National Park

The driving portion of my trip started today. I was allocated a MG ZS. It’s very roomy and nice to drive. The windscreen wipers and indicators are on the opposite side but it didn’t take as long as I thought to get used to that.

I’m heading clockwise around the island, not really going south of Hobart. There’s a lot I’m not going to get to see but there’s a lot I will see. I wanted to drive across the Tasman bridge so set google maps for a Woollies on the other side of the river. I wanted to pick up a few things, I could only only find some as it was a very small Woollies. I found the important stuff though. I then followed the Derwent river basically to New Norfolk. It was a pretty drive and followed the river very closely. I crossed back over the river at New Norfolk. It’s is one of the older towns in Tasmania and has quite a few Antique shops as well as the Australia’s longest continuously running insane asylum. I wandered around the outside of the insane asylum and then through the town.

A few minutes down the road is Salmon Ponds on the river Plenty. It’s was started as a salmon and trout hatchery. Given salmon are migratory they thought they’d come back to spawn but they didn’t so it evolved into a trout hatchery and still runs as such. I had lunch there - smoked salmon salad. I suspect it’s the same smoked salmon I can buy at the supermarkets in Perth but it was still good. Each pond has a different type of trout (one has Atlantic salmon). It was really interesting and I took some fish food so could see them come to the surface. They also had a trout fishing museum. Not somewhere that I would necessarily stop to visit but interesting enough.

Time was moving along so I headed along to Russell Falls which was the main goal of the day. They were amazing. A reasonably short walk from the visitor centre. The environment was very damp and cool. I then took a drive towards Dobson Lake as it had a couple of sightseeing points up the mountain. The sign said it the road wasn’t suitable for caravans, motor homes or coaches so I thought I’d be fine. Yeah nah. The road was very narrow and rutted in places. The first viewing site was 5kms into the 15km drive and I turned around there. Luckily I did stop there as while I was taking photos two vehicles passed me heading down. I would have met them on the way if I hadn’t stopped. The view was amazing but I’ll be more prudent in future.

I’m staying in Maydena tonight. A little weatherboard cottage with a much better view than my hotel in Hobart.Read more