My Adventure – It Continues Some More!

After a rather surprising blip on the radar with the hospital visit, we spend one more night in Launceston. R & R only!

A solid two hour trip across the middle of Tassie (and down a little), saw us reach Cradle Mountain. We never intended stopping here as we had both been here a couple of times before and to be honest it is just way too touristy (sorry Tourism Tasmania – tis what it is) and overpriced for accommodation. We did need fuel, which lead us to the petrol pumps situated in the car park of the visitor centre at Cradle Mountain. On arriving the place was packed. Even the overflow car park was beginning to fill! Justified our decision somewhat, so we refuelled and hightailed it out of there.

Next stop , Strahan!

Reached Strahan early afternoon after about 2 hours on the road. We made our way to set up camp. Did a quick visit to the town centre where we visited the saw mill and attached tourism shop, strolled around a bit (5 min at most) – dead as a dodo. Dad and I were surprised by the lack of activity. Early-ish night. The caravan park we picked looked nice – but ended up being very tatty – no reception, grotty amenities block, male toilets had no toilet roll in three of the four cubicles the whole time we were there. Blokes were lined up for the one “number two toilet” most of the day. Not good enough – so sorry Strahan Beach Tourist Park, you get a big fat raspberry from me! AVOID!

Despite the caravan park Tuesday was a ripper day. Earlyish start saw us head down to where the Gordon River Cruises depart from – a clear blue sky, shone down on dead calm waters as we waited to board. The cruise lasted for near on seven hours. They first took us to Hells Gate – the only opening into Macquarie Harbour (the harbour Strahan is situated on). Leaving the sheltered waters of the harbour brought us directly into The Roaring Forties with swells up to 5m on the day of our cruise (wave measuring equipment once measured waves of at least 20m before the equipment broke). We then visited some fish farms. Local companies farm sea trout and salmon for national and international consumption. We ended up at the Gordon River – a world heritage site. The cruise along the river was so tranquil and peaceful – we took in the unspoilt environment. A quick 40 minute visit to a stunning temperate rainforest saw us ready for a delicious buffet lunch. As we ate we cruised back to the harbour and then with the boat’s throttle opened back up headed to Sarah Island – once home to one of Australia’s most notorious convict settlements. An entertaining tour that lasted a good hour saw us head back onboard for a quick sprint across the harbour and an end to the cruise. All in all a brilliant morning – would highly recommend this cruise.

The afternoon was spent in Queenstown. Queenstown is an interesting place – particularly after visiting the Gordon River World Heritage Area. The mining of copper in this town over the years has seen most of the surrounding mountains stripped of all vegetation. Owing to a combination of tree removal for use in the smelters and the smelter fumes (for about 40 years), and the heavy annual rainfall, the erosion of the shallow horizon topsoil back to the harder rock profile contributed to the stark state of the mountains for many decades. Efforts to rejuvenate these areas have failed due to the steepness of the slopes and the lack of topsoil. It’s a pretty grim place and a reminder of man’s often disregard for the planet – which can lead to such environmental blights. Well worth a visit if only to remind us of the responsibility we have for the stewardship of the planet.

Wednesday saw us pack up and leave Strahan. No tears shed on driving out of the caravan park that’s for sure! We decided we would not travel back along any roads we had used before, so mapped out a route that used some lesser roads and even some unsealed roads. This took us up through Zeehan and then though some very interesting scenery up to Corrina. We travelled through many kilometres of melaleuca scrubland – punctuated by numerous clearings where masses of bee hives were located, clearly there to produce the delicious honey these plants help make. On reaching Corrina we had to take a small one car ferry across the beautiful Pieman River.

We continued along some steep windy roads and made it through to Savage River. This was a hive of activity due to the open cut iron ore mine located here. The magnetite that is recovered here is transported as slurry and piped down to the port at Port Latta and shipped overseas.

We finally arrived in Stanley early afternoon – after an interesting and at times tricky driving experience. We were staying at the Stanley Cabin and Holiday Park and were given a great powered site, sheltered from the wind and sun with amenities close by. The beach was about 20m from our tent site and was simply stunning. Once again the sea was a beautiful turquoise with light gold sandy beaches.

A quick stroll around town took us to a quaint shop “The Angels Share”. An interesting establishment that sold a wide range of high quality clothing, but also had an amazing collection of whiskys, gins and rums – so guess what BDOB did for a lazy hour (yep no prizes for guessing a good session of tasting some of Tasmania’s amazing whisky). Might have walked away with a couple of delicious port finished whisky for the collection and a new glass.

Somewhere Dad and I were keen to get to was Cape Grim – one of the most western points in Tasmania. On driving for about an hour, we came across a sign prohibiting entry to Cape Grim, by order Van Diemen’ s Land co (f**king spoil sports).

We then thought we’d do “The Nut”. The Nut is the remains of an ancient volcanic plug with a large, mostly flat surface that can be circumnavigated on foot (hence its original name, Circular Head). Two options for reaching the top of the nut – walk or chair lift (yep you guessed it chair lift it is). The short 2km walk around the top of The Nut is simply stunning. The views are breathtaking, with some of the viewing platforms taking you out “into space” – a kind of “Titanic moment” at each one.

In the afternoon we travelled to Wynyard. We first dropped by the Table Cape Lighthouse. This lighthouse sits high on the cliff overlooking the township of Wynyard. It offers simply breathtaking views of the beautiful coastline in this area. Adjacent to the lighthouse is the Table Cape Tulip Farm – although the tulips were not in bloom there was a rainbow display of lilys still in the field that were a delightful splash of colour.

Friday saw us reluctantly leave Stanley – have grown very fond of this place. Drove the 90 minutes to Devonport, once more the Bass Highway hugged the coastline all the way, affording simply stunning views of the rugged coastline. As we were a bit early to check into the Devonport Discovery Park we decided to visit Ghost Rock Winery half way to Port Sorrell (we had passed it a number of times and this time pulled into the well manicured, grounds instead of driving past). The wines were delicious and BDOB walked out with a nice 6 pack of varieties (2 x Chardonnay, 2 x Pinot Noir, 1 x Pino Grigio and one called Pet Nat).

We only have two more days in sunny Devonport. Then back onto the Spirit to head home.

Til next time ……