DiNo's Travels Around Australia - 2014/2015/16/17: Day 18

A cold morning with Waratah living up to its reputation. Guesstimate it was around six degrees this morning and mist or cloud was covering the pond by the caravan park.

We headed off on a 64km drive to Coorina to take a cruise on the Pieman River. The first 40 km was bitumen and, as we have come to expect, we passed through more Tarkine forest. The clouds were below us in the valleys from time to time, quite spectacular, even though there was no sun.

The bitumen ended at the Savage River Mine. From Savage River to Corrina the road was a white coloured gravel which was a great contrast to the dark green of the forests we drove through.

We boarded an old vessel, the 75 year old Arcadia 2, at the small village of Corrina on the Pieman River. There is very little at Corrina beyond some accommodation and jetties for the punt and for the cruise vessels.

140315 The biggest building in Corrina, the reception centre

140315 Corrina

140315 The punt on the Pieman River

140315 The Arcadia 2

The cruise took us 20km to the mouth of the Pieman River through temperate rain forest and, nearer the mouth, eucalypt forests. The water in the river was a dark tea colour. The River is about 100m wide and is tidal for the first 40km from the sea.

140315 Reflections on the Pieman River

140315 Mt Donaldson covered in button grass behind the rain forest

140315 Rainforest on the banks of the Pieman River

140315 Eucalypt forest near the river mouth

We left the boat near the mouth of the river and walked 800m or so to the heads. The intention was to have the lunches provided on the beach. Sadly, the wind was blowing, the sky was heavily overcast and we gulped down our lunch in preparation for a rapid walk back to the boat as the rain began to fall. The mouth of the river was brown, foamy and the waves were very messy. The rain fell all the way back to Corrina and for the 65 km journey back to Waratah.

140314 The mouth of the Pieman River

140315 The southern head of the Pieman River

140315 The northern head of the Pieman River

140315 A miserable lunch on the beach at the mouth of the Pieman River

Given we were to have a wet drive home, with considerable whiteout, we occupied ourselves by counting the number of curves on the road - 454 in all - an average of about 7 curves per km.

We looked into Savage River on our return trip. We did see some of the mine accommodation and went to the entrance but with unrewarded expectation. The mine is not open to the public. The mine tailings dam was quite spectacular.