[TAS] Devonport,Gunns Plains,Penguin, Stanley,Strahan,Lake St Clair,Arthurs Lake, Hadspen

Arrived in my old home town of Devonport about 6am and after going through the quarrantine checks etc we drove away about 6.30am in search for breakfast and found a great hot buffet breakfast. We then checked into our lovely apartment on Victoria Parade overlooking the Mersey River. Later we walked into town for a look around and then needed a nanna nap in the arvo before meeting up with some of my old school friends for dinner at our old drinking hole - the Elimatta Hotel. We then went on to a party and didn't get home til 2am! The evening of Saturday 30 October was my high school reunion (Devonport High School 1975), which was heaps of fun. It was a challenge trying to remember everyone as I hadn't seen most of these people since I left Tassie in 1980. Paulie attended later in the evening and everyone chatted and danced the night away, with the function finishing at 1am. A group of us then moved on to a party and finally left around 4.30am! (Photos from the reunion will be available later.)

Ghost Rock Winery

The next five days were full of socialising with old school friends which was just fantastic fun and so great to share the time with them all. We were welcomed into their homes and shared their favourite restaurants with them, and even though it was the first time Paulie had met them, he got on famously with everyone and had a great time. We also fitted in bits of sightseeing around the area, doing some great bike rides along the waterfront in Devonport around to Coles Beach and beyond, drives out to beautiful Port Sorell and Hawley Beach, did a wine tasting and lunch at the picturesque Ghost Rock Winery, visited Sheffield's amazing murals (see mural pic further below), did tastings at the cheese factory, honey farm, cherry farm, raspberry farm etc etc. You really can eat and drink your way around Tassie!

Preston Waterfall

From Devonport we moved on to Gunns Plains for some bush camping at the beautiful and quiet Wing's Wildlife Park. We arrived there on Saturday 6 November which was a nice sunny day but grew cold in the late afternoon. Luckily we were able to have a camp fire there which was our first since leaving home - so many places won't allow camp fires now. That night we slept for 12 hours as we were exhausted from our non-stop partying since arriving in Tassie! Next day it was freezing cold and poured raining all day, so we had a quiet day in the van catching up on correspondence, watched a couple of movies and of course had happy hour! Next morning we drove to Leven Canyon - walked to Cruikshanks Lookout, then descended the 697 Forest Stairs, did the Fern Walk, the Canyon Floor Walk, the 25m Preston Waterfall and Gunns Plains Cave - all amazing attractions. We then drove on to Penguin for one night in the caravan park overlooking the beach.

A couple of nuts at "The Nut" at Stanley

Tuesday 9 November we drove to Burnie to stock up on some groceries and then continued on to Stanley and checked into our waterfront van site. Caught up on the some washing and then after lunch we climbed the Nut (it's sort of like Tassie's own little Uluru)! Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day, not windy like the last time we climbed the Nut when I nearly got blown off. It's quite a steep climb and our legs reminded us of this fact the next day.

Tarkine Forest slide

It was very cold, rainy and windy the next day as we drove out to the west coast to Arthur River, stopping at Green Point to watch some young students having surfing lessons (in wetsuits of course). On our drive back to Stanley we stopped at the Tarkine Forest Adventures site at Dismal Swamp where we braved the exhilerating rush of the 110m slide through the tree canopy down to the forest floor in less than 15 seconds. You get to wear a lovely hair net (obviously not to keep hair out of your eyes, as they gave Paulie one) and a helmet, then you lay down in a bag with handles inside then you shoot down the metal tunnel like a bullet - it's super fast. I went first while Paulie watched me disappear into the tunnel - he was waiting to hear me scream all the way down, but I was so scared I couldn't make a sound. It was a pretty bumpy ride and whilst it was heaps of fun, we both had headaches afterwards. Paulie did the ride twice - once was enough for me!

Gordon River

Thursday morning Paulie got up very early to climb the Nut again for some sunrise shots, but it was a really foggy morning. He said it was sort of spooky climbing in the fog too. We then drove to Hellyer Gorge, Waratah and Rosebery and stopped at Strahan for the night. Next day we did an amazing World Heritage Gordon River cruise on a very comfortable boat cruising from Macquarie Harbour out through Hells Gates to the Roaring Forties and Cape Sorell, stopped off at Sarah Island (one of Australia's oldest convict settlements) for a guided history tour, and also stopped at Heritage Landing where we strolled through trees thousands of years old. The day was overcast with showers, so our photos aren't great. On our cruise back to Strahan, we past a large number of salmon and trout farms. Once back on shore, we decided to have a couple of drinks at the local pub and later walked back to the van park in the drizzly rain - a fantastic day.

Lake St Clair

On Saturday we departed Strahan and drove via Queenstown to Lake St Clair, stopping to do the walks to Nelson Falls, Donaghy's Hill and the Franklin River Nature Trail. We stopped overnight at the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park right on the lake and it was absolutely freezing cold outside, drizzly rain and the lake was all misty.

Mural of "The Wall in the Wilderness"

Next day we drove to Derwent Bridge to see the extraordinary work in the making by artist Greg Duncan - The Wall in the Wilderness. These 3m high carved Huon Pine panels tell the history of the harsh Central Highlands region of Tasmania. When completed, the wall will be 100m long. The building which houses these panels is also beautiful inside and shows other free-standing sculptures and lovely silk paintings. This display is an absolute MUST if you are ever in Tassie (unfortunately no photos are allowed to be taken inside, but we did take a photo of the mural done of The Wall and artist when we were in Sheffield). We then drove on to Arthurs Lake, stopping to view some bronze sculptures at Steppes on the way. We camped the night at the Pumphouse Bay Campground on Arthurs Lake, which became a total fog whiteout by late afternoon. It was a very cold and drizzly night but we were snug in our van thankfully.

Rose garden at Woolmers Estate

Monday 15 November we drove down from the chilly Central Highlands through more fog, passing through Poatina and Cressy, stopping at Longford to visit the 1817 world heritage nominated site of Woolmers Estate situated on the banks of the Macquarie River. The estate provides a combination of the collections, artefacts, antiques, machinery, outbuildings, main houses and magnificent rose gardens. We then headed to Hadspen for two nights (just outside of Launceston) and restocked the van with supplies before starting to head towards the east coast and hopefully some good weather.