8th – 22nd March
8th, 9th March
A long and deep recovery sleep was had by all before we left the Tasman Peninsula. A few aches and pains and stiffness was soon walked off – yes, walked off!! – by dropping in to see ‘the blowhole’ (not blowing today, low tide, calm conditions), the Devils Kitchen which is a 60m deep cleft into the cliffs where the water foams furiously with the ocean swell. Also…
The camping area at Triabunna was packed, however a cafe just up the road offers camping out the back for $10/night and there was only two of us there – perfect. A short walk took us to the waterfront, the supermarket, the pub, the laundromat and of course a cafe. Great place to recover!
10th March
Today was overcast with light rain on and off all day as we continued up the coast stopping in at an old salt works, an old bridge and a vineyard.
The Mayfield coastal campsite was full. However as we sat enjoying our pizzas at the vineyard we noticed a car drive down to the shore. Hmm investigation revealed it as a dirt track down to a disused boat ramp. Perfect – camping by the water tonight.
11th, 12th March
A little further north is Swansea. On the way we passed Spiky Bridge
13th March
Freycinet Peninsula is one of the gems of Tasmania. Its most striking features are the huge granite mountains forming Mount Freycinet and the Hazards in the south which is joined to the northern section by a thin isthmus with Wineglass Bay the crowning glory. All of the southern section of the peninsula is National Park, with much of the northern section also under their care. In the north a sealed road runs down the western side of the Peninsula to the township of Coles Bay and as far as Cape Tourville. Other unsealed roads cross over to beautiful beaches, camping spots and little hamlets on the eastern coast.
To explore the southern part of the Peninsula it’s a case of strap on the hiking boots and get the backpack out as there are no roads. We’re returning next month to walk the southern peninsula so today we spent our time exploring the beautiful bays, beaches and hamlets of the northern peninsula.
Thurs 14th Mar
Bicheno. Lots of yummy things to do here!
We voted Bicheno a great little town.
Friday 15th Mar
It’s an easy walk down to the waterhole which looks very inviting for swimming, until feeling its temperature.
To cross the trickling river here requires picking a way through and over mounds of river rocks. The path, now mostly loose stones or rocks, climbs for perhaps 2 kilometres before descending very sharply into the Gorge.
Trout River camp, despite it being a fair distance on an unsealed road, looked inviting.
Saturday, Sunday Monday 16th, 17th 18th Mar
Back to the coast again St Helen’s proved to be a great spot to reprovision the larder, and also the cellar when we dropped in to The Priory vineyard for a tasting.
Fellow Explorer friends Des and Tina are camped at Cosy Corner at the southern end of the Bay of Fires, another Tasmanian highlight. How could we not stay at a camp called Cosy Corner!
Our time was spent chatting with our friends and walking the magnificent white sands to the rocks coloured red by lichen. Such a great spot to reset. Monday afternoon we headed inland to Pyengana.
Tues 19th Mar
Pyengana has a beautiful free camp beside the famous Pub in the Paddock, and nearby to some points of interest.
Once the rain stopped (it rained most of the night) we headed over to the Pyengana Dairy to watch the robotic milking machines milk the cows. We bought some of their cheese.
An information board at the trailhead describes a flood in 1929 which tore large slabs of granite from the cliff face of the falls dramatically changing the course of the falls.
Some years ago Derby was a dying country town as the mine closed. Some very forward-thinking locals decided to put in some mountain bike trails in their surrounding mountains. Today it is a thriving industry with bike sales, repairs, rentals, accommodation, cafes, and restaurants all catering to the growing national and international cyclists, their entourage and the tourists like us who just come for a look.
Our campsite is once again a very short walk from the ocean, but instead of pounding waves we’ve got strong winds and rain tonight as a front sweeps through. We’re well protected behind thick coastal heath growing to about 2 meters.
As we drove towards our campsite for the night we saw our first snake on the road. There are only 3 snakes native to Tasmania, unfortunately all of them are venomous. That does make it easy for the Emergency Departments – they only have one antivenene that covers all three.
Wed 20th Mar
Most of the communities along the northern coastline are a jumble of cheap holiday shacks until Bridport. This small town boasts all the facilities as well as the port for shipping to Flinders Island.
We lunched at the mouth of the river into the port before exploring the very pretty Mermaid Beach.
More than a dozen ships foundered on the rocks in the hundred years since 1808. Stately homes line the road between George Town and Low Head. The year each was built is on the gable in Roman numerals. Without googling can you decipher MDCCCLXI?
We continued our travels westward along the northern coastline. Narawntapu National Park was a highlight of our travels here in the 1990s, particularly for the dozens of wombats seen grazing. So it was with great disappointment that I’ve learnt that mange killed them all by 2017. On the bright side we met up with Pat and Dick again (from our west coast travels) and had an enjoyable evening with them.
Thurs 21st March
As rural industries fade away or are taken over by large corporations rural towns tend to fade away. It takes lateral thinking and lots of community support to reinvent themselves. We recently saw this happen in Derby and today we saw two more towns that have tried to make this transition. Railton is known as the town of topiaries. In 1999 one man decided to start this project and the community got behind him. The topiaries were wonderful to see. Unfortunately most of them are now gone or neglected. The Council is looking after the spiral trees on the street. I hope they’ll soon get their impetus back.
Much more successful is Sheffield which chose a less maintenance-intensive project and refers to itself as the Town of Murals. It too just needed one local champion in the mid 80’s to enthuse everyone about the project. Today there are over 140 murals around town and it plays host to the International Mural Fest every April with the winner’s entry being added to the towns collections. Initially the murals told the history of the town or highlighted certain people. There are also art spaces around town open to the public where you can go to watch artists at work.
Driving through this lush country that supports dairy and small crops is a pleasure, particularly with the imposing Mt Roland with its bare rock cliffs as the backdrop. The quartz-rich conglomerates that form the mountain are very hard and resist weathering.
Continuing west-ward our road took us around the edges of Cradle Mountain NP as we steadily climbed the range, weaving around tight hairpin bends until we were once more in the highlands amongst the forests and button grass plains. The higher we climbed the lower the temperature dropped and we soon found ourselves amongst the clouds.
Tonight we’re staying at the Waratah Caravan Park on a lovely unpowered grassy site beside the river with no neighbours, unlike the powered sites that are full, close together and on gravel. Go figure!
Fri 22nd Mar
Travelling via the secondary roads we made our way back towards the north coast. Firstly though up and over the range with lots of hairpin bends to get to Hellyer Gorge for brunch. A short walk to the gorge and along the river refreshed us.
Once off the range the State Forestry seemed to own everything – no more magnificent old growth forests, just pine and eucalypt monocultures as far as the eye could see.
We’ll be travelling back south again to meet someone special in Hobart. But first – Highway 1 from north to south.