Westward Ho to the Coast!

Every day has brought totally unique experiences and today was certainly no exception. Incidentally, our daily schedules have included site inspections of various properties, but I won't take the time to describe these.

Leaving Hobart we began our westward trek across Tasmania. About an hour later we turned off the road to Curringa Farms, a working sheep station owned by Tim and Jane Parsons. Tim is a 6th generation Tassie whose great, great, great grandfather, while serving as an officer in a penal colony on Sarah Island in the north, he bought land in northern Tasmania in the early 1800's. Having been raised a city girl, it was fascinating for me to watch Tim efficiently shear a sheep and explain the process of wool production. What was amazing to me was that Tim managed to remove the sheep's wool in one piece and explain that a good shearer can shear 150 sheep in one day! The best demonstration, however, was watching his 2 border collies herd the sheep. They were absolutely amazing as they raced from side to side chasing renegade sheep. Most of the time they knew exactly what to do without a word from Tim, but, if he decide to move the herd in a different direction, it only took one verbal command to get the desired results.

After a simple but delicious lunch prepared by Jane, we drove around the station to see the areas where they had diversified to maintain profitability during various economic downturns. A real surprise were the fields of opium poppies they are cultivating for 2 well-known American pharmaceutical companies. In another field cabbages were being raised to produce seed to sell to the Asian market. Besides wool and meat production and farming, Tim and Jane have built several lovely cottages on their station to rent to vacationers coming to fish or enjoy water sports in the river, explore nearby Mt. Field National Park and local wineries.

The terrain definitely changed as we began to climb into the Tasmanian Highlands. Our next destination was the beautiful Tarraleah Lodge. I had learned about the lodge a few years ago at Corroboree and knew it was the only Virtuoso-preferred property in Tasmania. It definitely exceeded my expectations, but the surprise of the visit was learning about Tarraleah Village and the massive Hydroelectric project begun in the 1930's and completed 60 years later. Prior to this period Tasmania had very little electrical power, and the government undertook this massive project to bring power to the state for factories, farms and homes.. At the height of the construction period, thousands of immigrants were brought in to supply the manpower needed for this project. Housing was built all over the area, but today only a small village remains. This community, called Tarraleah Village, contains some of the remaining 1930's homes which are completely furnished in period pieces and are rented out during summer months to tourists wanting to enjoy the wonderful fishing and other outdoor activities in the region. The school has been converted to a hotel for summer guests not wanting a complete house. As we walked through this empty community, it almost felt like a movie set, but we were assured that in the summer, it would be filled with vacationers.

From here we drove 4 hours through beautiful forest and mountain passes to the seacoast town of Strahan where we are spending the night.
Linda