Week 6

Day 37: Today we moved to Strahan via Queenstown.We were unsure whether we would be able to get through to Queenstown as there was a bushfire along the HWY, luckily the fire was under control enough for us to get there. Queenstown was an unusual looking town, looked like some kind of alien planet. All the tops of the mountains looked like the moon as there is no vegetation growing there. This is due to the mining of copper. We had some lunch and was back in the car again. After setting up camp at Macquarie Heads, at another great spot amongst the pine trees that we had to ourselves, we headed into Strahan to have a look around. According to Tasmanians this town is the main tourist destination on the west coast so we were surprised at how small the town is. That night Al was concerned about psycho killers coming to our camp as we were the only ones there, she didn't dare mention this to Housie until the next day because she was certain he would try to scare her!

Damage from bush fire

outskirts of Queenstown

The Pines Campground

Day 38: A beach drive along Ocean Beach was awesome with hardly anyone else around. The kids loved climbing up and down the massive sand dunes. The Henty Dunes are continually moving inland and the main road has been moved once already. That night we went on a penguin tour. This was great, we all loved it! We travelled out to Macquarie Heads and the Hells Gate, a treacherous entrance into Strahan harbour. We stopped at Bonnett Island where the little penguins live. We saw them coming in from their day of fishing and Issac, our tour guide, told us stories about the light house. The island is very small so there is a limit of 10 people on the tour. While we waited for the penguins to come home we sat on the boat and ate local cheeses and biscuits with a refreshing ale. We all got our own torch and started looking around the island. The penguins were great and we saw little chicks being fed by their mother! When returning to the boat we all had a yummy hot chocolate waiting for us.

Day 39: Today we slept in and just relaxed around the fire. The kids did there own thing and Al and Housie sat around reading. The fire was tops. Housie found a huge piece of pine that burned all day and into the next.

Day 40: Off to Cradle Mountain today. On the way we went through Zeehan were we had lunch and spoke to the lady at the information centre. We wanted to know what condition the 4WD track was in up to the Montezuma falls. She said that her and her husband went on it recently and that it would be fine to tow our camper trailer up the track. Even with her information we decided to leave the camper at the start as Housie had read that it was a medium to hard grade track. Within 100mtrs into the track we realised leaving the trailer behind was a great idea and this is where Al decided to swap seats with Declan! This track follows an old railway formation to the highest single fall in Tassie, Montezuma Falls. During one tricky section of the track we had difficulty getting traction to get up the hill. Housie had to reverse slightly to have another go at it and Al looked out her window and started yelling at Housie like a mad women "There's a drop off here, pick another line, pick another line!!!". Once we got up the slope Housie offered for Al to drive, guess he didn't appreciate her back seat driving. When we got to the car park, Al was the first one out, we had a short walk to the falls. There was a suspension bridge to cross that the kids loved bouncing on trying to freak Housie out (he has a little trouble with heights). At Cradle Mountain we surprised the kids by booking a cabin in the national park. This would also be our last 2 nights in Tassie, they were excited! After the kids had finished jumping from bunk to bunk and decided which one they were sleeping in, we went for a walk where wombats frequent at night. It wasn't long into the walk and the kids were happy to see wombats feeding very close to the boardwalk.

Montezuma Falls

Day 41: Got up early today to take on the massive walk up to Marion's Lookout via Crater Lake. We made it to Crater Lake without any problems and stopped here for morning tea. It was spectacular. We continued on up to the steep incline to Marion's Lookout. The kids loved this part of the walk because it was 'a rock climbing adventure!' We were very impressed with the kids stamina. Other people were also impressed commenting on how well the kids did especially since the walk was recommended for experienced hikers! The views here were amazing. From here we walked back down around Wombat Lake to Dove Lake which is were we sat to have lunch. We had a great view of Cradle Mountain while enjoying people watching! We headed back to our cabin for a rest. That night we went looking for wombats again and were pleased to see more than the night before. There was a wombat under the boardwalk that the kids sneaked a pat of.

Crater Lake

 

Cradle Mountain

 

 

Not Housie, it's a Wombat

 

Day 42:We drove back to Devonport ready for the trip to the mainland to continue our journey along the Great Ocean Road. The kids were pumped again getting on the boat, and being able to watch a movie in the cinema on board. The swell was up a little and Al, Housie and Charli all felt a little off. Everyone was looking forward to meeting Ian and Kathy for the next leg of our journey.

