Russ Travelling Australia

As mentioned, we are at White Beach.  Previously we were in Southern Tasmania and to get to South East Tasmania, we had to go back through Huonville, Hobart, then come down again.  The distances are not that far, but a few extra roads would be helpful. We have had to book in for 10 days.  We forgot about the public holiday and it was impossible to move up the coast, so it is fortunate that there is so much to do around here.  Apart from the beach being beautiful, with, as the name suggests, white sands, the caravan park is good, although sites are a bit snug.

We didn’t do much (except for shopping etc.) the day after we arrived, but decided to go to Lucky Duck for lunch on Monday, where I had my first curried scallop pie.  They are all the rage over here.  It was delicious. Russ has a lamb and pumpkin pie, with Middle Eastern spices, which also was delicious.

After lunch, we drove to Point Puer, in Crescent Bay Conservation Area, where we could see Cape Raoul, and its significant dolomite pipes in the distance.  It’s such a pity that Russ’s camera isn’t working, because his iphone didn’t take a very good shot it was so far away.  The weather let us down this day, being very windy and cold, so we headed home. 

Next day a BBQ picnic was had at Lime Bay State Reserve, under duress though.  No tables, no BBQs, so Russ set up a little gas burner, on a piece of would, protected by half a trunk stump (to stop the gas blowing out), with the pair of us sitting on wonderful stools that Deen gave us.  Chicken shasliks and salad and we were as happy as, enjoying the magnificent camping area, surrounded by eucalypts, sheoaks, blackwoods, with lovely red breasted robins flittering around.

After lunch, we called in to see the Convicts Coal Mine ruins, where we walked to the main shaft and Russ walked further to see the actual ruins.  The convicts were sent there for punishment, because the conditions were worse than those at Port Arthur.

Yesterday we went to see the Tessellated Pavement, Blow Hole, Tasman Arch, and Devil’s Kitchen which all were spectacular.  There’s that word again, but the scenery and sights are really breathtaking here.  The coastline is incredibly rugged, with cliffs that are hundreds of metres high (at the Devil’s Kitchen).  We had fish and chips from the local mobile take away van at the Blow Hole – they must be making a fortune.  The fish and chips were excellent.

Today we went to Fortescue Bay, such a beautiful beach in the Tasman National Park.  There is a camping area there, where a school was set up, and we met some cyclists on the way in and watched another large group of kids having an absolute ball with their teachers, in the water, playing ‘keeping off’.  Squeals of excitement and fun, then a long line of tired kids, wrapped in towels, walking back to their camps for lunch. We have another 4 days here, some of which we might just spend doing crosswords etc.

We are way down south and Telstra hasn’t discovered the place yet!  (I think they have, but it wasn’t working while we were here.)  My iiNet was too slow for photos in the blog, so the blog has had to wait until the week after.

While there, we went on the Ida Bay Train.  This train was used in the late 1800s, to take wood to the port, but the port wasn’t deep enough, as they had filled it with sawdust and the railway was extended to “Deep Hole”, discovering that Deep Hole had a much deeper hole in the centre of it, making it perfect for their loading of ships.  The jetty was 1 Km long.  With the forest becoming depleted of wood, it was fortunate that they discovered limestone, which was a far more lucrative venture.  They were very lucky as the process to generate Carbide (for lighting), had just been discovered, and soon after the way to generate acetylene from limestone was also discovered.  As a result limestone was in great demand.  Eventually they built an acetylene plant at Southport.

This funny, noisy little train took us through beautiful scenery, grassy plains, as well as the cemetery, where graves of two families were buried.  Graves of a 14 year old boy and his 19 year old brother, with headstones provided by their brothers, were there.  One of the families had 22 children.

We continued until the train reached its final destination, Deep Hole.  We had 15 minutes or so to stretch our legs at a beautiful bay, then back to Ida Bay Station.  It was a great day that everyone enjoyed.

