Swansea - St. Helens

 

After leaving Swansea we headed north to St. Helens via Bicheno. Bicheno is a pretty little town with a nice beach walk (including a small blow-hole) and the mandatory “best bakery” in town. Both didn’t disappoint.

As we headed north along the west coast, we did notice how dry and brown the landscape is compared to the rest of Tassie – I am told this is because all the rain is dumped on the west coast and high central plateau and the east is in a rain shadow. The other unique feature of the east coast is the beautiful long white sandy beaches.

As we had some time to kill before checking in at our apartment in St. Helens we headed out to the Bay of Fires to do some sightseeing. I thought it ws called the Bay of Fires due to the bright orange algae covering the rocks, but the bay was given its name in 1773 by Captain Tobias Furneaux in Adventure who saw the fires of Aboriginal people on the beaches.

After we got back to St. Helens we checked into our apartment – I mention this because I have a story to tell. We were in Room 2 on the first floor and as soon as we we got out of the lift we knew the name of the lassie in Room 1 – it was Lisa - Mona Lisa. You could hear her moaning loudly from twenty meters away. This was accompanied by the sound of the bedhead banging against our common wall? Not sure what they were up to - Tai Chi maybe?? Anyway, it all very exciting – almost had to buy a pie and a newspaper. Must have been fun because they were at it again an hour later.

A very short video is HERE

Swansea - Freycinet National Park

 After spending some time down on the South Coast we headed to Swansea on the East Coast to catch up with Aaron, Tara, Luke, and Aria for a couple of nights and do a bit of sightseeing around the Tarkine Coast/Freycinet National Park.

Once again, the accommodation was great with a near large new house with tons of room for four adults, two kids and an anxious dog.

Now is probably a good time to mention that I am the unbeaten Swansea Yahtzee Champion for 2023 😊.

The 4:30 AM bream fishing trip was a dismal failure – I am convinced that there are no fish in the sea in Tassie – just trout in the lakes!

The day out in the Freycinet National Park was a a great family event and the video HERE shows some the parks features.

Off to St. Helens tomorrow – and maybe Bay of Fires.

Port Arthur

 It's been over 40 years since I last visited Port Arthur and hasn’t it changed. Huge car parks, massive visitors centre and so many people!  Guess that’s progress?

Upside is entrance fee ($76 for two concession passes) now includes a twenty-minute harbour cruise.

It’s still worth a visit if you are down this way as there is a lot of history in these old buildings and site.

Looks like a prisoner escaped.

Must be getting old as it was a bit of a struggle for Linda with her sore hip and me with my recovering knee, but we made it around, albeit slowly.

Guard?

The most difficult thing to do at Port Arthur is to get a photo with no one else in it.

Our accommodation for the night was nearby at White Beach and we had a lovely old cabin to ourselves. Once again excellent accommodation with no complaints.

Off tomorrow to catch up with Aaron, Tara and Family for a couple of nights at Swansea on the East Coast.

Short vide is HERE

Around Hobart

 After leaving the rugged west coast and the interior plateau we headed down the Derwent River Valley to our accommodation our accommodation on the South Arm at the “River View Bungalow”.  

On the Bungalow deck

We did have some initial reservations as it was a lot further out from Hobart than we thought (about 40min drive) but what a spectacular spot. The Bungalow was perfect for two with separate lounge/bedroom and ensuite rooms and every window had views over the Derwent River estuary plus there was a deck in the morning sun.  Linda spent hours watching the resident plover family, hundreds of other birds, and the antics of the rabbits. We had booked two nights as we wanted a full day to look around Hobart area.

As we were once again blessed with clear weather, we decided to take the long uphill drive to the peak of Mount Wellington. The views were spectacular, and Linda found a small patch of snow to play in.

After coming down the Mountain we headed out to historic Richmond to check out the oldest bridge in Australia, visit the Sweet and Chocolate Factory and the sample Wicked Cheese Factory.

Our routine whilst staying at AirB&B’s is to have a big late lunch and cheese and crackers at night (with a small glass of red or two). So – we stopped at the local Tavern on the way home ate a big meal and spent the next two hours investing in Tasmania’s budget (playing Keno and the pokies). 

Linda came home around $350 up and I cleared $30 (which is good for me). I have referred ourselves to the Gambling Help Line and hopefully our rehab will start shortly.

Small video is HERE

Cradle Mountain

 After leaving Ulverstone we decided to go the long way around to our next B&B at Waratah via Cradle Mountain. It was a good decision as it was a rare day where the mountain was not obscured by cloud and rain.

When we arrived, we pulled into the Visitors Centre to pay our fees ($38 for a Concession 12month National Parks Pass) and were advised to drive the 6 km down to the Rangers Station to catch the shuttle bus to Dove Lake. As luck would have it there was a shuttle bus ready to leave as we arrived – so we bolted across and jumped on. Unfortunately, this was the returning bus to the Visitors Centre! Old people do weird things? Anyway, after visiting the Visitors Centre twice and getting our bearings we finally got the right bus to Dove Lake.

I could rabbit on about the beauty of the Lake, the Mountains, the magnificent scenery, the unique vegetation, the wombats, the serenity, the waterfall, lunch at Peppers etc (yep, I’m rabbiting on again) but I will let the photos in the attached video tell the story.

Definitely ticked one more off the bucket list.

Short video is HERE

Ulverstone

 After a super-fast 31/2  hour flight from Perth we arrived in Launceston Airport and picked up our hire car and headed off to Aaron and Tara’s place in Ulverstone. We were lucky to get a good exchange rate 1 Australian Dollar to 1 Tasmanian Dollar. It’s been about six years since we had caught up and Luke and Aria had certainly changed. 

