Strahan

What’s special about Strahan?

• A picturesque fishing village offering comfort and convenience on the wild west coast.
• Start of the famous Gordon River cruises through Tasmania’s World Heritage Area.
• 1980s base for one of the most significant environmental campaigns in history – the successful battle to save the Franklin River.

Cruises on the Gordon River take you deep into the World Heritage Area wilderness. You travel through one of the last pristine examples of temperate rainforest in the world. Make sure your cruise stops off at Sarah Island where you can hear the stories of the convicts who logged the Huon pine for shipbuilding.

Take the steam railway journey of a lifetime from Queenstown to Strahan. The journey takes you through dense rainforest, beside rushing rivers to experience life as the early miners did. However, today, your journey includes fine Tasmanian wine and food.

Select elegant artefacts of Huon pine – an aromatic timber prized for boatbuilding. Or you can even take a seaplane to search out 1,000-year-old tree specimens.

If you’re still thirsting for adventure, kayak the waterways, jetboat the King River, or slide down mighty sand dunes in an all-terrain vehicle on Ocean Beach.

More things to do:
Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park
Piners and Miners tour
Wild Rivers Jet
Strahan Seaplane and Helicopters
4 Wheelers

The story of Strahan:
In 1815, Captain James Kelly navigated the 200-metre opening to Macquarie Harbour, which convicts later dubbed Hells Gates. Between 1822 and 1833, Sarah Island operated as a penal station with the dubious reputation of being the worst convict prison in Australia. The town was founded in 1877.

Today, Strahan symbolises proud independence on the edge of the world – a place that tells the story of 19th-century piners and miners and 20th-century protesters who stopped the damming of the wild Franklin River.

Travel directions:
Strahan is about a 4.5-hour drive from Hobart along the Lyell Highway (A 10) and a three-hour drive from Devonport.