After we got to the station at 2pm, we drove into the Southern Forests and South West National Park and had a cut lunch, listening to a Lyrebird very close to us, going through his repertoire, which ended with the sound of Black Cockatoos.  It was magnificent.  Russ went for a walk into the forest, which was a fantastic old growth forest with lots of moss and ferns around great big trees.  He had to scrub and flush his boots in a cleaning station set up to protect frogs from a virus.

We had a counter lunch the next day at the most southern pub in the Australia.  Our caravan park is in its grounds.

The weather here has been amazingly warm, always in the mid to high 20s, and we have suntans.  We have moved Eastward now to the Tasman Peninsula near Port Arthur and our next blog will tell you about White Beach where we are staying.

We went to the Southern Forests, where we did the Tahune Airwalk.  This amazing structure has been built by Forestry Tasmania. This region is described as having ‘deep soils and high rainfall, producing the tallest flowering plant in the world; the Eucalyptus Regnuns’, known locally as The Swamp Gum.  The Forestry Tasmania staff discovered the tallest hardwood in the world, a 99.6 metre tall swamp gum, named the Centurion.

Fortunately, there was a bus to drive us to the beginning of the walk, as it was quite a hike, and once on this incredible walk, we were amongst the canopies of the trees, as well as looking at the centre of massive trunks, that seemed to reach the sky – so straight and powerful.  On the Airwalk we also could see the junction of the Picton and Huon rivers.

It’s hard to calculate how high we were off the ground, but the walk gradually ascended and after approximately 600 metres, our walk was finished and our bus was waiting to take us back to the beginning, where we found a table, overlooking the wonderful Houn River, and enjoyed yet another picnic.

Russ then went on the Huon Pine walk, where he saw many small trees growing and one large one.  This was 30 cms diameters, but 450 years old.  This shows you how slowly they grow!  For example, the Forestry had to cut down a 350 year old Stringy Bark and that tree was 17 metres circumference at the base.  (The tree was rotten and dangerous).

Today is our last day here and as there is a pizza oven in the camp kitchen, s owe decided to have pizza for lunch, which was delicious, although it took a half an hour to cook, but we were sitting in the kitchen, looking out on a lovely view of the mountains in the distance, ending up being over there for a couple of hours.  Pack up this arvo and head to Southport tomorrow.

A fun distraction after lunch found us wading through the river to retrieve our basin on the other side of the bank.  A broom, with two extension handles did the trick.  Fortunately its 28 degrees today, so we quickly dried out.

I’ve forgot to mention, that Russ’ camera has been giving a Err 099 message, so photos are from our phones.

Sorry for the delay in writing about our next stop, but a lot has happened since we arrived in the beautiful Huon Valley.

On arrival, we made the decision to pay a bit more and have a site that backed onto the river (or rivulet, as they say over here), which eventually flows into the Huon River.  This massive, beautiful river was in our sights as we travelled here, as it runs alongside the road for a good part of the way.  With mountains in the background, it was a lovely vision.  The caravan park in a farm stay, with milking and shearing displays available.

There was talk of platypus in the river, I was very excited about being here and, with a large site with magnificent views, as well as being allowed to use our OzPig, so we have booked in for a week.  There is a very proud mother duck, with the cutest little duckling.  They both come to visit every day and it is very tempting to pick up the baby, but I think Mum might have a go at us if we did

Our first outing was to Port Huon, where, of course, we had a picnic lunch, looking out over the estuary, with mountains beyond.  The South is very hilly, with narrow, winding roads, but with spectacular scenery.

The weather took a change for the worse in the next couple of days, with unbelievably strong winds.  Every one’s awning’s are tucked away and we hope that the caravan stays put.  One of our basins ended up in the rivulet, and there it remains to this day (three days later).

We decided to try some cider, so had lunch at Frank’s Cider Bar and Cafe.  We had a tasting of four different ciders, all were delicious, but my favourite was the last and the driest of them all.  All ranging from 3.5 – 5-5 proof.

