Unfortunately today we had to leave Cradle Mountain I have really enjoyed our time here but we have exhausted the walks that don’t require serious climbing gear so it is definitely time to move on. We are heading to Strahan but have a couple of things to do on route. The first was in Tullah which is an old mining town which has also benefited from hydro development, the river has been dammed and now provides a very scenic lookout, however our first stop was the Wee Georgie Wood Steam Railway. This railway was once the only way to reach Tullah. The engine was built in Leeds and named after a famous vaudeville star of the time called Wee Georgie, I am not sure if the people of Tullah knew this but they seemed to take to the steam train as previous attempts to build roads had been short lived due to the amount of rain this region gets they quickly became muddy and impassable. Also the train had the added benefit of being able to warn people of who was arriving. One blast on the whistle meant that everything was okay and everyone on board was known. One short and one long blast meant that there was a stranger on board and their business was unknown, two short blasts meant that an inspector was on board which usually resulted in the mine manager and school teacher running for cover and three blasts meant the police were on board, funnily enough records show very little petty crime took place in this town! As luck would have it the volunteers were actually running the train today so we stopped, had a look round the machine shed then jumped on board for the 5 or so minute journey to the bottom of the hill where we were allowed to get on the engine plate and blast the whistle then it was time to come back up the hill again! We drove up to the look out over Lake Mackintosh where you can see the lake one side and the hydro plant the other, you could actually drive over the dam wall but we didn’t bother as all you have to do is drive back so we set off for our final stop which was Montezuma Falls, this is Tasmania’s highest waterfall and is a 3 hour return walk after you have made it 6km up the gravel road that takes you to the car park. We decided we would do the walk which compared to yesterday was actually really easy although a little longer, the only problem with this walk was that you go in and out the same way and the route in/out is the old railway line so there isn’t actually much to look at although having said that working out how they actually managed to build the railway along this route kept us occupied for a while. Towards the end of the walk there is an entrance way to a mine, you can walk about 20 foot into it and despite the fact it was a nice day and actually quite warm on the walk the little bit we could walk into showed just how cold, damp and miserable this life was for those that chose to come and mine this region. We eventually reached the falls where you can get a fantastic view by walking over a swing bridge which I did, although it was a little too much for Chris, I am not sure if it was the bridge which was only about 6 inches wide and with mesh as the base or the fact that they recommended you went over one at a time and you didn’t have more than two people on the bridge at any time that put him off, either way he did at least get onto the bridge but didn’t cross so I went over and took a couple of pictures then we continued up to the waterfall as you can actually get to the base of it. This is a massive waterfall and very spectacular as it basically is just a sheer drop. We had our picnic lunch here which was a bit late but very nice all the same and sat looking at the waterfall for a while then we turned round and headed back to the car. It was almost 3.30 by the time we got back to the car so although we drove through Zeehan – which was once Tasmania’s third largest town we didn’t stop as we wanted to get to tonight’s accommodation. Zeehan seemed to be having their Christmas carnival as we came through so it was probably a good thing we didn’t try to stop. We got to the hotel about 5pm and managed to get into the room just before the rain started, although we will have to go out later to get something to eat at least we didn’t have to unload the car in the rain!
