February 2006
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| Platypus at Scottsdale in pond just behind our caravan |
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| Campsite at Scottsdale |
It’s hard to believe it’s part of Australia - it is so different from the other states. A fascinating place to visit and several weeks are needed to see some of the more interesting places. We spent almost 6 weeks so we were able to take our time. It’s a wonderful place to tour with a caravan or motorhome as there are so many great free “bushcamps” to park overnight or longer by the beach or elsewhere. At SCOTTSDALE we had a resident platypus as a neighbour who came out at dusk to our delight. Not a lot of Australians have seen a platypus in the wild.
The National Parks are also good places in which to camp. We bought a National Parks pass on the ferry for $50 for 2 months which enabled us to visit all the National Parks of which there are many. Camping incurred an extra charge but they were great places to stay. Someone in government a few years back had great foresight and cornered a lot of Tasmania for national parks - they are a real asset.
There is a lot of cruel cruel history associated with this island. Up until the Europeans arrived the Aborigines had lived here for thousands of years but once the English became established they shipped what was left of the Aborigines to Flinders Island.
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| Launceston boardwalk |
We started our Tasmanian adventure with an overnight “cruise” on the “Spirit of Tasmania” on 26th January 2006. We had an inside cabin and with our rig measuring out at 14 metres the return cost was around $1500.
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| Launceston chairlift |
Once there we travelled in a clockwise direction to LAUNCESTON where we stayed for 3 nights and then on to the beautiful St Helens area where we free camped at SWIMCART BAY in the Bay of Fires area for 4 nights - a superb spot with a great view of the surf beach. At this bay we were parked next to and had “Happy Hour” with a couple (almost ..... ??? our age) who were towing their caravan with a small Hino truck and inside their truck they had two absolutely gorgeous shiny Harley Davidsons. And Elaine is a blonde 5ft 0.
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This is a very lovely coastline with beautiful sand and the huge smooth rocky parts have areas of orange
lichen growing on them. The sea is a gorgeous
azure blue colour in close, similar to tropical beaches but it was too cold to swim in. But quite spectacular to look at.
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| Freycinet National Park |
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| Freycinet Peninsula |
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| Port Arthur |
Our next major stop was at PORT ARTHUR - a very sobering place. It is only recently that Australians have started to admit that their ancestors might have been “convicts” and, in fact, now it’s something to be proud of. But what some of the convicts went through was enough to drive any sane man mad. It was so cruel, even standing there in the prison area and seeing the small isolation cells was unnerving. No way could I go into one and close the door. Absolutely no daylight and they were left in there for sometimes over a month with only an hour a day for exercise and very meagre rations. And often because they were “under suspicion” of some misdemeanour. |
| The 'model' prison |
But if you behaved yourself you were put to work building ships, bricks, buildings, roads etc. Some people learnt good trades from other convicts.
The officers had nice houses and their wives and families kept up standards and lived a fairly social life.
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| A 'cell' |
This is also where the most recent tragedy took place when a lone gunman killed 35 people just a few years ago.
Some stunning scenery around this area with blowholes and canyons which were quite spectacular.
We moved on to HOBART and surrounding areas. There is a fantastic view of this area from Mt Wellington, a very high hill/mountain just behind Hobart with a great drive up to the lookout. Most homes have a nice view of the sea, Derwent river or countryside.
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| The view from the top of Mt Wellington |
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| A lovely church at Richmond |
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| Cute topiary but note the brown landscape |
We stayed at the Showgrounds which was good value and not too far out of town. We travelled south as far as Dover, staying at FRANKLIN by the river for $10 for 2 nights. We had some lovely hot days while in Hobart. Hobart is the second driest capital city in Australia after Adelaide.
Also did a day drive up the middle of the island to Ross. This road was one of the better straighter roads here. It’s a quaint area with lots of old churches and buildings.
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| Lake St Clair |
Then to MT FIELD NATIONAL PARK where we checked out the spectacular Gordon River Dam and power station and then on to LAKE ST CLARE NATIONAL PARK where we did a 13km 3 hour rainforest hike beside the lake.
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| Russell Falls, Mt Field NP |
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| Horseshoe Falls, Mt Field NP |
We then travelled through some quite dramatic winding mountainous roads and scenery through Queenstown to STRAHAN. Queenstown is a shocking place where the hillsides have been stripped bare over the years through mining and have not been replanted - a very desolate area.
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| The bare hills around Queenstown |
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| Strahan |
But Strahan was very pretty. We did a 6 hour cruise on Macquarie Harbour and the Gordon River which was great. The weather was perfect and we visited the narrow harbour entrance called “Hells Gate”, for obvious reasons. Also visited Sarah Island which had been a convict island with a cruel history. But one commanding officer stopped the beatings and the convicts built ships and lived decent lives for a few years.
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| A ruin on Sarah Island |
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| Sarah Island |
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| A cruise boat on Macquarie Harbour |
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| Hells Gate, Macquarie Harbour entrance |
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| The Wonders of Wynyard Ford Museum |
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| Hawley Beach |
Starting our way back up the island we visited Cradle Mountain and free camped at the MACINTOSH DAM and in
the HELLYER GORGE before getting back to civilisation at BURNIE where we stayed in a caravan park for a night. Here we did a big wash of clothes, caravan and ‘cruiser before heading west again where we free camped on at GREEN POINT beach on the rugged west coast.
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| A Pademelon |
Our last couple of nights were spent at NARAWNTAPU NATIONAL PARK which is bounded on two sides by the beautiful north coast Bakers Beach
and a river. Wildlife is in abundance here and it
was a beautiful place to spend our last night.
Tasmania is a great place to visit. We are very surprised to find how brown the countryside is but this is normal for this time of year we are told. It can be very cold, even in summer. Tourism is well catered for. Lots of broadwalks and lovely waterfalls.
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| The ferry has a very narrow river to turn around |
A lot of the houses and buildings are very old English/Scottish style built of sandstone which has weathered well with age and are very attractive. In fact, some new homes are also built this way and, from a distance, it can be hard to tell whether they are new or old.
It’s an extremely hilly island and most of the roads are very narrow and winding, also a lot of logging trucks use the roads so much care is needed when towing a large caravan. Quite strange sometimes we only travelled 50 to 100km from one place to the next but these trips could take a couple of hours. A vast contrast to the mainland where we would normally travel much greater distances to get to our next destination.
We really enjoyed visiting Tasmania and loved being able to camp at such gorgeous free spots. That was a real highlight. The scenery was lovely and at times quite spectacular. It would be nice to see it when the grass was green.
The history was very well presented. The weather was kind to us most of the time but, boy, it can get cold. We’ll be quite pleased to get back to some straight roads for a while.
A great place to visit with so much to see in such a small island.
We were lucky to have the time to appreciate Tasmania and all it’s different aspects.