Yesterday, we decided to go to Pelverata Falls, east of our caravan park.  Up through the hills, on a dirt road, pretty scenery all the way.  Got there to find that the falls were a three and a half hour walk return, and my level of shortness of breath at the moment, decided not to do it, so continued on through the mountainous, windy roads, until we were back in Huonville where, two hours later, we found a lovely table, beside the Huon River.

We have met a lovely couple (John and Ros), first meeting them at the Hobart Caravan Park, then they moved into the Hounville Park on the same day as us.  They come from Queensland and we have enjoyed happy hour with them very much.  Unfortunately, they had to leave today and it is unlikely that we will catch up with them along the East Coast.

This is our fifth day here, and we are in our van most of the day, as the weather is bleak, cold and rain seems to have set in for the afternoon.

Will we go to MONA, or won’t we go to MONA?  That is the question!  The answer – yes.  So, Monday, we set off for the Gallery that has the nation divided!

We have our head sets, our iPod and are in the lift, pressing the button to Level B3.  Yes we start in the Basement, as the entire gallery is underground.  Entering the gallery, we are confronted by Gilbert and George’s ultra modern, way-out-there exhibitions, every picture approximately 25 feet by 20 feet, mainly in red and black and stating comments about fascism, shagging, accountants stealing massive amounts of money and others displaying their genitals and maybe their relationship – who knows.  The head sets didn’t give a commentary and the iPods gave minimal information, stating the name of the painting and the artist’s name.

Two hours later, after walking through all of B3, we had a delicious lunch at the cafe, then resumed our tour of B2 and B1, where we found the exhibits more interesting.  A red porche for example, remodelled out of fibreglass and looking like something out of the future.  Russ has just told me that this represented being ‘fat’.  It was a ‘fat porche’.  I missed that!

One amazing exhibit was a water feature that let droplets of water down in sequence.  Those droplets fell through projected light, against a massive standstone wall, forming different words every time.  Russ was able to photograph one word – ‘childhood’.

The building was amazing.  Some of the walls were pure sandstone, the lifts were circular, glass lifts.  There were different sounds as you walk through different galleries, as well as a dark tunnel, making it feel quite mysterious and eery.

Outside had a lovely view of the harbour, as well as some steel exhibits of an old cement mixer and other industrial vehicles.

Tuesday was a very hot and humid day, so we did some shopping and then had a BBQ picnic at a lovely picnic area at Dodges Ferry.  The afternoon became very windy, enough to blow over our satellite dish.  Today we are moving to Huonville, south of Hobart, to a caravan park on a farm by a river, which has platypus in it.  Our site backs onto the river and we can have camp fires, so we we will set up our OzPig.

Friday, we had lunch at the Coal Valley Winery – extremely fresh crumbed flathead fillets, salsa verde and a salad of rocket, fennel, mixed green leaves, julienned apple, with segmented orange.  Chardonnay was expensive, but delicious.

On Saturday, enjoying the temperature of 24 degrees, we had lunch in the grounds of the University of Tasmania, before moving on to Cornelian Bay, in view of the Tasman Bridge.  This area seems to be newly developed, and offers BBQ areas, tables and seating and we spent a couple of hours watching cyclists, families, walkers or just staring out over the bay, watching the water birds waiting for the tide to come in.  It was very relaxing and just what we needed.

Today, we went to see the replica of Mawson’s Hut, which was fantastic.  Mawson, with 17 men, set off in 1911, arriving in 1912, to explore Antarctica.

They took over Gleenland Sledge Dogs and built a tongue and groove hut, which was home to them for 2 years.  None of the men had Carpentry as a profession, yet they built this quite large, substantial hut in 1 week.  (When the replica was built in Hobart, it took 3 months).  The site they chose at Cape Denison turned out to be the windiest sea level location on earth with winds throughout winter of 200 mile per hour (the latest cyclone in Fiji had winds of 200 Km/Hr – 125 mile per hour).  No wonder they built it so quickly!The amazing thing was to see the contents of the hut – a large coal burning stove/oven.  An organ, photographic equipment, cooking equipment, a sewing machine, all the bibs and bobs, like press studs, hooks and eyes etc. just to name a few things.  Mawson had his own room that included on organ, all the others slept in bunks that surrounded three walls on two levels.

