"No matter where you go, there you are."

TASMANIA (Part Three)

Saturday 10^th March:

It’s blackberry season in Tassie and they are everywhere! We went for a walk along the road and collected a couple of kilo’s of them. Our freezer is now full of washed and bagged berries, Yum! We played bowls again in Ulverstone in the afternoon.

Sunday 11^th March:

We visited the Penguin Markets this morning. They are held in the old Penguin school and there are over 200 stalls. Lots of yummy food to taste and crafts to look at. After a bit of grocery shopping in Burnie we spent a lazy afternoon around the van. We joined our neighbours for happy hour as the sun set.

Monday 12^th March:

We are moving on a short way up the coast to Wynyard this morning. The Beach Retreat Van Park is right on the beach at Wynyard and walking distance to town. We walked into town goes along the beach and river to visit the local info centre. We took a drive up to Table Cape to take in the stunning views of the coastline. We took a walk that wound around the cliff top to the lighthouse. It was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky and the ocean was a stunning aqua colour.

Tuesday 13^th March:

Ferg went off for a long walk this morning and was away 2 hours. He got slightly lost and ended up walking a bit further than planned! Meanwhile I soaked up the sun and did a bit of embroidery. It really is a hard life (somewhere)! We drove to Fossil Bluff in the afternoon and did some rock hopping along the waters edge. The cliff face is covered in fossils encased in the sandstone.

Wednesday 14^th March:

It was another great day so we took a drive up to Stanley. The village of Stanley is nestled at the base of “The Nut”, which is a large volcanic plug that has been pushed up out of the ocean. The village is full of quaint old sandstone cottages and lots of cafes and galleries. We checked out a free camp spot at the wharf area. There were several vans parked there and we decided to move up there the next day. Back in Wynyard we played bowls at the local bowls club and Ferg won two frozen chooks. Our freezer is filling up with chooks, I’ll have to start cooking some of them!!

Thursday 15^th March:

We moved up to Stanley this morning, unfortunately all the other vans had moved on so we were on our lonesome. The van was dwarfed by the cliff face of the Nut. We left Twistie in the van and drove up to the chairlift that goes up to the top of the Nut. We took a one way ticket up and did a walk around the top to take in the views. The walk down was very steep and very hard on the knees. Ferg dropped me off in town to wander around the galleries and shops, then walk back to the van. Ferg and I spent the afternoon fishing off the wharf. The wind and rain set in early evening, bugger!

Friday 16^th March:

It rained all night and we awoke early at 5am. The van and car were surrounded by a large pool of water, we had parked in the only depression around, typical! We decided to leave the coast and head inland towards the Cradle Mountain National Park. We camped in the small town of Waratah, an old tin mining town. The council caravan park was very good. It provided good amenities and free washing machine and dryer. Unfortunately it rained all afternoon, we took a walk around town to look at the waterfall.

Saturday 17^th March:

It’s still miserable and no good for going to Cradle Mountain so we’re moving on. We drove south through Queenstown. The area around the town has been aggressively mined and it looks like a moonscape. We stopped for a cuppa at Nelson Falls in the Cradle Mountain National Park and took a short walk through the rainforest to see the falls. We then continued on winding up through the mountains and at one stage the temperature dropped to 6 degrees. We drove through the towns of Tarraleah and Wayatinah, both hydro electric towns. After 6 hours on the road we finally camped on the lake at the Wayatinah camp ground.

Sunday 18^th March:

At long last the front has passed over and the sun is shining. We are off to the east coast to get in a couple more dives. We drove across the midlands stopping at Oatlands for a morning cuppa. The township had many old sandstone buildings still lining the main street. On the road again the ocean was a welcome site as we came over the mountain range down to the east coast. We had spectacular views of the Freycinet Peninsula and Great Oyster Bay. We have camped again at the Bicheno East Tourist Park.

Monday 19^th March:

We awoke to a magnificent day and took a walk up Whaler’s Hill overlooking Bicheno. We picked up some tanks and weights from the dive shop and we were in the water by 11am. The water was a very brisk 18 degrees but crystal clear. We had a few hiccups, Ferg’s BC started leaking and my tank slipped. After fixing the problems we had an enjoyable 40 minute dive, spotting one weedy seadragon along the way. We came in for lunch and to warm up for a couple of hours. Our second dive was much better, we spotted a big bull ray, some boar fish and a cute pot bellied seahorse. The color of Bicheno Bay was just stunning in the sunlight. We enjoyed a dinner out at the local hotel overlooking the beach to end a perfect day.