Week 5

 

 

Day 29: We headed to the 'famous' Salamanca markets that is a must see thing to do in Hobart, really nothing out of the ordinary compared to other markets, it's just on a larger scale. We then headed towards Port Athur. Through some people Al had spoken to earlier in Tassie we organised some cheap accommodation on some private property. We pulled up and met Roger who took us to a spot on his 400 acre site. We were blown away, ocean views, camp kitchen, combustion fire, toilet and hot showers. The kids loved the two rope swings that were set up. That afternoon Roger mentioned that there was a kind of a big do on that night, in nearby Nubeena for their Regatta and Aussie day celebrations. So we thought we'd head in and check it out. There were approx 200 people there which equated to three families.

 

 

Nubeena Festival

Roger's Place

Day 30: In the morning we went to the Remarkable cave just south of Port Arthur. We were able to climb down and into the cave as waves were going in and out of it, only because it was low tide. Then we took the kids on a 90min walk up to the nearby blowhole. Unfortunately due to the low swell the blowhole wasn't that spectacular. That afternoon we went to Eaglehawk to see Devils Kitchen, Tasman Arch, and the Tesselated rocks.

Remarkable Cave

 

Morning tea at the Blow Hole

Tesselated Rocks

Day 31: We went to see convict and mine ruins from the 1830's where the worst of the worst convicts were sent, near Lime Bay State Reserve. They were to work in the mines completely naked!! The mine was decommissioned in the early 1900's due to the homos, probably should of given them clothes. That afternoon we relaxed and swam (well Housie and Charli swam) at Safety Cove beach, the water was crystal clear but only about 15 deg. That night Al had booked us all in for a family friendly ghost tour that is suitable for kids. When we arrived we found out that that Al had actually booked us in for the adults tour and it wasn't recommended for kids. We still did the tour, Charli was slightly nervy after hearing some of the ghost stories and Declan reckoned that the tour was boring. We did take some photos and in one of them there is a strange light and smoke that definitely wasn't there when we took the photo. Real or a crock of crap?? You can be the judge.

Coal Mine/Convict ruins 

Port Arthur

Day 32 : Charli's 11th Birthday!!!! After some presents in the morning, Roger took us up to his caravan that he lives in at the top of his property. From here, he would have one of the best views in Port Arthur. He is part way through building a stone cottage and hopes to finish it some time this year. Then we left for Hobart to take Charli to Hogs Breath for her Bday. Then onto Lake Pedder for the next few nights. It rained while setting up, the first time on the trip so far. As we couldn't do much that night, we read about Lake Pedder and discovered that it gets 300 days of rain each year!!

Day 33: Scored a win with the weather, with the rain gone and the sun out, we drove around and checked out Lake Pedder and took the kids on the Creepy crawly walk. Al and Charli were relieved that no creepy crawlies were actually there. It was just a nice walk through some Rainforest's. That arvo the kids talked us into doing a train bike ride (a 4 seater bike that you pedal and it has rail wheels on a disused railway line) at Maydena. Well, the first 50 metres seemed fun, then it just became hard exercise! We don't exercise on Holidays!! Luckily there is some one following on a motorised one that can give you a bit of a push up the hills. Leaving there in a pool of sweat, we went up and had a look at Junee Cave from which water flows from 25-30 km's of underground tunnels. We then drove out an looked at Gordons dam that has a 140 mtr high wall. That night back at camp a Spotted Quoll ran past Housie while at the fire and into the annex of the camper where Al and the kids were. They were unable to get a photo due to the quoll sitting on the step and the camera was in the camper.

 

Creepy crawly walk

 

Day 34: Stopped in at Mt Field National park and saw Russell falls, had to contend with our Asian buddies to get a photo of the waterfall. Parked up the night at Lake St Clair, they had campervans and caravans crammed in like sardines. A private operator has taken over the accommodation side of things and they are aiming for people to stay in their cabins. The kids were happy to see an echidna just wandering around the camp.

Russell Falls

Trunk of fallen tree 

 

Lake St Clair camp

Day 35: Kayaking out on lake St Clair, lunches packed we paddled over to the other side and pulled up stumps at the bottom of Fergy's hill. Lots of brown trout jumping and swimming past and the kids had fun climbing the drift wood and rocks. The afternoon was a small hike along the Larmairrenemer Tabelti Aborigninl cultural walk and back. Not much to see along it but a good way to wear the kids out ;-)