2004/03 Tasmania loop - Pieman Heads |
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We were heading back down to Corinna for the next day’s boat trip, but didn’t want to camp there again, so we stayed at Waratah in the township campground at a very reasonable rate. The campground has giant portapotties and each has a shower, toilet, and sink. I’d been told that I needed a shower.
Monday March 15th
A couple of ducks joined us for breakfast in the sunshine. The sunshine didn’t last long though. The rain set in as we drove back down to Corrina, and it was pouring as we got on the boat.
We were sharing the boat with six others, including one bird expert. We had heavy rain all the way down the Pieman River. It was a scenic trip, but hard to see anything. The guy doing the commentary had some interesting information about the gold mining days when this was a busy, crowded area, but his delivery left a lot to be desired. He’d told the same story too many times.
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Pieman River (12.59) |
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They’d told us that the rainfall at the coast was very light compared to Corinna’s and sure enough the weather cleared as we got to Pieman Heads. There’s a shanty town on the river there, ancient trailers, converted buses, lot of corrugated iron. Not too pretty.
The view down the river though was scary. We could see massive waves coming in and 
crashing over the sandbanks at the river’s mouth. It wasn’t as scary when we walked down there though. There was just something in the angle that exaggerated the wave size. The bird lady pointed to one of the distant birds on the beach and announced that it was a hooded plover, apparently quite rare in Tasmania.
The rain started again as we went back up the river but it eased off as we pulled into Corinna. We needed to cross the river to continue our trip so we had to take the punt (a two-car ferry) across the Pieman. The punt connects two roads that don’t really go anywhere except to the punt, so I think traffic through there must be very light. Any users have to be willing to drive a couple of narrow, bouncy, and potholed roads.