Cruising the Gordon River

On Monday we booked a Tuesday morning cruise with World Heritage Cruises.  We boarded the boat with a couple hundred other people around 8:30.  Soon after leaving, the boat passed through Hell's Gates-the very narrow passage to Macquarie Harbor.  Macquarie Harbor is one of the biggest harbors in Australia but very hard to get to due to this narrow passage.  It was named Hell's Gates by the convicts on their way to Sarah Island.

When we got to Sarah Island we got off the boat and had a tour.  Sarah Island was a convict settlement between 1822 and 1833.  This settlement was for convicts who committed offenses while under sentence.  1300 prisoners were sent to Sarah Island.

Bakehouse



Penitentiary

We got back on the boat after the tour of Sarah Island and had lunch on our way to the Gordon River.  It was so peaceful and beautiful to float along the Gordon River.  It was perfectly still and the water is stained brown from the tannins of the buttongrass plants found along the banks.  These two factors meant the reflections of the trees in the water were amazing.

We stopped at Heritage Landing for a short walk through the rainforest and then the boat took us back to Strahan. 

We watched the movie Rabbit Proof Fence on our computer Tuesday night.  It is about three Aboriginal girls in 1930 who were taken from their home because they were half Aboriginal and half white.  They were taken to a camp with other girls like them and the three girls escaped to try to go back home.  It was a very good movie.  It was based on a true story.  We looked up several Australian movies to download and watch during our travels so expect more movie reviews in the future.