Ouse to Queenstown

In our second week on the road it seems like we’ve travelled into an entirely different country. And we’re still just in Tasmania!

The landscape changed from the very dry farmland and forests around Ouse in the upper Derwent Valley to the high button grass plains and dolerite peaks around Derwent Bridge and now across to the mining area of Queenstown. The hills became steeper and longer as the road wound its way through the more mountainous and wild side of Tasmania. The changes are a result of the underlying geology (rock types) and weather patterns (rainfall).

Entering the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park was also our introduction to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Some of the creatures we have seen include march flies (millions of them), sandflies (thousands of them), tiger snakes (one of them), echidnas (one of them), Bennett’s wallabies (a few), yellow tailed black cockatoos (lots) and forest ravens (all black with powerful beaks).

The vegetation has included rainforest and wet eucalyptus forest. Hope thought the rainforest looked scary and dark because the canopy hardly lets any light to the forest floor.

We’re having our day off in Queenstown and are aiming to travel from here to Zeehan and Corinna and then up a gravel road to Arthur River.

Watch the video on Vimeo or YouTube to see how it went. Or see our progress on our Google Map.