Tasmania's West Coast region is made up of rugged coast, serene natural harbours, densely forested mountain ranges, fast flowing rivers, steep gorges, rainforest wilderness and ghost towns. The region has some of the most pristine and beautiful wilderness in the world, encapsulated in the World Heritage listed Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. Bushwalkers are rewarded by spectacular nature sights, and even the less energetic can enjoy the untouched rainforests while cruising the Gordon River and Pieman Rivers.
No visit to the west coast of Tasmania is complete without a cruise on Macquarie Harbour and the ancient, mirror like water of Macquarie Harbour and the Gordon River. This half day cruise travels deep in the World Heritage Listed rainforests, Tasmania s world-renowned salmon farms, and the notorious Sarah Island penal settlement ruins. Visitors can enjoy one the most intimate rainforest experiences possible a stroll through a pristine forest of 2,000 year-old Huon Pine
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The immensely popular West Coast Wilderness Railway runs daily through World Heritage listed rainforest between Strahan and Queenstown. The railway is significant because of its Abt system to conquer the mountainous terrain through rainforest, with original locomotives still operating on the railway today. Now operating as a tourist experience with a focus on sharing the history of the Tasmania's West Coast, the original railway began operations in 1897 as the only link between Queenstown and the port of Strahan.
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The Tarkine region of North West Tasmania is a very special part of the state, as it contains extensive high-quality wilderness as well as extensive, largely undisturbed tracts of cool temperate rainforest which are extremely rare. It also represents Australia's largest remaining single tract of temperate rainforest. What makes it extra-special is that it is relatively accessible.
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The Tarkine has a spectacularly wild coastline, battered by the winds of the roaring 40s. The purest air in the world. Huge dunes that stretch inland up to several kilometres. Rocky, jagged coastal stretches. Incredible Granite Tor formations (especially at Conical Rocks south of the Pieman River), extensive long sandy beaches, lagoons, grassy woodland, coastal heathland, marshes and swampland. Sandy cape forms a dominant and spectacular feature of the Tarkine's coast.
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The Pieman River Cruise is regarded highly, offering at least as much as people would experience on the Gordon River, with excellent commentary, stunning reflections, freedom from other vessels and a truly personal experience with the river and rainforest. The cruise starts aboard the Huon pine built Arcadia II, which was used during the war. The cruise takes you through beautiful rainforests and down to the jetty, close to the mouth of the river. Here you can walk past the shacks at Pieman Heads, to the beach and see Huon pine driftwood washed up by the sea.
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Just to the south of the town of Arthur River, Gardiner Point has been dubbed The Edge of The world as the sea here stretches uninterrupted all the way to Argentina, 15,000 km away. The sea west of Tasmania is in fact the longest uninterrupted expanse of ocean on the globe. From Argentina the currents known as the roaring 40's sweep unimpeded more than halfway around the planet until they hit this point.
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At 105 metres, Montezuma Falls is Tasmania's highest falls. To access the falls, follow the Montezuma Falls Trail traversing lush rainforest with leatherwood, myrtle and sassafras. This trail follows the former North East Dundas Tramway which ran from Zeehan to Williamsford, once a busy mining town but now slowly being reclaimed by the bush.
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Tasmania's westernmost community and the furthest settlement from Hobart, Marrawah is the most popular surfing spot in Tasmania's north. The small town services the surrounding rich dairy farming area. Beyond the town the farmlands undulate down to the sea at Green Point and West Point where the cold and inhospitable waters of the Southern Ocean crash against the lonely coastline.
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The tiny settlement of Arthur River is situated at the mouth of the Arthur River on Tasmania's rugged and isolated west coast. Surrounded by dense rainforest and named after the wild river that runs from the mountains to the sea, it is an ideal base for walking (both in the bush and along the coastline), horse riding, fishing, off road driving, cruising the river and picnics in this remote, beautiful area.
