Week 9 Sun 15 Apr - Sat 21 Apr

Week 9 Sun 15 Apr – Sat 21 Apr

Arthurs Lake (Central Lakes) 15-16 Apr

We headed out of Longford for Cressy and passed the Poatina Power station before tackling the Great Western Tiers mountain to get to Arthurs Lake.  The road up the mountain is literally straight up the face of the mountain – but the car and van made light work of it.  The weather was bright but getting this far up (over 1100m) started chilling down a little.  We eventually found the Pumphouse Camping Grounds (which is really for fisherman) but was a nice quiet spot on Arthurs Lake, this was to be our camp for the next 2 nights.  We made ourselves at home, got the Billy on the fire and made a cuppa and later drove up to the town of Flintstone (I kid you not – it is a town where most of the year it is not populated, a little like a shanty town – but in season would be thriving and full of boats and fisherman).

We enjoyed a raging campfire tonight in seemingly very mild conditions, as the temperature was a summery 6 degrees!!

Sunday we headed up to Miena to have a look at the Great Lake – which is very impressive.  It is over 25kms in length and is very picturesque in this alpine area.  We enjoyed a coffee and muffin at the Miena Hotel/Shop and then visited a grave monument in honour of one of the pioneers of Miena and walked across the Dam Wall.  While we were in the area we had a look at another campsite on Arthurs Lake – but it wasn’t as nice as the Pumphouse.

The weather turning a little drizzly here and there, Tuesday we headed off over the mountain saying goodbye to the Great Lakes, for Gowrie Park via Deloraine.  Gowrie Park is our base for Cradle Mountain and Mole Creek areas, close for all the sights that we want to visit.

Gowrie Park 17-20 Apr

We stocked up in Deloraine with supplies and headed into the wilderness west once again. Gowrie Park Wilderness Park is a strange and odd setup as it used to be a hyrdo power town with huts and roads – which have now all been demolished with the roads the only thing still existing.  The couple who run the park are in the process of upgrading the place, but a lot of money will need to be invested for it to really go ahead.  None the less, it is a quite place for us to visit the places we want over the next couple of days.

Gowrie Park is situated at the base of Mt Roland which is an impressive mountain range and it has a number of walking tracks that can be taken.  These will have to wait for our next visit.

Wednesday we headed off fairly early to Cradle Mountain (a 40 min drive from Gowrie) on a very interesting twisty windy road through the mountain range to Cradle Mountain.  We got the rundown at the Visitors Centre and then drove to the walk at Ronney Creek.  We decided to do the Cradle Lake walk to Marions Lookout and then come down the Rough and Steep track to Dove Lake (this is literally straight down the mountain face from 1200m to about 800m and it is what is states – rough and very steep.  Since we didn’t want to walk back up the road we took the Lilla lake track to get back to the Ronney carpark.  This took us about 5 hours to do and was absolutely great.  The weather when we arrived at the Visitor centre this morning was drizzling and cold and windy – so we got our all weather coats out – rugged up and commenced our walk.  The weather stopped drizzling and the wind kept the clouds rolling over us but it brightened up for most of the day (except for the wind) and only started clouding in around 3.30pm – by 4.30pm it was miserable (cold, wet and windy and the clouds closing in for the night).  We finally got back to Gowrie at about 6.00pm – just before all the Pademelon’s started appearing.  We hibernated in the van as it was just too horrible to be outside, planning our next adventure tomorrow.

We woke to a very rainy misty morning and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better.  So not to spoil our day we drove into Sheffield and had a look around some of the shops, bought a couple of souvenirs and then made our way back via Paradise to Mole Creek.   We were heading for the Allum Cliffs which are just past Mole Creek.  The weather seemed to hold off raining for about an hour just enough time for us to walk to the cliffs take some pictures and then make our way to the Trowunna Wildlife Park to see Tassie Devils.  We just made the 1pm tour for the feeding of the Devils and a cuddle of a wombat.  It was really good to see and we saw many Tassie Devils at this park along with a number of other animals, including kangaroos, ducks, wedge tailed eagles.  The park is a breeding program and also a rehabilitation place for injured animals.  The only problem with the place was the leeches galore – not just one, thousands and climbing all over you.  We stood stomping and picking them off the whole time, and I wasn’t quick enough – got bitten – blood all over my trousers.

