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  • Tasmanian Adventure
    Day 29

    Home again!

    September 29, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Home again after an amazing trip,
    🥰 After leaving Goulburn we called in to see Cyndy on the way through Sydney.

    We then headed to Tuggerah to meet Trav and Abi for lunch which was so nice and didn't leave them till around 3pm hoping to make it to a free camp at Macksville for the night.

    We got to Macksville just after 6pm to find the free camp spots just weren't suitable for a rooftop tent 😥 by then all the caravan parks were closed so we started calling around to see if we could get accommodation somewhere.

    We ended up trying 8 different townships and there was not one room available from there to Grafton! I found a free camp in the carpark of a hotel in Grafton. Ended up being a lot longer drive today than expected but at least tomorrow we should be home by lunch time.

    We should have had a 4 hour trip home today, but were stopped for an hour by a pretty serious traffic accident on the Pacific Hwy, with a helicopter being brought in to get someone to hospital.

    We made it home safely just before 12 noon. Talecia was here to meet us with Kyla and a puppy she's minding at the moment which was so lovely.

    Now we have time to unpack, wash and repack the 79 to head away camping tomorrow for the long weekend with Sean and Chloe 🥰    Read more

  • Tasmanian Adventure
    2
    Day 27

    Melbourne to Goulburn

    September 27, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We had a slightly rockier trip home on the Spirit and had been advised that we needed to be up and ready to go by 4:45am for 5:30 disembarking. The wake up call came but with the news that we would be disembarking at 6:30!

    Once off the ship we headed straight out of Melbourne city, trying to get out before peak hour started.

    The rain that had followed us around Tasmania continued on the way north. We called into Glenrowan and had a look around the Ned Kelly museum there and the historic sights before continuing northward.

    The cloud formations on the way up have been just amazing.

    With the band of bad weather around us and the forecast of storms, we thought it best to not put up the rooftop tent and found accommodation in Goulburn for the evening. After trying a number of hotels we ended up getting the last room at the Posthouse Motel.

    Looking forward to seeing our Trav and Abi tomorrow on our way though Newcastle, and finally being able to see Abi's ring in person ♥️.    Read more

  • Tasmanian Adventure
    32
    Day 26

    Tasmanian adventure over 😭

    September 26, 2022 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Well we are on our way back to the mainland again! We've had an amazing time and will be back again much sooner than it took us to come back since our last visit (in 2005!)

    We've loved the walks, the amazing scenery, the fresh crisp air and the slower pace of life here.

    Here's also a video from the Queen Victoria Museum for a bit of a laugh 😄.    Read more

  • Tasmanian Adventure
    Day 26

    Launceston

    September 26, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    After a lovely evening at the Art Hotel we left the car in their parking area and set off to look around Launceston. Another town with great old buildings and plenty of history.

    They really have the best outdoor/hiking/camping shops down here with plenty warm weather jackets, vests and clothing you just don't see in Brisbane (I guess the temperature down here makes all the difference). Lucky they aren't in Brisbane or I'd end up spending a fortune at them 🙄😄.

    Thought we'd go through the James Boags Brewery but they are closed on a Monday so continued along the river walkway to the Queen Victoria Museum Arts Gallery.

    I definitely pre judged this one 😄 (Bart loves museums and reads every plaque). This one has been built where the old train workshops were. It's like everyone put down their tools in the mid 1900's and just walked out. It's pretty amazing. Though I don't need to inspect each piece of machinery as much as my husband does 😅.

    When we walked back into the central part of the museum I saw old cars inside one door and tried to distract Bart to get him past the door before he saw them 🙄 didn't work. But it was very interesting.

    Upstairs they were displaying a collection of photos from HJ King, he took photographs throughout Tasmania from the early 1900's. His most famous photo is the one of a Tasmanian tiger looking over Cradle Mountain (though this photo was created by him with a compilation of 2 photos).

    Interestingly it mentioned that he was a Christadelphian, he was also one of the first people to do aerial photography with aerial photos of Launceston on display. He also did a number of movies of Tasmanian animals for the museum which were showing in the museum cinema.

    If you are ever in Launceston this is a must do attraction. Not only does it have heaps of interesting displays and information is also free!

    After lunch we headed back to the car and headed off for Devonport taking each exit off the highway to detour though the historic towns, our favourite being Deloraine 🌸 the Cherry blossom trees along the river are in full boom and just beautiful.

