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The North Mount Lyell Copper Company’s
old rail line is one way to explore the vast
TasmanianWilderness World Heritage
Area, which covers nearly 20 percent of
the island. This temperate rainforest is
home to some of the world’s oldest trees, a
number of Australia’s deepest and longest
caves, Aboriginal dwellings dating back to
the Ice Age and animals found nowhere
else—including, of course, the endangered
Tasmanian Devil. The trail’s first three miles
are open to hikers, mountain bikers and four-
wheel-drive vehicles, but after the Bird River
Bridge (pictured here), it’s “bushwalking” only
for the four miles to East Pillinger, a ghost
town where the mining business peaked
around 1900. Interpretive panels describe the
industrial remains, including kilns and boilers.
RailTrails Australia
Joanne Powell