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00:00SBS wishes to advise members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
00:05that the following program contains images, voices or names of deceased persons and may cause distress.
00:23Woohoo!
00:24Squeeze the juice out of this road trip.
00:26We're in Darwin!
00:27Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:29Look at that.
00:32The great Australian road trip.
00:34I love driving.
00:36For generations, it's been an intrinsic part of Aussie culture.
00:42Now here's a happy, relaxed family, all set for a pleasant Sunday afternoon drive.
00:49And still to this day, if you really want to experience this great southern land, you've got to hit the road.
00:56I love it so much!
00:59In this series...
01:00Wow!
01:01Food guru Melissa Leon.
01:02I am the Lotus Queen!
01:04And comedian Nazeem Hussain.
01:06People who are in comedy, there's something wrong with them.
01:10Along with writer and performer Steph Tisdall.
01:12Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!
01:15And me, Claudia Carvin.
01:16You'd look like an idiot.
01:18Cruise along some of the country's most epic roads.
01:22That's unbelievable!
01:25To uncover extraordinary places.
01:28Look at that light.
01:30There's a grog!
01:32Reveal a side of Australia that's often unseen.
01:35Rawr!
01:36I like that, because that isn't really that well known.
01:39And head off the beaten track.
01:41Woo!
01:43Below red dirt.
01:45Because it's as much about the journey...
01:48...as it is the destination.
01:52It can't get much better than that.
01:55I love you!
01:56Yay!
01:58This is Great Australian Road Trips.
02:07This time, Naz and I journey to the wild west coast of Tasmania.
02:11Discovering incredible stories of Aboriginal resilience,
02:14boom and bust mining and murderous convicts.
02:17All set against the stunning landscape of the World Heritage listed wilderness.
02:24I really feel like Tasmania is made for road trips.
02:29Coming to a place like Tasmania, I want to immerse myself in wilderness.
02:33I want to see lots of waterfalls, rainforest vibes, green.
02:39Like this.
02:40Wow.
02:41Look at this lake.
02:42We're starting our wild west coast trip at Lake Burberry before we head up into the misty ranges
02:50to drive on the 99 bends, one of the most scenic roads in Australia.
02:56We'll then hit the coast of Trial Harbour and pass through the historic town of Strawn.
03:01From there, we'll climb on up to the holy grail of Tasmanian wilderness, Cradle Mountain.
03:06That has to be one of my favourite things about driving around Tasmania.
03:16It's a small island.
03:18Yeah.
03:19But, within 20-30 minutes, you can be in a completely different environment.
03:24Which is really nice.
03:25Well, I think this place is not for basic people.
03:28Not for basic bees.
03:30Tassie's Wild West, not for basic bitches.
03:33No.
03:34Basic bitches go to Bali, deep dudes come to Western Dazzy.
03:43You're all rugged up.
03:44I am rugged up.
03:45This being effectively summer, between 4 and 10 degrees.
03:50You've, like, lived here.
03:51Mm-hmm.
03:52Where did you live here?
03:53I lived here when I was in my early 30s.
03:56Lived here for two years.
03:57Two years?
03:58Yeah.
03:59I visited here on a holiday.
04:01Actually, a road trip.
04:02That was beautiful and really fun.
04:04I got home and I had that post-holiday blues thing, but I just, it wouldn't go away.
04:10You know, sometimes you have the invitation to change the script.
04:14Invitation to change the script.
04:15Yeah, like, remite your life.
04:16The script of your life.
04:17I wasn't happy.
04:18So, I broke up with my partner, packed up my apartment, my dog and my Mini Cooper and I drove to Tasmania.
04:24Wow.
04:25And I lived there for two years.
04:26Your ex must hate Tasmania.
04:28He's never spoken to me since.
04:31I lived on a sheep dairy and I lived on an abattoir while I was here.
04:35A sheep dairy?
04:36Sheep dairy.
04:37A farm where you milk the sheep and then you make the genes.
04:39You milk the sheep?
04:40Yeah, you milk the sheep.
04:41Wait, does sheep get milked?
04:42Yeah.
04:43Really?
04:47Look at this.
04:48We're like, we're at the level of clouds.
04:54Welcome to Linda.
04:55Okay, that's not, what the hell?
04:57Is that a fire burnt cafe?
04:59Is that a cafe?
05:00That's the ghost town bit.
05:02Wow.
05:03Whoa.
05:04That's, that's Linda.
05:05And now we're leaving Linda.
05:08Oh my God.
05:09Is that a town?
05:10That was it.
05:12Linda began its decline into a ghost town after the nearby mine closed in 1903.
