Hobart to Devonport and The Spirit of Tasmania to Home

19 November - with both our dignitaries on their planes heading home, the Chinese President to Beijing and Julie's brother Brett to Brisbane, we prepared for moving day tomorrow - the first time in a week, a record for us!

Morning tea stop at Mayfield Bay on the way to Freycinet

Freycinet National Park which contains the famous Wineglass Bay was our destination about 170klm up the road. Fortunately we had booked a site the day before and the helpful lady allocated us a great site (No 18 for those of you keeping notes). Just 10 metres from the sand of Richardson's Beach at Coles Bay with power, water and sullage the place is just fantastic. 

Coles Bay campsite (No 17 on right) with the Hazards in background

The sites are relatively small. A couple arriving one day, having been allocated site 17 beside us, thought we were still camped on their site. The bloke parked his campervan and came over to see me and asked us to move on as he had site No 17 booked. I said it was all his and pointed to the site - his jaw dropped. Later we had a bit of a laugh but he was not impressed initially.

Drinking in the views on Richardson's Beach,Coles Bay

We stayed for four nights and the weather was just perfect - warm with light breezes. Each afternoon we would take our chairs down to the beach, set them up so the sun was to our backs and the spectacularly lit up the Hazards (four peaks) framed our view above the golden beach and azure waters.

We did most of the walks in the area including a particularly long one of 13.2 klm that took in the Wineglass Bay lookout, a walk on Wineglass Bay beach and a walk through Hazards swamp and beach and below the Hazards themselves. The Cape Tourville lighthouse walk was once again beautiful.

Cape Tourville lighthouse walk

Friendly Beaches

Richardsons Beach, Coles Bay

New hat

Wineglass Bay Lookout

Wineglass Bay

Hazards Beach

The days spent in this region were just a delight. The weather was at its best for the whole trip. Every night we had a new occupant on site 17 beside us, all of whom had left by 9am the next day. When we weren't sightseeing we were relaxing in a near empty campground until around 3pm each day when the place filled up.

Our view each afternoon - Richardsons Beach and the Hazards

Bicheno

Sunday 23 November - moving day. Saying goodbye to Freycinet National Park we travelled further north through a corridor of flowering wattle trees that lined both sides of the road for kilometres. The sweet smell of nectar filled the air. 45 minutes later we were in Bicheno, a little holiday village on the east coast of Tasmania. Being a bit too early to check in to the van park we pulled up at a rest area out of town and watched the waves roll in over the rocky shore and white beaches. 

Once more we were allocated a really great site. In fact super evaluator Julie, who did a full walk around the van park, deemed ours the best-in-class for our needs. Being fully set up before lunch left us the rest of the sunny afternoon to explore Bicheno. Being an old whaling port the high rocky outcrop on the coast was a great location to watch for whales as they migrated along the coastline each year.

Whalers Lookout, Bicheno

We visited the aptly named Whalers Lookout as well as the aptly named Blowhole further south. 

Bicheno coastline

Bicheno blowhole (left)

The next day was forecast to be a bit showery, and it was. We replanned our activities to accommodate the weather and visited the terrific Nature World just up the road. Neither of us are zoo goers but this place is more of a nature sanctuary for Australian wildlife rather than a zoo as it rescues injured animals and has an extensive breeding program for the endangered Tasmanian Devil. We thought we might spend a half hour or so here but after 3.5 hours we exited the gate. We could have easily spent a further hour or more wandering the excellent animal exhibits with free ranging kangaroos and extensive nature walks including to an old mine site past the emu enclosure with an African ostrich thrown in for some reason.

Spot the goat

Patting a baby Wombat

Watching a flock of wombats

Welcoming committee at entrance to park.

Tasmanian devils

Emu and Eme

Quoll

African Ostrich

It was lunchtime and a great pancake shop along Elephants Pass beckoned. 27000 calories later we headed for home via St Marys as we fully completed the circumnavigation of Tasmania by road. 

The art of being lost

It has been ages since we have been lost on one of our walks so today was a celebration of our tradition of doing so. The venue for this historic walk was Apsley Gorge walk just north of Bicheno. The forecast fine warm weather had arrived and we set off. The walk has two parts to it - a short loop walk to a lookout and a longer hard walk into the gorge itself to some waterfalls. The second one was our goal but we did both. 

Apsley Gorge

Apsley Gorge

It was a tough track in places

Off we set from the carpark, the obligatory photograph beside the 60 Great Walks of Tasmania sign was taken, a review of the map in the National Park shed to ensure we knew where we were going and off we set chatting away to each other. 15 minutes later we passed another couple coming the other way, said hello and behind them I noticed a white 4WD through the trees thinking it was a Rangers vehicle. Julie had a better look than I and there it was through the trees - our car!  We had done the complete short loop and didn't even know it although we did work out that the lookout part of the walk was closed.

