Today is Wednesday Feb 1 2006.

   Well I am writing this part over a light breakfast about 7-00 am before packing the car and heading out on the drive north to the fishing port of Stanley situated on the shores of Bass Strait. It is also the start of the last few days here and we still have so much to see, with that we realize that this trip sadly we will have to forget going to Cradle Mountain, maybe next time.
  Okay, we are on the road heading towards the old mining towns of Zeehan ,Roseberry , and Tullah. on the way out of Strahan we called in to look at Ocean Beach and the vast windswept Henty Sand Dunes from the Forestry lookout then drove to the area. It was further than I had hoped but worth it in the end. We stayed on the coastal road and into Zeehan.
   Zeehan is about 45 minutes from Strahan and is an dold mining town inTour of Tasmania: Zeehan Tasmania's west. Silver-lead deposits resulted in a boom period for the town
late last century and at one stage it boasted it had 26 hotels and a population of around
10,000, making it Tasmania's third largest town. But today however withe boom ending in 1914, Zeehan lives on mainly through the local tin mine. Historic buildings
from the boom period in the town worth visiting are Gaiety Theatre, at one time the largest
theatre in Australia where Dame Nellie Melba once sang and the West Coast Pioneers' Memorial Museum which has mining and railway displays, including one of the best mineral collections in Australia.
The Museum tells the story of the history and development of the West Coast and its rich pioneering past. All parts of the West Coast are represented in the comprehensive display of photographs, mining memorabilia and machinery.
   The museum's attractions include the historic collection of the original Zeehan School of Mines and Metallurgy (unique in the world), photographic galleries dedicated to all the West Coast towns, mining machinery displays, a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, marine display, a world class mineral collection, freemasons display and a pioneer women's gallery.
 The to the west of the town you can see Granville Harbour that was founded after World War I and is now a holiday town where west coast residents keep holiday shacks. The harbour offers excellent fishing, and there is also trout fishing on the Henty River south of Zeehan. It is possible to walk along the old mine railway from Zeehan to Queenstown
   Leaving the quaint olden town behind we were back driving north again passing through Roseberry and Tullah only very brief stop to take a couple of photos in each town. Firstly Rosebery is a mining town nestled 145 metres above sea level in the hills of western Tasmania .    It is not like normal towns in the sense that it seems to sprawl up and down
the hillside. It is a single purpose town which is clearly indicated by the zinc mine which dominates both the town and the local economy.
     Keeping on driving we headed towards the Bass Strait coast ,again coming up to more mountains called Campbell Ranges and to get past we drove through the Hellyer Gorge which was cut through the hills and is flanked by huge trees and ferns. Following that we got to the junction of the two highways at Somerset and towards Stanley and our night stop at Dovecote Motel passing Wynyard and several smaller towns.
  Settled in to the motel room we drove dow to the town about 3 kms away to look around, we found many old fashion type shops with original facades which were really well looked after and also it was a clean little town to boot. then drove down to the wharf area to see the deep sea fishing fleet along with a impressive sea aquarium which had HUGE King Island Crabs and just as HUGE lobsters or crayfish. We found out that these were snap frozen fresh packed on ice and sent to SE Asia, Japan, and China. Not far from here is the large monolith type of risen land form called The Nut at which you can take a chair lift ride to the summit .
    Late afternoon we headed back to our room for a quiet time and to get ready for dinner in the motel restaurant and relax before retiring to bed ready for the final leg of the trip tomorrow back to Devonport for next 2 days thus ending our circle tour of this magnificent island.