Tasmania ahoy!

We travelled on The Spirit of Tasmania 1 a roll-on/roll-off passenger and freight ferry with a displacement weight of almost 30,000 tonnes and a length of 194.3 metres. The 429 kilometre trip across Bass Strait takes around 10 hours at a cruising speed of 27 knots (50km per hour) and I usually take a night crossing so most of the time is spent asleep!

This was Levi's first trip "overseas" and he approached it in his usual nonchalant but curious manner.

No cage jails for this little fella - it was luxury all the way on the Spirit of Tasmania as he reclined on his/my bed.

We departed Melbourne at 7.30pm and arrived in Devonport at 6.30am after a smooth crossing apart from the usual rough patch as the ship goes through "the heads" of Port Philip Bay.

 

Upper Natone

Unfortunately we had to cut short our planned week-long stay at Stanley as a gale-force north easterly ripped the Kelly's annexe from the main tent so we quickly de-camped to calmer pastures.

The Upper Natone Recreation Ground is a quiet, though rather isolated, spot with  a really handy shelter area during a very wet few days.  We spent the time mainly nattering away but also catching up with some washing.

When the sun returned we headed back to the coast, stopping off at Table Cape where some of us went for walks whilst others admired the view.  This tulip photo was taken in 2006 on a previous trip. 

Tulips bloom here during October and are an awesome sight.  When the tulips are finished opium poppies are grown (for the pharmaceutical market).

Boat Harbour Beach is a lovely remote little bay where you can freedom camp for a couple of days.  There's a great cafe there with yummy deserts (just ask Simonne!!)

The lovely Simonne and Trent, aka The Kellybillies

Stanley

On the road again heading for the far north-west to camp beneath The Nut, a 143 metre high ancient volcanic plug (more info in 2011 entry)

For this trip Ashlee and Simonne travelled with Skye and myself in the motorhome whilst Trent and Charli had  daddy/daughter time. Ash was totally engrossed with a reading app on her Mum's (supposedly!!) iPad, whilst Skye helped with navigation.

Stanley is justifiably famous for it's fishing and dawn and dusk saw lots of folks out on the wharf next to our camping spot.

We weren't able to learn exactly what this incredibly ugly fish was but Ash was fascinated with the whole process of the landing and despatching of it.

This area also produces high quality grass-fed beef — and the lone jersey here milk I presume!

Cradle Mountain

It was time to meet up with the Kelly Family again and of course you can't possibly leave Tasmania without visiting the world famous Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park located in Tasmania's World Heritage area. This was my third visit but it never ceases to fill me with awe.

Today the area is a model of an accessible wilderness region. There are numerous walking huts and a wide range of day and overnight walks through the mountains. A short coach trip takes you to the edge of Dove Lake (and you can be dropped off at various walks along the way) which lies in the shadow of Cradle Mountain.

We were fortunate to be here during some of the warmest weather this summer and so Charli & Ashley had great fun splashing in the shallows of Dove Lake.  Trent got into the swing of things as well and showed off his prowess at stone skimming.

We walked to the picturesque 1940's wooden Boathouse and enjoyed a refreshing drink and picnic in it's very welcome shade.

Locals were vastly outnumbered by overseas visitors and we met up a few times with this lovely family from Hong Kong who we shared a picnic lunch with — theirs included a very superior 41º South smoked salmon as well as dry vita brit biscuits which the children seemed to enjoy, although Charli was rather keen on the salmon.

 Playtime in the very welcome shade of the Boathouse.

Further into the Western Wilderness

Further westwards along winding but good roads, is the town of Zeehan now a small, almost ghost town, of around 800 inhabitants where it's a bit like taking a step back into the mid 20th century. 

During the early part of the century the area was a thriving silver-lead mining centre with a population in 1910 of 10,000. The main street was over 3 km then in comparison to 500 metres now.

Heading in a northerly direction I camped for a few days at the Lake Rosebery boat ramp along with a large group of young folks from Burnie who come here often.  This Australia Day weekend they were here with assorted speed boats and jet skis —which caused me to consider moving on :-) fortunately I decided to wait and see and it turned out that they were all in bed earlier than me!  They are very keen wake board riders and were up at the crack of dawn each day (very quietly) and spent the whole day out on the water.

Unfortunately, I can't take credit for this photo— one of the boys gave it to me. They're pretty expert on those boards and I can see why they were so exhausted each evening.

Queenstown in the Western Wilderness

The area around Queenstown has some of the most ruggedly beautiful countryside I have seen —it appeals very strongly to the Scottish part of me!

Queenstown (once the world's richest mining town) is set in an almost surreal moonscape, partly natural but mostly due to the copper and gold mining that has gone on for over a century.

Revegetation is slowly occurring and the town is starting to experience a revival and is now home to a small but thriving arts community, and has inspired writers, painters, photographers and historians by both its unique beauty and history. This is reflected in the Heritage and Arts Festival which has been held yearly since 2010.

There are a number of historic buildings spread throughout the town which has an last-frontier feel to it — no cafe lattes here (yet) though.

The Western Wilderness is dotted with many beautiful lakes which are a walker and fisherman's paradise.  Bronte Lagoon is just one of many hundreds.

Skye's Scottish heritage likes this area as well!

High Country

Today I'm camped on the shores of Brady's Lake sharing the solitude of this highland lake with two young travellers who arrived yesterday evening in a whizz-bang with writing and pictures on it (you know what I mean).

The occupants were a lovely young Dutch couple, Jimmy and Veronique, who are visiting Australia for a couple of months and who have travelled 12,000kms in just 6 weeks!

Anyway they asked if there was a supermarket nearby and when they heard that the closest was at New Norfolk they weren't too happy as they're doing a lot of walking and needed some bread. I offered them a loaf from the freezer but they insisted on either giving me money or goods in exchange. I explained to them that about 35 years ago I'd been travelling in the Netherlands and everywhere I was met with kindness and offers of help and so I saw this as Karma and it was my way of repaying what had been given to me all those years ago, and that somewhere along the line they'd have a chance to do likewise … hopefully not having to wait 35 years!

In any event they still proceeded to give me some teabags and a small tin of tuna (which I took as it seemed to make them feel better).

This morning we shared a lovely "Dutch style" bacon and egg breakfast and many cups of tea, cooked by Jimmy, before they departed for Mt Field National Park.

Summer — at last

Summer has at last arrived in Tasmania and today, at Hamilton, as I sit by the effervescing creek, eating cherries the size of plums (thanks to the nearby cherry pickers!) it truly feels good to be alive.

It wasn't quite the same story last night though when Skye disappeared for an hour — there were at least 5 of us searching and calling her but no sound did she make.  Finally, in desperation, I looked down the 2 metre high riverbank beside the motorhome and there she was …  not a peep out of her through all the calling of her name … she was just sitting there patiently waiting to be rescued.

She must have gone down to do a bit of paddling and couldn't get back up the steep bank.  One of the young folks here climbed down and passed her up to me, thank goodness as I wouldn't have been able to get down where she was.

Hamilton is a tiny hamlet with a very good campsite complete with showers, toilets, water, electric barbeques, children's playground and a dump point.  At present the cost is $5 per vehicle.  The town has a couple of cafes, fuel and a pub.

This is a view of the campsite on the Clyde River — taken from the toilet area.

Hamilton "main street"