After wiping the tears from our eyes we set off again, this time concentrating more on where we were going. We arrived at a pretty waterhole, took a photo, turned left and started clambering along a steep rock wall convinced the track was ahead of us. Again Julie spotted a little yellow triangle nailed to a distant tree completely in the other direction - the direction of the track. So backtracking once again we followed the little yellow triangles up and up the side of the gorge, then along the top and finally down the very steep wall of the gorge and into it. 

There was not a lot of water flowing through the gorge but the place was pretty enough. We had a snack that represented lunch then headed back to the car - for the second time that day.

Returning home and, being moving day tomorrow, we did a cleanup of the van inside and out and the same for the car. The Bicheno area is beautiful and worth stopping and staying a while.

Campbell Town's Red Bridge

26 November  When we were travelling east from Queenstown towards Hobart about a month or so ago we intended to stop at Lake St Clair. Unfortunately Gail Force and T. Rential arrived before us so the weather was foul and miserable. The forecast for the region for the next couple of days is for relatively good weather so we decided to head there today from Bicheno. Setting TomTom to "shortest" rather than "fastest" route we travelled pretty much due west along lonely country roads and along pretty good dirt roads up into the Great Western Tiers of Tasmania.   On the way we stopped at historic Campbell Town for a lovely historic brunch in an historic old brewery beside the historic (1838) Red Bridge.

Public art in Campbell Town

Chief navigator

We arrived at Lake St Clair and camped in the National Park but have chosen a powered and watered site as the temperatures are forecast to get to 0 degrees in the mornings. The sites are small just like Freycinet but it seems pretty quiet still. We have two full days of walks planned so the 'intimate' sized sites should be OK.

Actually the camping is pretty ordinary. We had phoned ahead a couple of days earlier and booked and paid for site No1. We arrived to be told that someone else wanted site No1 and that we should be 'accommodating' because they had a boat and needed a large site. We were 'accommodating' and were allocated a 'great site' - No 10. Off we went to the campground down the road a bit to discover that site No 10 was occupied. Someone else liked that site better so they took it. Being 'very accommodating' now we settled on site No 2 and setup. Julie walked back to the reception and told them of the situation and they duly noted their records. Actually we like site 2 the best of all 10 powered sites in the campground but don't tell anyone.

Site No 2, Lake St Clair NP

The water pressure is so low it barely flows out of the tap. We slowly filled our water tanks and we used the pumps for showers, washing up etc. Although we didn't need to use their showers everyone complained about them because the temperature was preset - everyone wanted it hotter. The sites are so small an awning cannot be rolled out because it would hit the van next door. We choose our site so we could roll out our awning albeit over the sharp dropoff of the edge of the site. But we adapted and felt 'accommodating' and made the most of our stay.

Tasmanian waratah

Red berry thingy

The next day with a 4 degree minimum temperature in the morning we set off to do the relatively short walks near camp. The sun was out, as were the Tasmanian waratahs and other assorted flowers.

Meeting up with Watersmeet

Walking track

Platypus Bay, Lake St Clair

We took a pretty walk beside a stream that led to Watersmeet where the waters of two rivers meet then took us on to Platypus Bay where we sat on a rock in the sun and looked out over Lake St Clair where the platypus should have been.

Lake St Clair

Back to camp for lunch outside in the sunshine we then headed west in the car for a walk to Donaghy's Lookout. Several weeks ago we had stopped for lunch here when we were coming from Queenstown. The weather was rainy and freezing cold then so we didn't even try to do the walk to the lookout. Today however was a complete contrast with sunshine, light winds and warm enough not to need a jumper.

The path to Donaghy's Lookout

Spectacular views greeted us at the lookout that is accessed via a narrow ridge walk to what looks like a plug of a volcano. There were 360 degree views to the wild river below and up the steep cliffs to the mountains in the distance. 

View from Donaghy's Lookout

We retraced our steps and our journey by car back to camp to finish off the day sitting in the filtered sunshine chatting to our neighbours.

A very excited passenger 

Next day we needed good weather for our walk and we got it. Catching the 9am ferry on the calm Lake St Clair we were dropped off at Echo Point. Our walk was along the 12 klm track back to our campsite.

