Trial Harbour Camping

This Trip was to test out all the modifications we had done to the trailer and work out what we are missing before we go on our trip to the mainland . So on Friday morning after the dreaded nightshift and only a couple of hours sleep we’re Trial Bound, after a long boring 3 hours or so we got there and set up camp but there was this horrible smell in the air it smelt a bit like dead crayfish but under further investigation we found that it was blue bottles. There where millions of them. They must of been washed up in the rough sea’s that they had earlier in the week. Knowing that this was here to stay we decided to put up with it.  After we set up camp we done the usual and went for a look around as this place has some spectacular views.Looking down at Trial from the hill behind that has the communications tower.Looking in the other direction from the same spot of the north end of ocean beach. During summer if it has been dry you can drive the whole length of the beach to the Hells Gates at Strahan.Also  on the same hill but on a different point there is this grate so we went over and checked it out and found that it is an old mine shaft, wouldn’t of been a bad view to be working with (Not sure what the mine is called or what was mined hear but it is directly above Trial Harbour).Tassie Really does have everything, even Red mud that you usually only find in the outback. This is still on that hill that offers so much but we haven’t finished yet, when you turn around and look east you see this   A waterfall that not many people know about even though every person that has ever gone to Trial has come within 30m of it as the road is just above it, its perfectly hidden. From here we finally come down of the hill and decided to go to the beach and have a look and fish Fishing how it should be done with something to lean on and a beer. This method is tried and tested and it works I have proofWith my first ever Sea Runner (another fish ticked off the bucket list) and great view to go with it.

Jacinta was trying but as usual got out fished. As the sun was starting to get a bit lower we thought we better return to camp cook some tea have a few beers and enjoy the sunset

This was about the last thing we enjoyed for the night after the sun disappeared it all went down hill from here the winds started blowing in from the north west so there was no protection at all and they got stronger and stronger as the night went on. At about 2am it just got to much with everything flapping and banging and no sleep whatsoever we packed up and moved to another camp spot a bit further south that was nice and protected and offered much needed shelter from the wind.

 

The next Morning after very little sleep we decided to go try and find some of the abandon mines in the area (there are many) the first one we tried to find was Globe Mine which is an old Copper, Lead, Silver and Zinc mine but had no luck as it was very overgrown where it was. We did find some pink streamers though and that generally means there is a walking track or something of interest around so we followed them trying to find the next mine in the area called Healy & McIvor Mine (Tin Mine). The walking track was very overgrown and had trees over it everywhere but it was a good walk and had some good views

Looking back over Avebury mine and also if you look at the furthest mountain peak you can still see snow on top of it even though the day was quite warm.Whats left of an old tramway bridge used to cart the goods from the mine

Jacinta hates the camera so sucked in HAHA.

After a Gruelling uphill walk in this is all we found, I’m pretty sure it is what’s left of an old battery stamper used to break up the rocks to get the minerals out.

From here we tried to find the old Hydro power station that is fed from Lake Cumberland but didn’t have any luck unfortunately so we went in along the Climes track and had a look at a couple of other old mines that I have known about.  The Climes Track was the most washed out I have seen it and I only done the first couple of k’s of it but it was fun

From here we got to Federation mine which must of been a pretty big operation back in the day as there is still a lot of concrete footings and ruins around the site

Not to Sure what they mined here or when exactly it was in operation but the whole West Coast of Tasmania can be a very unforgiving place and I take my hat off to them, it can be beautiful hot and sunny one minute and the next it want’s to try and literally kill you.

From here we went and had a look at Cornwall mine which is right on the coast and because the Landcuisers have horrible handbrakes I found a new way to secure them

drop a wheel into a rut and let it sit on the front diff. After I secured the car there was a short walk down to Cornwall mine

Cornwall Creek, I have sense found out that a couple of hundred meters up from hear is another water fall.  Entrance into mine you can walk into this and explore it, it doesn’t go very far but does come out again above this There is also an old spray tunnel next to the mine that you can walk through

out the other side is a long slide down to the ocean and there are also some great views Looking back towards the spray tunnelVeiw from spray tunnel.

After a massive day of exploring around we headed back to camp to have a nice relaxing beer or 10 and have a fish, mind you I was the only one with a rod in

Now I thought I would go and do the rite thing and split some wood for the fire and as I was doing that I could hear Jacinta yelling and I looked around and seen that the opportunist fisher had seen me rod go of and ran down there and grab it and pull in a big Sea RunnerSo after this I rebaited and put the rod back in and had another beer and sulked. I noticed again that the fire was getting low and said to Jacinta that its your turn to split a bit of wood and put it on the fire as I’m not doing it and sure enough as she was doing that the rod went off again and I caught a good size sea runner, although not a big as Jacinta’s one that she stole I was happy again

The official sizes 500mm is pretty good fish I reckon especially for a couple that have never caught them before.

It rained all night from here on in so everything was very wet but it tested out the rooftop tent well and it is well and truly waterproof as we had a lake of water on top of it when we woke up in the morning

All the new modifications worked well on the trailer and apart from the weather had a great trip. Trial has so much to offer for such a small area and it is a spectacular spot it has all different levels of 4wding from easy sand driving to your comp truck type tracks of Lake Cumberland Track, the camping is great and you have the option of either Saltwater beach fishing for shark or salmon and Freshwater fishing in the Little Henty also has a great little history museum that is gold coin donation.

Hope you enjoyed