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  • Day 6

    Bay of Fires to Launceston

    June 14 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Today was a bit annoying 🙄 We started by heading to Ansons Bay because we'd heard so much about it but the road ended up being dirt most of the way there and it was easier to keep going than turn around. Then when we got there we wondered why anyone would want to go there?! Totally not worth going to, the only interesting thing we saw was a 'Banksia' street sign 😂.

    The next stop I'd had on my list was Eddystone Lighthouse, well that was going to be another 20km of gravel road and we weren't supposed to be on any gravel with the Motorhome! So we headed towards Gladstone instead. It still took another 40 minutes of driving slowly before we found bitumen again!

    Ended up being nothing worth note at Gladstone so continued down to Little Blue Lake which redeemed the day by being beautiful! We stopped there for lunch and thought we'd walk to cube rock, not realising it was 5km one way and by the second stream that we couldn't get around and would have had to walk though it decided it just wasn't worth it, so headed back to the van.

    We then re looked at where to head next because we were planning on doing a loop back to St Helens today and stopping at a couple of waterfalls on the way back, but it was getting too late in the day to do that and there wasn't much point in going back to St Helens otherwise. So we decided to head towards Launceston and travel back to Hobart down another path to the one we took last time.

    On the way we stopped at Derby Tunnel (it remains from a tin mine). I think all the workers must have been my height because I could walk though without ducking once, poor Bart had to duck straight away and still walked into the roof (lucky he had a beanie on!) so he stopped and I continued the length of the tunnel and back, it only went about 200m. We then tried to find the monument, there's a sign and then nothing! After consulting wikicamps found where you had to get off the track and go bush uphill and we found it.

    Derby is actually a really cool little town, if you're into mountain biking it would be the place to come. It was the nicest town we'd driven though.

    The road between here and Launceston is extremely windy but fortunately there weren't many cars around and we could take our time without worrying about holding people up.

    Stopped for the night at a Big 4 caravan park to charge everything up and being able to put the heater on tonight was lovely. Walked up the road to a food van eatery for tea which was so lovely.
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  • Day 5–6

    Bay of Fires

    June 13 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    After a very quiet night we left the chain of Lagoons campsite and headed north, stopping at Scamander for coffee to find a skate park with a bench next to it with Travis cut out in the back of it! 🥰

    We then headed to St Helens point and went on a short walk around from Beerbarrel beach.

    We continued onto St Helens township and picked up some supplies from the local IGA and fresh bread for lunch at the bakery. After fueling up we drove to Binalong and stopped on the side of the road to make some sandwiches, then drove out to The Skeleton track. It was very overgrown and you had to push through some sections but once we got to the point the rock formations were excellent.

    We then headed to 'The Garden' I had expected a lot more rich formations but found when we got there the area had been named for the wild flowers that were found in the area. We stopped for the night at another freecamp Cosy Corner South.

    Went for a lovely walk along the white sand beach before retreating into the motorhome when it got too cold outside 🤗
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  • Day 4

    Wineglass Bay & Bicheno

    June 12 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 8 °C

    This morning we still had a gale blowing, it started late last night and had the motorhome rocking 🙄. We packed up and headed out to the start of the Wineglass Bay track. It was well worth doing, though I can feel my knees now. The section between the lookout and the beach is basically stairs, it says up the top that there are 1,000 stairs so don't start if your not up for it 😄 though I did count them on the way back up and only got to 911!

    We then headed to Bicheno to check out the blowhole - which was going off, but it was freezing in the wind! So we made our way to the Lobster Shack for lunch. Bart got half a garlic lobster and I had the lobster burger which was an experience for me, but I got through it.

    We stopped for the night at Lagoon Beach campgrounds, a freecamp about half an hour from Bicheno. It's a great spot near an inlet and next to no one here! 🤗
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  • Day 3

    Freycinet National Park

    June 11 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    It was much warmer this morning when we woke as it was very overcast and threatening to rain. By the time we'd had breakfast and packed up the motorhome it was starting to sprinkle so we decided to head to the lighthouse first. By the time we're got there it was a fine misty rain and I was the only one with a rain jacket 🙄 so left Bart in the warmth of the motorhome and headed up to get some photos. It was actually beautiful out and the colours were fantastic. I only saw one whale, on the short walk to the lighthouse. We then headed down to Sleepy Bay, the rain had started in earnest then so we waited till it eased a little before I headed down to the cove to check it out. We decided to just poke around the area and leave The Wineglass Bay walk till tomorrow because it's supposed to be clearing, though it did stop raining after lunch. So we headed to Honeymoon Bay and back up to the lighthouse so Bart could have a look as well.
    Lovely relaxing day 🥰
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  • Day 2

    Triabunna to Freycinet National Park

    June 10 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    After a very cold start to the day we headed north towards Freycinet National Park, stopping at Swansea and the spikey bridge then got to Devils corner at lunch time which worked out well 🤗 Bart enjoyed some oysters and we shared a pizza and did a sneaky wine tasting before heading to Freycinet National Park for the night.Read more

  • Day 1

    Heading off

    June 9 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Poor Indy wasn't very happy when we left this morning, fortunately Sean is heading over to pick her up later. On the way to the airport we found out we had been upgraded to business 🤗 which was very nice. Hopefully we have enough warm stuff packed! 😬Read more

  • 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 🥰
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  • 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 ♥️.
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  • 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 😄.
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  • 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.
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