    The rain has started again in earnest now, we managed to have a great last day before it started. All that's left now is to board the Spirit of Tasmania and head back to the mainland.    Read more

  • Tasmanian Adventure
    1111132
    Day 25

    Ben Lomond to Launceston

    September 25, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    We got going early again this morning and headed into Perth and found a little shelter with a bbq to make bacon and eggs for breakfast 😋.

    Then headed out to Ben Lomond NP to find that the top of the mountain was covered in cloud, but I was hopeful that it would clear by the time we got to the top.

    It was a pretty drive there through Evendale and then very green sheep pastures. The new spring lambs are running around the paddocks following their mothers, they really are so cute.

    The drive up Jacobs Ladder wasn't as bad as we were expecting (no worse than going up Bellthorpe range!) But the sheer rock cliffs are just spectacular. It's hard to take it all in, the cloud around just added to the atmosphere.

    We drove up to the ski resort which is basically closed down for the season now apart from the Cafe that is closing next week till the new ski season.

    We weren't sure if it was worth doing the 3.5 km trail due to the cloud but set off to have a look anyway. The trail was beautiful, lots of lovely different grasses and moss covering the ground and the rocks have orange and black moss markings as well. After coming across a couple of old huts we headed up to the summit (1572m) pretty much climbing over largish rocks the whole way up. We got to the top just before a big cloud bank came and enveloped us and completely whited everything out!

    I was glad Bart had his GAIA app running to see which direction to start heading to get back down. Instead of going back down the way we came up, we made our way down the other side of the summit following what we thought was the path but ended up being animal paths 😄 but we made it, without getting our feet too wet.

    It ended up being a great walk, but will be good to come back again and do it in summer because apparently on a fine day you can see all the way to Cradle Mountain.

    We left Ben Lomond (after stopping in the camping area to make some lunch) and headed towards Launceston. Thought we'd go and do the Cataract gorge walk but you have to pay to park, and once again we forgot it was Sunday! So we headed up to the Sentinel lookout which is a short 2km walk (though our watches said 1.6km) down to a cantilevered platform lookout.

    I'm standing there taking a photo and Bart just has to walk up behind me and start jumping (yes you can see through the floor) 🙄 seriously can't help himself. He thinks it's hilarious 🤦🏽‍♀️

    We decided to find accommodation in Launceston so we could leave the car there and have a look around tomorrow before heading to Devonport to get on the Spirit. Found a quaint historic hotel The Art Hotel that used to be a bakery, built and run by a convict.

    Last night here, has been such a wonderful trip hard to think it's coming to an end!    Read more

  • Tasmanian Adventure
    Day 24

    Ross to Symmonds Plains

    September 24, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Ross was our next stop, this town is so pretty and well worth the detour off the highway. It's full of beautiful old buildings and the streets are tree lined. We walked around the main street, down to the picturesque bridge that we came over coming into the town, up to the beautiful Uniting Church on top of the hill, then down to the Convict Female Factory that had heaps of information inside.

    Bart said the whole area both Oatlands and Ross reminded him so much of England and said I didn't need to visit there now 🙄 don't think he gets out of it that easily 😄.

    We left Ross to head to Campbell Town for a free overnight camp only to find it was closed due to flooding when we got there. So we got back onto wikicamps and found that the Symonds Plains racetrack had camping available if you were self contained, so I called to check and yes they were happy for us to use it. We are now set up next to the racetrack for the night (and the only ones here 🤗)

    Tomorrow we are hoping to climb Ben Lomond before heading towards Devonport. Our adventure here is all too quickly coming to an end 😭    Read more

  • Tasmanian Adventure
    1
    Day 24

    Oatlands & Tunbridge

    September 24, 2022 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 5 °C

    The rain didn't let up all night so my cute husband packed up the rooftop this morning in the rain (again 🙄) There wasn't even a shelter nearby to have breakfast in, so we went looking for a Cafe. Fortunately we found one open (everything else in the town opens at 10am!).

    After breakfast the rain had eased to a drizzle so we headed down towards the History Room museum and found a little cottage that was 'open for inspection' it was actually being auctioned off today so we had a look inside. Oh boy, the entire inside would have had to be redone to make it liveable, but you could have made it super quaint. It did sell for $380k.

    Then called into Callington Mill Distillery and sampled some of their whisky which ended up being the cheapest whisky to purchase so far in Tasmania.