05:17Mining has long been part of Western Tassie's story, stretching back tens of thousands of years when the Palawa people quarried stone to trade and make tools.
05:30By the 1890s, copper and gold was mined heavily in these mountains, triggering a boom of mining towns.
05:36But when most of the mines went bust in the 1980s and 90s, the workers abandoned their posts, leaving behind ghost towns like this, littered throughout the West Coast.
05:46Horsetail Falls.
05:47Horsetail Falls.
05:48We should go look at the horses.
05:49There are so many waterfalls in Tasmania.
05:50And this is like probably what I'm most excited about.
05:51The apple isle sits right in the teeth of the roaring forties, sending freezing gusts off the Southern Ocean.
06:07On the upside, it brings the freshest air in the world to Tasmania, as well as abundant rain.
06:15The wind and rain carve pristine waterfalls into the green landscape, like this one at Horsetail Falls.
06:22Well, Naz, I know you like a dramatic moment.
06:28So, there's Horsetail Falls.
06:30Wow.
06:31Isn't that incredible?
06:32That is worth the cold, man.
06:35Oh, my goodness.
06:36Ooh.
06:37What a treat.
06:39That sound.
06:41Sort of bottle that up.
06:43Think about how many litres of water are just rushing down that mountain per second.
06:52Hey, check it out.
06:55You know how there's a Hollywood sign?
06:57Yeah.
06:58There's a Queenstown one.
06:59Yeah.
07:00See?
07:01Oh!
07:02Welcome to Queenstown.
07:03Oh, my goodness.
07:04Yeah.
07:05Do you think they need to put in brackets underneath, not the Kiwi ones?
07:08Not Kiwi.
07:09You're in Tasmania, idiot.
07:11Tassie.
07:12Oh, and this.
07:13Yeah.
07:14That's the 99 Benz.
07:15Oh.
07:16We are gonna go down with the car.
07:19Ah.
07:20I'm so glad I brought these.
07:22My hands are freezing.
07:23It is chilly.
07:24I'd lend you these, but I have tiny hands.
07:27Yeah, and you've gotta use them to murder me later.
07:29Oh.
07:30Seriously.
07:31God, no.
07:32You are dressed like an assassin.
07:33I am, but a cool assassin.
07:35What's it called?
07:36The Tasmanian Tuxedo.
07:38Denim on denim.
07:39Are you ready?
07:40I'm ready.
07:41I'm cold.
07:42I'm crisp.
07:43I'm rugged up.
07:44It's freezing.
07:45Did you bring spare gloves?
07:46No.
07:47Oh, my God.
07:48Whoa!
07:49Heater on.
07:50Oh, God.
07:51Shall we hit the 99 Benz?
07:52Yes, please.
07:53Do they have heaters on those Benz?
07:54It's gonna be a cool ride.
07:56This six-kilometre stretch of highway heading into Queenstown is either exhilarating or terrifying,
08:03depending on your driving ability.
08:05Its many breakneck turns give it its nickname, the 99 Benz.
08:09Oh, it's crazy!
08:25So, we know when we're there when we're at 99?
08:27Spoiler alert!
08:28It actually only has 44 Benz.
08:30But who's counting?
08:32This is so you can see Bea driving us off a cliff.
08:37Every true crime story starts like this.
08:40It was just a fun drive with my mate in Tasmania.
08:44Yeah. And then it all went wrong.
08:47Whoa!
08:50My view's way better than your side. Beautiful.
08:53That looks pretty cool from here. Look at that.
08:56The locals call these bare hills the moonscape.
08:59After the foliage was killed off by acid rain in the early 1900s.
09:04A side effect of the sulphur pollution caused by the Queenstown mine.
09:09The mine was shut down in 2014.
09:12And Queenstown is now the gateway for visitors to the World Heritage Wilderness.
09:17This contrast is exactly why I wanted to take Naz here.
09:24Queenstown? We're here.
09:26We are in Queenstown.
09:28We're about to meet a guy named Anthony.
09:31And the story behind Anthony was a miner, a bit of a local character.
09:36And he knows a lot about this town.
09:39I don't know if you know this about me, but I actually used to be a miner as well.
09:43Really?
09:44And then I became an adult.
09:46Anthony? Anthony, you got it.
09:48Hi!
09:49Everyone says that you're the guy that knows everything about Queenstown.
09:52You're the tour guide too?
09:54Yeah.
09:55So, rumour has it you worked as an engineer in the mine and then you sort of took an about turn.
10:02So, I was just typical.
10:04Straight to the mine started work.
