At Wynyard, we took a minor road south to Yollo before joining the A10 Murchison Highway. One thing became apparent very quickly and that was we were heading into remote territory. The farms and small settlements soon ran out as we headed south. The road was suitably wriggly, sometimes narrow and always indulating as it wound its way through forests of Eucalyptus, Fir and scrub.
After passing through Henrietta, one blink and you'd miss it, there we no signs of human habitation for about 40km. The road did wind its way all the way down into Hellyer Gorge and then back up the other side, it was 12km of very windy, narrow road.
We took a short detour into Waratah, a tin mining town. Apparently, a guy called Philosopher Smith set out to make his fortune by finding something to mine and came across the worlds largest tin seam in the late nineteenth century. Not only did he find tin, he found a powerful waterfall that provided the water power needed to deal with the ore. Nowadays, although there is still a mine there, most of the town is a sleepy hollow, but the waterfall is still pretty.
South of there, we drove through seemingly endless forest until we reached another small mining town, Tullah. We stopped at the hotel by the lake and had coffee. I also had a chocolate chip cookie whilst Lynn tackled the scones, jam and cream!
We passed two other mining towns, Roseberry and Zeehan before arriving at Strahan the only port/settlement on the west coast of Tasmania. It's a bit touristy and things aren't cheap here (not that anywhere is cheap for UK tourists in Australia after the Brexit vote).
Our accommodation is a bit tired, but then it's in a wooden building that's been standing for about 100 years! The rooms are very 'homely' but it's peaceful and has nice views. Sadly, there's no internet, so I'll be using the free access at the tourist information office in town a five minute drive away.
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