After the park we took off for the Mole Creek Caves, the Marakoopa Cave to do the Great Cathedral and Glow Worm Chamber – this was a really good cave and has some amazing features – apart from the glowworms.   After this we drove home via King Solomon’s Cave to a place called Liena and then keep going.  We couldn’t see a thing, all in cloud and the road was literally a dirt track – small and narrow all the way up the mountain, an amazing drive.  We had a look later and the road doesn’t even exist – so it must only be for locals. Due to the inclement weather tonight we hibernated in our cosy van all night.

Friday the weather was much better and the clouds were gradually clearing.  We were going to move onto another spot, but decided just to stay here for another night.  We were having a nice lazy day for our last night in Tassie, before getting the boat tomorrow back to the mainland.  We went shopping again in Sheffield and had a better look at the shops spoke to a guy (local character) who had his alpaca with him.  He makes some extra money with tourists wanting a picture with the alpaca – of which we did for a gold coin donation – a bit of fun.  We drove back to Gowrie and went up the road to Round Mountain lookout to get a better view of Mt Roland which now just had a little bit of cloud on it. 

Saturday was a slow start (and we were lucky to get a section of the Targa Rally here at Mt Roland, so went to have a look). It was just after breakfast I heard that familiar mosquito buzz of engines going up the mountain in the distance.  We drove up the road to see all the cars starting to line up.  The weather was awful, misty, low clouds and drizzling - casualities occuring the previous day as a result of the weather.  We watched them all take off and then headed back to camp and continued our pack up.  We finally got away around 1.30pm and headed for La Trobe. 

La Trobe is a very artistic town and we found this magnificant shop that had absolutely everything you could think of, from dolls, teddy bears, toys, kitchen, games, star wars, venetian clowns, costume hire.  As we entered our bags were taken from us (and I can see why as we made our way around the shop), plus we were given a map.  There was some 20 rooms in this shop and no joke you could not move - every available space was jammed packed with something.  Tony and I both found this teddy bear (not cheap) that we fell in love with (we have now called him Bertrand) - he is the most adorable thing and looks so real.  Apart from having to have the bear we came out of the shop over $200 poorer.  As the day was fast disappearing we made our way to Devonport to join the queue of cars and vans ready to board the Spirit of Tasmania.

The boat sailed on time and we were off - our last goodbye to Tassie in the nights lights.  We were expecting a smooth sailing for our trip back to Melbourne.

Week 8 Sun 8 Apr - Sat 14 Apr

Week 8 Sun 8 April – Sat 14 Apr

Oatlands  8–9 April

We said goodbye to the far South and started heading east, stopping off in Geeveston for quick shopping detour and then again in Huonville for some supplies before heading back through Hobart and across the bridge to the East.  We decided to take the inland route rather than the coast road and drive via Richmond to Oatlands. Stopped in Richmond for a really nice coffee (too windy to be outside – now officially over the wind and the cold) and then headed for the free camp in Oatlands on the lake. We arrived fairly late around 5.00 pm and it was pretty busy with about 8 other vans already in for the night.  We are going to stay here for 2 nights and then head to the East coast to Freycinet National Park.

Monday morning brrrr!!! The temperature has dropped – and it is cold!  It is about 10 degrees but the wind chill makes it feel around 7 degrees.  I have three layers on this morning before we took off for our walk of Oatlands town and the Mill.   We walked all through town (not a big town and being Easter Monday still a few shops shut) but we ended up at the wool store and bought ourselves some woolen gloves (which we have had on most of the day).  There is some really nice jumpers, jackets etc in this shop if you are willing to part with a few hundred dollars.  A few showers are making it cooler and tonight the skies are overcast but clearing.  We have hibernated to our van to keep warm – but the night air is seeping in and it feels colder. 

Bicheno  10 –12 April

We got off to an earlish start and headed for Bicheno.  We had originally intended to stay at Coles Bay near Freycinet National Park, but with Easter holidays were still book and also we didn’t want to stay at the Big 4 caravan park.

On route we detoured via Ross, a lovely little town, very picturesque and like most in Tasmania, very historic.  We strolled up the street and did some of the shops over and then headed out of town on our way East.  We arrived in Bicheno about 2.00pm and leisurely enjoyed the remainder of the day.  The park was busy but not full – but still lots of kids around.  The day was turning out to be lovely and this sunshine is supposed to last until after the weekend. We walked down to the beach just before sunset and took more of our happy snaps.  I had forgotten how much I liked this little town.  It has a lot of things to offer, the beach, a lovely coastal walk, a blowhole, a national park only 8kms up the road, and close to Freycinet National Park. 