10:06And I stayed in the industry until 2009.
10:09I turned 40 and I went, you know what?
10:11Who am I really?
10:13And, of course, what's inside is the wilderness.
10:16And living through the blockade here was bloody interesting.
10:20Protests that had a global reach, really.
10:23The protesters have gathered for a final stand against the coming of the bulldozers.
10:28The blockade was a prolific protest that catapulted Western Tassie into the international spotlight in 1982.
10:38Around 2,500 activists converged on the nearby Franklin River to blockade the site of a proposed hydroelectric dam,
10:45which would have destroyed this pristine environment.
10:49The scene of the Franklin protest became an international battleground for environmentalists,
10:53as celebrities from around the world flew in to join the fray.
10:57After months of occupying the site, hundreds of activists were jailed, including their leader, Bob Brown.
11:05They eventually won the battle and the plan for the dam was scrapped by a High Court ruling in 1983.
11:13The battle is recognised as one of the most important environmental campaigns in Australia's history
11:19and led to the formation of the world's first ever Greens Party.
11:23To this day, Tasmania continues to be a hub of environmental activism.
11:27It changed the world.
11:29And Queenstown started to change after that big event into what we see today.
11:35It's still in touch with its mining heritage, but really what drives Queenstown now is nature.
11:41We're going on a tour.
11:42Can you take us on a tour?
11:43I'm going to take you on a tour.
11:44We can chat about it all day long, but let's go and do it.
11:47Let's do it all right.
11:48Great.
11:49I didn't want to ask.
11:50Yeah.
11:51It's official.
11:52You've made it to the end of the world.
11:58Yeah.
11:59But back in the day, Queenstown was just a cauldron of wealth from that copper mining era.
12:07Queenstown was built in the 1890s by the Mount Lyle Mining and Railway Company, which ran one of the world's largest copper mines right here.
12:15In its heyday, Queenstown boasted hotels, theatres, churches and schools, which have largely disappeared since the demise of the mining company in the 1970s.
12:27Anthony is taking us up the mountain behind town on the road to its past riches.
12:34We're travelling on the original miners' pathway that led up to the Duke's proprietary mines.
12:41And the road that we're on wasn't here before 1990, so it's quite recent.
12:50So where are we going?
12:51We're going to have a look at this 1898 copper mine.
12:55Okay.
12:59Duke's proprietary number three mine.
13:01There it is.
13:02Oh, my God.
13:03We're going down there.
13:04Yeah, we're going in there.
13:05No.
13:06This is it.
13:07No.
13:08See ya.
13:09Look, we're going down here.
13:10Wow.
13:11We're going in.
13:12Every fibre of my being tells me that I shouldn't go in there.
13:17Are there animals and stuff in there?
13:18No.
13:19You just don't go in there.
13:20Let's just make sure.
13:21Yes, you can.
13:23Ooh.
13:24Rah!
13:25Woo!
13:26All right.
13:27Yep.
13:28Whatever was there is now run away.
13:30This is like a problem.
13:32I thought it was going to be some sort of recreation of a mine just for tourists.
13:36It's real.
13:37And it was productive in 1898.
13:39But look at this.
13:40The colours here.
13:41This is malachite, which is green and azurite, which is the blue.
13:45Whoa.
13:46And it's telling us there's copper, gold and silver in the rock.
13:49Wow.
13:50Predominant metal we're after is the copper.
13:54Especially in the 1890s when the electric age got.
13:56That's where it's got going.
13:57These days I had to do it all by hand.
14:00If this was a hammer, they would hold it and hit it and turn it.
14:04It's tremendously hard work.
14:06Mining bitcoin is so much less effort.
14:10Uh oh.
14:11Ooh.
14:12Is this where you kill us?
14:13Look at all these sharp tools.
14:16This is called a cutting.
14:18All the tools and steel bits in the gelignite box, that's all original.
14:23Anthony, how risky is this kind of work?
14:25The real danger in here is with the air.
14:29So if you get a build up of carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide or anything like that.
14:34And that's why we have canaries?
14:36Well, typically they use little bantam roosters in these kinds of mines, not canaries.
14:41And one of the other things was making lots of dust.
14:44Because this ore type, this sulphide ore, has a lot of silica in it.
14:49And we know what's on the news at the moment with manufactured stone or silicosis.
14:54And to be honest, these people didn't live long past 45, 50 years old.
14:59Oh.
15:00Sheesh.
15:01We've got a way to go yet.
15:04Are you ready?
15:05No, I'm just trying to get that out of my head.
15:07Come on, let's try John.
