Day 41: Sorell to Cockle Creek

This Monday morning we drove to the home of friends I knew when I was at high school. They moved to Tasmania when I was at uni. I stayed with them in the mid 90s when I came down here for a professional conference, but we haven't stayed in touch, aside from being Facebook friends. It's been 30 years and a lot of water has gone under the bridge! They had two little boys back then and I wasn't married. There was a lot to catch up on.

Not a bad view (though a bit streaking, after driving
on dirt). This is Cockle Creek.

After we spent time with them we stopped for groceries and then headed to the bottom of Australia. Our goal was "the end of the road" at a place called Cockle Creek. It turned out the end of the road was more than a half hour of dirt road, fairly rough dirt road. But we made it to this isolated spot on the bottom edge of the massive Southwest National Park. There are a number of places you can just pull off the road and stay for the night. They've even installed toilets, but that's the extent of the facilities.

We read the next day that this is closer to Antarctica than the top of Australia, but when I researched that a little I found that even Hobart is closer to Antarctica than the top of Cape York (brrr).

Cockle Creek

Day 40: Coles Bay to Sorell

Swansea Anglican Church, est. 1871

We did finally get to a church on our journey. This morning we drove about 45 min off the Freycinet Peninsula to Swansea and worshipped at Swansea Anglican today, there were less than 10 people in the building. David's sharp eyes saw a plaque on the wall commemorating Rev. Joseph Mayson, whose name also graces a local mountain on the peninsula.

Then, morning tea happened and numbers at least doubled, which we did not expect. There are interesting dynamics in Christian circles in this town. The Anglicans meet weekly and the Uniting Church meets fortnightly and some go to the Anglican Church on the Sundays the Uniting Church doesn't meet. But it seems they usually share morning tea each week.

View down the road from the church
across Great Oyster Bay to Freycinet Peninsula

We kept driving south after our substantial morning tea. We had lunch at Triabunna, yet another small town. Tasmania abounds with towns between 500 and 1,000 people!

Dead Island at Triabunna. There are some graves
there, but the origin of the name is unclear.

We weren't sure exactly where we were stopping that night, but ended up at a free camp in the town of Sorell, only 30 minutes from the centre of Hobart. It was very suburban after all the places we’d been recently (about 2,500 people). This town is one of Australia’s oldest towns, first established in 1808. We didn’t do any tourism here, though, as we had arranged to see some friends the next morning in eastern Hobart.

Day 39: Walking around Wineglass Bay area

Wineglass Bay

Today we walked a long way, much further than we usually do. Definitely hiking territory and we really aren’t hikers! We saw some amazing postcard-worthy views. It was a stunning day—cool and sunny, but not cold or windy or hot. Apparently Wineglass Bay is considered one of the top ten beaches in the world! 

We didn't swim, but a number were stripping down after the hike in (there is no road access, only hiking up about 1,000 steps and back down again over the pass). We'd packed a simple picnic lunch and ate that at the beach, then hiked back to our van on “the low road”.

One joy on this journey was being able to stop and "read the signs". There are a lot of informative signs around the state and it's felt like doing a jigsaw that I didn't know needed doing. The various bits of information we've read has filled out our understanding of this part of the world, so we have a bigger picture now.

Again and again we've come across this 
struggle: plunder or protect. It's something
that seems especially obvious to our modern
eyes in such a stunning place as this. Whales,
mining, and electricity (hydroelectricity) seem
to have been the three biggest arenas where
in the past people have been keen to take 
advantage of Tasmania's natural resources. But
that all came at a cost, of course.

One thing we've learned is that there was a lot of "explorer" and "scientific" interest in the area in the late 1700s and early 1800s, and much of that wasn't from Britain. The Dutch and French played a big part. The island is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (he was here in 1642!). The French left their names all over the East Coast: Freycinet Peninsula, Cape Baudin (named after the captain that Napoleon Bonaparte send in 1802), Cape Tourville, Cape Sonnerat, Cape Forestier, etc.

