DiNo's Travels Around Australia - 2014/2015/16/17: Day 26

Time to move on again, 43km to Queenstown. It was a cold morning at 6 degrees but the day warmed to 22 degrees by the afternoon, and the sun was out from time to time. The road wound its way up and down the mountains separating Strahan from Queenstown, through rainforest and crossing numerous creeks. There were still clouds about so we guess we may have missed some spectacular mountain views. Never mind, what the eye cannot see, the mind cannot get disappointed about. We got one though.

220315 Mountains on the road to Queenstown

After setting up camp in a waterlogged caravan park in Queenstown, you know rock hopping from the high spots to avoid the wet patches, we headed off to the top of the West Coast Ranges behind Queenstown. Mount Owen and Mount Lyell dominate the skyline but one cannot overlook the areas of hillsides devastated by the acid rain produced by the copper smelting process over previous years. The acid rain was caused by sulphur dioxide released by the burning of iron pyrites for the copper smelting process. The native grasses and shrubs are valiantly trying to recover. Locals report some areas are doing better than others although the rainforest trees there are still quite small.

220315 Mount Owen behing Queenstown

We visited Iron Blow Lookout at the very top of the range. It was the site of the first mining venture in the area. It was mined for gold. However the whole area is a minefield, apologies for the pun, with many mines opening up with base metals as the prize, and copper as the dominant metal. One copper mine is still operational although it isn’t currently producing while it undergoes some modifications. Mining here has had quite a chequered history. A major silver discovery kept the famous Mt Lyell Copper Mine afloat at one stage.

From Iron Blow Lookout we could see Gormanston, a town which originally competed with Queenstown as the primary residential areas for miners in the region. Queenstown obviously won out.

The views of Queenstown from the top of the range were quite spectacular. Queenstown itself, without overstating the obvious, is an old mining town and the old miners cottages, still occupied, remain as evidence of the past. There is an obvious effort afoot to improve Queenstown’s appearance and tourist appeal, with major road upgrades occurring within the town. The Queen River runs through the town and it too, shows evidence of the past, with iron staining of the rocks in the riverbed and a decidedly yellow water stream.

220315 Mount Owen behind Queenstown

220315 Queenstown from the top of the Western Coast Ranges

220315 Iron Blow Lookout

220315 Another view of Queenstown. Note the damage caused
by acid rain in the foreground

220315 The Queen River in Queenstown

220315 Typical miners cottage in Queenstown although not all
are in such a good state of repair

220315 The Gnome would have been quite at home here at Queenstown

Ore was transported originally by rail from Queenstown to Strahan and today the line is used solely for tourist purposes. The railways history is well presented in the large Queenstown museum.

220314 Steam engine at Queenstown for tourist duties

We followed the Queen River south and lost it somewhere in the rainforest. We passed Mount Huxley then crossed King River and finally, about 20km from Queenstown, came across the beautiful, white edged Lake Burbury. There were some fantastic mountain views coming and going along this road and the mountains were covered in a hazy blue, similar to that experienced in the outback.