Tassie Twelve Years On – St. Helens

On By Coral WaightIn Australia, Tasmania, Travel

I left Launceston early the next morning, heading for the east coast, with a view to visiting the Bay of Fires, just north of St. Helens.

I wound my way up into the hills to Scottsdale, and then, passing through Branxholm and the old tin mining town of Derby, and down through the forests of Weldborough, at the edge of the Blue Tier Regional Reserve, I eventually arrived at St. Helens.

On the way to Scottsdale is The Sidling Lookout, bordered by what looks to be a pine plantation. From here you can look for miles out across the valley.

Scottsdale, looking toward the mountains
The old tin-mining town of Derby

The most significant mine, Brothers’ Home, was established in 1876, and became the Briseis Tin Mine, which operated until 1956, producing an estimated 20,800 tons of tin oxide. Known as Tasmania’s tin province, the north-east generated substantial wealth for almost a century.

One of the many free camping sites around Tassie

The Panorama Hotel at St. Helens was my bit of luxury for the trip.

A touch of luxury at St. Helens

I sat on the balcony reading and relaxing for a couple of hours, before wandering off for a look around the town. It’s a really pretty town, built around Georges Bay. Bizarrely, I don’t appear to have taken any photos of the town at all. I really don’t know how to account for this. I normally click away compulsively. Here’s a link, anyway, for St. Helens.

In the morning, after a coffee in my very own hotel restaurant (I could get used to luxury), I wandered round into the main street to discover a terrific Saturday morning market. By the time I checked out every table, bought some DVDs, and discussed book marketing with a fellow writer, it was lunchtime.

From there, I headed out of town to Binalong Bay, just 10 kms north of St. Helens, at the southern end of the Bay of Fires, and discovered just how beautiful Tassie’s east coast can be.

Binalong Bay

The orange-reddish colour on the rocks is from the lichens that grow on them.

After hanging around for ages in the sunshine, I decided to leave going further up the coast till the next day, remembering my promise to take it easy and make this trip a holiday rather than my usual non-stop exploring.

11 thoughts on “Tassie Twelve Years On – St. Helens”

  4. It’s amazing how you see a picture and it reminds you of somewhere else. For some reason Derby reminds me of West Virginia, with little working towns hidden in small valleys. Very pretty yet ‘working’. And a tin mining town, if it was the bronze age and the other side of the world they would have been fighting over it for centuries.

    I’ve never been to Tasmania, I think mainly because I worked with not a very nice person from there, and it’s put me off ever since! Maybe I need to get over that. Thanks for your stories.

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