Last bit of Tassie



The Nut & Stanley from Highfields

 

We moved on to the north-west with a visit to Circular Head best known as “The Nut”. This is the core of an ancient volcano and stands alone at the end of a spit of land with the town of Stanley huddled in its shelter. We decided not to stay overnight as once again the wind was blowing strongly off Bass Strait but we did visit Highfield House on the hill above the town. Originally the administration centre for the Van Diemens Land Co. it had fallen into serious disrepair until taken over by the Tasmanian Govt in 1990. Restoration work has saved a beautiful historic home and still continues.

A young Echidna near Dip Falls

Our next stop-over was at Smithton, the most westerly town of any size. Not really a tourist town but a good base for local exploring and the Bridge Hotel has great meals – local scallops and chips plus desert of apple pie and cream - all for $12.00.  


Guide Falls near Burnie





As we headed back eastwards we stopped off at a great caravan park at Crayfish Creek where the sites are all in bush settings with birds hopping round everywhere during the day and wallabies hopping round the grassy areas all night. A few more windy days at Cooee Point, Burnie while we explored further inland then gradually headed east to spend a few days at Sheffield.

Mt Roland & Lake Barrington



Letterbox near Wilmot



Sheffield area is dominated by Mt Roland which provides spectacular views of the surrounding country as well as providing a backdrop for many scenic photos. Lake Barrington sits below the mountain and has good camp sites and spectacular scenery. A drive round the lake took us through the little town of Wilmot where many locals have built novelty letterboxes – everything from Daleks to Angels to motorbikes.

Reliquaire window (no photos inside)

In the town of Latrobe there is the most amazing shop called Reliquaire. There are 20 rooms stuffed full of toys, costumes, figures in full period costume, fairies, ghouls and fantasy. It’s like stepping into the toymakers workshop and you really would have to be an awful grouch not to enjoy several hours there.

We have a few more days to fill then it’s back on the boat and back to Melbourne.

North West

Stalagtites in Marakoopa Cave

Mole Creek was our next stop for a few days, an area surrounded by high ranges known as the Western Tiers as the mountains are flat topped but step up steeply to a new level then gently sloping down only to step up steeply again before the next gentle down-slope. The area has over 450 caves and caverns with stalagmites and other amazing formations. Two of the more accessible caves are open for tours and we visited them both on different days getting maximum enjoyment from the experience. The area is famous for honey production so we stocked up on Leatherwood honey and ate honey ice-cream.

Sculpture of a Fishermans Tale

Deloraine was next where we stayed by the Meander River and had to avoid the ducks every time we stepped out the door. The main street has small sculptures with local themes at regular intervals on both sides of the street. They are all about 18 inches tall and are mounted at waist height on top of used oxy-cylinders.

Up to the north coast again and heading west we stopped at many of the coastal towns, free camping in most spots. At Burnie we parked at Cooee Point, a popular but exposed stopover for caravans & motorhomes and for two days it blew a gale, first from the north-east, then from the south-west. The bus rocked and rolled all night in the wind and we heard later it got to 90kph, and even stronger further west. At Devonport the Spirit of Tasmania was unable to dock for over an hour due to the rough seas and driving rain.

Model A Ford

Because of our interest in old cars etc. we spent some time at the information centre at Wynyard where a local vintage car restorer has a collection of very early Fords and other cars on public display. Most of the Fords are pre-Model T, the oldest being a 1903 Model A, the 31^st Ford vehicle produced. It was found in the U.S. only a short distance from the workshop where it was built and still has most of its original parts – including the muffler!

Hobart and up the middle

View of Hobart from Mt.Wellington

We spent a week in Hobart looking at beautiful early settler homes and historic buildings and also the surrounding area visiting beaches, wild coastlines and tiny villages. The weather was good but it wasn’t until the last day that we got a hot and cloudless day to go up to the top of Mt. Wellington which towers over the city to a height of 1270 metres so even on the best of days it’s cool up there. The views are spectacular!

Oatlands, Tasmania



Carrington Mill, Oatlands 1837



There are so many townships with old sandstone houses, old pubs and buildings you just can’t stop at them all so our next camp spot was at Oatlands, typical of the area and by-passed by the highway so it has kept much of its character. The town is dominated by a stone windmill tower, the mill has been restored and produces flour once again.

The next stop was Ross, another historic town by a river with a beautiful old bridge with intricate stone carving built by convict masons in 1856.

Part of Pearn's traction engine collection, Westbury

On to Westbury to camp behind the bakery this time. As well as the old buildings, this town has an excellent steam museum. The Pearn family owned and used many of the steam engines and collected others from the area as they went out of use by the 1950’s and saved them from becoming useless rusty relics. It is the biggest collection of operational steam traction engines in the southern hemisphere.

Swansea to Port Arthur



Dawn over Freycinet Peninsula (from Swansea)

 
We worked our way down the east coast stopping at Swansea where there is a restored bark mill set up as if it is still operational with the steam power plant running all the belts to drive all the equipment. Black Wattle bark is high in tannin and was crushed and bagged for use in the tanneries.

Triabunna

The next stop was Triabunna, a small sheltered fishing village where you can camp behind the pub for a donation to the local fire or ambulance service and from there it was on to Dunalley where once again it was camping behind the pub.

Convict built bridge with spikey top made of local stone

All these stops and the communities in between are linked by winding coastal or hill country roads – great to drive in the Moke. Of particular interest were two hills called “Break-my-neck” and “Bust-my-gall”, they must have been a real challenge in the early days of horses and wagon transport.