Our AirB&B in Penguin (our home for the next nine nights) was small but comfortable for two old people. Situated in a rural area on the edge of town it was peaceful and relaxing.

A nice rainbow for Luke

Over the next week Aaron and Tara took us everywhere around the Ulverstone/Devonport/Burnie areas.

I am going to miss some but to name a few:

Penguin burrow

Sheffield, Mt Rolland, Reliquiae in Latrobe, Penguins at sunset at Doctors Rocks, Trout fishing (caught my first Brown Trout – tick the bucket list), Leven Canyon (pronounced Levin) – where Linda climbed a mountain with Aaron, more Trout fishing (we are Britton’s 😊), dinner at Pedro’s Seafood, and breakfast at Doulton Café.

Linda also put a dent in the Tasmanian economy with over $500 won in Keno at the local Sport and Recreation Club.

In this busy schedule I was also able to catch up with my other Tassie based son – Joshua, my eight-year-old granddaughter Olivia, my grandson William (both who I have never seen), and Olivia’s/William’s mum Cassie. Been a long time and was great to catch up.

Stanley

On a miserable and rainy-day Linda and I decided to head west to Smithtown and Stanley. I was very impressed with Stanley with the town nestled around a huge block of rock (called the Nut). 

Two Granddaughters!

Although our B&B was small, we did manage a couple of sleep overs for the grand-kids. Luke (the quiet one), and Aria and Olivia (the not so quiet ones 😊) stayed on separate nights. It was great to have the grandies stay over.

Fantastic time - thanks to Aaron and Tara for looking after us and Aaron taking time off work to take us everywhere! 

Small video is HERE

Escape from Collie

 After three months of being grounded because of my knee replacement we decided to pack up the van and head south for a week.

After visiting friends in Bridgetown, we decided to free camp for a one night at Muirs’ Bridge on the Franklin River. Not a bad area for an overnighter with a large level area suitable for half a dozen vans with several tables and seats available for use. We were the only ones there for the night, so it was light the fire, drinks, Yahtzee (I hate that game – always getting flogged), and dinner by the fire – nice to be back on the road again.

Camp on the Kalgan River

We booked into Kalgan River Caravan Park just outside Albany for four nights. We had stayed here before and it’s a great little park where you can camp 30 meters from the river. After four months of not fishing, I was keen to wet a lure or two so got up an hour before sunrise to flick some lures around wading the shallows.  Unfortunately, the icebergs floating down the river got tangled in my lure – bloody freezing! 

As it was our 34th wedding anniversary on the Saturday we caught up with some good friends from Collie (who were also caravanning down south) for a celebratory dinner at one of the local Indian restaurants. Called the Albany Indian Tandoori Restaurant – great food, reasonable pricing and I would certainly recommend.

Plan for our stay in Albany was to visit the National Anzac Centre and do some tourist things around the area. 

Chainsaw cockatoo

One unusual display in Albany was the “chainsaw” art carving exhibition which for a gold coin donation you can do a drive through tour of some pretty good artwork created by using only a chainsaw.  Takes a good 10-15 minutes to do the loop – and well worth a look.

Old HMAS Torrens 4.5" Turret

Late in 1914 - 41,000 Anzacs and 13,000 horses departed Albany in two convoys at the start of WW1. The National Anzac Centre records the departure of the convoys and the story of the Anzacs in all theatres of conflict in WW1 and history of some of those lucky enough to return home. It has a brilliant interactive display, and the main display building is surrounded by military memorabilia – including the 4.5” gun turrets from HMAS Swan and Torrens (which during my Navy career I had certainly been in and on – shows how old I am). Linda and I spent an enjoyable but sobering 4 hours out at the centre. The severe hardship endured with a joke and a smile, and mateship that those young Australian’s and Kiwi’s displayed was unbelievable.

At the Gap platform

Day three in Albany saw us heading out towards Frenchman Bay to take in the wild coastline at the Gap, Natural Bridge, Blowholes, and then to the whaling station for coffee and scones. Unfortunately, the blowholes weren’t “blowing” due to the low swell – but the coffee and scones were great😊.

Cheynes Beach

After leaving Albany we headed east to Cheynes Beach Caravan Park – it was a long and arduous run of 55Km, but we made it! Friends had told us that this was a special spot, and I would have to agree. The beaches are that pure white silica sand (that makes Lucky Bay at Esperance famous) and almost as hard as bitumen. It would be a mecca in summer with at least 15km of beach easily accessible by 4WD.  We were lucky to visit when the Southern Right whales were in the bay with their calves. There were three mother calf groups in the bay when we were there and they quiet often were within 100m of the shore. photos we took didn’t really do justice to the whale action and my drone was playing up. Reckon Cheynes Beach beats Lucky Bay anytime. This same beach was where the huge pod of Pilot Whales beached themselves recently with all of them dying on the beach despite a huge effort to get them back off the beach – sad. 

We tried the famous “fish and chips” at the Cheynes Beach Take-away and were disappointed - 5 out of 10. Oh well could have been worse – pilot whale pie?

On the way back to Collie we took a diversion through the Porongurup Ranges -as the whole southwest had received above average winter rains everything was green and lush. Funny thing – when you get up very close to the Porongurup’s you can’t see anything of the ranges unless you go into the park. So, the sights of the Stirling Ranges in the distance dominated the scenery.

Great to get away. A short video is HERE. I have just brought some new video editing software - so some of the effects in the video might not be that great.

Footnote: Regular readers of this blog might have noticed no photos or mention of our little dog Molly. Sadly, in a devastating and tragic series of events we lost her in June this year. We miss her very much.