Hobart

I forgot to mention that while we were in Nubeena, our last night there we went into the RSL to have a few drinks and we were talking to a man original from Yorkshire I think and if anyone remembers a few years ago on Big Brother and the girl, Reggie, (who said bugger all the time) won that particular year; well this guy is her dad. Now Reggie lives at Paradise Point in Qld.


We have a beaut view of the water at Treasure Island Caravan Park,

the Cadbury factory to our left Mmmmmm and a sewerage plant to our right  Ewwwwwww.  No its not that bad we can hardly ever smell the sewerage plant hahaha.  It was hot when we arrived 33C but the car shows 39C were we are, so we unhooked and left the van locked up and went for a drive up to Mt Wellington and the drive was great but the view was magnificent. 

 

 

hiding out of the wind trying to take a photo
 

I'm not sure if 1270m is classed as a mountain but up here it is windy enough to blow the spots off a leopard.

 

Back at camp we were greeted by the residents who tend to make themselves at home where ever they please.

Richmond is our next visit and  "Old Hobart Town", it is a miniature replica of Hobart in the 1830's, everything is made by hand, even the figurines.  It was fascinating.

While we were here the wind started to blow again and Richmond is a town full of old beautiful cottages and the Richmond Bridge oldest bridge in Australia made by the convicts still used as a road today

and the oldest Catholic Church in Australia

by lunchtime it was blowing a gale again and we decided to head back to camp before doing anything else. The car was shaking in the wind while we were waiting for the  traffic lights to change.
At camp the neighbouring campers had dropped all our poles off our awning and tied down our awning to the van and put rocks on everything so it didn't blow away or get too damaged.  We did have a tear in the awning where a pole has gone through one of the corners but a local guy patched it up for us for about $80.
We actually put a few things away and because the wind was still blowing we left it as it was and went to "Mona".  Now Mona is a ..... museum of art old and new.  We had several ppl tell us we should see this so my curiosity got the better of me and I didn't even know what I was going to see.  Steve and I enjoyed it BUT one has to have some sort of appreciation for art and a very open mind.  It is not everyone's cup of tea but it is interesting, weird and fascinating all at the same time.  Some would say some art is crap well Mona has a piece of art work that does crap.  Yes it is fed in the morning at 11am and it craps at the other end daily at 4pm.  It is all run by computer and we were not there to witness the event at 4pm but the room does have an unusual aroma to it, if you know what I mean.  Mona also has lots of ancient artifacts, paintings and sculptures and I think we came out of there quite enlightened.

the fat car

cement truck made out of steel

The wind had settled a bit but there was still continuous gusts, so in between these gusts I tried to quickly make a couple of steak sandwiches with some minute steaks.  Well I had everything ready, toast in hand, tomato sliced, lettuce:  steak on bread and guess what.....a gust of wind.....blew the steak of the bread, the board with the tongs, knife and all the sliced tomato blew over and off the bench.....there was even a slice of tomato stuck to the side of the van that we didn't notice until we had finally finished dinner.  What do you do...we just laughed.
Guess where else we went?

Bit disappointed, they don't do tours of the factory any more but we did get a video display and explanation of how the chocolates are made.  Stocked up on a few treats and left.
We have just spent the last couple of days driving around the surrounding areas of Hobart and looking at cottages, beaches and lots of old stuff.

 

Friday nights are interesting in Tassie, the next pic is about two ppl over indulging with some alcohol and drugs and a broken window and a woman with some cuts to her body and a man bolting from the police.

Police tape across an onsite van at the caravan park

Anyway getting to every day stuff.  Every Saturday is the Salamanca markets

 and today is no different except the Webers are here and what happens when the Webers are around .... it rains.  We got through half of the markets and even had a lovely hot spud for lunch but showers were predicted and cold weather.  Well we were prepared for the cold but not the showers/rain so now we have a new umbrella from Kathmandu shop to add to the rest of our collection of wet weather gear that was in our car parked ten minute walk away from where we were.  But the Greek Festival was on in a building on the pier so we went in there and watched some Greek dancing and smashing of plates and had some hot prawns and scallops on skewers so that was fun.

 

Rain stopped for a bit so back to the car and into the CBD did a bit of window shopping out of the cold 11C and thought we will go back to camp get all our winter woollies on, have a cup of tea and blog....and now it is raining again and we are curled up and cozy in our warm van of 16.5C  and wait for it...tomorrow we are going to Huonville to do a jet boat ride yehhhhhh!!!
But I really hope the weather improves!  Could be wearing the sexy thermal numbers tomorrow.

Until we read again.

Getting to Port Arthur then the Big Smoke

Made plenty of stops on the way to Nubeena (10km from Port Arthur) RSL. 