The ferry leaving us at Echo Point, Lake St Clair

 

Just beautiful forest scenery

Tree roots along the path

Constant glimpses of  Lake St Clair

One of numerous tree crossings

Serene Lake St Clair

Echidna feeding beside the track

The track

The walk was nothing short of stunning. With constant filtered views of the lake on our left we walked through pristine semi-rainforest. Enormous trees towered above us with ancient tree ferns, lichen and moss covered undergrowth all around. The track crossed numerous little creeks and streams. Long patches of tangled tree roots made the walking difficult for much of the time but the beauty of the place shone through. Just before the end of the track we came across an echidna foraging for ants in rotting fallen timber. We stood and watched it for several minutes. This walk was up there with the best walks we have done in Tasmania.

Lake St Clair

29 November - having done all the walks on our ToDo list at Lake St Clair, we set off north to Deloraine. Travelling along the dirt Development Road beside Great Lake we stopped at a great lookout high above the lake for morning tea.

Morning tea overlooking Great Lake

A short distance further on was the Pine Lake walk we had done several weeks earlier. The weather today was much better than last time so we redid the walk amongst the 1000+ year old Pencil Pines.

An old man walking through Pencil Pines

The Apex Van Park in Deloraine was on our must do list before heading to Devonport as we were impressed when we saw it when we visited several weeks ago. Located right on the picturesque Meander River with large grassy sites it would have to be one of the best looking caravan park campsites we have stayed at in Australia. The river has the usual fleet of hungry ducks, many families of different birds and a pair of very active platypus. Each afternoon and morning is spent platypus watching right in front of our site.

Deloraine campsite

We filled our days in Deloraine by visiting Devils Gullet - a 220 metre high lookout with vertical drop into the valley below - then on to Marakoopa Cave with its giant Cathedral Cave and glowworms.

Devils Gullet looking 220 metres straight down

Devils Gullet looking straight out

Devils Gullet panorama

Most importantly while doing these things we passed the Chudleigh fudge shop which Julie visited for the third time. Geez it's great fudge. According to Julie it shouldn't be take taken back to the mainland.  We then revisited the salmon farm again for another hot smoked salmon lunch.  

Our second day here was showery so we drove east to Evandale for brunch and then to the Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company (for the second time) to pick up lots of their exquisite natural sauces.

Platypus in front of our campsite

Platypus speeding along

Walk bridge over the Meander River in Deloraine - view from our campsite

2 December - Moving day - and what a move it was. With a late checkout from the van park approved we left around 4pm and travelled north to Devonport. The 50 minute drive was to be the last for this visit to Tasmania.

Our ferry waiting for us in Devonport

Driving onto Spirit of Tasmania II

Our cabin

Loading aboard the Spirit of Tasmania was easy with comparatively  few cars and only four caravans. We checked into our cabin for the night time journey across the Bass Strait. Date night dinner was again in Leatherwood Restaurant where we savoured 'the best of Tasmania'.  Having spent 10 weeks in Tasmania, we think that was perfect timing - not too short and not too long, just the perfect length for Goldilocks.  The time of year was good for us as there were no crowds anywhere. The weather was hearty at times but that just requires a little more planning each day. We can feel the Island starting to fill up now as it is early December.

Our planned trip back home from Melbourne was quicker than anticipated. We drove off the Spirit of Tasmania at 7am and were through Melbourne before 8am. Like a horse that has been turned for home, we kept on driving.

Forbes campsite

We pulled into Forbes at 5pm having travelled the backroads for 705 klm. We set up in the picturesque Apex Van Park overlooking the river on the back end of a storm. The camp kitchen has great views over the river as well and two comfy lounge chairs which we utilised for the rest of the afternoon. Overnight storms drummed their heavy raindrops on our roof.

Forbes Van Park camp kitchen

Next morning we set a path towards Uralla some 560 klm northeast of us. Again we selected the backroads option and backroads we travelled. One patch was along a very rough dirt road followed by a very steep and narrow winding bitumen track that took us high up into the mountains. Uralla arrived in front of our car and van at around 5pm. Again we had overnight storms and heavy rain at times. 

Our favourite staging point before travelling to the Gold Coast is Brooms Head Van Park. We arrived at lunch time after travelling the quieter back roads, including the Waterfall Way, to Grafton before hitting the highway to take us to the Brooms Head turnoff just south of Maclean. Our site has commanding views to the north over the beach and headlands in the distance. Our three days here will be all about cleaning up the van for packing away for a few months.

So that was our trip to Tasmania in 2014. With 7600 kilometres travelled on the Island, 36 of the 60 Great Short Walks of Tasmania completed and 35 kilograms of fudge consumed we would definitely come back again if circumstances allow us. What a great place to visit.

The End