along.  The road is narrow in places but it's beautiful.

 

 

The marker on the map is where Roseberry is, we continued north to where Somerset is then west to Wynyard.
 

Mount Jukes Lookout, Queenstown

Still along the Mount Jukes Road when we came across a lookout - wow, was an amazing view in reality.  The camera can never catch what the eye itself sees but it doesn't do a bad job.

Back in March 2020, still didn't know much about Covid, we hadn't heard much other than it was about but not in Tasmania at that time.

 

 

Lake Burbury in the distance, I zoomed in a fair bit and that white on those peaks is not snow, it's just the colour on top of the mountains.

Water level in the lake is obviously a bit low as you can see from the photos below.

 

The change room for swimming in Lake Burbury and the Loos.  There was a small carpark there.

Someone must go for swimming and a picnic from Queenstown.

The

 

There wild flowers are not so clear as it was extremely windy when I was trying to take them, they make a noise like paper.

The red marker is where we were.

 

Lookouts, Queenstown

Onwards to Mount Huxley and Jukes Lookout along Jukes Road Queenstown.

The scenery along the way, some taken with the phone others with my Canon EOD750D.

When I lived at Queenstown there was a short road called Jukes Road. 

We saw this road that led to the power station and we continued on having no idea where it would take us.  What lovely views we were seeing along the way.  It was rather a windy day, no phone access,  no other cars, just no one, no shops, just my husband and I travelling along this fairly good sealed road to goodness knows to where.  

Have no idea what the stream or river is called as it's not on a map, however it's close to the power station.

Of course we ended up in the middle of nowhere.  Looking at the map of Tasmania one would think it would be filled with people but it's certainly not.

 

 

Mount Huxley 925m  in the distance.

 

Iron Blow Lookout, Gormanston, Tasmania.

Iron Blow Lookout at Gormanston, Tasmania.

Gormanston is about 4 km from Queenstown with approximately 99 bends in the road and was once a thriving town, these days not many people live there.

'Iron Blow was the site of the earliest major mining venture at Mount Lyell on the west coast of Tasmania in 1883.

The first shot on the site was in January 1884 and most local prospectors were camped in the Linda Valley to the east of Mount Owen.  Following the establishment of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company in 1893, the Iron Blow orebody was mined until 1929'.

Wikipedia

 

The view from the lookout is just beautiful, you can see a small part of Lake Burbury in the distance.

Mount Owen to the right and great to see trees growing on the hills.  I can remember seeing only a few trees when a teenager.

The town of a few houses in Gormanston.

Queenstown, Tasmania

Queenstown, Tasmania which has long been tied to the mining industry.  This mountainous area was first explored in 1862.  It was long after that when alluvial gold was discovered at Mount Lyell, prompting the formation of the Mount Lyell Gold Mining Company in 1881.  In 1892 the mine began searching for copper.

In the 1900's Queenstown was the centre of the Mount Lyell mining district and had numerous smelting works, brick-works, and sawmills.  The area at the time was finely wooded.  The population in 1900 was 5051: the district, 10,451 people with just under 2,000 people today.

The mountains surrounding Queenstown have unusual pink and grey hues that come from the conglomerate rocks on the two most adjacent mountains - Mount Lyell and Mount Owen. The mountains surrounding Queenstown are often snowcapped through winter.  Snow falls a few days out of the year.

Owing to a combination of tree removal for use in the smelters and the smelter fumes *for about 40 years), and the heavy annual rainfall, the erosion of the shallow horizon topsoil back to the harder rock profile contributed to the stark state of the mountains for many decades.

The Queen River was for most of the history of the Mount Lyell company the recipient of mining effluent and the Queenstown  sewage - which then continued into the King River and consequently the Macquarie Harbour.

The Mount Lyell Remediation and Research and Demonstration Program scheme has since removed the direct flowing mining waste and local waste from the rivers.

Wikipedia

 

 

 

The last 3 photos were taken in 2018.  

 

The Empire Hotel where we once had a Christmas Dinner, it's now the Information Centre also has a Restaurant  and accommodation.

Continuning to Queenstown, Tasmania

Still the same day in March 2020 on our holiday.  Yes, lots to see from New Norfolk to Queenstown.  It seems a long way as the drive is slow and calling into places makes it also slower.

We last visited Queenstown in 2018 and that time I took photos of the town, this time I didn't.

Lived in Queenstown for 4 years when an early teenager, my father being transferred there in his job.

Schooling was good and just loved school along with the community spirit and the wonderful people that lived there at that time.

Even though I was so young I taught dancing, mostly at weekends - Scottish, Irish and Ballet.

You see the girls and boys my age never had the opportunity as I did, they had only seen such dancing in the movies at the picture theatre. No TV back in those days, you made your own fun.

Some of the scenery along the way more towards Queenstown and the further you got to Queenie the more barren it was.  When I first came to Queenstown to live there were hardly any trees due to mining but over the years trees are returning.

 

 

This is Watershoe Falls with no water in March this year along with the pathway to the falls.

 

Mount Owen 1,146 meters above sea level, the mountains changes colour many times during the day.

 

The highway we took from Launceston (home) to Queenstown.