Week 6 Sun 25 Mar - Sat 31 Mar

Week 6 Sun 25 Mar – Sat 31 Mar

Strahan - 25 Mar

With only 1 full day in Strahan, we needed to get a good start, so after a hearty bacon and egg breakfast, we headed out of town to Henty Dunes.  Just as we arrived, it started raining, but not enough to dampen our spirits or our clambering up the dunes.  The dunes are alleged to be the highest sand dunes in Australia and it had some great footprints of creatures roaming around, presumably quoll’s.  Pictures done it was off to the beach, Ocean Beach (showers still persisting), then off to Macquarie River to get a view of Hell’s Gate from the beach.

Later a view of Strahan from the Lookout and then a lovely rainforest walk to see Hogarth Falls, a lovely easy walk taking about 40-50 minutes.  Our last stop was the Sawmill to pick up some Huon Pine off cuts and a cutting board.  After all this exercise, it was time to relax with a good strong ale – just what the doctor ordered. 

Lake St Clair - 26 Mar

Off by 9.30 am to do the drive to possibly Lake St Clair.  We headed off to Queenstown and had a walk around.  Starving already found a great shop that sold a open toasty – ham, cheese and tomato with a pizza sauce underneath –the problem was we only had 1 each.  A few pictures later we headed out of Queenstown, but didn’t get far as the road out is so windy and amazing that we stopped at a lookout to take more pictures of the bizarre landscape (like the moon) and natural waterfalls coming down the mountain – too good to pass by.  Then another stop at the open cut mine another 5km up the road.  Will we ever get out of this Queenstown area, but yes finally we got a move on.  Next stop was Nelson Falls – a lovely 20 min walk to a wonderful little falls, in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park.  The drive on the Lyell Highway is a slow going affair as it is very narrow and winds up and around the mountain.  It took us all day to finally arriving around 4.30 pm at Lake St Clair and as we got closer the range had snow on the side of the road, from the previous few days cold snap.  It will be cold tonight. We booked into the campsite, electing to go unpowered for the night and after having to manevoure the van to get into the site and a few curses later) we were settled.  (Note: the sites are not meant for caravans – very tight). We were right on the lake and the view was spectacular – but the highlight of the night was seeing a eastern spotted quoll – in fact there were 2 of them.  They scampered around the van and were not frightened of us, and one of them was right under my chair and asking for some food. Tony got a great shot with one quoll putting his nose in the cask of wine – priceless.

Off early the next day and did a load of washing before packing up.  We walked around the lake and centre then hit the road not quite sure where we were heading to, but in the vicinity of Mt Field National Park. We stopped at a nice picnic spot on the river, at the Power Station Tungatinan and as we got out of the car – could smell the breaks on the car (strong).  Straight away, Tony checked the van breaks and they were cold – no breaks – great.  After some running repairs and checking the plugs and rewiring they seemed to be ok and we were off again.    

Hamilton – 27 – 28 Mar

We ended up finding a great semi free camp ($5 a night) at Hamilton just shy of Mt Field.  It was a lovely little park just near town and it had everything, showers ($1 hot water), toilets, barbecues, dump point – perfect – all on a little stream. It was great and our first sunny day for ages.  We decided to camp for 2 nights here before moving on.

Mt Field National Park – 29 Mar

Wednesday it was off to Mt Field to do the drive up to Lake Dobson, up in the Ski Fields.  The road up to Lake Dobson was only 16kms from the Visitor centre but is a very narrow dirt road, but a spectacular drive. We intended only to do the Woodland Pandanus walk around the lake but ended up walking up to the Ski Fields and definitely worth it.  But as we set off the clouds came in and by the time we got to the top we were clouded in and not a sole in sight.  Buildings closed up until winter arrives and the ski runs going up the hill and being in the clouds with mist and fog everywhere with snow on the ground, eerily an odd feeling.   On the return saw a wombat munching away in the grass – so cute. The place was beautiful with so many things to take in and photos to capture.

 We lunched on the hill and did a few other mini walks and had a look at Lake Fenton then down the hill – again the day getting away on us! Another picture packed day.

Thursday we headed back to Mt Field with the van to do drive up to the Gordon Dam.  We arrived at 9.30am then had breakfast before heading off. This is a full day driving as from Mt Field it is 86 kms one way right up into the Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers NP and we wanted to do the Creepy Crawly Nature walk on the way.  This part of the country is spectacular and very wild – there is nothing for miles.  We found a good couple of camping areas that would be good for a few days – one being Ted’s Beach right on Lake Pedder, a fantastic spot.  To our delight on the way we found an echidna (small one) on the side of the road.  We got some great shots and got quite close – he was soo cute – but he showed us his quills when he felt threatened.  Another great opportunity not missed.

Hobart (Berriedale) – 30 Mar – 1 Apr

Before leaving for Hobart on Friday we got up early and did the 2 hour walk -Lady Barron to Russell Falls circuit – very beautiful and amazing. We said goodbye to this lovely place with very nice campgrounds and headed for Hobart. We arrived at Berriedale at the Treasure Island Caravan Park about 10kms out of town.  There are ducks and geese and black swans on the river everywhere and rabbits all over the place.

Saturday we headed up to Mt Wellington.  Wow was it cold and very windy but the views great and not too hazy (better than the last time we were here).  The rest of the day was spent wandering around Constitution Dock, Salamanca markets and the city.  Back to base and the ducks and geese are attacking the van – they are everywhere. The wildlife in this part of the cove is amazing – good picture opportunities.  Tomorrow we are off to the Mona Gallery – which luckily is within walking distance of the caravan park – bargain.