A Drive Through the Wilderness - Strahan to Smithton

 21st Feb 2023

What started out as a reasonably straight forward drive from Strahan to Smithton changed complexion completely when we tough we might not take the traditional route towards Cradle Mountain and Burnie, but try out a rustic trail through Corinna. The turnoff os at Zeehan, so that is where our adventure began. We have been forewarned, via signage, that a ferry trip is involved and charges apply. There is also some unsealed road.

The easy way

The path we chose

The trip starts well with a good sealed road surface, very little traffic, few towns and a variety of scenery. As we get closer to the Coast a huge wind farm comes into view, with substation and transmission lines heading off to somewhere. There isnt much here so who knows who is benefiting other than the coastal village of Cape Granville which is close to the farm and Corinna which is now within striking distance.

Our good road surface has turned to gravel and remains so all of the way to Corinna. Soon we are greeted with a need to cross the Pieman River, quite a big river, to Corinna on the other side. There is a small ferry that is on call and for $28 he will pick you up and take you to the other side.

We called the ferry and he promptly set out to pick us up

On board there is us and walk on passenger who seems to have come for the ride

It is a short trip to the other side, and all of Corinna is before us. Basically there is a pub with some wilderness cottages as accommodation, a sort of camping ground and an amzing list of water and land activities. We couldn't come all of this way and not check out the pub, where fortunately we could get a real cup of coffee.

The Tarkine Pub

Inside it is rustic with a small general store and lots of history

There is a great deal of enthusiasm amongst the staff who are all eager to tell us what wonderful place Corinna is. The ferry operator came from country Queensland, one of the hotel cleaners fell in love with the place after visiting by caravan on around Australia trips and eventually moved to live at nearby Cape Granville.

Accommodation is available in wilderness cottages, some of which are original dating back to the 1800's. The oldest one was occupied by the road inspector whose job it was to look after the maintenance of a stretch of road through Corinna.

The road inspectors house

The original hotel

There are quite a few of these old cabins now available for hire, basically the whole town.

Quite a few other "adventurers" have taken the same path as us along this track, although most of them appear to be more serious off roaders.

There are a number of bushwalks available here, river cruises and various other water activities. We are a bit surprised at the popularity of the place and decide to to the quickest and easiest of the bushwalks before moving on.

It was yet another rainforest walk which briefly followed the bank of Pieman River.

From here on our mood darkened somewhat, as the gravel road did not return to bitumen for the next 70 km. Punctuated with small strips of bitumen on steep grades where erosion was obviously an issue, it quickly returned to gravel once the erosion risk disappeared.

More and more dirt road

The road surface was bearable and there was not a lot of traffic. The scenery varied from patches of forest, to windblown grassy plains and plenty of steep winding sections of road.

Eventually we connected up with the famous tourist drive in North West Tasmania, Tarkine Drive. The road turned to bitumen and we had to make a choice whether to go inland or toward the coast. We opted to do the Coastal part of the drive with a view to doing the inland bit tomorrow from Smithton.

Highlights are few on this part of the road until we reach Arthur River, a very small town at the mouth of the Arthur River. It is time for a late lunch, and we find the only institution in town that serves food.

Arthur River Cafe and Takeaway

Others also discovered this little gem, and soon customers were lining up. There was no-one there when we arrived. We had a surprisingly good hamburger and then decided we should take a bit of time to look around. Tasmanians are experts at building long single lane bridges, and the one across the Arthur River is no exception.

It is wild country over here with strong winds and lots of flooding bringing quite a collection of very large driftwood along the beaches near the river entrance.

The locals seem undeterred  and run river cruises with quite an exotic food offering

One of the lookouts coming into town. called Edge of the World looks out over the Wild Seas, a good indication of what it is like here.

Smithton is now firmly in our sights and not too far away. We are very pleased to see the town outskirts.

Accommodation for the next 2 nights is at an upmarket B&B called Sheer Pleasure. The name was a bit worrying, but it really is a very nice, very modern B&B perched high on the Coast overlooking the mouth of the Duck River.

Our unit

The view from our balcony looking over the Duck River Mouth. (Tide seems a bit low)

Our host recommended a local restaurant, Jenski's, for dinner, so we decided to give it a go. It was a bit like stepping back into the 70's with a menu that would have taken pride of place at any dinner party. Nevertheless, we are in Cape Grimm country and we were determined to try the steak. What else, but Filet Mignon. It was a generous sized steak, cooked to perfection and I can understand why Cape Grimm beef has such a good reputation.