20160219 Tas Wynyard, Waratah, Rosebery to Zeehand

20160219 Were getting low on fuel, Jesus Des, so thanks to my knowledge of using a Nav we detoured to Wynyard to refuel, we’ve been here before said Des, have we, I said.  We filled up and left to check out the Table Cape Lighthouse, arr you’re right, we have been here before, I remember the Tulip farms.

Table Cape Lighthouse was built in 1888 on a ‘volcanic plug’ formed 13.3 million years ago and is set on a sheer cliff surrounded by farmland but the lighthouse wasn’t the first means of lighting the way for ships in the night, a former mariner kept a light burning in the front window of his house to guide mariners through the night.

At the top you can take in a breathtaking view over Bass Strait.

Heading to Zeehan but we took the wrong turn and ended up Savage River which landed us on a dirt road, Des was not happy, then silly tried to turn around on the edge of a cliff, then I wasn’t happy, are you for real, we drove on a bit further and found a safer option to turn around, now for the hilly, wandie trip back 40ks.

We landed in Waratah, we’ve been here before too, the town with the waterfall I remember it well.

Built 1909

The old and the new Bischoff Hotel 

Many bikes stop for lunch at the Hotel then refuel for their return trip, these guys love Tassie's winding roads

A fly by shoot of the mine in Rosebery, an active zinc-mining town at the foot of Mount black with an estimated yield of $8 billion since mining began over a century ago.

The Top Hat Pub in Rosebery.

Next stop Zeehan established in the late 1800s after tin, silver and lead discoveries sparked the largest mining boom in the west.  Nicknamed ‘Silver City’ it grew into Tasmania’s third largest mining town and social hub for the entire West Coast region.

She may have been a thriving town once but today many shops have closed and homes deserted.

Gaiety Theatre in Zeehan 1899, then Australia’s largest theatre, was restored and re-opened in 2006.  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, entertainers from around the world performed here for packed audiences of wealthy miners.

We camped at the back of a hall but now power here, bugger but we did notice a Pub, so off we toddle and for a Friday night she was pretty dead.

A big day ended.