Both Tony & I have been suffering from head colds, but Tony is still just in the midst of his and feeling pretty horrible, so we decided to go for a nice small walk (or so we thought) at the Douglas Apsley National Park – the Apsley gorge circuit – a mere 3 hour return.  To our initial shock, the walk was straight up – so with our colds it was a hard slog.  We continued on and when it flattened out it wasn’t so bad.  The gorge walk was a really nice walk and worth the effort in the end.

We returned to camp and then went out for lunch – deciding to do the coastal foreshore walk around the point ending up at the blowhole.  This walk has a little of everything, a bit of forest, beach and rock hopping – it is a really nice coastal walk and the benefit at the end is the blowhole. 

When we were at the old jetty I overheard a woman talking to a guy in a boat who was throwing wood off his boat.  Apparently a boat had run aground and was breaking up, which we discovered just before the blowhole.  It was not a massive boat, but big enough, just rocking back and forth in the wake of the waves occasionally hitting the rocks with the incoming tide. There were bits of wood and boat breaking away around the bay, an eerie feeling to see a boat just floating aimlessly with the tide and with every wave eventually knowing it will sink.  

We continued onto the blowhole, lucky that the tide was still coming in.  It is a very spectacular sight and great to watch with every wave as it streams up into the air.  After numerous photos we continued to walk up to Whalers Lookout, a hill overlooking the town.  You get a great view of the town of Bicheno, the mountains and the coastline to St Helens.  It is a very nice part of the world.

Thursday with the weather still holding, we drove down to Coles Bay to do the Hazards circuit walk in Freycinet National Park.  The walk takes you around a number of bays on the mountain onto Hazards beach then across to the lovely and picturesque Wineglass Bay and back up to the Lookout.  It was worth the effort, sweat and tired legs at the end, particularly after our walk yesterday.

After the walk, we drove to Cape Tourville to view the Lighthouse and take in the great views of the Hazards, Freycinet and Mt Amos.  There is a small 600 metre boardwalk around the Lighthouse that gives great views back to Wineglass Bay.

Our visit to the East coast all but finished, we checked out and then did a bit of shopping and had morning tea at the local bakery before heading west to Launceston.  Not wanting to stay right in Launceston, we found a lovely caravan park on the river at Longford, about 22kms south of Launceston.

Longford (Launceston)  13 –14 April

 Longford is a lovely town and a great place to stay over for a few days to visit Launceston only 20 mins away.  The caravan park is set on the banks of the South Esk River which has the most unusual flow for a river I have ever seen, one side flows upstream and the other downstream and the middle is just eddies and whirlpools were the two currents meet.  Bizzare. Even the ducks struggle with the currents as they paddle furiously to get to one side.

Saturday we drove into Launceston taking the back road from Longford.  We found a place to park along the park (as now every space is a pay and display) about 10 mins from the city centre (we didn’t mind walking) and proceeded to do the shops over.  We both commented that Launceston is a much bigger town than Hobart with lots more shops and seemingly more old buildings.  

We walked up the mall and up to City Park to see the monkeys in the park and back into town for lunch.  We walked around much of the city centre then up to Kings Park on the river before driving up to Cataract Gorge.  This is such a lovely park and has many walks for you to enjoy.  As the day was fast dwindling we wandered around for an hour enjoying the views both up and down the gorge, walking back across the swinging bridge before saying goodbye to the Gorge and Launceston and heading back to Longford.

Week 7 Sun 1 April – Sat 7 Apr

Week 7 Sun 1 April – Sat 7 Apr

Hobart – 1 April

When we arrived on Friday, we were just about to start our tiffin (drinkie time) and low and behold someone is helling out to me “Hello Tracey”.  I turned around and there was Meg and her daughter.  Peter and Meg lived at Burpengary and we sold our X-Trail to them – a small world.  They had just flown in and were staying at Berriedale (what a coincidence) – see you can’t escape anywhere without running into someone close to home.

They caught up with us on Sunday morning and we chatted for over an hour before they headed off to Bruny Island.  We had breakfast and by lunch time headed off on foot to the MONA Gallery.  It cost $20 each to get in and then you can explore.  It is a very unusual place as it mixes modern with old art with a spice of controversy in some of the works.  We walked around the 3-4 levels for over 4 hours by which time my feet were sore and our stomach’s grumbling.