If you can, enlarge the photo to read some 
interesting historical background
about this peninsula (pictured on right).

The line of mountains on the peninsula are named after an American whaling ship captain. One of the mountains is even named after a long-serving local Anglican rector, Rev Joseph Mayson. We encountered his name on the next day too.

More stunning clear water at Wineglass Bay

Hazards Beach

So many wonderful views! The water is truly amazing. 

We walked from the red "You are here" directly
up the picture and then at Wineglass Bay took
a right and walked across the Isthmus to Hazards Beach
then around the coast back to "You are here". Our
phones reckoned we walked about 10 km, including over 90 "floors"

One portion of the walk around the coast

Day 38: Scamander to Coles Bay

Austral storksbill, also known
as a Wild geranium! Indeed
it looked like a geranium to us.
This is native to Australia and New
Zealand.

Feeling refreshed after a rest day, we headed south for one of the big tourist draws in this state, but you'll have to wait to tomorrow to see a photo of it.

We stopped on the way out of Scamander at the Winifred Curtis Scamander Reserve. Named after the late Dr Curtis, a Tasmanian botanist who had a lot of letters after her name, including Order of Australia. It was just bushland to us, but to someone in the field it must be a very special place. The brochure we got from the information centre says it's been largely untouched since European settlement. We did spot some little flowers that we realised later, when I looked them up, were natives.

Then we headed south via the inland route via St Marys, but carried on along a road called the Elephant Pass Road. This road was very windy, even more windy and narrow than many other Tasmanian roads and had no road markings on it. I'd hate to drive it at night! Amazingly it is designated as an "A" road—an "A" designation is apparently given to the state's most important arterial roads. 

Blowhole at Bicheno

While I am on roads, Tasmanian roads are something to be experienced. Whoever posted the speed limits was pretty unrealistic. Yes, we are driving a rather large box on wheels, but many times to feel safe, we're driving between 15 and 20 km/h lower than the posted limits! And it's not just that they are curvy, but that they are narrow, often without markings on the side, and the edges looks soft, so caution definitely seems necessary. It's a rare moment that we make it up to 100 km/hr and so we're allowing more time that we think we'll need to get anywhere. Also, we're making it a regular practise to pull off the road, where we can, if we get someone stuck behind us. Thankfully I haven't experience motion sickness here, though I have memories of feeling as such when our family came down here when I was 10, but of course I was sitting in the backseat then.

Rugged shoreline at Bicheno

We made it to Bicheno for lunch at a bakery, then walked through some historical sites, and around the shoreline to see a blowhole. Like many coastal towns in this region, sadly this used to be the base of whalers. We weren't stopping for the night here, so once again missed the penguins (they've been "sights to see" in other places we've been on the north coast too).

Large-flowered flat pea, native to Australia

We did a tiny bit of grocery shopping then headed south to a caravan park in Coles Bay on the Freycinet Penninsula. We were in time to catch a sunset there and enjoy another quiet evening before tackling a hike the next day.

Common or Pink heath, also native

Driving down the Freycinet Penninsula to Coles Bay

Sunset at Coles Bay

Day 37: all day at Scamander

Scamander River looking out to the ocean

After three days of travelling, we decided to stay put this day and have a quiet one. We went for a walk after lunch down, yet another beautiful beach. This one, Wrinklers Beach, is a surfing one, I think possible the first one we'd seen with big waves that didn't  also have sharp rocks sticking out.

Wrinklers Beach

In case you were wondering, this is what the 
inside of the motorhome looks like while we're travelling.
On the right is the sink, beyond that is a cupboard and 
the "bathroom". On the left is the three burner stove, the fridge,
and oven.

And the view looking back from the cab of the
motorhome. On the right is the three-burner
stove (fridge/freezer under bench).
The table is stowed in the centre
at the back, along with a portable table that we
use outside if the conditions are right
(it's been pretty cool so we haven't used it
as much as we thought we would).

