Melaleuca and the SW

On the 24th of January we hopped on a Par Avion Cessna 170 and headed for Melaleuca in the southwest.  This is an area reachable only on foot, by boat or by air.  Not having seven days to spare to go by foot and not having purchased our boat yet, we opted for air travel.  Unfortunately, our plane developed engine trouble and we had to turn back and try another day.  Fortunately, we were able to complete the trip on the following Saturday without incident!  The entire SW quarter of the state is basically a wilderness area and Melaleuca is the hub for travel.  It is located at the south end of Bathurst Harbour and is the summer home to the remaining 150 to 200 orange bellied parrots that have managed to hang onto life on this planet.  We were fortunate enough to see five of them!  Our tour included a visit to the home of the naturalist who lived there and a boat tour of the harbour.  The mountain ranges that surround the harbour are some rugged peaks!  On the way home, we flew through the mountains (actually we flew around them at low altitude) and got spectacular views of Federation Peak, Mt. Ann and Mt. Picton, the tallest spires in the southwest wilderness area.  We flew back right over our apartment and the harbour.               The southernmost point in Australia is Southeast Cape.  The beach there is the beginning of the coastal portion of the Southwest Track, one of the most traveled tracks in Tasmania. The rugged coast along the southwest has some spectacular scenery like this all along the track. The beaches along the track.....  Bathurst Harbour from the air.... The Rallinga is a Huon pine vessel used to haul tin ore from the mine near the airstrip back to Hobart.  The tin mine is what originally attracted people to this area.                Mt. Rugby from Bathurst Harbour  There are no trees in this area except in protected valleys where there is more moisture, less wind and where the fires tend to skip over. Part of the Ray Range.  The light colored areas are quartzite rock.   The airstrip at Melaleuca - there were five planes there that day!  It was probably the busiest airport in Tasmania for a few minutes!

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This site was last updated 09/04/06