The Top 10 Places to See in Tasmania
With Tasmania's 3.4-million acres of protected wilderness, this alluring isle feels close to heaven—Tasmanian devils included
- By Tony Perrottet
- Smithsonian.com, April 17, 2012
Aerial view of Gordon Rivers, Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. (© imagebroker / Alamy)
The former logging port of Strahan (pronounced “Straw-n”) is now the gateway to the enormous South West Wilderness. Covering nearly a quarter of Tasmania’s area, it’s one of the world’s last truly pristine landscapes—an almost impenetrable terrain of raw mountains, dense rainforests and untamed rivers that have carved their way through dramatic gorges. In the early 1980s, a battle to stop the damming of the lower Gordon and Franklin rivers became Australia’s most significant environmental test, and the subsequent victory of the “greenies” led to the area’s protection as a World Heritage site. Today, daily boats from Strahan provide a taste of all that raw nature, setting off into the vast Macquarie Harbor, whose narrow entrance to the sea was named Hell’s Gates by 19th-century sailors for its murderous currents. Boats then enter the Gordon River, whose steep banks, covered by cold-climate rainforest, are mirrored in the calm tea-tinted water (the color derives from tannin exuded by grasses). Boardwalks lead among rare, ancient Huon pine trees. More adventurous travelers can sign up for white-water rafting trips on the Franklin, or catch a light plane to the trailhead for Tasmania’s ne plus ultra, the 51.5-mile South Coast Track—a grueling, nine-day-long trek across the southern rim of the Antipodes, where you are unlikely to encounter another soul.
Contributing writer Tony Perrottet, who was born in Australia and now lives in New York, has been visiting Tasmania since the 1980s; www.tonyperrottet.com.
Comments (2)
Love the pictures! When its the best time to visit?
Posted by Peter Tangprasertchai on April 26,2012 | 11:18 AM
Love that pic. I was born in Hobart, live in Brisbane, and will be attending a training course for registered crew members on that tall ship the Lady Nelson in Hobart on Saturday. She's beautiful.
Posted by Ali on April 20,2012 | 11:14 PM