15:08People dying from being in here.
15:09This is a vertical shaft and it's going to intersect two more mines above us.
15:21Where a lot of rock is blasted and fragmented and fills this space up and then we pull it out and take it.
15:27But what you can do, you can hop up there and have a look up with your hand light.
15:33Oh, careful Mel.
15:35Whoa.
15:36That is genuinely terrifying.
15:40That's the biggest shaft you've seen.
15:42The biggest shaft you've ever seen.
15:45I'm such a child.
15:46Step away from the shaft.
15:48Sorry.
15:49Come on, you've got this.
15:50Let's do it.
15:51Take us to normal ground level.
15:53So when I was a kid in Queenstown, the whole valley was almost just a desolate valley of rock.
16:05It was devastated by the original cut and burn and they needed fuel and they needed material.
16:13It is heartbreaking to think the reason why this hill looks like this is because it's been blasted.
16:19But look, it's rebounding like really strongly now and nature coming back with little clumps here and there.
16:27So in another decade or so, you probably won't recognise this.
16:38After the Franklin Dam project was scrapped, a new dam site was picked that would not be as catastrophic to the environment.
16:44The new dam and others like it make Tasmania the greenest state in Australia as it gets all of its power from renewable energy.
16:52One of only a handful of places like it around the world.
16:58So prior to 1991, this didn't exist.
17:01The artificial lake was created for hydro.
17:04Just down here is a big dam.
17:06It's about 115 metres tall and it stops the King River emptying to the ocean and fills this up.
17:13So right down there in the distance, that was going to be the dam to flood the Franklin.
17:17It would have flooded up here as well.
17:19Oh.
17:20Is that good or bad?
17:21Oh, I see it as bad.
17:23A lot of people see it as good, but we compromised.
17:26We compromised.
17:27We got energy and we preserved wilderness.
17:31Flooding that would destroy a lot of the wilderness.
17:34Yeah.
17:35Irreplaceable wilderness, yeah.
17:36Right.
17:37You just want to take a huge lung full of this air and take it with you where you go,
17:42because I think it doesn't get, it can't get much better than that, can it?
17:46Yeah.
17:47It doesn't for me.
17:48It genuinely feels really like, it feels very good for the lungs.
17:52I don't know, I feel very healthy.
17:54Is this like the best breathing air in the world?
17:56I'd say it would be, yeah.
18:05I don't think I've experienced that emotional impact of nature.
18:09And I think it's so incredible that we got to see his love of this place from the mountains
18:15and in the mines, you know, but from above and below.
18:18Mm.
18:19People often don't think of Tasmania as the, as the bastion of like new political thoughts
18:25and movements and ideas.
18:26Yeah.
18:27That particular, deeply radical period of our history came into the fore in places like
18:35where we've been.
18:36And we really understand what everybody was fighting for.
18:40I'm really glad that it's here because this is...
18:44That's so true.
18:45...remarkably special.
18:52Next up, as a summer storm blows in, we reach Tassie's untamed coastline.
18:58Oh, wow.
19:00Mel, look at that.
19:01Oh, wow.
19:02It's just started raining.
19:03I mean...
19:04That's a cloud sweating.
19:05It's a light smattering.
19:06It's a little sleety.
19:07Yeah.
19:08It's moody.
19:09It's moody.
19:10She's moody.
19:11It's high quality rain.
19:12It's atmospheric.
19:13Atmospheric.
19:14Not too much.
19:15It's conveying the feeling of mystery and solitude.
19:19Adds to the mood.
19:20I feel like we're driving into some kind of Scandinavian noir film.
19:35You know, you're a close enough friend now.
19:38If I needed to bury a body, would you help me?
19:40Would I?
19:41Yeah, of course.
19:42Yes?
19:43What can I say?
19:44As much as, like, true crime, some of the bad habits are always set in very beautiful
19:49places.
19:50They are.
19:51Oh, my goodness.
19:52We're 140 kilometres into our journey and on our way to see the wild and woolly Southern
19:58Ocean at Trial Harbour, before making our way up to Cradle Mountain.
20:03But first, we'll be passing through the town of Zihan.
20:07Zihan.
20:08Is this like, um, a town that still survives?
20:11Yes.
20:12This is where Bay of Fires was filmed.
20:14Here?
20:15TV show, yeah.
20:16Right here in Zihan.
20:17The Marta Dusseldorp driven show.
20:20Icon and Queen that she is, is based in this town.
20:23Pretty cool.
20:24It feels very Twin Peaks.
20:29The piney foresty surrounds that feeling of slight unease.