We discovered the Scamander River has an ever changing mouth: sometimes it opens out to the ocean and other times not. This day we were able to walk right across the mouth on a wide stretch of sand. We also learned that they've had a lot of trouble getting a bridge to stay operational here, probably due to the shifting sand. It's another quiet town, one that is probably much busier in the hot months.

I also had a phone call followup with the doctor I saw on Saturday. He was happy with my current situation and with the blood tests he did on Saturday, so I moved forward without antibiotics (the first time in four weekends without them!) and, if nothing flares between now and then, will followup with my GP in Ipswich when we get back in May. It was good to have this reassurance and a longer-term plan from a doctor, but also to consult with a doctor who wasn't fazed by our travel!

Day 36: Dora Point to Scamander

We started the day with a cleaning job. We had been leisurely enjoying breakfast in the van when David spotted another padamelon outside. I had an open sleeping bag over my legs as it was still a little chilly, and foolishly I tried to leap up to see the marsupial out the other side of the van. Me or my actions on the sleeping bag knocked over my full cup of coffee. The sleeping bag, however, also saved me and the seat cushions from getting any spillage. … I should know by now that slow deliberate movement inside the van is best…but alas even five weeks into our journey and I’m still prone to error.

Beerbarrel Beach (no barrels in evidence!)

After (the initial) cleanup we drove into St Helens. We did the rest of the cleanup at the end of the day when we got access to a laundry (I should say David did most of the later cleanup, really...he does the laundry most of the time in our house. He did his best to handwash the sleeping bag and it drip-dried on the caravan park's Hills Hoist for 24 hours. We'll give it a good machine wash when we get home.) At St Helens I got a hair cut from a former Queenslander, David used the dump point for our waste water, we got groceries, sent off a signed form to our real estate agent, and checked out the visitor centre.

We then drove out to St Helen’s Point for an early lunch and did an hour-long walk to Beerbarrel Beach, and then a short drive to see a portion of the Peron Dunes (large sand dunes).

Sand dune: our sons would have
had tonnes of fun with snow sleds
on this! It was really hard to capture
the enormity of the dunes in a photo.

After this we drove a relatively short distance to the next town we were staying in: Scamander. It’s also a beachside town, and closer to St Helen’s than we realised. 

So a relatively short day of activity, but probably okay as David was showing signs of decision fatigue. We’ve realised that so much of the decision-making about how we used our personal time in the last 25 years has been dominated by what’s best for the boys. Making decisions just for us is still very novel and a bit tiring in a strange way!

When you realise that your size L feet
(Japanese sizing) aren’t actually that big!
In Australian sizing they are 8. 

Day 35: Grants Lagoon to Dora Point

We had a visitor towards the end of this day.
A pademelon, which looks quite like a wallaby,
except a bit stockier with a shorter tail.

Our free-free campsite at Grants Lagoon was just one of about half a dozen in close proximity on the coast at Bay of Fires, north of St Helens. Seeing as there seemed to be few camping and no bookings or fees, we decided to pack up and drive around the bay, looking at the sights and seeing if another campsite appealed for the next night. Grants Lagoon was nice, but unless you were planning to swim or kayak, there was not a lot to do or see in the immediate vicinity of where we'd spent the night.

So we drove north as far as the road would take us, to a place curiously called "The Gardens". No, there aren't many gardens there now, but legend has it that it was called that by one of the early influential women who found the area had many wildflowers. At The Gardens there was a short walk/rock scramble where we got our first glimpse of the Bay of Fires. Very beautiful!

More stunning sand and clear water

After that we drove south a little bit, parked, and walked to the end of Taylors Beach and back (a bit over an hour). Then we ate lunch and explored the various free campsites between there and St Helens, settled on one near Binalong Bay township, accessible via a relatively rough dirt road. The campsite was called Dora Point in the Humbug Point Nature Recreation Area. Again, a sparsely populated campsite with no facilities except flushing loos and fenced-off campsites.