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The town of Waratah was constructed to support a tin mine at Mount Bischoff. The town is built at the top of a waterfall, and water was diverted from the stream to provide water for mine sluicing and processing. Thanks to the altitude, Waratah experiences snow a few times per year, and has cool summer temperatures on par with some of the mainland ski areas, except with more rain. It's not the coldest or highest inhabited land in Tasmania, but it’s one of the highest and coldest places that resemble a conventional town
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Tasmania is one of the few places left in the world where pristine wilderness is relatively easy to access. And there is no place in Tasmania where its wilderness is more easy to access, experience and enjoy than the Tarkine region in the north-west. There's not only a road in from the island state's north-south road on the west coast - The Murchison Highway - there is an eco-friendly village right in the middle of this amazing place - Corinna - an oasis in the wild hanging on the banks of a beautiful river. The Corinna Wilderness Experience provides an escape from mass tourism, to one of the most remote and beautiful parts of the world, where guests are at home in the wilderness.
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Preminghana, formerly known as Mt. Cameron West, covers an area of 524 hectares and was declared an Indigenous Protected Area in 1999. Most noted for the splendid Tasmanian Aboriginal cave etchings, it is a unique destination for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people alike. The Preminghana artwork is the finest example of Tasmanian Aboriginal art, and one of the finest displays of hunter/gatherer art in the world. Preminghana is also a popular fishing and 4WD spot.
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Originally a soldier settlement after World War 1, Granville Harbour is now a small fishing and holiday community. It is a popular fishing destination for locals and a holiday destination for miners from both Queenstown and Zeehan. Archaeological research has been conducted on aboriginal middens on the coast between the Trial and Granville area.
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Trail Harbour is a 30 minute drive from Zeehan along a good gravel road through rain forest and button grass plains. This coastal hamlet, which lies in the shadow of Mt Heemskirk, has magnificent surf beaches, fishing and a spectacular view available from the surrounding hills. It was once Zeehan s port through which the region s mineral wealth was exported. Swimming, camping, fishing, bushwalking and 4WDing are popular. Shafts and buildings relating to the Federation and Cornwall tin, silver, lead and zinc can be found in the bush. There are no shops or facilities.
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The first reaction to Queenstown as you approach it by road from Hobart is generally one of shock - what comes into view is like a nuclear landscape, the hillsides of its famous Mt. Lyell bare and carved into geometrical forms as a result of copper mining. These days Queenstown is experiencing a revival. Whilst many of the surrounding hills are still bare, the vegetation of the town itself is quite pretty with a friendly atmosphere with a certain kind of charm that, combined with its unique setting, makes it a refreshing stopping point for the traveller. Miner's Siding and tours of the Mt Lyell mine can be visited.
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Set on a quiet bay, Strahan is a small, picturesque frontier-style town with an abundance of character and a variety of stories to tell of the West Coast's pioneering days. From its beginnings as the location for bushmen seeking precious Huon pine, Strahan became the railway port for a rich copper mine inland. Those days are long gone, and the only reminders of the copper boom days are an impressive post office and steamship offices.
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A mining town at the northern end of the West Coast Range in Western Tasmania, Rosebery sits in the shadow of Mount Black and adjacent to the Pieman River, now Lake Pieman. It is the starting point to some of the most easily accessed picturesque mountain walks on Tasmania's west coast.
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A remote mining town that has gone from being the third largest town in Tasmania with a population of 10,000, to a deserted ghost town until the late 1960s, and back to a prosperous mining town again, thanks to the Renison Bell tin mine (28 km north west). Many travellers drive straight through the town, not realising there is so much to see in the surrounding area.
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Tasmania's West Coast region is made up of rugged coast, serene natural harbours, densely forested mountain ranges, fast flowing rivers, steep gorges, rainforest wilderness and ghost towns. The region has some of the most pristine and beautiful wilderness in the world, encapsulated in the World Heritage listed Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. Bushwalkers are rewarded by spectacular nature sights, and even the less energetic can enjoy the untouched rainforests while cruising the Gordon River and Pieman Rivers.
Sarah Island (or Settlement Island) is found in the far south west corner of Macquarie Harbour. This isolated island was a Penal Settlement between 1822 and 1833, established, before the more well-known Port Arthur, as a place of 'secondary' punishment, an attempt to control the uncontrollable. Over time Sarah Island has gained a reputation as a place of unspeakable horrors and a living hell, largely due to the exploits of one of the island's 'colourful' characters, Alexander Pearce, the Cannibal Convict, and a novel "For the Term of His Natural Life" written about 1860 by Marcus Clark. The novel, although based on actual events, is a fiction which set out to create Sarah Island as a living hell for its hero, Rufus Dawes. Sarah Island is visited by cruise boats travelling Macquarie Harbour from Strahan.
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