Part 4 Balfour Track and South to Zeehan
Snorkel - Tick
Convoy....mmmm NO!
It’s one of the tough tracks in Tasmania and for me a must do, Lyn could do without but we agreed if we walked every section that looked necessary as would be sensible then OK’ish
First test - side slopes
Know your vehicles capabilities.
This is about the limit.
The track is 15kms long, and we did walk a significant part of it checking the conditions up front, but also constant track clearing.
Side branches and those overhead
Sections like this required quite some work.
Button Grass also means mud holes.
Then there are the rock steps to negotiate.
Wild Camp No18 is on the Balfour track
Today: 14.9Kms (7.5 this track)
Total: 1,359 Kms
Back to shallow mud holes and cutting timber.
We are 2.5 kms from the main road then we find this very rough rocky climb.
Pictures never do it justice.
Rough, severe side slopes, step ups, + Big holes. One incorrect move = PROBLEM
I walked it may be 6 times and even set up the winch just in case.
Lyn had a quick lesson on being a winch jockey, although she would NOT ride in the vehicle.
First low with the front e-locker in
Very Slow, the rock was firm and tyres did not slip.
My line was ideal, although the front right lifted of the ground a couple of times towards the top as the rear left went through the last big hole.
The last 2kms was rocky water holes - some deep but no issues
Balfour was an old copper and tin mine back in 1902 to 1910.
This track was part of the 21km horse drawn tramway system to the port at Temma.
Here the ore was shipped to Sydney for smelting.
An expensive operation but while the ore lasted they made money.
It all closed down with the advent of WW I
Road side camp ( No 19) on the Western Explorer Road on the way to Pieman River Ferry at Corinna.
Sunday 27th February 2022
The Western Explorer Road runs from Arthur River to Zeehan, well made gravel and winds through Button Grass covered hills/mountains and in places thick timber.
At Corinna is the Pieman River ferry crossing.
For those with big trucks - forget it if you are over 6500Kg.
The ferry is a punt on a couple of steel pipes and one vehicle at a time.
In Corinna, an old Gold and tin mining town from the 1850‘s we saw these crayfish holes in the creek banks
The locals know them as crayfish but Queenslanders would call them fresh water yabbies, and those from WA marron.
Dinner:
Mulligatawny Soup over Rice
With Red ( Lyn) and Ginger ( Kym) Wine
Wild Camp No 20 is on a side track outside Zeehan on the Heemskirk River
Today: 102 Kms
Total: 1504 Kms
Monday 28th February 2022
We are hunting for old mine sites around Trial harbour.
Could not find the Montague Mine but did locate the grave of Joseph Brown who died in 1881 whilst warning some dynamite in a billy when it exploded.
Dynamite was in these times very unstable when cold, so he was warming it so it could be handled safely !
Back the other side of Zeehan and to the Dundas old town site then more back tracks to the old Razorback Mine.
Dundas is all but gone yet in 1890’s there were 1,000 people living here
With some bushwalking we were more successful this time.
It’s an old tin mine.
Also walked around and found scrap metal, an old boiler, collapsed huts.
Just stuff...
Tonight culinary delight is:
Beef Curry over Cous Cous
Sparkling Water this evening
Wild Camp No21 : Just outside the non-existent town of Dundas
Today: 76 Kms
Total: 1580 Kms
Tuesday 29th February 2022
Montezuma Falls.
We did attempt to drive there from the south on the old rail line however looked very slippery and closed in - Not this time.
Hence we headed to Rosebery and walked the old rail line in from the North.
About 5kms return.
The rail line was originally the ore transportation line from the Hercules mine to Zeehan.
Quite an engineering feat in the time.
There is now a swing bridge to view the falls, with the original timber pylons still standing in the timber below
A product of Argentina..
Takes us back to when we visited the decaying Fray Bentos in Argentina in 2013.
See:
Part 18: Uruguay - OXO - The little beef cube with a big story!
Wild Camp No22 was in a pine Forest outside Strahan.
Today: 96Kms
Total: 1746 Kms