21st October 2009

Abel Tasman, the Dutch explorer who charted the west coast of Tasmania in 1642, named two of its mountain peaks after his ships, the Heemskerck and Zeehaen.

Today we are in Zeehan on the west coast of Tasmania where I was told it rains 300 days of the year, I now believe them. 7.30am...sunshine! I went to take a shower and by the time I finished my shower it was raining LOL.

We found the Zeehan Pioneer Museum, WOW, fantastic! Lots of history, lots of pictures and lots of displays. Here are just a few of the things we saw.

General Manager's Rail Car


Ore Dresser from Mt. Bischoff 1873












Mechanical Computer used at Mt. Bischoff in 1895












Penny Farthing Bicycle












Check out the size of this fotokopist camera






and the size of this Vertical Prism Process Camera by Kodak 1915












Cummings & Wilson 35mm Projector 1930



We visited the Gaiety Theatre which was first opened in 1898, and where Dame Nellie Melba once sang. The theatre has been restored but still has that old, damp smell that makes me want to throw up.


Into town for chips & cream buns for lunch and then back to the museum. We went underground to a replica tin mine and visited the blacksmiths.



I then took some photo's of the old trains for Hayden.

Beyer - Peacock Locomotive "C" 1 1885 - 1961




Dobbs & Co Emu Bay (Burnie) 1900 - 1961



No8 Krauss Locomotive 1895 - 1863












Krauss Locomotive 1907












Hand Car












Passenger Rail Car












I don't know what this one is or was, maybe Hayden can tell me.












We visited the Zeehan pioneer cemetery, what a disgrace, then it was time to say goodbye to Zeehan and head for Strahan.

We arrived in Strahan at about 2.30pm, nothing but forest and logged forest along the way. The first thing we did was head for the wharf and buy tickets on the Lady Jane Franklin II for tomorrow's 6 hour cruise up the Gordon river.

The caravan park at Strahan is excellent, if I could combine the Stanley caravan park with the Strahan caravan park you would have the perfect caravan park.

This picture was taken from Strahan lookout.











The cute ducks we saw at the wharf.












After dinner it was too early to sleep so we went to the Wilderness Railway station where I took a few more train pictures for hayden. The engine wasn't there, just the carriages.



It was still too early to sleep so we went to Ocean Beach for a while, a lovely beach, pretty rough, not really for swimming. We saw tons of mutton birds, it was cold and windy and too dark to take photo's.

20th October 2009

We went to the Stanley genealogy centre where the woman
tried to help me with my research but she didn't have much information, however, she was very impressed that my 4x's
Great Grandparents John & Ann Heaton and their 5 little girls
all aged under 8 years came to Circular Head in 1828 aboard
"The Caroline" as indentured servants of the Van Diemen
Land Company.


I took a picture of a picture of Stanley in 1858.







The genealogy centre is attached to St. Paul's church (Est. 1842), the lady told us there are only 4 members left in the
congregation including herself and a 90 year old woman who plays the organ.











We then went to ride the chairlift to the top of "The Nut". The Nut is the core of an ancient volcano which was discovered by Bass & Flinders in 1798.

We walked around the top of The Nut for a couple of hours, it was very windy and very cold.







View from the chairlift coming down.


We then went to the post office to mail a postcard.

Glenn loved this old phone box.


Started back to Somerset to take the road south to Zeehan. Stopped in at Table Cape to see this old lighthouse dated 1888 and a tulip farm.





We arrive in Zeehan at about 5pm. It is hard to believe that Zeehan was once a thriving town with over 10,000 residents, today it is like a ghost town with a population of only 845. We found the caravan park which was very average. The lady said we could light a fire which Glenn did but the wood was wet and the fire sent smoke all over the park, tsk tsk tsk, it was kind of funny, only Glenn could do that! Had a beaut hamburger for tea and slept like a log.

19th October 2009

I am now 50 years & 1 day old. This morning we went into Burnie and checked out the Pioneer Museum, this turned out to be very disappointing as they were moving and had everything packed away. Gave up there and went to the library which wasn't any better, I actually got the old "I don't usually work in this department" excuse. After I took a picture of the monument to the Van Diemen Land Company we decided to give Burnie the flick and head up to Wynyard. The people at the Wynyard visitors centre were terrific, they couldn't do enough to help me with my family tree research.

Whilst we were there we checked out the veteran car museum. My favourites were the 1905 Model F Ford and the 1913 Indian, Glenn just loved them all. If you are ever in Wynyard and you like old cars and bikes, don't miss this exhibition, it is well worth a look.

1899 De Dion Bouton Tricycle

2.25 HP / 300cc.
1 forward gear,
no clutch, pedal start.




1903 Model A Ford




2 cylinder horizontally opposed
8 horsepower engine with
chain drive to rear wheels.




1904 Cadillac




8.25 horsepower,
single cylinder engine.





1904 Darracq



Cruise control system,
steering column gearshift,
and a multi-speed gearbox.





1905 'Flying 15' Darracq



3 litre engine, can
travel at a speed of
50 miles per hour.





1905 Model F Ford




Flat twin engine, the last
of Ford's 2 cylinder cars.





1906 Model N Ford



15 - 18 horsepower.
The first of Ford's
4 cylinder cars.





1907 Model K Ford




40 horsepower.






1908 International Harvester
Motor Buggy




Twin cylinder 5" (127mm)
bore and stroke.
Designed to fit into the ruts
made by horse buggies.



1908 Model S Ford




Mechanically the same
as the Model N Ford.





1911 Brush



Single cylinder
8 horsepower
engine which ran
anti clockwise.




1913 Indian



The Indian weighs only
100 lb's, and is the first
motorcycle to have electric
start and electric lights.




1915 Cadillac




V8.






1915 Ford Model T Roadster



4 cylinder, 20 horsepower,
top speed 40 mph.






1916 Model T Ford




4 cylinder, 20 horsepower.






1917 Oldsmobile




V8.






1922 Raleigh





2 cylinder.





1928 Model A Ford




4 cylinder, 40 horsepower,
3 speed gearbox,
4 wheel brakes.




1938 Brough Superior 11-50 Special



1100cc
Original & unrestored.
Hand made in
Nottingham England,
1 of only 23 made in 1938.




After lunch we headed for Circular Head.


We arrived in Stanley at about 4pm, took a couple of pictures from the lookout and went to the pioneer settlement called Highfield House.


We were too late to go in and see everything so we just took some pictures of Highfield House,

it's out buildings and the ruins of the convict barracks.

We then went to find the caravan park. Stanley caravan park was great, modern, clean and situated right on Tatlow beach.





In the camp kitchen we met lots of people from all over the country who were happy to tell of their adventures and give us some tips of where to go and what to see. It was here that we learnt that Dismal Swamp, the place we were going to tomorrow was closed because of storm damage and wouldn't be opened for at least another week :-(

We went to watch the penguins come in but we must have been too late because the only penguin we saw was walking up the road on our way back to the caravan park.