While they were in Antartica, they arranged 3 expeditions.  One out to sea, one inland and one along the coast.  The coastal expedition was led by Mawson, and when they were 500 kms from their base, they lost their supply sled, their best dog team and Ninnis, a member of the team.  He took a gollywog to Antarctica and, after his death, it was a treasured possession of Mawson, who looked after it and wouldn’t allow his children, or anyone else to touch it.

Mawson’s hut is a fascinating place to visit and you learn so much about Antartica, for example it is a massive continent into which you can fit all of Australia including Tasmania with space to spare around the edges.  If you would like to see other facts, their web site it is: http://www.mawsons-huts-replica.org.au/

We then went on to see the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, which again was very good, although a little disappointed with the amount of paintings in the Gallery.  The pottery and woodwork were amazing.  This photo is of a cathedral seat in Huon Pine, the wood turning on the ends is amazing.

Of course, it all had to be topped off with lunch on the wharf!  With a large cruise ship in port, it was absolutely buzzing with people from all over the world and we really enjoyed the setting, meal and again, this wonderful weather – about 26 degrees.

After this we drove to Sorell, did some shopping and found a picnic table at Seven Mile Beach to enjoy a glass of wine before heading home.

Arrived at Port Melbourne to see choppy seas (oh oh).  Boarded the ‘New Spirit of Tasmania’, found our cabin on the 7th floor, went to the lounge and restaurant and bought quite a nice meal of fish and salad, with a couple of glasses of chardonnay, while heading out through the bay.  The Captain introduced himself and told us that there would be a 2 – 4 metre swell and 3 metre waves as well, and that we’d reach the Heads at 10:30pm.  Headed off to bed at about 9:30 and everything was fairly calm, then, right on 10:30, the ship started heaving, thumping, creaking, with waves splashing up to our porthole!  I quite liked the feeling, but there wasn’t any way we could have got out of bed, so we had to just go with the flow, so to speak.  We ended up only getting two hours sleep, and fortunately NO sea sickness.

Arrived at 6am, and as our quarantine checks were all done in Melbourne, we were on the road by 7am.  We headed for Deloraine, which is a very pretty little village, went to a bakery and bought some delicious filled pides for lunch, bought our supply of fruit and veggies (which we weren’t allowed to bring from Melbourne).  At the supermarket, we asked the locals where they recommended we travel to and they suggested going through the Central Highlands, where it had been snowing recently.  So, we took this scenic route to Hobart and it was beautiful.  Snow Gums, Australian Pencil Pines, stunted with the cold and looking like one hundred year old bonsais, all surrounded by the Great Lake region of Tasmania.

We drove into an area called the Steppes Sculptures, where a sculptor had donated a number of bronze sculptures, mounted on large pieces of stone – all right in the middle of the bush!

Arrived at Berriedale in Hobart to find the caravan park closed, so continued east to Cambridge in hope, because the 4 other parks we rang were full.  We got the last site, after the receptionist had shuffled bookings around, which they don’t like doing, whew!  After a long day we didn’t want to have to drive on, we booked in for a week.  It seems that this is a very busy time for tourism, so we are booking ahead from now on.

Yesterday we visited the historic town of Richmond.  Tourists everywhere, buses, guides, large groups of people all wanting to see the old Gaol, the historic bridge and the wonderful buildings.  We went to see the goal, which is the only historic Gaol in Tasmania, that is not a ruin.  Built in 1826, when the Governor was Captain Arthur Phillip, the solitary confinement cells were 2.1 metres by 1 metre, no windows, and the prisoners were given only a bucket, a blanket and a meal of bread and water a day.  There was a flogging yard where convicts were punished with the Cat-o-Nine-Tails at 9am every morning.

The nearly 200 year old almond tree in the photo is said to have been planted by a young Aboriginal boy, who was in the gaol for treatment for an injury.

We then had a picnic in the park surrounding the gaol