Then we drive across through Zeehan and down to Strahan. Zeehan is a mining town that is currently a good movie set for youth growing up in a has been town. Strahan on the other hand is an upbeat little town. Yes it is built on Macquarie Harbour, which is a splendid harbor. We drive out to Macquarie Heads and camp for $6 in a sheltered camp just a short walk through the trees to the harbor side beach.

It is quite warm after Cradle Mountain and we actually sit outside as the sun bows it's warm head in the West.

Monday 14th

There are cruises up the Gordon River from Strahan, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We decide we will check out the prices and maybe do the afternoon cruise. 2.30pm departure.

Well when we get to town, we find out the cruises in the afternoon don't start until next week and we have of course missed the morning cruise. Price $105 P.P.

Mal gets to buy some small off cuts of Huon Pine for a small job in Vicki when he gets home. We have lunch, buy a few groceries and drive back North. Col informs us that Terry's operation is underway and he will be out of recovery by the time we get back later in the week. So all good there.

At Zeehan, Mal climbs over the old smelter ruins and does a couple of sketches. He likes old mining ruins, it's the colours, the textures the mix of structure and chaos. Old shovel handles, leather boots, rusting pieces of a once productive enterprise now well past it's use by date.

We head North towards a small town called Corinna. Here we pay $25 for a young ferry man with stylish blue rimmed glasses and a well groomed beard to ferry us across the river - there is nothing in his demeanour that displays any awareness of the long history and metaphorical significance of being a "ferryman" - we pass over. We walk around this once, but short lived mining town. It is a lovely spot, Mal says like Bloomfield with out the aborigines. It is remote, dominated by the river, encircled by forest with just the river sliding through to the ocean with remoteness and history the only achievments to boast of.

Not far North of town on a good gravel road is the Savage River, we think about camping deep beneath the shadowy forest. It is still early so we drive on out of the forest into endless rolling hills covered with heath and teetree groves here and there. On the map it is marked as the Tarkine wilderness - the only contradiction is that the word Tarkine has been attached to a small patch of remnant forest 100km away to the North. Why are the valleys filled with buttongrass (actually sedge - but why sedge is not grass is not explained - Uncle Google where are you when I need you). We go on and on, up hill and down hill, we go left we go right, we go up and around at the same time and down and over, we twist, we turn - the road goes on. Eventually we plunge down into a deep valley and cross a bridge that is built of wood with logs that are a meter in diameter. We camp in a small clearing over the bridge. A small path leads down to the river stained brown from the buttongrass (remember it is not actually grass but sedge) - we sit by the river and marvel at the huge logs used to build the bridge. No vehicle passes all night - it is a great overnight camp spot.