DESTINATION: Strahan

Strahan

This historic fishing and timber port on Macquarie Harbour is the only town sited on Tasmania's forbidding West Coast. Its colourful history is linked with the Sarah Island penal colony and the Mount Lyell mining boom. As a tourist centre, it is the gateway to the Gordon River and the South West Wilderness Area.


Main Attractions

Strahan's 19th-century streetscapes feature such buildings as the grand old Customs House and the Union Steamship Building. The visitor centre on the Esplanade has an excellent historical display on south-west Tasmania, including the fight to save the Franklin River. A nightly play features the convict escape story, The Ship that Never Was. The adjacent Morrisons Mill, a Huon pine sawmill, features woodturning, arts and crafts. Historic Ormiston House is also on the Esplanade. Harbour views can be had from Water Tower Hill, and Peoples Park features a walk to Hogarth Falls.

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Nearby attractions

Ocean Beach, 6km to the west, has areas for horseriding and beach fishing as well as muttonbird rookeries, which are active Oct-March. Teepookana Plateau, 16km SE, with its 10m-high viewing platform, can be reached by helicopter. Henty Dunes, 12km north, are vast sandhills popular with sailboarders and quad bikers. There is also a lagoon and picnic area. Boat trips can be taken on Macquarie Harbour to visit the convict ruins on Sarah Island, the setting for Marcus Clarke's novel, For the Term of His Natural Life. A huge range of sightseeing options are available for the magnificent Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers NP, including cruises, helicopter and seaplane flights, yacht charters, horseriding, jet boat rides and fishing excursions. Other local activities include kayaking and canoeing on the Gordon and Henty rivers.

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Copyright 2007, by the Contributing Authors. Cite/attribute Resource. cmsadmin. (2005, May 20). Strahan. Retrieved September 05, 2008, from Plan Book Travel Australia Web site: http://www.planbooktravel.com.au/australia/tas/strahan. This work is licensed under a Universal Publishers. Universal Publishers

Region: West Coast

Cape Sorell
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In an island of unique experiences, the West Coast of Tasmania is a land apart. Through its craggy mountains and World Heritage Area wilderness, you’ll see thousands of millions of years captured in the ancient rocks, wrought in volcanic fire and scraped clean by ice. In West Coast towns and villages, you’ll feel the presence of tough men and bold women who carved a boom-and- bust living from the mountains, forests and seas. more

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Tourist info

Wharf Complex, The Esplanade, Ph: (03) 6471 7622

Web sites with information, accommodation or tours on Strahan:
The Crays Accommodation

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