20:36And it all seems pretty normal, but there's something a little off.
20:40What's going on beneath the surface?
20:43Yeah.
20:44Yeah.
20:45I mean, having said that, shout out to anybody here from the town.
20:48I mean, we love you.
20:53People think about Tasmania as being this great adventure wilderness.
20:57That is true.
20:58But I think we sometimes ignore the very dark history for our First Nations people.
21:07We're going to meet someone today, a Pallia woman.
21:10She's going to take us around Triall Harbour.
21:13A little I've read about her.
21:15She's someone who wants to let people know that, well, her people haven't been exterminated.
21:19They're still here and thriving despite their pretty horrific history.
21:24Oh, wow.
21:25Oh, wow.
21:26Wow.
21:27We're all sandy.
21:28We're right near Triall Harbour.
21:29Imagine being someone who, like, if you're standing here and go, this is my ancestral land.
21:45Is this not majestic?
21:46I mean, you'd be so proud of this.
21:47Oh, wow.
21:48Mel, look at that.
21:49The waves look huge.
21:50Trial Harbour is one of the few towns established on the western coastline that brace the roaring winds of the Southern Ocean.
22:09Once a bustling port for shipping timber and minerals during the 19th century, it's now home to a population of just 21.
22:19There she is.
22:20There's Trish.
22:21Oh, my goodness.
22:22And look at this stretch of coastline.
22:26Oh!
22:27Hello and welcome.
22:28Hello, Trish.
22:29So nice to be here.
22:30Thank you for having us on your country.
22:31You're very welcome.
22:32Your land really makes its presence known.
22:36Does it?
22:37I can't feel a thing.
22:38Oh, we'll be.
22:39No, what are you talking about?
22:40I'm so toasty.
22:41You look toasty, relaxed, regal.
22:42Like you've clearly learned how to live here.
22:43I think so.
22:44I feel like I'm here with my ancestors.
22:46Yeah.
22:47Our people have lived here for a minimum of 42,500 years, so yeah, there's a bit of practice
22:53in there.
22:54What is this made out of?
22:55This is a possum or timita, we call them.
22:56One big possum.
22:57Well, no.
22:58There's 29 possums in here.
22:59Really?
23:00Yeah.
23:0129 possums.
23:02feel like i'm here with my ancestors yeah our people have lived here for a minimum of 42 and
23:09a half thousand years so yeah there's there's a bit of practice in there what is this made out of
23:14this is possum or timita we call them one big possum what well no there's 29 possums in here
23:21really 29 possums are these and these are the tails these are the tails yes yep i didn't know
23:27what to do with them and i didn't want to get rid of them when i sewed it all together do you remember
23:30all their names hello it's best to name them so the palawa people are the oldest oldest isolated
23:39human group in world history wow yeah amazing yeah so at the end of the last ice age when bath straight
23:46flooded yeah um that was around 8 000 bc so about 10 000 years without contact with other people that
23:53we know what so 10 000 years the palawa people were isolated and then what happened and then what
24:04happened the british arrived in the 1820s after decades of disease dispossession and violence against
24:12aboriginal tasmanians an intense conflict broke out called the black war resulting in the near
24:19elimination of aboriginal people on the island colonists drove aboriginal tasmanians from their
24:27land and shot them on sight killing men women and children indiscriminately aboriginal warriors
24:34retaliated and killed colonists and their families
24:37by 1829 around 200 aboriginal tasmanians who remained in the colony were exiled to a remote island where their
24:48numbers declined sharply
24:54the estimates before the british arrived is between 5 000 and 30 000 and
24:59numbers declined to around 2300 officially at one point there was 47 yeah down to 47 officially officially
25:11officially and now back in lutrawita as a whole today um around 20 000 people that is a
25:19horrible history but you've survived and persisted that's it we had to survive to look after this
25:24country right yeah i'm so grateful for everything that our ancestors went through for us to be here
25:31today i see a fierceness and a pride in you for being here and i think that's such an admiration
25:40can i put this on you and then i can pick things up oh my god would you mind just holding the top
25:48and you're going to slip in here before it blows away oh yeah there we go we'll do a bit of a
25:52transfer there there all right how's that whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa if you wrap it all the way
25:59around it becomes like an awesome straight dragon all the way around there we go there we go how is
26:03that wow and even tuck that under your tuck that under your arm there oh my goodness these are the shiny
26:10thing oh nice come on yeah so these are called king mariners wow how are these even real look at the
26:19iridescence so did you make this yep you made it yeah this one probably took maybe 20 years of gathering
26:28and then probably another three weeks to actually string it all that's just mind-blowing like who needs
26:36diamonds when you have that that's right now talk to us about this incredible vessel yeah this is
26:42seaweed or bullpilt uh we call these rikawa it feels like leather it feels like i just want to
26:49chew it you can eat it you can eat it yeah what would people use bowls like this for so we use these
