First port of call on our Tasmania cruise was Burnie, on the Bass Strait coast. Burnie was founded in1827 and by 2011 it was the fourth largest city in Tassie. It once was the site of Australia's largest paper mill and also several smaller industries including a paint pigment factory. Pollution of the city and the harbour became a huge problem and most of the manufacturing industries have closed. Today, forestry and farming are the major industries and the port is the largest cargo port in Tasmania. One of the chief exports is wood chip, and there was a large pile right next to where the Sun Princess docked. I watched the conveyors dumping chip into a pile and a bulldozer spreading it out to make room for more. The Oldies hired a car and we zoomed off to Bev's Cross Craft, the largest and best craft shop that I have ever seen (photos in posts from Feb), and then on to Anvers Chocolate Factory for lunch. There was another "target" for us in Burnie, the Round Hill lighthouse. We failed to find it in February, and only caught a quick glimpse as we drove past it this time. Fortunately, lighthouses have to be visible from the sea and we managed to get a look at it in the distance as we left port. It is a tiny one built in 1923, never manned, and automated in 1980.
Labels: boats, cruising, lighthouse, Tasmania
# posted by Bart Bear @ 10:25 am
