2004/03 Tasmania loop - Corrina |
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Wednesday March 10th
The wind dropped at dawn and I ran the length of the beach, only to get sandblasted again on the way back! That day, we were headed south down the west coast through the Arthur-Pieman Wilderness.
There never was an “Arthur Pieman”. The wilderness is named after the two rivers that define its north and south boundaries. The Arthur River is named after one of the governors of Tasmania. The Pieman River is named after a convict who escaped from Sarah’s Island to this area and subsequently became a pie maker – hence “Pieman”. However, the popular story is that the “pieman” was a convict who used to escape with companions and then snacked on them once their supplies were exhausted. This cannibal convict really did exist, but he wasn’t the pieman.
The route through the wilderness is a twisty dirt road that hugs the coast and then threads through the mountains. The coastal section is open shrubby country with few trees, but the growth is so dense in places that you’d need a bulldozer to get through it.
We explored just about all the side tracks. They took us to lighthouses, tiny communities of shacks, and even out onto the rocks to watch the waves crashing in. We met this echidna, who looked up from his ant snack and then dug into the sand to hide from us.
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Some of the rock erosions on the coast were really weird, terrible places to
come ashore in a shipwreck. When we got to the mountains the scenery became even wilder and the driving more difficult.
There are no towns or campsites in this section, so we drove all the way through to Corinna on the Pieman River, where we were hoping to take the boat trip down to Pieman Heads on the coast. However, nobody had booked for the next morning so the boat wasn’t going out. We camped there anyway, in their last available spot on top of the hill.
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Corinna (3.07) |  |
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Corinna is a funny place, once a large town, but now owned by two brothers, who run the campground, the ferry, the boat, and the cabins. We liked the sign on the cabins “Please leave your shoes at the door, but don’t leave them out at night or the devils will eat them.” Tasmanian devils eat anything that’s dead, and they eat all of it: bones, fur, and claws, so your shoes 
wouldn’t stand a chance. The sound of devils eating is sickening. They are nocturnal and very shy of humans, and we didn’t see any on this trip.
Thursday March 11th
It was a wet and foggy morning on the Pieman River, very mysterious and photogenic, but it wouldn’t have been a great day for a 
cruise. A couple of truck-loads of people showed up at 7 am to cross the river on the punt, but the advertised service was 9 am till 7 pm, so they had to wait it out!
[I have added a picture of the directions sign that travelers see on their arrival in Corinna.]
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