When we arrived back at base,  we were greeted by our goose (someone had dumped her in the park on Friday and she has sort of befriended us – squarking at 4.30 am in the morning to tell us she was up.  She is a cute thing and she was starting to get used to us – following us around all over the place (oh, and she loves weetbix!).

Geeveston – 2 - 4 April

We packed up on Monday morning (goosy watching everything and following everywhere) and as we left the park saying our goodbyes, as she knew we were off.  Heading south we stopped at Kingston for supplies and then made our way down the coast to Geeveston.  Such a pretty little town with wood carvings everywhere.  We camped in a big paddock just on the edge of town for a mere $5.00 a night.  There are no showers or close toilets but they are accessible at the back of the park – so not too bad.  This was a great spot – only one other van there and they were leaving tomorrow.

Geeveston has a couple of nice shops and a couple of good café /restaurants – so pizza was going to be dinner tomorrow night.

Tuesday as the weather was a bit showery but supposed to fine up later, we decided to go to the Tahune Airwalk, only 29 kms from Geeveston.  There are a number of small walks and lookouts on the way which are worth stopping at, particularly the walk in the picnic spot (which most people just drive by).  We finally made it to the centre by 1.30pm, paid our $25 each entry and then proceeded to do the circuit walk which takes you over 2 hanging suspension bridges, one over the Huon River and the other over the Picton River. Then we did the airwalk – an amazing piece of construction and great to get the views from the top of the trees rather than the bottom.  The counter lever at the end really does get a bit of a sway up but the views from there are great.  Another day down and it was off home to have our pizza.

Ida Bay 5-7 April

Tuesday we headed further south down the coast road (talk about windy!) to Dover (a pretty little town and then Southport (there is nothing here except the pub and caravan park) – but nice on the bay overlooking mountain ranges in the distance.  Then we headed for Ida Bay to go all the way down to Cockle Creek, but didn’t get any further as we found a nice camp spot at the Ida Bay Railway Museum to stay for a few nights over Easter (nice and quiet and not that busy), unlike Cockle Creek – it has been a long procession of cars, boats, vans just heading south for the Easter Break.

Ida Bay is a funny little place as this lovely old lady runs the railway stock on government owned track (which they won’t fund) and she is basically is keeping it going and spending all her own money investing into the place.  There is a train ride down to the beach which costs $28 each (for a 2 hour trip) and while there you can do a 1.5 or 3 hour walk to the Lagoon or the Bluff.  We only had 2 hours to spare – so elected to do the Lagoon walk – very nice.

There was nobody around tonight (no campers until Friday (so we enjoyed a lovely camp fire on a very mild Tasmanian night).  The weather has been very mild and great for travelling, but it is supposed to turn cold on Saturday – let’s see.

Good Friday morning – Hot Cross Buns and Billy Tea – now that’s just yum!!  We are enjoying a lovely cup of coffee and soaking up a day of sunshine before heading down to Cockle Creek to see the Whale Monument.  The trip down to Cockle Creek is only about 19 kms from Ida so a leisurely drive on the dirt road, which wasn’t too potholed.  The name Cockle Creek is deceiving as you imagine a creek, but when you get there the bay just opens up around a number of inlets and little beaches.  It is a magical part of the world and we can see why people travel to come down here.  But like being any public holiday – it was absolutely packed, tents, kids and boats everywhere in every nook and cranny you could park yourself.  There is absolutely nothing down this far, no water or showers or shops so you have to be self sufficient and bring everything.  At the very end where no more road exists, is the Southwest National Park and from here you can view the Whale Monument and do a 2 hour return walk to the Fisherman’s Point.  This is a great walk as you walk around the bays to the point over rocks and walking along the beach.  It is very picturesque and today the sun is shining, it is 26 degrees and quite warm.  It took us just over 2 ½ hours to do the walk as we had lunch at the point and after taking copious pictures, it was a nice afternoon’s stroll.

The weather tonight turned cold and after such a lovely day the rain is here again and the wind is strong.

Saturday morning we headed off to Hastings Caves which are really good – and big and so much inside to see.  This cave is only 1 of 2 cave systems that are known (the other in SA) that are of a dolomite formation. After the caves tour we strolled around the Hot Spring pool and the circuit walk through the forest.  A great place to come in any weather as the pool temperature is a constant 28 degrees.  We move on tomorrow to another place – haven’t decided where yet.