Australia
Central Coast

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    • Day 18

      A wombat called Sunny

      March 1 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

      Wings Wildfire Park….
      The desire to see a wombat has been building….. We didn’t get a chance to visit Maria Island, a wombat haven, so I needed the next best thing.

      This park was recommended by Cheryl at work, so was on our must do list. The drive was further than expected and at the end of another of Tassie’s famous circuitous roads 😳

      As well as general entry, Col bought me a wombat encounter! After cooing over the koala (Blinky, a rescued joey from the SA fires, a few years back) we proceeded to Sunny, the juvenile wombat’s enclosure.

      I sat on a bench and had a barrel of young wombat plonked on me. She was totally adorable ♥️
      Sadly her mum had been hit by a truck, and Sunny was found in her pouch ☹️

      After a while Sunny became restless, so her handler put her down and she started chewing on my trainer laces, her fave thing! Then she got an attack of the zoomies, following on my heels as I walked around her enclosure, she kept up despite her little legs. I loved meeting her - what a cutie!

      We then wondered around seeing the other critters, devils, potoroos, fed the wallabies, ‘roos, etc. Sadly, we didn’t really give ourselves long enough for them all, but having a wombat sitting on my lap had to be the highlight!
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    • Day 161

      Happy Birthday to me!

      March 8, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

      Wow, 34 today. Getting well old now!
      Called the drunked family staying in Herm. Got given some wine and chocolates from Hannah. Good start to the day.
      We nipped to the Devonport lighthouse followed by a tiny market for a coffee.
      Then to the Anvers chocolate makers for some freebies, then to La Villa winery for some fancy wine tasting. All not bad, but not quite good enough to buy one.
      Then onwards to the Sheffield food and wine festival, where we listened to some great music and had some bacon beer - actually pretty tasty.
      We walked around the town to see some wall painting and a marble shop with mechanised thingies.
      Final activity was a place with loads of Mazes. Completed the main one in 12 mins flat. Much better time than the one I did with Andrew and the boys a few weeks back. Took us hours!
      Set off towards the campsite for the night. Nice place on a hill over looking lake Barrington. Full of people on jet skis and wake boats.
      Chilled out with some wine roundfings pasta.
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    • Day 77

      Tasmaniens Nordküste

      January 28 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Wir fahren durch das Gebirge und am Mersey River entlang in Richtung Nordküste. Unterwegs sehen wir auf einmal ein Schild: Grindelwald / Swissvillage. Dem folgen wir natürlich und werden überrascht durch einen Mini Nachbau eines Schweizer Gebirgsort im Stile von Disneyland-Mini. So etwas abgefahrenes haben wir bisher in ganz Australien nicht gesehen
      Wir erreichen die Stadt Devonport. Das ist der Fährhafen von und nach Melbourne. Unterwegs kommen uns sehr viele Camper und Caravans entgegen, mit tasmanischen Kennzeichen. Wir hoffen, dass dies das Ende der Sommerferien anzeigt und sich so die Situation auf den Campingplätze spürbar entlasten wird.
      Jutta sucht in WikiCamps einen Offside Campground westlich von Devonport, beim Ort Penguin, direkt am Meer aus. Wir beziehen einen schönen Grasplatz ca. 50 m vom Strand entfernt.
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    • Day 157

      Tasmanien - Fährüberfahrt

      February 1, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      Nach langem einladen der Fähre, dort frieren, warten, Pulli an Board kaufen und wieder warten, bin ich endlich in Tasmanien, Devonport, angekommen.
      Die Überfahrt war okay, von Wetter als auch Unterhaltung am Boot und der kostenlose Campingplatz war nach extrem schnellen Ausladen der Fähre schnell gefunden.Read more

    • Day 119

      Scouts in the rainforest

      January 6, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      Cradle Mountain —> Mole Creek

