From Strahan we drove 300 km through the spectacular World Heritage South Western Wilderness area down to Hobart on the south coast. I had high hopes that I would take some spectacular vista shots from this very winding road. What a disappointment. It rained heavily for 250 km of the drive. We were driving in low cloud until we came down from the mountains, but at least there were very few other vehicles on the road. A small consolation for a very wet, white day. It’s called rainforest for a reason.
The highlight of our stay in the south was to be a flight on a light aircraft to a dirt airstrip at Bathurst Harbour, deep in the most remote area of the South West Wilderness, for more walking. I had fond hopes of taking some original photos in this special, remote location.
The flight had been booked and paid for, and we’d packed our cold and wet weather gear. Then on the afternoon of the day before we were due to depart, the phone call came — “Flight cancelled due to weather forecast! “ I pleaded, “it’s so sunny here today”. The caller, from the wilderness airline, patiently explained “That’s true, but that’s Hobart. Out there at Bathurst Harbour today it’s very low cloud, and it’s raining heavily. We have a webcam by the strip”. And he was right because the following day the clouds and rain moved into Hobart.
So the next day instead we went on a small boat under stormy skies along the majestic dolerite cliffs of the south coast of Bruny Island looking at seals, sea eagles, albatrosses, and lobster boats bobbing about in the swell.
Despite the two disappointments, the two weeks in Tasmania were a wonderful, fun trip and I came back with a few pleasing photos, a couple of which should make big prints for the house.
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