Fabulous Tasmania

God, I've broken the law! I've transported an onion into Tasmania, unwittingly! It was lying in the food basket hidden behind the jar of coffee. The half a cucumber had to go at the port- oh, and the petrol. What ??? 17 pounds worth just tipped away. We were allowed to keep the petrol can as long as we filled it up with water! We did not read the small print! Apart from this...what a magical island Tasmania is. No-one had given us any clues. They had just said, "Oh you'll love Tassie," (as it is affectionately known.)They proved to be right.

Our journey began at Devonport in the pitch black. We headed for the north-west coast and stayed at Ulverston for two nights. It was set alongside the beach and was, fortunately, within walking distance of town. It was a small, nondescript town and a very typical site, in pleasant surroundings. The towns of Burnie, with its cheese factory and busy little shopping centre was a joy, as was the coastal route that took us there, with its blue skies, rocky and sandy shorelines. We visited the little town of Penguin and strolled around a rather strange collection of stalls in its famous market. We were a bit bemused but liked the prettiness of it all. It was as close as we were going to get to Cornwall quaint. We headed along the coast Wynyard's, 'Table Cape' and the beautiful, but unimaginatively named, Boat Harbour Bay. It was perfection! Next was the delightful little fishing town of Stanley with its famous 'Nut'! We travelled in on the Tourist Route and, from the lookout above the town we got a glorious view of its bays and the Nut. It too was perfection: a pretty little town with painted houses, flowers, green lawns and its historical High Street. I wish we had stayed longer here. The campsite lay alongside a bay and beach that you could just wander on to. We spent a happy morning in the town before we moved on, just meandering around, 'The Nut', in the sunshine and enjoying the views. 'The Nut' is a high rocky outcrop above the town, and can be accessed by the fit and/or insane by foot or the infirm/lazy by chairlift. We chose the latter!

Our next port of call was Queenstown. What a contrast! We had spent a whole day traversing the western mountains on the undulating road around hundreds of hairpin bends and descended into the town, wearily, as it grew dark, which is a rather instant affair in this part of the world. It starts to darken at 5.15 and, by six you are plunged into total darkness.

Your first view of the town is the smelter which seems to stand above the dark, brooding mountains. We followed the rivers path as we descended and we were soon driving through the dark and empty streets looking for a caravan sign. Street lighting was not a feature which made our task more difficult. We found it eventually and headed to the office. A couple had just come in from Strahan and said that there was nothing there. I made a mental note as that was to be our next stop! Glad to have just stopped, we wandered to our site then viewed the toilet block and the 'kitchen' Many of the vans were up on top of the toilet block which gave the camp an untidy and cluttered feel. It was only for one night. We were adopted by a lovely couple called Frank and Marie, who invited us into their van. We did not leave until 1am! We got to see the steam railway journey at Strahan. It was lovely, and so were they. A good night was had by all.
The next part of our journey took us to Richmond and the start of Convicts Route. It was quite colonial in appearance and some of the buildings at here and Port Arthur were honey coloured stone, like the Cotswolds. We had passed Cradle Mountain and the Lake St.Clair National Park area on our way, deciding not to stay as it was really a trekker's paradise, with lakes, mountain walks and rivers. We had seen a number of these on our drive and it was quite cold here too! One amazing thing that we did see was an artists studio, called, 'The Wall'. It was a renowned artists tribute to the roll of the forest in the lives of the working men of this area. There were various items carved from wood and huge wooden panels carved with shire-horses and loggers. It was so detailed and fluid, it was wonderful. You could not believe that the working gloves on the table were carved in wood. We stayed a night at New Norfolk, having descended from the mountains into glorious pastures in full Autumn splendour. The scenery and colours were simply stunning. The river ran alongside the park and, whist we were packing up to drive on I was struck by the beauty of the place. I wish that we had spent another night here. I noticed lots of the now familiar black swans
as we set off on the steel blue ribbon of silk that was the road, contrasting with the pale yellow grazing land and the brown wooded hills.There was a gash of orange soil and perfect, neatly painted houses perched on the hillside. It gives a feeling of contentment as we drive along.

Hobart was a huge city by contrast. Our time was taken up by business mostly because we had to do our blogs and then renew our visas. We decided that September 6th would be d-day. We had caught the bus into town so we were able to visit a bar where we got talking to an older couple, a brother and sister. They were delightful and I promised to send a postcard to Diane. We went into the town in the van on the Saturday to view the famous Salamanca market and spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering around before we headed up to Port Arthur in the east.

The Port Arthur camp was set in very natural woodlands. You could see the sea through the woods and wild animals frolicked along the brush line in the dusk. The vans were well spread out and the sun shone brightly. We walked to the bay through the woods. It was a beautiful walk past beaches and bays, a delight. The convict prison area was huge and crowded, Sunday again! We left, and, failing to find a pub open, returned, weary and a bit disappointed.

On the 21st of April, our first wedding anniversary, we left, in the sunshine,and headed up the coast for Coles Bay. However, we got to Bicheno first and found a little caravan Park site there. Lee wanted to go for a meal, and there as a pub/hotel within walking distance. We had a passable meal but rather a disappointing evening because Lee played pool whilst I watches David Attenborough. I felt that I had spent our anniversary on my own. Lee was confused. I had not even had a chance to get my Barrossa Valley wine and glasses out!

All was resolved the next morning as we decided to spend a third night there to really relax. There was a real feeling of decadence sitting there in the Autumn sunshine at 11am on a Tuesday morning. I briefly thought of school going on in England. I smiled. An air of calm had descended on the park as the last of the tourist caravans and four-by-fours moved off the park to comply with departure time. We decided to go to the wildlife park in the afternoon instead of rushing off that morning then moving on to the next place. I got my reading book out and took a satisfying swig of my isotonic drink and Lee went off to pay the $20 for the extra night. As I put it back onto the table my eyes noticed the, 'quickly replaces the fluids, energy and electrolytes lost during your active lifestyle'! Oh dear..... There was a moment of guilt before I carried on reading. This town had been magical in its way as we had been out in the harbour, with five other people, gazing at the sea-bed under 20 feet of water, in a glass bottomed boat. There was a shoal of fish, some gummy sharks, little ones, three huge stingrays 6' by 4' across and a rather stunning starfish amongst other sea-life. I felt like a kid pointing them out and peering eagerly over the edge of the viewing bay. We had taken a moonlit guided walk to see the little fairly penguins which was a delight too. How sweet they were. The wildlfe park was a hit as we arrived just before feeding time and went around with the keeper. The Tasmanian Devils were scary, they were so vicious too. I am fascinated by the wildlife as it is uniquely Australian and I cannot tell a Poteroo from a Bandicoot! I am marginally better informed now! I've yet to see a living possum. One dashed past us in the dark at Port Arthur, and I've seen many as road-kill which seems prolific on this island, but the one at the wildlife centre was snoozing in a log only affording me a glimpse of its golden back!

The last few days have seen excessive night rain and two sharp morning frosts. I texted my daughter, Laura, to say that it was only 1 degree and she told me that she was in Wales heading for the beach...wait a minute, something is wrong here! Ah well! Tasmania has enough highlights to be very special in my memory.

It is back to the warmth of Melbourne overnight before we head for the Blue Mountains and Katoomba to hole-up for a week, unless it is too expensive!!