      Wir wachen an unserem wunderschönen wilden Camp Spot auf und entdecken ein kleines süßes Schnabeltier. Super interessante eierlegende Säugetiere (und auch giftig, wie wir gelernt haben), die es wirklich nur hier in Australien gibt. Es schwimmt vor uns im Wasser auf und ab und sieht beim Schwimmen eher tollpatschig als anmutig aus.
      Der Himmel ist grau und soll es auch den ganzen Tag bleiben, bestes Wetter für eine Regenwaldwanderung, denn durch das dichte Grün würden eh keine Sonnenstrahlen gelangen. Schon die Anreise zum Startpunkt der Wanderung ist eine Herausforderung für sich, denn wir bleiben auf einem matschigen Pfad mitten im Wald fernab von Handyempfang direkt erstmal stecken mit Tasha. Wolf schafft es souverän uns rückwärts wieder heraus zu manövrieren, und als wir den langen Sandweg mit unserem Camper endlich geschafft haben, kann es ja nur besser werden. So ist es zunächst auch…
      Der Regenwald ist zauberhaft mit seinen fast 2.000 Jahre alten King Billy Pines. Jeder Stein und jeder Baum ist knallgrün und mit dickem Moos überzogen. Der Track hingegen fühlt sich an, als wurde er vor vielen Jahren das letzte Mal belaufen. Überall hängen Spinnennetze und keiner von uns beiden will vorne laufen und den Weg “freizuräumen”. Wir treffen auf viele umgefallene Bäume und Äste, es wird immer schwerer sich durch den Weg zu kämpfen bzw. diesen überhaupt zu finden. Schließlich gelangen wir zu einem beeindruckenden Wasserfall, die 150 m hohen Winterbrook Falls.
      Der Rückweg über einen anderen Pfad gestaltet sich leider ziemlich frustrierend. Die Büsche sind hier so zugewachsen, dass wir uns regelrecht durchkämpfen müssen. Zwischen den Büschen warten zusätzlich Schlammlöcher auf uns und nach einer gefühlten Ewigkeit kommen wir mit pitschnassen Sachen und Schuhen wieder am Ausgangspunkt an. Puuuh… toller Wald, toller Wasserfall, aber hier sollte sich dringend mal wieder ein Ranger um den Pfad kümmern. Die heiße Dusche am Campingplatz von Mole Creek haben wir bitter nötig.
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    • Day 18

      Getting from A-B

      March 1 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

      Col is doing all the driving, which we’re both mega grateful for 😂

      I’ve already blathered on at length about the roads here, snakey, sneaky, slopey and steepy (or are they some of the seven dwarves🤔)? One redeeming feature is that thankfully, there are very few pot holes* Sheila (and I) would hate those.
      * There were a LOT of pot hols on our last Aus trip 😬

      When we’re driving through the forests, with extremely tall trees either side, steep drops, gulleys, and sheer cliffs, the place does feel ancient and other worldly. Then you meet a coach coming towards you and it’s an ‘eyes closed, breathe in’ moment 😳

      Many of the trees are native huon pine, which grow a millimetre a year, and their wood is feted as one of the best for building, carving etc. The tallest tree can be over 2000 years old, and their root systems spawn more trees, so a whole bank of huons could be one mega organism.

      When we manage to find ourselves on a decent dual carriageway, they’re pretty much empty and we make good progress. Sadly these roads seem to have been a bit of a rarity on our longer cross country trips.

      Just realised the pics are from ‘good’ roads. I can’t take pics on the twisty roads, usually hanging on to my seat 😬
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    • Day 1,983

      Ulverstone

      October 28, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

      Our first full day in Tassie saw us take a road trip to the west of Ulverstone. First off we stopped off at Table Cape to have a look at the late tulip fields. High up on the rocky outcrop there are some very fertile fields that are used to grow the tulips. Who needs Keukenhof when you can come to Tas. It is a bit backendish but the fields were very colourful with many of the heads stripped already for bulb production. We then did the walk along the cliff top to the Table Cape lighthouse.
      After that we drove along to Stanley to have a look at this sleepy town with its rocky outcrop called The Nut. The Nut is a volcanic plug standing very proud of the surrounding area and can be climbed up via a very steep path or via a cable car. We walked up as we always like a challenge and the views from the top were worth it, even on a cloudy day. On our descent Karen spotted a Pademelon with Joey in the bushes which was our first encounter with breathing indigenous wildlife this trip - all other sightings have been squashed versions by the side of the roads.
      An ice cream was welcome on our return to sea level after which we set off to have a look at the Tarkine Trail.
      We underestimated the distances travelled so only touched upon the drive before deciding to head back to Ulverstone before nightfall.
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    • Day 1,984

