Day 14 - Smithton, tthe northern part of Tasmania's west coast and part of the Tarkine

Today started out overcast but by the time we made it home, 250km later, the sun was out.

We had a busy day today, first heading west towards Smithton. Then we went 50km further west to Marrawah, which was the starting point for a drive down the west coast as far as Temma.  This took in several notable points and beaches including, Green Point, Ann Bay, West Point, Bluff Hill Point, Arthur River, Nelson Bay, Sarah Ann Rocks, Couta Rocks, Stinking Beach (yes it did stink) and finally Temma.  

The pictures below tell most of the story but it was good to see some surf at last.  Mind you it was messy.  Some of the fishing shacks are quite spartan in appearance and one can only expect living in them to be quite spartan too.  They were all well stacked with firewood for the coming winter.  There was no evidence of any water or electricity supply.  We had to drive down gravel roads to each of them.  Amazingly there were some larger fishing boats in several of the protected bays amongst the rocks.

100315 Green Point near Marrawah

100315 Ann Bay near Green Point

100315 West Point southern side

100315 West Point Beach

100315 West Point northern side

100315 Bluff Hill Point

100315 Bluff Hill Point to the north

100315 Bluff Hill Point Lighthouse

100315 Kelp at Bluff Hill Point.  It is harvested here

100315 A little bay at Bluff Hill Point

100315 Bridge over the Arthur River

100315 "The Edge of the World" at Arthur River

100315 The Arthur River estuary 

100315 Huge trees beached at Arthur River estuary - firewood anyone?

100315 Humour at Nelson Bay

100315 Nelson Bay

100315 A cascading Nelson Bay River 

100315 Sarah Ann Rocks

100315 Couta Rocks

100315 Couta Rocks - a safe harbour

100315 The bay at Temma

100315 Stinking Beach - and people have shacks there

The town of Arthur River was the largest settlement with about 200 souls. From Arthur River down to Temma we were in the Tarkine.  This is la arge wilderness area.  It is described as, quote "the greatest expanse of temperate rainforest in Australia, and the second largest in the world.  It is a priceless gem.  The rugged west coast forms the Tarkine's most distant extremity where gigantic waves from the Southern Ocean pound jagged rocks and endless stretches of pristine beaches, framed by undulating dunes." unquote.  We would add there are thousands of hectares of heathland as well and the trees are huge.

Our drive took us from Temma east through the Tarkine, through heathlands and forests. The road was excellent although we lost count of the curves early in the piece.

100315 Tall trees in the Tarkine

100315 Arthur River in the Tarkine

We will probably head down to the Tarkine again to see a bit more. 

The circuit landed us back in Smithton,  We were quite overawed by the size of the dairy herds around Smithton.

100315 Big dairy herds at Smithton

100315 A large herd awaiting milking at Smithton

100315 More of the herd above. "Milk me please- please"

Highlight of the day was seeing a small Tasmanian Devil on the road, surprising, given they are nocturnal.  It did a hasty retreat as we approached it.  It was too quick for us to get a photograph.

Sun's out and no wind - heaven.