FriendlyBrooks

This week alone has made the trip worthwhile

Lance Brooks, loving Tassies wild west January 2026

We got going early so we could be out of the campground by  9am as we were doing a boat  cruise in Arthur River.  We are getting much better at packing up and we were ready to  hitched up at 8.47am having started the  process at 7.37am.

Then of course trouble struck as we backed the Prado back and realised that the “fixed” tyre was totally flat. Damn!! And now we would miss the cruise if we stayed to fix it. Quick pivot and we decided to leave the car and van where they were and walk the  kilometre to the  boat wharf. Off we set just after 9am aiming to still arrive on time for the  9.15am checkin.  We called ahead to let them know what happened.  About 3 minutes later the bloke from the  cruise,  Keir, came by to give us a lift.  Did I  mention how kind and welcoming people around here are?!

The rest of the  passengers were all waiting for us but we managed to get away on time.  The cruise was fantastic.  It travels up the  Arthur River from the bridge at the river mouth through  coastal scrub into a temperate rainforest which is the largest of its type in the  Southern Hemisphere. 

Arthur River cruises is a family owned and run business.  Caitlin, one of the family members, was our  guide and host for the  day,  accompanied by  Keir who drove the boat. The cruise included all meals.  The first meal was morning tea which as an antipasto platter accompanied by bubbles.  That was a nice start 🍾. Whilst we were cruising and boozing we had a great phone call from Fred and Michelle and  Eve and Jude. We chatted until we ran out of reception. 

Amongst the beautiful scenery we witnessed white bellied sea eagles and their nests which are huge. The cruise is allowed to feed each bird one piece of meat each day, which we could photograph.  My video was okay   of the  bird diving for the meat. Lance’s was good of him flying in the trees.

We stopped for a delicious BBQ lunch (with  wine) prepared by  Caitlin in a rainforest. Keir  took us on a walk through the rainforest pointing out the different types of trees. We ended at a waterfall before heading back. 

We arrived back at the  wharf on time at 2.30pm and  Keir gave us a lift back to our camp-site.  Now all we had to do was change the tyre and drive for  2 hours along a windy  dirt road. Lance started to jack up the car and he got the flat tyre off. But he couldn’t jack up high enough to get the spare on. He started worrying that he had done something wrong. I decided to see if someone else could help.  The first people I  came across were an old couple in a camper and. It didn’t seem  very promising but they  immediately offered to help so I accepted their offer.  Turns out the man was a mechanic who had not only a better jack but also a proper stand. He helped change the tyre and Lance  got master-class in tyre change and  safety.  We are very  grateful to  Kerry and Lexie.

Finally on our way at 5.45pm we wondered if we were mad. Certainly the  woman in the shop thought we were.  Nevertheless off we set down the  Western  Explorer, one of Tasmania’s most  remote roads. It is gravel for about  80kms, very  winding and extremely steep in many places. It was everything I had hoped for but not what I expected.  I thought it would be all through forests but most of it was on top of the ridges and plateaus.  The scenery was stunning and the road was exciting.  Both car (Prado) and driver (Lance) performed exceptionally. I have  included video here, hopefully you can  view it.  

https://player.vimeo.com/video/1160714940?badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=5847

We pulled into  Corinna Wilderness Village at 7pm. I had booked 2 nights and also  dinner in their restaurant.  Unfortunately we were told that we had to eat straight away and we could only order the soup of the day (cauliflower) and the chicken salad. Unbelievably both dishes were amazing, but it was too much so we saved some of the salad for lunch the  next day.

After dinner in the failing light we set up in our tight spot in the  rainforest.  It was a challenge well met and we loved our cosy corner for the next 2 nights.

Lance got up early and did his morning routine of yoga and  swim whilst I slept in. Then I remembered that I  had to do the pays and there was no internet as Starlink didn’t work in the  cosy  rainforest. I went to the restaurant and after a bit of gerfuffle I  got  Starlink working ( did I  mention what an amazing product it is).

Once my little bit of work was done we got out our kayak and went for a paddle.  We headed down the beautiful Pieman River to a waterfall.  It was a short walk to the waterfall in the rainforest which we did  individually because we couldn’t tie up the  kayak.  I went first and whilst Lance went up I chatted to lovely young lady,  Jessica on 6 months leave from her job in Brisbane,  who was travelling on her own.

When we left the  waterfall landing one of the locals mentioned there was a seal a few hundred metres downstream.  We paddled down and saw him/her but didn’t want to get too close.  We had decided to stop for lunch at what we thought was a lovely beach that even had tables chairs. When we got out of the boat we sunk into the  muddy  riverbank immediately.  I couldn’t get my feet out without Lance’s help. We had to  crawl on all fours through the mud to get back into the water and hoist ourselves back into boat.  It was quiet a sight  I am sure. Luckily we were alone in the  wilderness. 

