Wednesday - March 16th - Gordon River Cruise - West Coast Wilderness Railway...

First of all...I will spare you any pictures of the Strahan Village @ Strahan Tasmania....you do not really want to know...

So let's head to the River...The Gordon River Cruise...it all begins with leaving the fishing village of Strahan...

On a great little boat...

There were unique lighthouses along the way...

But soon we were docking at Sarah Island....which was an penal settlement.  It was formed for men convicted a second time in the colony.  70 men were often confined in too crowed a state they could hardly lay down on their sides.

A local Thespian led the narrated walk around the island...

Much if not all of what remains of the buildings on Sarah Island are merely brick remnants...

But among all this ruin there was beauty in the wild flowers....

and of the river itself....

and soon that river leads to the open ocean...and if you continue West.....South America....

Well...I will save South America for later this year....right now it is back to Strahan and get to the train station to head out on the West Coast Wilderness Railway.....All Right!!!

First of all...the train is air conditioned...well open windows...and heated...well blankets...yeah really...look...

Here is a look at this masterpiece of machine...

We did make a few stops along the way..one to change to the cars and engine above...which is operated on a rack and pinion system to aid it going up the steep grades.  The railroad built around the turn of the century in 1896....was built by men using pick and shovel....

One of the other stops was a "honey" stop.....yeah...don't feel bad I never heard of it either...but check this picture out..one of our tour...Lin - a Taiwan man who lives in Sydney with wife Chi is seen handing out "honey sticks" to willing passengers to taste the local honey....he had the time of his life....and probably was the reason for the majority of sales on that trip....Here is Lin...with his wife in the background and another tour passenger Colin on the left.

The train ride of course was quite scenic...take a look...

Here I am at our second stop....it is "tea time"...and of course....everyone knows "tea time"

But the road continues...on to Queenstown....one longgggg day....and back to Strahan by coach to the infamous Strahan Lodge