Zeehan

We had an extra day in Strahan because the wind was too ferocious for us to leave on Tuesday.  Ron said, “Keep my car till you leave!  Go up to Zeehan and look through the museum.  A lot of history, up there.”  So…we did!  And yes a very fascinating and well-presented museum.  Lots of old photos and information and interpretation.  And out in the yard there were huge chunks of rusty mine machinery, old locomotives, a replica miner’s hut, pumps, compressors, and enormous bell used by the fire wardens.  We walked around the Gaiety Theatre, all part, now, of the museum complex.  They show old movies every half hour.  We chanced upon one called Stop Thief, about the Kelly gang.  The NFSA (National Film and Sound Archive) have renovated as much as they can of these old films.  Lots of bits were missing, but the music played on bravely.

I said I could NOT go into the museum until I had had a cup of coffee.  “Want! Want! Want! Is all I hear from you”, sighed Pete, in pitiful tones.  But really…I find museums and galleries quite difficulty to negotiate because I can’t stand for long periods of time (Computer Says No; thus speaks my acheybreaky lower back) and the sort of walking one does in a museum or gallery is just a bit too slow (Computer wants to Say No.)  But I did find it all very interesting, a huge achievement for a small West Coast town.

There was, thank heavens, one coffee shop and it was open.  All very warm and cosy inside, which was another blessing.  Later in the museum we were talking to some local blokes and they laughed merrily when we told them we had gone to the café.  “It’s only been open a few months”, said one of them.  “The poor bugger has moved here from the Northern Territory.  He can’t believe how few people there are here, or how cold it gets.”  I do have limited sympathy for the café man.  But really, what was he expecting, in Zeehan??