DiNo's Travels Around Australia - 2014/2015/16/17: Day 47

We had a disturbed sleep with a strong north westerly buffeting the van all night. Relief was near for, by the time we left to do our day's exploration, the wind died and the sun came out.

150415 Haven't seen one of these for a long time - a blue sky

Yes we had a sunny day although when we reached the mountains, they had captured a few clouds and caused the temperature to drop to 16 degrees from its maximum of 23 degrees.

Today we headed north from Bicheno and took a left hand turn up the Elephant Pass to put us on the highlands at St Marys.

150415 If they can get up Elephant Pass then so can we

On the advice of the checkout operator at St Marys IGA, we set out for South Sisters Lookout. After two wrong turns, a morning tea in the bush and dodging a tree or two we arrived at the car park at the lookout.

150415 Another difficulty to overcome to get our photographs

We knew we were in for something special because we had to use low range to make it there and there was parking space for only one car. The walk to the actual lookout was the next challenge, very steep and very rough.

150415 The track up South Sisters Lookout

150415 Maybe the top will be around the corner

Then the view, all 360 degrees of it, materialised. It was worth every gasp of breath it took to make it to the top. It took 8 photographs to capture it all.

150514 From the top of the South Sisters Lookout - shot 1
and going anti clockwise....

150415 Shot 2

150415 Shot 3

150415 Shot 4

150415 Shot 5

150415 Shot 6

150415 Shot 7

150415 Shot 8

Low range down the hill until we passed the very rough and steep bits and then off to Fingal. Much to our surprise we came upon a coal colliery near Fingal.

150415 Duncan Colliery near Fingal

From Fingal we took a right turn to a very old town Mathinna. Mathinna was named after a young Aboriginal girl befriended by the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir John Franklin and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin. The town became established as a gold mining centre, shortly after gold was discovered in the area in the 1890s.

150415 Still occupied - in Mathinna - and not atypical
of the housing generally

Next on our list were Storys Creek and a few kilometres later, Rossarden.

The Storys Creek Tin Mining Co was formed in 1882, the area being a remote miners’ camp – just a collection of simple huts and the mine plant – until 1925, when new houses for the staff, as well as a number of new huts for the workers, were also built.

The town of Rossarden was built to house the workers at the ‘Aberfoyle Tin No Liability’ mine, which started producing tin in September 1931. The township of Rossarden was built a mile from the mine site, in the mid 1930s.

All mining operations in the area were closed in February 1982. Today Rossarden has around 60 residents. Storys Creek has only one permanent family. The family has a dog too because he was lying in the middle of the road as we passed by.

These two towns have one other feature. They are close to the southern boundary of the Ben Lomond National Park. The mountains in the park are visible and are quite spectacular. Stacks Bluff, 1577m high, was one which stood out.

150415 Mountains at the southern end of Ben Lomond National Park,
Stacks Bluff on RHS

150415 Up closer, Stacks Bluff on LHS

150415 Stacks Bluff up close

We dragged ourselves away from these close mountain views to observe them from afar at Avoca. They still looked pretty impressive from there. Avoca marked the end of our westward journey. It was here we saw one huge flock of sheep.