We paddled back and stopped for lunch near an old wreck on Savage River.  The chicken salad from the night before really hit the spot. 

When we got  back we had a relax and  I had a lovely shower (for  a $2 coin). Whilst in there I  slipped badly, which could have been disastrous but it did allow me to meet a lovely lady from  Melbourne who was camping two spots away from us.

Corinna boasts a beautiful river and rainforest location. We had made use of the river.  We now  decided to go for a walk through the rainforest before dinner. 

Dinner in the restaurant with the whole menu available to us was incredible.   We enjoyed excellent food from the  French chef and went to bed very  satisfied. 

Although Corinna has a well reviewed river cruise we decided not to do it and instead go for an early morning paddle in the opposite direction to the day before.  We paddled up river for about half an hour before turning left into Whyte River.  It was a magical morning with  mirror images of the trees and logs and rocks in the  river. It was so still and quiet and it felt like we were only people on earth.

Once back on shore we packed up reasonably quickly (for us) and then went for a different and shorter rainforest walk before a quick last lunch from the restaurant. 

Leaving Corinna to the south required catching a barge over the river which I had been concerned about as there is a 9m limit. We were under that so my concerns were for  naught. 

We drove down towards Zeehan stopping first at Granville Harbour which as beautiful but the locals don’t seem as friendly as in other parts, not that we spoke to anyone. 

After a quick stop for  diesel in Zeehan, we drove into Trial Harbour.  Both Granville and Trial harbours were beautiful but Trial Harbour is quite special.  The entry is down a steep hairpin bend and then the  natural harbour and beach open up. Lance went for the obligatory swim which I was planning on skipping but he called me down and I didn’t regret it as the water was crystal clear and refreshing.  While we were on the beach we met a couple and their daughter who were on ATVs. They were very chatty and mentioned they were going down to  Macquarie  Heads, near Strahan, via the long long beach. We didn’t follow them.  We also met one of the  20  local residents of Trial Harbour who sung the praises of the magic spot.  We vowed to go back there.

We were on the way to Macquarie Heads campground which we decided would suit us despite some negative reviews on WikiCamps. By the time we rolled in and looked for a camp-site in the uncrowded campground it was after  7pm, seems like our usual timing. We set up pretty quickly and were on the beach in time for sunset.

The next day dawned with stunning weather.  We had booked the cruise on the red boat . There are 2 boats from rival companies that do the same cruise. I believe they are both great but we chose the family owned and operated boat. What a brilliant choice we made! The cruise goes out to the entrance to Macquarie Harbour,  called  Hell’s Gates as the gap is only  70 metres wide with a treacherous channel.  Ordinarily the cruise would turn around there but as it was an unusually flat sea we were able to go further out to the edge of Cape  Sorell. 

Next stop on the cruise was back into  Macquarie Harbour past the salmon and trout farms to Sarah Island,  the notorious prison island in the early  1800s. We had a very  informative tour of the island and got to understand how it must have been to live there, either as convicts,  soldiers or government administrators. 

Back on the  boat we were served a delicious lunch accompanied by a glass of wine.

After lunch we headed into the  Gordon River and got off at Heritage Landing for a walk through  rainforest with another excellent guide.

We arrived back in Strahan after  3pm. We wandered around town and dropped off the tyre to be fixed at the local and only  service station. We rushed back to the campground because we wanted to pay our camp fees but the  caretaker wasn’t there so we couldn’t pay. We quickly headed back to town for the play  The Ship that Never Was which followed the story of the convict escape on the last boat built on Sarah Island. It was a lot of fun with plenty of audience interaction. 

We got back to  Macquarie Heads in time for a sunset fish (still no luck) and we ran into our ATV friends from a couple of days ago.  We had a nice chat and they promised to give us a lobster because they had caught about  30. Fifteen minutes later whist we were cooking our BBQ sausage dinner, they returned with a huge lobster for us. We didn’t have the heart to tell them that I can’t eat it because I am allergic.  Lance put the  lobster in the car fridge for later. We watched the women’s tennis final using  Starlink. 

Overnight the weather changed and we woke up to rain and cold. The camper performed wonderfully.  We were heading to  Zeehan for  Mass and  had to  leave by 8am, easily done as we didn’t have to pack up the camper trailer.  We arrived right on time but there seemed to be barely anyone at church.  The priest had to come from Queenstown and he was a little late.  We finally started at 9.30am After Mass everyone, all 10 of us, were invited for a cuppa. We spent a pleasant hour chatting with the  few locals and one other couple from Blacktown before we headed back to  Strahan. 

We picked up the  tyre and then went and played golf ⛳️ Although it was raining we had a lovely 9 hole game.

We came back to the campground to find it empty. We ate lunch- lobster for Lance,  smoked salmon for me.

We are finally spending another afternoon and evening mooching around the camp-site.  Life is busy on the  road.