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 A tale of confusion, and crackpots

" ' It's difficult to say how people will react. Some are determined, some seem patient and relaxed, while others are definitely a bit stressed,' the man in the grey overalls said thoughtfully.

 

And in these economic times of 'downsizing' and 'rationalization,' Tasmanian Brian Inder could well have been talking about the many Australians who've been made redundant, and how they've looked at life thereafter. Especially when you consider that Brian himself had been forced to leave mainstream farming, with its multi-national competition and bank-induced distress.

 

But actually he was talking about the maze. The 'Confusion Maze,' to be precise."

This article takes readers to the quirky tourist destination of Tasmazia in Tasmania's Cradle Mountain and Lakes District, with its large mazes and its Village of Lower Crackpot, where each building, though only 1/5 scale, has a story to tell.

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 Tasmania's Wild West

"So there it was. The imposing mountain with the distinctive dip in the middle giving it a cradled shape. It wasn't difficult to see why in 1827 Joseph Fossey declared it Cradle Mountain.

It may have been mid-afternoon, but at this northern end of Tasmania's Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park there were walkers everywhere.

'Don't forget to register,' said one, pointing to the shelter.

And we followed them in, though ours would be only a shorter walk of two hours on the loop track around beautiful Dove Lake, in the shadow of the mountain."

Walking through the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania's World Heritage listed wilderness, taking a steam train back in time in the rainforest, cruising the Gordon River past ancient Huon pine, this article shows readers the rugged beauty of Australia's island state.

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 The whistle blows once more

" The whistle blew. We were moving.

Leaving Queenstown we sensed that Tasmania's West Coast Wilderness Railway would be something different, a line resurrected from another time, through a wilderness where right of passage had been reclaimed.

The inhospitable landscape had been a challenge for the men constructing the original Mt Lyell Mining and Railway Company line in 1895.

But they'd pushed on, laying track from the river port of Teepookana to the copper mining town of Queenstown, for this was the only way to make the Mt Lyell mine profitable.

In 1896 the first train arrived in Queenstown. By 1899 the railway was extended to Regatta Point near Strahan and became a commercial success. Until 1932 it was the only way to get to Queenstown."

This article takes readers on a trip back in time through the wilds of Tasmania - on the West Coast Wilderness Railway behind one of the original steam locomotives from the historic Mt Lyell Mining and Railway Company line built in 1895.