26:56to carry our water oh so where does this come from it's in the ocean all around the twitter it likes
27:03really cold water yeah to grow in it's the fastest growing plant in the world in the right conditions
27:09it can grow up to one meter a day in the right conditions it's incredible but because our oceans
27:14are warming we're losing a lot of our kelp forest in the last 20 years yeah but this feels pretty cold
27:20out here it's not too bad on the west coast we'll find some we'll definitely find some amazing
27:25we're going on a kelp hunt we are going to catch a big one hunt i'm not scared we can find is it in
27:33the water so it's all out there under the waves but then with these big waves it gets washed in yeah
27:41yeah this is a little bit it's very soft and leathery yeah so you would use a piece like this
27:50out of there so how do you cut the kelp we use a stone tool oh wow yeah so it's just a a rock
28:00and has a sharp edge on it so you're going to cut around like that all right put a bit of force don't
28:08saw it put some i i am veggie my head into it this is as strong as i get oh thank you
28:19you've done this before look at that she knows how to use a knife knife skills
28:28that's it put holes all around the edge and then how do you put your string through so you
28:33can use the point of this one wow and so that's the technique that has been handed down to you
28:38yeah at least 3000 generations unbelievable this feels really special you also said that we can
28:44eat some kelp yeah i don't know why i brought it up because now i'm just really do you want to
28:49eat it get the sand off it no no i was just wondering all right so just brush your sand off a bit
28:57oh that's the sand oh yeah it's like a little lemony love it you have now taken into your body and
29:07your soul you want what you eat the essence of the wild west of tasmania i'm now a little bit kelp
29:12so thank you trish thank you trish you're very welcome thank you possum fur hug
29:22you're very welcome give it give it back now thank you guys okay shimmy shimmy shimmy
29:29now i can say that i have see ya see you later
29:33this is incredible that possum cloak looking pretty majestic we will be holding this moment in our
29:48souls for quite some time
29:53it's so like interesting like seeing that kind of resilience from people who have been subjects of
29:58like active genocide like the the the resilience and the way that they have found beauty in surviving
30:07yeah so it is sort of like i feel like when people from these traditions talk like you listen yeah
30:18having met the wonderful trish
30:20i learned a lot of my prayers from my mom and she learned from her mom and and she learned from her
30:35mom yeah so i think probably the prayers also like like recipes handed down my mom was she's got this
30:41cookbook and it's got like some very old recipes from her grandma and her mom but um because cooking
30:48shrlankan food is just ordinary there's there's recipes in there that are like shepherd's pie and
30:54it's oh my god that's hilarious because that's that's that's that's exotic yeah yeah
31:03next up we get a taste of village life my boxes have been ticked and start the stunning climb
31:10into the mountains kind of feels like it's untouched
31:12great australian road trips one adventure at a time with lexus
31:26you know what i found our first communication oh did you on instagram the day we met i felt like
31:34we gave each other a look where we were like i see you hey we made it in asian brown
31:40two of us in the industry we've infiltrated we're gonna take over from inside and as sort of
31:47representatives of our communities a lot of people see us in themselves well as a comedian
31:54it's such a weird thing when people are like you know um you are a great role model or you are doing
31:59a great job changing the i'm like oh my god how am i supposed to be a responsible guy carrying the flag
32:05but then also like a literal clown we're on our way back down the coast to strawn a village perched on
32:14the stunning macquarie harbour before we go inland to our final destination cradle mountain
32:20so strawn here we are where's the coast that's what it's all about in the 1820s this harbour was
32:31the site of a remote prison for dangerous inmates long after the jail was closed the town was founded
32:38as a port with a train station servicing the copper industry in queenstown really looking forward to
32:44meeting kaya because she has some stories for us she does look at this place oh how pretty we're
32:50meeting kaya a local history nerd who knows all the gory details of the colorful and sometimes
32:56controversial stories of convict escapades get your train ticket it's one of these trains where you can
33:01buy it on board with tazzy's summer shivering she's offered a shelter on strawn's historic train
33:07after you thank you so much hello hello are you coming to take a seat oh thank you tell us about
33:20this train um so the train itself is part of the west coast wilderness railway the railway was designed
33:26to connect strawn with queenstown um in the 1800s to get the copper ore out and then there would be a
33:35big massive wharf just here and they'd unload the copper into the ships and then ship it to
33:40melbourne and south australia so this is the start of one end of macquarie harbour in long bay
