The West Coast Wilderness Railway is one of several tours and experiences offered by Pure Tasmania and is a faithful recreation of the original railway between Queenstown and Strahan that was built by hand in 1896. The track uses the unique Abt rack-and-pinion system invented by the Swiss engineer, Dr Roman Abt – the only railway system possible to get through the steep and rugged terrain. The trip involves lots of great scenery and is accompanied by laconic commentary that provides interesting insights into the pioneering days and the area’s history.
The West Coast Wilderness Railway
The train line is all that disturbs pristine forests
The trip ends at Queenstown, where after a short break to look around, a coach takes you back to Strahan. It’s an all day excursion and in addition to the two regular two carriages, the Wilderness Railway features a Premier Carriage, which has comfortable upholstered seats (bring cushions for the “authentic” wooden seats of the other carriage). Apart from this and other creature comforts, the Premier carriage offers a slightly better view and includes sparkling wine at breakfast, pastries for morning tea, lunch and then cheese in the afternoon, with a fine selection of Tassie wines constantly available. On the day we travelled, we only shared the Premier Carriage with Margaret and Brian, a delightful retired English couple who we’d later meet on the Gordon River Cruise and then bump into again on the other side of the island, in Freycinet.
The regular carriage price includes a more modest lunch, with beverages available for purchase.
Afternoon cheese (and more wine) in the Premier Carriage
Two things to do in the evening
If you have time, there are two special evening activities worth doing in Strahan. You can do them both on the one night if you like.
The first is “The Ship that Never Was”, Australia’s longest-running play, which provides a light-hearted re-enactment of historic events based on a daring escape from the penal settlement of Sarah Island. The two-person play is performed daily at 5.30pm by the Round Earth Theatre Company in a small theatre on the side of the West Coast Visitor Information and Booking Centre. The Ship That Never Was is lots of fun and involves a great deal of audience participation and improvisation. If you do the Gordon River cruise, you’ll visit Sarah Island (where actors from the same theatre company are employed as interpretive guides), so you’ll probably get more out of the play if you go after the cruise.
The second activity is visiting Ocean Beach. Not only is this a great place to catch a sunset, it’s also the place and the time to watch the landing of the short-tailed shearwaters (or mutton birds) as they return to their nests in the dunes after a day of feeding. This colony is one of the largest on the island with about 4,000 birds, and while shearwaters aren't that elegant and athletic on the land as they stumble into their burrows, they can fly up to 80 kilometres an hour. They have also been known to fly up to 15,000 kilometres during their migratory period. A Ranger from the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife is usually in attendance at dusk during the tourist season, to provide an interesting talk about the birds and their habitat.
Sunset at Ocean Beach
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