We used Dunalley as a base to visit the historic penal settlement of Port Arthur. The introductory talk was very enlightening as we learned that the reforming ideals were quite advanced and the convicts who accepted the system had the opportunity to learn trades, learn to read and write and get a basic education (the library had 13,000 books!). An attempt was made to keep young prisoners separated from the older men and the old, infirm and insane were provided with care so that in the last few years before Port Arthur closed a large percentage of the inmates fell into this category. Punishments were severe however and flogging or working in heavy leg irons were common punishments, also solitary confinement and periods of sensory deprivation.

Main penetentiary building and hospital ruin behind

The area now looks like parkland with magnificent sandstone ruins but it was once a busy industrial township with brick-making, timber cutting and woodworking, a four mill, smithing, and many other trades. All the timber buildings have now gone, leaving the convict built stone structures. There was so much to see we went back for a second day

A boat trip out into the bay was part of the entry price and to our delight our trip included an impromptu dolphin viewing as we caught up with a large pod of dolphins, including young, who kept pace just under bow of the boat.

EAST COAST, TASMANIA

Swimcart Beach, Bay of Fires

For Christmas and New Year we settled into Swimcart Beach on the east coast in the Bay of Fires area near St Helens. We arrived on the 22^nd to try and beat the holiday rush but we found quite a few camps set up but not occupied and people drifted in to take up residency over the next few days.

Blue Wren (a regular visitor)

Our camp was behind the beach in the ti-tree scrub which offered some shelter from the strong wind off the Tasman Sea. The area is a State Nature Reserve and the birdlife was quite unafraid of the campers with tiny birds invading our camp morning and evening looking for insects. There were Yellow-tail Black Cockatoos hanging round feeding on the banksia seed heads, Kookaburras and Boobook owls to be heard in the evenings.



The coast scenery is beautiful with curved white beaches separated by rocky promontories consisting of rounded pale grey, cream or white boulders worn by the wind and water and split by straight cracks as if sliced by a huge knife. Above high water line some of the boulders are covered in bright orange lichen which contrasts with the bright blue waters. Some beaches are better protected from the ocean swells, but others are open to the wild surf creating spectacular displays as the ocean smashes onto the rocks. Many of the beaches have lagoons behind which make sheltered swimming holes popular with holiday makers. Behind the beaches are towering forest covered hillsides.

Christmas campsite

George was sitting out the front and all the kids stopped by to look him over. When he “talked back” to one of them the kid took off to tell his mum that the skeleton “telled me his name!” (I was sitting just round the corner)

On the road in Tasmania



We arrived in Devonport, Tasmania on the 3^rd of December on the Spirit of Tasmania and instead of taking the Moke on the trailer behind the bus we decided to drive both vehicles. This meant a considerable saving on the fares and we will use the bus as base camp and do lots of exploring in the Moke.



St Patrick's River

We started our explorations in the Devonport area with visits to the surrounding towns, driving through the lush green countryside where the roads are lined with fields of potatoes, onions and other crops including pale pink fields of poppies. We have been buying cherries and raspberries at the farm gate and enjoying other fresh Tassie produce. At Sheffield any bare side of the buildings is decorated with murals of pioneer scenes of life in the district and Railton township has made topiary it’s specialty with bushes trimmed to many animal shapes and even a big hedge trimmed to be an almost life size engine and carriages.

Zig-zag road to the top of Mt. Barrow



We moved on to stay at a reserve about 30km past Launceston and once again parked the bus to use as a base for local exploration. Myrtle Park reserve is a huge area by the St. Patrick River in a valley in the mountains and the camp fee is only $3 per night. We have driven up and down mountain roads where the panoramic views are amazing even if the wind is freezing. The beautiful old buildings in Launceston are still in use, the city being small enough to avoid replacing them with modern high-rises. We also spent a day driving up the east side of the Tamar River to Low Head at the mouth of the river where we visited the Pilot House Museum were pilots used to row out to sailing ships in all weathers to guide them past reefs and safely into the river, then up stream to the port at Launceston. On this day we saw three other Mokes on the road!

11 Santas manning the ship

We are presently at Scottsdale in the north east having driven the bus up and over the mountains and we will tackle another pass to get to St. Helens on the east coast for Christmas. Meanwhile we are finding more mountains and country roads to explore in Scruffy.

WW 1 memorial carved from trees at Lederwood near Scottsdale



 I'm glad we have a run around vehicle as there are plenty of roads unsuitable for an RV and the best scenery is up those roads.

BACK HOME

We’re back home in Melbourne so it’s time to fill in the last leg of our trip.



P.S. Melbourne still runs on the 100 year old steam engine

At Mildura we had beautiful sunny days so we decided to go for a river cruise on a 100 year old paddle steamer which took us down stream through the lock gate which controls the water level for that section of the river.



Begg's Bend



Our next stop was at Begg’s Bend, a free camp spot beside the Murray River. Lots of space but we were the only ones there so we camped right on the river bank where we could watch the Whistling Kites feeding their chicks in a tree on the opposite bank. The interesting thing was that these birds of prey seemed to be raising two lots of chicks in one nest. There were two half grown with some of their feathers, and two that were much smaller and only had white fluff. (See video -hope it works!)

After two nights we continued along the Murray to Nyah, a small town near Swan Hill with free camping behind the race track beside the river. That night they held the last ever trotting meeting there, future races will all be in Swan Hill as the Nyah track is “too short” it will however be strongly supported as a training venue.

The rest of the trip home was spent wandering through central Victoria with 6 nights spent at Green’s Lake between Stanhope and Elmore. Once again a free camp site, right beside the lake which is popular as a weekend and holiday site for locals and even though it was still October  children were spending all day in the shallow waters and others were water skiing and playing on jet skis. Once the weekend visitors left it was nice and quiet and the fish were jumping just off shore. There were also quite a lot of trails in the area, excellent for exploring in the Moke.

So now we’re back home till early December when we head over to Tasmania for the summer.