    The History Room opened at 10am and the gentleman manning it today was so helpful, he had grown up in the area and took us around the displays explaining each of them to us and giving background information along the way. He then gave us a key fob (after leaving a refundable deposit with him) which gave us access to the Court House, Gaol and the Commissariat. You can just go let yourself in and have a look around these old buildings. It was excellent.

    We ended up spending so much more time than we expected to in Oatlands as there's so much interesting history there. We had savoury crepes for lunch from the pancake and crepe shop. The owners were from Brisbane too and gave us a bonus of scones, jam and cream to take with us!

    We headed up the road and detoured off the highway to look at Tunbridge which has the oldest wooden surfaced bridge in Australia. It's currently closed for renovations but still good to check out.    Read more

  • Tasmanian Adventure
    2
    Day 23

    Hobart to Oatlands

    September 23, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    This morning (after a not so great experience at a Big 4 caravan park) we got up early and headed back to Hobart. We only went in there so we could get some laundry done, but even that was sooo expensive in comparison to other places.

    Back in Hobart, we decided to split up, Bart went to the Maritime Museum while I had a look around the city then I met him and we went though the Tasmanian Museum (which was free 🤗).

    After a lovely lunch at Mures on the wharf we headed north, stopping at the Killara Distillery that we had been recommended to stop at by our Accountant while we were here.

    Kristy who owns it is the daughter of the Lark Distillery owners so grew up in the industry. Because we were the only ones there we got the full tour and even got to taste the whisky prior to it being barrelled. It was also the first distillery we've been to that we weren't charged to taste the Whisky and Gin!

    We headed onto Oatlands our stop for tonight to another freecamp near a lake. So much nicer than a sterile caravan park, where everyone is jammed in next to each other!

    The rain started when we arrived so we'll explore this place tomorrow when it's hopefully drier 🤞 Oatlands has the most sandstone homes from the colonial period in Australia. The Callington Mill Distillery is also here.

    Fun fact, the longest serving hangman in the British Empire lived in Oatlands. He was an ex convict and worked as a hangman from 25 to his last hanging at 71! He was paid per person that he hung and was sent all over Tasmania hanging people! 😬    Read more

  • Tasmanian Adventure
    111111
    Day 22

    Cape Raoul Track

    September 22, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    This morning was our last on the Tasman Peninsula, so we thought we'd do the Cape Raoul Track that Cyndy told us about 🤗.

    The track is part of the Three Capes Track. We ended up walking 16kms, after adding in the seal lookout and took us 4 hours (with stopping a number of times to admire the view).

    The Track starts by going through a mixed forest of eucalyptus and rainforest trees before opening to the first lookout which is spectacular. You then follow the cliff line (though you feel safe because there is a small stand of trees between you and the cliff edge 😄) before coming out onto a plain that is covered in shorter more dense trees and shrubs.

    The paddymelons don't mind you walking past them at all and just hop off the track for you to walk by.

    Cape Raoul is just amazing, we stopped here to have a sandwich (lovingly made and packed by my husband 🥰) and then headed around to seal lookout, where you can see and hear the seals down below. It also gives you a great vantage point of Cape Raoul.

    You head back the same way you came so our return trip was quite a bit quicker.

    We had one more stop to make before leaving the area and the was to the Remarkable Cave. It's a very short 10 minute return walk, but I was disappointed that you can't actually get down to the cave floor. They have board walk that you have to stay on now 🤷🏽‍♀️🙄.

    Now it's time to start heading north once more.    Read more

  • Tasmanian Adventure
    3
    Day 21

    Port Arthur

    September 21, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    After we got back from the cruise we headed down to Port Arthur and made lunch in the carpark before heading in (it's so handy being able to make toasted sandwiches in the Cruiser)

    We found out that it's $47 per adult to enter but if you waited till 3:30 it was only $25 per person. Seeing it was 2:30 we figured we'd wait for an hour before heading in and go for a drive around the area .

    We walked in on the dot of 3:30 and ended up doing a whirlwind tour 😄 I'd heard that it was just very touristy and wasn't expecting much so was pleasantly surprised at how much we both enjoyed looking around.

    After going to Norfolk Island a couple of years ago there was quite a bit of history that obviously related to what we had seen there.

    It's great to see how they are maintaining the buildings and just the sheer scale of them. I just love the thickness of the walls!

    It's hard to believe such a beautiful place had such a violent past.

    The open air memorial at the Briad Arrow Cafe, for those that were killed in the 1996 massacre is nicely done as well.

    It was a great end to the day after the mornings cruise.    Read more

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