Tessellated Pavement

The Dog Line at Eaglehawk Neck

blow hole near Tasman Arch

Tasman Arch

Devils Kitchen

Got 2 nights for $10 and the use of their facilities, 13 vans in here tonight.  Got to meet Pete and Terese for Brisbane who have come from the west coast so we told each other of places to stay.  Had a counter meal in the RSL and discovered the start of the Broncos and Manly match on the telly so of course we had to stay for a couple of more drinks (wish we hadn't).  Met another Bronos supporter that sat with us to watch the game and he went to Mitchie High and grew up in Keperra...hows that!

Saturday 9 March was a showery day but 20C to spend our day at Port Arthur Historical Site.

We went to the Remarkable Cave and Maingon Bay first and at the cave I saw my first penguin...

pity he was face down in the water...Sorry animal lovers!


Remarkable Cave
 

We had such a full day at Pt Arthur, we got a free audio tour with our entry but my audio thingy went flat so I stuck my head phones into Steve's Audio thingy which was fine until he would walk ahead of me or go through a doorway and I was being dragged along by my head set in my ears lol.  5 hours later with tired legs, we had a light dinner, hot shower, oh crap mozzies, straight to bed.

Sunday is another day on walking at the Coal Mines at Saltwater Bay, the worst place the convicts feared to be sent to back in the convict days...plenty of ruins and piles of convict made bricks where buildings used to be with the best ocean views,

here we walked about 2 1/2 hours.  Then took a drive out to Lime Bay Camping spot...very nice but it is a long weekend so the place is chockers with locals.

Then onto a Forty Beach longish walk to the beach with some impressive cliffs and a another first:

A porcupine fish that has too much sun

Monday we had to do some washing in Pt Arthur Laundromat then we drove to go on a walk called Waterfall Bay  (this is our third attempt to do this due to weather) it was overcast but not raining.  We drove half way there and the coast was covered in a thick fog and it was drizzling rain, we turned the car around and drove back.  My gut tells me we just weren't meant to do this walk so its one we missed.

Tuesday it is time to get out of Port Arthur, we are all convicted out!!!
We drove to Sorell, got fuel, grocery and lunch and onto Campania free camp...oh oh we took a wrong turn as one does when one gets close to the Big Smoke (Hobart) so....change of plan Hobart it is and for a week in a caravan park we were told about on the north side of town "Treasure Island Caravan Park".

Wine Glass Bay and further on

6th March....special day for me...6 years ago today I had my first op on my leg, and today we are up early (well early for us about 7am...Tassie time) because we are walking to the Wine glass Bay Lookout.  Bacon and eggs, tomato and toast...a breakfast for champions and we were off to the Freycinet National Park.  It has warmed up nicely this morning, hot really and it took us 25mins to walk to the lookout and we are greeted with this:

We sat and caught our breath and we waited and waited and waited...with the other 20 odd people.    We sat and chatted to others, Tasmanians and Mainlanders, and after about 40 minutes the fog lifted and it was like a bunch of Japanese tourists...Cameras came out from everywhere to get the perfect shot.

Our walk down, a different track most of the way was not as busy as going up and our wildlife today is a blue tongue lizard.

We were on the road again and we looked at a couple of free camps on the road but decided to drive on; one free camp was a little bit small and we sort of jack knifed the car and van, we must have touched because we heard a crunch but Steve got us out of a very tight spot and got to Bicheno in no time.  It was getting late in the arvo and still no resting place in sight.  Drove around looked at the blowhole and the Gulch (where the fishing boats come in)

but did not want to stay in a caravan park so we drove on to Swansea for a fuel stop and we found a stay beside the backpackers for $10/night and we can use all the facilities in the backpackers...sweet. Ken our host tells us about the hot day they have had...28C...But it was hot enough in Hobart to start fires again and for most of the east coast to loose power.
Steve bought a new cask of red from the bottle 'o next door and he popped the tap on it while he was putting it in the car...red wine soaked through the car. YUK!!! The car smells like a wine cellar probably a cheap one at that.
While in Swansea we walked and drove the town and looked at some of the stone cottages built in 1830-50's still lived in today and we looked in the Bark Mill Museum that happened to be next door with a bakery attached...mmm lunch.

This is in the Bark Mill not the Bakery

We also found out what the crunch noise was when we jack knifed the car, we crushed the light connection...it was smashed to bits. Got a new one from the servo down town and Steve fixed that the morning we were  leaving Swansea.  We spent 2 enjoyable nights there, backpackers can be full of some interesting people and one guy David cray fishermen, didn't have any crays but helped Ken cook up some flathead caught that morning and because we supplied them with some flour and bread crumbs we scored some fresh flatty tails, ohhhhh yummm.  David was also very excited because on Saturday is the opening of the duck hunting season and all the "rednecks" (Ken's words not ours) were going to be out with their guns, and there's a lot of them apparently.
So Friday morning we figured it would be a good time to move on.

Next town is Triabunna, definitely a boat and fishing town.  We had another first here:  we saw a squid boat.

Took us a while to work out why so many light bulbs? and of course Steve worked it out.