A common feature in this section of the coast is
this orange lichen on rocks. 

We went for another walk out to the ocean. My phone said at the end of this day I'd walked nearly 12 km. 

Taylors Beach

We made apple crumble from scratch 
(I cut up the apples and stewed them and
David made the crumble and baked it in our
little oven. It felt like an accomplishment.

Day 34: Low Head to Grants Lagoon

Looking towards the Tamar River and George Town.

On our way out of town we stopped at a lookout outside George Town. Read some more history and discovered it’s the third oldest town in Australia, after Sydney and Hobart.

We also found more mountain biking stuff today. Many small towns in Tasmania have made tracks and attract cyclists. The most noticeable we drove through today was the small town of Derby: there were many bike and bike trailers. It’s school holidays here, so I’m guessing they had holiday events going on.

St Columbia Falls

We stopped for a comfort stop in Bridport, it's on the north coast and has been a vacation spot for over 100 years (remember: this is a long time in Australia's short history!). Then we had lunch in a Lions park in Scottsdale. Another free camping spot, but this was was very well patronised, probably because of the hot showers that were available for $3. 

After lunch we drove on very windy roads for over an hour, as we headed east to the coast at St Helen’s. I rarely got over 50 km/h.

We stopped for a short walk to St Columbia Falls (so wet and cold!) in Pyengana and then for coffee/chai and scones at an old dairy farm. The dairy farm is fully automated: which, I discovered, means the cows can come at any time (minimum interval six hours) to be milked by the machines! 

Dairy Farm where we stopped for afternoon tea

There's so much history in this one little valley, some of the farms are run by the fourth or fifth generation. At the head of the walk was some of the stories of the ancestors of the current land owners. Including one mother who went looking for a lost cow in winter and got lost herself for over a week. They gave up on her, but she showed up anyway, with frozen toes that needed amputating! Her first words were: let me see my kids! There was another family that had six sons who licenced their farm house in 1880 so they could sell alcohol. It's now called Pub in the Paddock.

About 190 km, took over two
hours, though,
due to very windy roads.

We found some really free, free camping north of St Helen’s at a place called Grants Lagoon. The local council (called "Break O'Day"!) has made a real effort to provide great camping options in this area and further north. There was almost no one there. 

Grants Lagoon

Free camping, We are discovering, often costs money, but not as much as places that provide more facilities. Usually they don’t provide electricity or water or showers. Sometimes there’s a fee, sometimes a donation is requested. Occasionally you can pay for a shower and sometimes there’s toilets. But at this place there was no fee or request for a donation, so for the first time in our trip we stayed in a public place without paying anything! There was a drop toilet that we used during the day (but at night used our own). It was another very quiet night, with no need to use our eye masks!

Day 33: all day at Low Head

It was a Sunday and we’d hoped to walk to church this morning (2.8 km away), but I came down with a cold and we decided it was better to keep that to ourselves. Also, we had complementary WiFi at this place (pretty rare on our journey!), so online church was possible.

One of the lighthouses at Low Head

We went for a walk after lunch to a couple of nearby lighthouses. We learned this region was discovered by Matthew Flinders and George Bass just 10 years after the first white settlers landed in New South Wales. It was settled in 1804 when they brought convicts and established George Town, just south of Low Head. One of the chief concerns was safe navigation, and, though the Tamar looks wide, it's apparently actually pretty tricky to navigate. So various navigation aids were introduced, including the two lighthouses we walked to. This area was also where the first submarine cable was laid between Tasmania and the mainland in 1859.

Getting the washing dry hasn't proved too hard,
we've had pretty good weather much of the time.
This view of the Tamar River was pretty good!

Bells Bay is Tasmania's main international port 
and is located just south of George Town.
On Sunday when we were chatting with our
sons, we saw this large ship sailing towards the ocean.