 |
| Maria Island |
We have had computer problems and haven't been able to access our blog, so here's one months worth, sorry it's a long one!
After leaving Coles Bay on Saturday 27 November, we drove through Swansea, stopping at a Berry Farm and also Spiky Bridge – built by convicts in 1843 using jagged rocks for ornamental purposes and also to stop cattle falling over the sides. That night we stayed at Triabunna to get the ferry to Maria Island next morning. Our day on Maria Island involved a lot of walking, visiting the Painted Cliffs, Fossil Cliffs and Darlington town filled with historical buildings. We also saw a wombat up very close and lots of geese everywhere.
 |
| Coxy on the Dog Line |
On Tuesday 30 November we drove to Sorell, Dunalley, Doo Town (houses with names like “Doo F#@k All” and “Just Doo It”) and then stopped at Eaglehawk Neck on the Tasman Peninsula. There we viewed the Tessellated Pavement (an unusual geological rock formation which appears like tiles), Tasmans Arch, Devils Kitchen and the Dog Line (site where savage dogs were stationed across the isthmus to stop Port Arthur escapees in the 1830s). We then drove out to beautiful White Beach for two nights, which will always be remembered as the place Paulie fell through his camp chair and we had to mend it until we could buy a new one!
 |
| Mr Devil |
After leaving White Beach, we visited the Coal Mines Historic Site at Saltwater River – Tasmania’s first operational mine for over 40 years and which also served as a place of punishment for the worst class of convicts from Port Arthur. We then stopped at the Tassie Devil Conservation Park at Taranna where we saw lots of devils up close feeding and playing and then watched the Kings of the Wind fantastic show with a diving falcon and other birds doing tricks. After that, we settled into the caravan park at Seven Mile Beach and on our way to the beach for a walk we were stopped three times by people asking for directions – we must have looked like locals!
Next day was drizzly rain all day, so we took a drive into Richmond and strolled around the shops. Then back at Seven Mile Beach we discovered Barilla Bay Oyster Farm (we used to order many dozens of oysters from there every Christmas for years). They have a lovely restaurant and shop there, so Paulie bought half a dozen oysters and enjoyed those with a cold cider that afternoon. We decided we would return for dinner in the restaurant that night, which was absolutely delightful!
 |
| Lizzie before she turned green! |
The little town of Snug was our next stop for a couple of nights before driving to Kettering to get the vehicle ferry over to Bruny Island for four nights. When we arrived on North Bruny, our first stop was at Truganini Lookout – a timber boardwalk climb of 255 steps located at “The Neck” where you get the most spectacular 360 degree panoramic views. Bruny Island Cruises run tours every day which cruise the South Bruny Island coastline, so we did the cruise on Tuesday 7 December. Unfortunately it was not a very nice day - overcast, howling winds, choppy seas – all the right ingredients for me to be seasick, along with several other people on the boat. They give you a big red waterproof coat to wear which is full length for a reason – you get wet! The scenery was amazing but it wasn't long before I started to get seasick and after two hours of getting thrown around in the wild seas, we headed back to the jetty for those seasick people to get off if they wanted - and yes I definitely wanted to get off. Paulie stayed on for the last hour and experienced dolphins swimming alongside the boat and more awesome scenery. Of course the next day the water was like a pond!
 |
| View from Fluted Cape walk |
For the rest of our time on Bruny we did a 1 hour walk out to Grass Point, a 2½ hour cliff top walk to Fluted Cape 272m up with spectacular views where we also spotted some seals playing around the boats below. We also did some bike riding, lots of beach walks, visited the chocolate and fudge shop, strawberry farm and cheese factory. We really loved our time on Bruny Island, we had never been there before, so that made it extra special and it is just so beautiful but wild at the same time.
 |
| On the D'Entrecasteaux Channel |
Saturday 11 December we stayed the night at the free camp area at Gordon, on the banks of the picturesque D’Entrecasteaux Channel - a great area where we were able to have a lovely camp fire that night (yes it was definitely cold enough). We had a really great night there just enjoying the outdoors, the beautiful views across the channel to Bruny and our cosy fire!