We had lunch at the local take away and had some of the best sea scallops ever. The seafood is delicious here in Tassie.  We asked about some roads less travelled towards Port Arthur and we turned left at Buckland and through Nugent; if the name isn't on your map, don't worry...there is only a hall and a church there but they do have a cricket team...that's another story.



We had to drive through the devastation of the bushfired town of Dunalley...OMG it is heart breaking...most of the place is burnt to the ground, some people are living in tents, some have just put a for sale sign on the gate and left but there is a lot of work going on there, they have a huge clean up to do and they're on the job to fixing it.

So much to see...

February 28:  Bay of Fires has so many free camps but today it is very windy so some of the best beach spots are not for us with our outdoor kitchen, we wouldn't be able to keep the pots on the stove.  We actually drove into ten different free camps and they are all great....we just had to find the best for us...and that turned out to be Moulting Bay (close to the water but surrounded by trees and out of the wind).

I'm becoming a bit of a bird freak, I can see myself buying a bird book before long and we bought new binoculars while we were in Geelong.  We have seen plenty of yellow tailed black cockatoos while in this area of Binalong Bay and parrots, finches, wrens and more.
Steve left me at the camp to set up the van so he could go find some red wine (St Helens is only 8km down the road) and he arrives back with his red and...a dozen oysters...and for me..........nothing not even chocolate!!! What the....

Now he will never go out again and not bring me back chocolate if you know what I mean.

We found a Laundromat and shopping in St Helens and $2 hot showers down at the wharf....luxury!

Saturday 2 March it is sunny and 10-26C and we went 4WDing and it is fun, through beautiful pine plantations, forests, bush and rainforests.  Found Ralph Falls walk, 1 hour including lookout at Cash's Gorge.

Norms Lookout

Walking through the forest at Ralph Falls

Ralph Falls

Legerwood has wood carvings in some trees that were planted in 1918 in memorial for the WW1 and Anzac soldiers.  The trees became dangerous and were going to be removed but the community raised $27000 and got a bloke from the town of Ross to carve the trees with a chainsaw mind you.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Todays wildlife included 2 red bellied black snakes, one about 6ft long that we ran over.
We went to the Pub in the Paddock were Pricilla the beer drinking pig lives but Pricilla was asleep, too many beers already I guess.

Finally a stop at St Columba Falls with a beautiful walk through the rainforests with huge tree ferns.

Sunday we walked to Skeleton Bay and took photos of the famous Bay of Fires.

The weather is calmer today and the water is beautiful and drove to the other side of St Helens' Georges Bay to Akarora, Stieglitz and surfside of St Helens Conservation Area - quite a view.
Monday 4 March:  we drove west off the coast through St Marys and Fingal, they are all little towns but lots of history and buildings from the late 1800s and mining days and after driving on dirt roads for a while we found a free camp called Griffiths Camping area in the middle of the pine plantations...so quiet and peaceful.  We even had our own babbling brook.  This morning Steve cooked his first stew in the Dream Pot so we had nothing to do this arvo but sit and enjoy the serenity...ahhhhhh.

Chook turned up...don't know where from

Griffiths Camping Ground

Steve was checking something on the car and a wasp sat on his thong and Steve stood on his head...the wasp was not happy and Steve started jumping around and cursing...I think it hurt!  So he ran off into our cold babbling brook to ease the sting.  He got over it about two days later.
We were sitting watching the roos and rabbits coming out in the dusk and a cold blanket of air came down on us, so on with the flannies, trackies and the uggies.

Tuesday morning we woke at 8am to 6.5C Brrrrrr.  We decided to curl up and cuddle in bed for another hour and by 9am it is 9C.  Packed up and had a change of plan, instead of driving the car to Ben Lomand NP we took the van through the hills off road though some little, little towns; found an old mining town Storys Creek at the top of a mountain and had fantastic views of the rugged south end of Ben Lomond NP.

We will go into Ben Lomond NP from the west side later in our trip.
We had a long driving day but the driving is fairly easy.  Back to the coast and looked at 2 more camps, Lagoons Beach was good but busy then Little Beach was little and we got ourselves into a tight spot and took some back and forth to get5 out and we crunched up against the van at one stage but we got out and drove onto Bicheno. Here we nearly decided to go into a caravan park but "No".  Drove to the Gulch where the fishing boats come in and checked out the Blowhole and kept driving heading to Freycinet NP.

This was our first sights of where the bushfires had been.  First look was Friendly Beaches and what a beaut spot but one does not expect to get a spot in a free camp after 5pm so onward to Middle Bank and we found ourselves further down the road than we were supposed to be.  Back we go and found a place called River and Rocks, crowded so back to find Middle Rock and we found it by following kms and found a dirt track between the bushes and we ended up in a spot beside Moulting Bay in a spot on our own.

Late day, after 6pm we had the left over stew with toast and had to jump up and do the washing up quickly because the mozzies come out when the light goes down so its bed time.