33:45it looks wild and wintry and woolly doesn't it it's amazing you've caught us on one of our really
33:50fantastic summer days it's great isn't it so good to be in here though yeah it feels cozy doesn't it
33:57macquarie harbour is the second largest harbour in the southern hemisphere six times bigger than sydney
34:03harbour well if you got out to sarah island it's in the middle of the wilderness now it used to be
34:09a convict settlement 200 years ago and it had a reputation of being the worst of the worst there
34:14was a shocking amount of punishment so many people died at least half of the convicts who escaped from
34:22sarah island perished people also tried to escape through um murdering each other
34:30or committing a crime that enabled them to be hanged because that was better than better option
34:36than surviving surviving on sarah island in those terrible conditions wow absolutely and most people
34:42who hear about sarah island the one story they know about is alexander pierce was this guy that
34:47the cannibal yes so one of the first and may i say the first successful escape from sarah island
34:54was alexander pierce who escaped with seven other men and he made it through to hobart but they ate
35:02each other along the way it wasn't just alexander pierce knocking people off and and eating they
35:09all partook in it it's just that he was the last man standing it's kind of like master chef but like
35:13with your friends and you're is that the secret ingredient underneath the is it not is it not
35:19survivor no i think it's more of an eating challenge he's just because he describes what
35:24human flesh tastes like and it's genuinely fascinating he said it was like pig pork yes pork
35:31yeah like eating pork yeah and he actually described it with a i guess a sense of glowing
35:37luxury about it as well like there was a um you know he wasn't sorry about it no because he did it
35:43again so they didn't believe him when they first captured him after the first time go on prove it
35:48he got sent back to sarah island and he did it again but the second time he did it it it was just
35:54two of them so he killed him took took off his thigh ate some of it and then alexander pierce went
36:02back to sarah island and gave himself up and said now you've got to believe me i've done it again then
36:07he was hanged for it yeah wow the west coast is full of stories aboriginal stories convict stories mining
36:15stories even the modern stories of the dams and that kind of protest story as well but also it's
36:24nature the weather changes every five minutes you you learn to embrace it the west coast gets under your
36:29skin to be out here and live and work in such a wild part of the country why would i be anywhere else
36:38else oh you're selling us thanks so much uh can we turn this thing on odd
36:50i love that train it's a cool place to tell convict stories oh yeah you really get into the mood
36:55don't you just one track to a place you're not going to come out of for a while unless you escape
37:02very beautiful kind of feels like it's untouched it really gives you a glimpse into what it would
37:11have been like thousands of years ago here my boxes have been ticked
37:17this is such a sweet town oh this is what i love about tasmania right one street town really sweet
37:36little shops it is very very quaint where i used to live in tasmania it feels like a lot like this
37:42what's that place what's up there coffee pies let's do it random the best coffee in town uh can i
37:53please have a piccolo latte flat white please no we're just driving around checking out your island
38:04oh it's a real life alpaca i love animals hey what's going on it's an alpaca cafe
38:15oh whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa i was gonna put it on the ledge oh my goodness
38:22what it doesn't work yes you do what's wrong with now i'm offended
38:27oh now he wants it it's very gentle what is wrong with my carrot look what do you like an apple
38:41i'm really do you know how long i spend just with your fingers with like that no no like
38:46like this like do that and he'll do you think i should
38:57it spat at me now it spat in my face are you happy you got an alpaca to spit at my face
39:08here you go huh i'm not gonna spit back at it someone's gonna be the bigger man
39:11look at him very sensitive he's just like yeah i'm sensitive too i don't want to say i told you
39:20so but humans and animals just chill honestly it was about just chill try an apple oh yeah try an
39:26apple yeah yeah see it it freaking spat at me
39:36if it hasn't spat at her it's been spitting at me all morning
39:42stop this
39:47next up this is bucket list stuff for me yeah and i am so just we leave our trusty wheels behind
39:55and glide into tasmania's most dramatic vista i can't believe we're actually doing this
40:00i feel like the luckiest human on the planet right now
40:09well mel my job is snacks okay yeah i know what i got for us apple an apple all right so i'm going to
40:17ration this out one bite every two k's okay okay that was tiny look at that i tried to take a
40:31bigger bite you bit the top part as well i know i'm supposed to buy it no no no okay let's just take
40:38the whole thing well what are we doing now we are headed to the end of the road
40:47our epic road trip is reaching its final destination the majestic cradle mountain
40:53have you been to cradle mountain before no i haven't i lived in tasmania for two years and i never made it