      Ulverstone

      October 29, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

      We planned a more restful day for today after our long day yesterday.
      After a lazy breakfast in the camp kitchen we drove along to Penguin to have a look at their Sunday market. We saw a couple of items we liked in a local shop and bartered a reasonable price for them from the shopkeeper.
      In the market place we found one of the stallholders who was born and bred in Redcar. He was selling tat, as it happens, and was not an admirer of Margaret Thatcher which might be why he now lives in Penguin.
      After that we drove into the Dial to walk up the bush track to the top of Mount Montgomery which was quite strenuous at times. A great view over Ulverstone at the top was well worth it.
      In late afternoon we wandered into Ulverstone for a looksee and fell into The Pier for a drink, the IPA beer was one of the best so far I have tasted in Australia, made locally
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    • Day 1,985

      Ulverstone

      October 30, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

      We decided to complete another bush walk today in a different part of the hinterland behind Penguin.
      First off we drove to Sheffield, a farming town, where they have been trying to rejuvenate its fortunes by turning it into a mural town. They also have a mural street art festival each year like the one we saw in Bedminster Bristol. It was raining when we arrived and quite windy, so we did not complete the whole trail devised to show off the whole village. Some of the murals showed the history of the town, which were the ones on the sides of buildings, the competition ones in a separate park were a bit more abstract.
      The ladies in the Information office were very helpful as ever.
      We then drove to have a look at Lake Barrington, where we enjoyed our packed lunch at the Tasmanian rowing centre. We had a choice of two bush walks to do - The Billet Creek walk or the The Forbes Falls walk, both involved bush walks through tree fern lined rain forest and both involved a lot of climbing and descent. We chose to do the Falls walk which did not disappoint. The sounds in the rain forest are wonderful, with bird calls and the odd shuffle of wild life in the undergrowth. The waterfall at the bottom of the hill was running fast, discharging into a plunge pool prior to its final run to the lake below.
      On the way out we did a slight detour to have a look at the Woodhouse lookout, which is well placed on the road to give a view of the valley below.
      Everything is very green here in this north western part of the island, in part due to rainfall but also to the impressive number of irrigation schemes which are working everywhere we look. Farming is primarily green pasture for beef, milk and sheep, but we have also spotted Llamas and pigs too.
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    • Day 1,987

      Cradle Mountain

      November 1, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

      The forecast for today has been for clear skies all day, so we had put it aside for a trip to the local World Heritage Site which is the national park of Cradle Mountain. We arose reasonably early for us and departed in glorious sunshine with temperatures similar to a typical English spring day.
      The drive to the visitor centre, which is where everyone has to go to get into the park, was through the lush green countryside. As we ascended through forestry plantations and the occasional farm smallholding we arrived on a high plain with a thick moorland landscape. We could see the snow covered top of cradle mountain in the distance. We knew we were in for a good day.
      Kirsty had passed by here on one of her adventures a few years ago, as she started the 65k Overland Trail in the National Park which is done from north to south. We had heard about the beauty of this area from her, but could not believe how stunning it all was.
      We arrived at the visitor centre to be met by a wombat which was foraging in the carpark. Alan has always wanted to see a wild wombat in the flesh - so a good start to the day.
      Formalities completed at the visitor centre we boarded a courtesy bus along with other visitors which took us into the park. There were four men on the bus all packed up with haversacks for the 6 day walk south, but most were day visitors like ourselves.
      The short bus ride into the park was useful as the driver gave a commentary about the park, walks to do, stop off points etc. and reminded us that if we missed the last bus back it would take three hours from the pick up point back to our motor.
      We were advised that there would be a lot of wombats to see in the button grass around Ronny Creek, but we opted to go further into the park to complete a couple of walks directly under the mountain.
      The Dove Lake walk is a popular walk. It encircles the lake which lies under the peaks. It was formed by glacial activity a few million years ago along with others that we walked to.
      The mountain looked magnificent. There are not that many days of the year when there is no cloud cover so we chose our day well. The path around the lake was beautiful. We stopped for our picnic lunch at a small lake side beach, all we could hear was the sound of nature. After completing the circular walk we then doubled back on ourselves a little bit to do the walk to Ronny Creek via Lake Lilla, another upward climb through bush. There was an option to nip up to Wombat Pool half way along which we couldn't resist a look at. This involved another steep climb up shingle/ rubble paths and over 320 steps. At the pool we turned around to return to the Ronny Creek walk. Soon we were amongst the button grass plains and wombats were busy grazing as we passed by.
      On the bus back to our car we both said we enjoyed the day so much that we thought it would be great to come back again tomorrow. Definitely the highlight of our trip so far.
      We felt some envy for the lads doing the 6 day hike south. The countryside at the start of the walk is spectacular and Kirsty says that the views just get better and better as each day goes by.
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