Troy Grining captains a tourist boat out of Strahan, Tas, which takes in some of world’s most pristine forest and places of hellish history.

Story and photos Kristie Hayden

Hell’s Gates’ ghostly shadow is barely visible through thick haze. Here, deadly shallows, fog and a narrow 120-metre passage have claimed countless boats and lives. As mist clears, a lighthouse is painted into the picture. Another few seconds and a layer of rugged coastline appears, silhouetted on white sky. Like the click of a View-Master, the ocean-scape brightens with every glance, but as the hulking catamaran plies unscathed through Hell’s Gates to the heaving Southern Ocean, the curtain falls, swallowing the seaboard. 

This story excerpt is from Issue #115

Outback Magazine: October/November 2017