40:59but this is bucket list stuff for me and i am so just you need to remember that there are people
41:06from all over the world who dream about visiting cradle mountain some of the most pristine wilderness
41:14left on the planet and this is just in our backyard the area around cradle mountain was once used as
41:23hunting grounds by many aboriginal tribes for the summer months after colonization miners trappers and
41:30cattle grazers moved in threatening the pristine landscape this was until an austrian immigrant named
41:38gustav weindorfer and his wife campaigned to make the area a national park in the 1910s he famously
41:45said of the mountain this must be for the people for all time it is magnificent and people should know
41:52about it and enjoy it he received his wish in 1947 when it was declared a national park and today it's
42:01one of the country's most popular with 265 000 visitors in 2023 so we're going to be kayaking
42:09on dove lake which is a very special place in the cradle mountain wilderness not just a sightseeing
42:16exercise i know we're going to have an upper body workout excellent that's up for a relaxing holiday
42:21now it's time to get back into nature and do something get that body moving
42:30stop it oh that's cradle mountain i feel real happy in my heart right now
42:37this is so beautiful a lot of jealous friends how are we even allowed to be here right now
42:48hello hi how's it going that's me nice to meet you this is nice to meet you this is quite the spot
42:55well it's the cradle mountain so cradle mountain sort of under the cloud up there we're at the head of the
42:59world heritage area and especially for all sorts of reasons it's got plants and animals that aren't
43:04found anywhere else geology that plays the major phase of the world history how big is dove lake
43:10oh so it's a couple of k's long and then it's about 65 meters deep this is just remarkable scenery
43:16and you're out here all the time not just standing here on land but on the water and these boats
43:21that you've made yeah so we've got a couple of kayaks here that i've made out of a thing called
43:25kingbilly pine which is a really rare it's like it's iconic from around here right it is yeah yeah
43:32the timber that you're going to be parking your bum in in a minute is probably a thousand years old
43:37a thousand years old something like that for a kingbilly if it's big enough to even think about
43:41cutting down it's got to be more than 700 years old and so can anyone just knock down a tree and
43:46have a go at making a kayak no so it's been illegal to cut down kingbilly pine for a long time now so
43:51the timber these boats made out of was cut down in the 60s they call it the last kingbillion
43:56captivity so it's basically the yeah it's pretty hard to get your hands on
44:02once prized for ship building kingbilly and huon pines were heavily logged from the 1820s
44:08the logging of pine began with the convicts at macquarie harbour
44:11labouring in chains to fell timber for the growing town of hobart
44:18logging became one of tassie's biggest industries and one of its most controversial
44:23and so do you do you hand make or do you have like a factory or something no they're all handmade
44:28so they're basically i've cut the kingbilly into hundreds of individual little strips and then each
44:33little strip gets a lot of love to fit in it's kind of like putting together a little puzzle it's about
44:38200 hours per boat but i'm doing it in between other things i'm getting the kids to bed and doing
44:41a couple of hours whatever so it ends up being about six months it takes me to make a kayak
44:45these are a labor of love for you yeah yeah like we could have just bought some plastic ones for
44:50a couple of thousand bucks or something would have been a lot easier should we get cracking yeah i'm
44:55i'm ready all right we're gonna throw in a few things got a little straps yeah just the life jacket
45:00over the top all righty i'll give you a puddle get your hands in those things they're the little uh
45:11and she was never seen again i'll just get in i'm really excited oh god
45:20yeah that's in there is it too close to you
45:22oh wow
45:30naz yeah is this not the coolest thing ever this is
45:35kind of unreal it i can't believe we're actually doing this
45:38i feel like the luckiest human on the planet right now
45:48i feel like you're kind of in a dream
45:57now what are you taking away from this trip i think sitting here in the middle
46:02of a lake alone with you i'm really struck by the insignificance of us yeah you know we are so
46:12tiny in the scheme of time and space and just such gratitude for being able to see a place
46:20this pristine i don't know i feel so lucky
46:24it's so true this whole place you know west tasmania the wild west does make you realize
46:32wow as much as you think you can control things there's a lot out of our control
46:37and the weather teaches you that and you but you see it in the people they've all learned
46:42i mean this is fun oh it's getting wavy it's definitely invigorating let's go
46:50oh it's so cold i can't feel my face
46:57next time steph and i go from the arts hub of adelaide to the majestic paradise of kangaroo island
47:04that's unbelievable on a coastal drive through south australia's flurier peninsula
47:20so
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