Wild West Coast 1-4 March

Mouth of the wild Arthur River

 According to local signage and plaques, we're at the edge of the world!  Arthur River - on Tassies west coast and I reckon close to the most western point of Tassie (we did visit a place called West Point back up the road a bit which is probably closer to the mark but who's going to measure?!) The coast is wild and rugged albeit not with towering cliffs rather with huge skirts of jagged, rocky teeth and wild white breakers stretching way along the coast waiting to snare and chomp up unwary or unlucky boats.
The entrance to Arthur river looks pretty treacherous too and a local boatman told us that boats don't get in or out - but perhaps that's a slight exaggeration. The truth is that perilous entry has kept the Arthur River very protected.  The mouth of the river is littered along each side for great stretches by humongous tree trunks mostly washed down the river, out to sea and then thrown back by big seas high onto the rocks guarding the river entrance - we're talking 2 meter thick trunks.

We camped very quietly in an almost luxurious bush camp - no water BUT a flushing toilet! Whoa. We celebrated the relative isolation with champers and King Island cheese prior to lighting a camp fire so we can sit around sing cum by ya!! Surrounded by smouldering mozzies coils of course. Life is ok! Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife carve out and maintain camping spots like this all over Tassie and do an wonderful job keeping special places accessible, where appropriate, and they are always ready with lots of information including local delights not mentioned in guides.

This little boat 'Reflections' was skippered by a knowledgeable local  Great day!

During our stay there we took a small boat cruise deep into the Tarkine stopping at the junction with the Franklin for lunch which included lots of Tassie wine - funny about that! We saw white bellied sea eagles, wedgies, huge eels and a spotted quoll.  It was a tranquil day.

Balfour adit - it's fenced off but I stuck my trusty phone through the bars.

Arthur River was a marvellous spot to use as a base and go exploring. And we did over many (showerless!) days - ah the beauties of bush camps! We have the capacity to carry over 200 litres of water, but showers seem a bit of a waste when you want an extended stay and we were going on to another place without water. We made do with a good ol' bucket - conjure up images hmmm!?
And so we enjoyed the Tarkine and a past ancient and relatively new.
Deep in the heart of the forests of the Tarkine are the remnants of a rich mining past - gold, alluvial tin, copper and iron pyrites. One day we took a less traveled 'road' off the gravel road between Arthur River and Corinna to try to locate the old mining settlement of Balfour. It was not a road for the faint-hearted! Deep in the hills and forests along side coral ferns, delicate flowers like mini dog roses, pink trigger orchids and mini wild currants showing just a blush of pink, we found the tailings and mulloch heaps of Balfour mining, which closed around the time of WWI.

Mirror surface of the Pieman River disturbed
 a by our ripples as we glided downstream.

It was a day of exploring the past from early mining to ancient middens and aboriginal petroglyphs dotted right along the west coast. This is an ancient and fascinating coast!
One can't take the Western Explorer, the gravel road between Arthur River and Corinna without a boat trip downstream to the mouth of the Pieman River and of course a walk on the Huon trail and upstream along the Pieman and through the rainforest. Just goes without saying that we walked where we could - skirting round a large tiger snake taking the late afternoon sun - we looked but kept our distance!

I turned over a rock on the beach and fond this
tiny green spider - who would have imagined

the wide sandy mouth of the Pieman. Just to the left of the pix the
beach is strewn with huge logs washed down the river.