March 31 – April 4, 2017
While the Macquarie Harbour area has lots to see, it’s the Gordon River that’s the main attraction. There are two big motor catamarans that run day trips from Strahan to a landing five miles up the river called Heritage Landing. Once there, passengers disembark and walk a loop track through the rainforest before heading back to Strahan.
Private yachts, however, have the option of continuing on to a place called Sir John falls, about 20 miles up the river. It’s a spectacular trip as the river winds through hills covered in lush rainforest. Like Port Davey, the water here is dark, and, when still, creates a mirror reflection of the scenery above it.
We opted to make the (rather long) trip from Strahan to the Gordon River entrance, then continue to Heritage Landing. Here, we spent the night before heading to Sir John Falls the next morning. Below, some photos from Heritage Landing. (Click to enlarge/scroll through any of the galleries below.)
Once we’d tied up at Heritage Landing, we did the circuit walk through the forest. It was so pretty we did it again the next morning before we headed on.
As we made our way up to Sir John Falls, the river was still and at times so reflective it was almost disorienting. We did find, however, the famous changeable weather of Tasmania as it would cloud up and get chilly, then the sun would pop out again. Below, a gallery of photos of the Gordon River.
We barely got tied up to the landing at Sir John Falls when we got quite a downpour. It passed quickly though, and we made the short walk to the beautiful falls.
After enjoying lunch and the falls, we decided to head back down the river to Heritage Landing to spend the night. Once again we got to enjoy the amazing beauty of the river and its remarkably fickle weather as we had sun, clouds, and two separate hail storms during our trip down the river.
Spending the night at Heritage Landing (instead of Sir John Falls) gave us time the next morning to head to an area called Kelly Basin in Macquarie Harbour. Besides being a very pretty place, Kelly Basin has a couple areas of interest. The first is an old train yard with some relics from the past, including a cabin that’s meant to shelter anyone passing through and a path into the forest. The other area is the remains of a town with old steam boilers, brick kilns, and other artifacts. Here we ran into a Tasmanian surprised to see us, saying “you must have done your homework” to end up here. Not so much–this is a pretty mainstream area for boats who make it here–no special homework needed. Below, a some photos from the Kelly Basin area.
We planned to visit more anchorages, but once again a weather window was coming that would allow us to leave this area and get back to mainland Australia. We considered waiting for the next one, but helpful local fishermen advised us that with the season changing we should grab this one. With that, we decided to head back to Strahan and prepare to head north. We’d liked to have seen more of this area, but we’ll just have to come back some other time. –Cyndi
Travel Notes: There is a way for land travelers to get up the Gordon River to Sir John Falls: book an overnight trip with Trevor Norton on his large sailing yacht Stormbreaker. He’s a great guy, extremely knowledgeable about the area, and his boat is roomy and very comfortable. If we weren’t here on our own yacht I wouldn’t hesitate to book a trip with him (and I’m picky about this sort of thing). Depending on what trip you take, you can visit Sir John Falls plus visit Macquarie Harbour’s historic Sarah Island.
Visiting yachties should also seek out this man and borrow or buy a copy of his map with information about going up the river. Except for one short area near the entrance to the river, the water is very deep – often 50 to 70 feet deep even right along the shore. There are shoal areas but by observing the usual river navigation rules (stay to the outside of bends in the river), they are easy to avoid. We never came close to grounding.
