A lovely (if not a bit wet and cold) couple of days spent in Tassie's rugged West Coast.
The Kelly Basin track (also known at the Bird River track) is accessed by following Mt Jukes Road from Queenstown and then turning off onto Kelly Basin Road. The last 5km is very narrow and not reccomended for 2WD drive cars.
From the carpark at Bird River Bridge, it's a roughly 7km walk to the site of Pillinger (some sources will say 5km but I'm pretty sure it's a fair bit further than that). There is no phone reception and the area is also quite remote and not often visited so that's something to take into account when preparing to visit. The track is mostly flat and fairly easy to navigate. Most of the original town of Pillinger has gone but a few brick kilns and boilers still exist, slowly being reclaimed by the forest. To me the walk is not so much about the destination, it's more about the journey through the stunningly dense rainforest which follows the picturesque Bird River.
Photography - Don Hawley
Music - "Another One in C" and "Being in the Moment" by Electric Den
9 янв 2024