 |
| The Wooden Boat Centre |
Next day we drove to Cygnet for one night in a nice little van park and strolled along the street checking out all the local shops. A restaurant there had been recommended to us but unfortunately it was fully booked out when we tried to have lunch there – it must have been good! On our drive from Cygnet to Dover the next day, we stopped at The Wooden Boat Centre. Located on the Huon River, this centre is a renowned school for wooden boat building using Tasmania’s unique boat building timbers like the legendary Huon Pine. This was such an interesting place to visit and we saw two boats in the process of being built (one being for a very famous Japanese chef)!
 |
| Coxy out on the cantilever |
We then drove on to Geeveston and then 30km out to the Tahune Airwalk in the Tahune Forest Reserve. The Airwalk extends 597m through the forest on a walkway elevated 20m above the ground and includes a cantilever suspended 48m high with breathtaking views of the Picton and Huon Rivers and surrounding forest – just amazing. I had to practically drag Coxy out on the cantilever though - he reckons the welding looked dodgy! We also did the Huon Pine walk and then stopped at the Big Tree Lookout – an old Swamp Gum so huge that the camera just can’t capture it’s size.
After three days in the lovely town of Dover, we left for Cockle Creek, the most southern point you can drive to in Tassie. Cockle Creek is a very beautiful place but unfortunately it was drizzly rain when we arrived and not many good camp sites left. We found one site but it was swarming with mozzies so we drove back along the road to Catamaran, another lovely spot overlooking the water and no mozzies! It rained all day and most of the night but we managed to have a camp fire going for a little while.
Our next stop was to be Huon Bush Retreat at Ranelagh but weren't prepared to tackle the 500m of extremely steep loose gravel road into the Retreat (especially with the narrow road and very long drop off over the edge)! Plus with heavy rains predicted over the next couple of days we had visions of either getting bogged in there or else sliding our way down the hill on the way out. So we chickened-out and drove back to Franklin for the night camping at the Franklin Foreshore Reserve. We ended up walking in the rain to the local pub later that afternoon and had drinks in the “pool hall” which had a great big roaring fireplace going and a great atmosphere. We chatted with lots of the locals, had a few games of pool and then Paulie ended up playing in the pool competition – it ended up being quite a late night and heaps of fun!
 |
| Happy Christmas Campers |
On Saturday 18 December we drove into Elwick (about 10km out of Hobart) and checked into a caravan park which was just across the road from Elwick Racecourse, where they have gallops, trots and greyhounds. It’s a fantastic venue with a huge modern fully enclosed area with massive windows and to view the racecourse with a backdrop of the Derwent River and hills beyond. As we had a week at Elwick before moving into Hobart city, we made good use of being within walking distance to the racecourse and went to the gallops on the first Sunday and then the trots the next Sunday!
 |
| At Cadburys! |
The rest of our time at Elwick we visited the Cadbury factory, had some retail therapy at the pre-Xmas sales, did lots of walks and bike rides, drove to New Norfolk, and pigged-out on fresh cherries. We did a wine tasting at the amazing newly renovated Moorilla Wine Estate with beautiful grounds, restaurant, and huge outdoor stage - it is also home of the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA Gallery whose grand opening is on 11 January so we will miss that unfortunately). Christmas Day was very different for us this year, being away from family and friends, but we still had a wonderful day together cooking up some tasty dishes for our long lunch which involved grazing all afternoon, washed down with some lovely sparkling shiraz. We decorated our little camp table with a red bottlebrush flower we picked that morning on our walk and used one of Coxy’s cider stubbies as a vase! Of course we also spent a lot of the day talking to family and friends on the phone and lots of text messages.
 |
| Taste of Tassie rear shot of bouncing kangaroo taken for a reason! |
We then moved into a lovely apartment at Battery Point in Hobart for five nights from 28 December to soak up the atmosphere of the Taste of Tasmania festival for the days leading up to and including New Years Eve. We were also very excited to be seeing some family for the first time since leaving home and had a great night at dinner with Dianne, Robin and Christian from the Gold Coast. We frequented the Taste of Tassie every day and enjoyed the great buskers, live bands, wine tastings, all the yummy food and the NYE fireworks. There's also the Sydney-Hobart yachts to check out at this time of year too and we spotted a few celebrities on the yacht "Loyal". We really enjoyed our time in Hobart and especially enjoyed our five-star fix staying in a nice apartment. Tomorrow we head back to the north coast of Tassie to say goodbye to friends before getting the Spirit of Tasmania back to Melbourne on 10 January.
