Brisbane to Tasmania and back again....an Australian 7 week adventure

motoz

Adventurer
Fantastic.
The wife and I did a three week lap last year. Not nearly enough time to enjoy all there is to offer.
Alas just another good reason to head back and see more.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

whatcharterboat

Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
Hi Rumpig...Awesome trip report.

FYI if you get up to Beauty Point near Beaconsfield, there is a caravan park right on the point that is run by EXPO member bptp70 (Anthony). I'm sure he'd make you welcome if you get up there before you head home.

I was there only 4 weeks ago. We had a great trip too Based ourselves at a friends vineyard in Rosvear and did 3 or 4 day trips for a couple of weeks. We did some tough 4wd tracks out around Montezuma Falls, stayed up at Ben Lomund which has only recently been opened up out of ski season, did some good walks around Waratah, etc.

Thanks again for the pics.

Regards John
 
Last edited:

Rumpig

Adventurer
Cheers all, glad you are enjoying the read and pics

Hi Rumpig...Awesome trip report.

FYI if you get up to Beauty Point near Beaconsfield, there is a caravan park right on the point that is run by EXPO member bptp70 (Anthony). I'm sure he'd make you welcome if you get up there before you head home.

I was there only 4 weeks ago. We had a great trip too Based ourselves at a friends vineyard in Rosvear and did 3 or 4 day trips for a couple of weeks. We did some tough 4wd tracks out around Montezuma Falls, stayed up at Ben Lomund which has only recently been opened up out of ski season, did some good walks around Waratah, etc.

Thanks again for the pics.

Regards John
Hi John....I am already back in Brisbane mate, got home on Australia Day actually after being away the 7 weeks (6 weeks in Tasmania itself). I still have about 4 weeks worth of the report to write up, it's not an a running report i'm doing. As you'll read later on, we visited Montezuma Falls and i may or may not have done some damage to my vehicle there, also had a quick late in the arvo stop in at Beaconsfield (sadly it was after hours, so we missed going into the mine museum), we also did Jacobs Ladder and had a drink at Highest Pub in Tassie whilst there...but that's still a few weeks away yet in the report i'm yet to write...lol.
 

whatcharterboat

Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
Cheers all, glad you are enjoying the read and pics

Hi John....I am already back in Brisbane mate, got home on Australia Day actually after being away the 7 weeks (6 weeks in Tasmania itself). I still have about 4 weeks worth of the report to write up, it's not an a running report i'm doing. As you'll read later on, we visited Montezuma Falls and i may or may not have done some damage to my vehicle there, also had a quick late in the arvo stop in at Beaconsfield (sadly it was after hours, so we missed going into the mine museum), we also did Jacobs Ladder and had a drink at Highest Pub in Tassie whilst there...but that's still a few weeks away yet in the report i'm yet to write...lol.

Yeah righto...we would have been down there at the same time then. How good was the weather!! and yeah I could see how you could have done damage into Montezuma Falls. Actually I used to live just near there at Lake Tullah back in the late 80's and we used to drive in to the falls on what is now the walking track. I got a real shock this time when we started in along the old road and found a carpark halfway down with a sign saying it was a 3 hour hike in . What a shame. That used to be a beautiful old track to drive on with some very pretty creek crossings. Some of it ran over century-old ore cart tracks. ...So anyway this trip we ended up taking the 16k track that you would have used.....it was very greasy on the day we went in.

Really looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

Hey, when you said the "highest pub in Tassie"..do you mean the lodge at Ben Lomund? I don't drink but man, the food there was something else. The couple that run it are chefs and are really trying hard to make a go of it. I'd recommend that place to anyone reading this.

Kind regards John
 
Last edited:

johanso

Adventurer
Really cool trip! Thanks for sharing.

I visited Australia 13 years ago and loved everything about the country. Need to go back soon…

Do you know what the age of those old ruins?
 

Rumpig

Adventurer
Yeah righto...we would have been down there at the same time then. How good was the weather!! and yeah I could see how you could have done damage into Montezuma Falls. Actually I used to live just near there at Lake Tullah back in the late 80's and we used to drive in to the falls on what is now the walking track. I got a real shock this time when we started in along the old road and found a carpark halfway down with a sign saying it was a 3 hour hike in . What a shame. That used to be a beautiful old track to drive on with some very pretty creek crossings. Some of it ran over century-old ore cart tracks. ...So anyway this trip we ended up taking the 16k track that you would have used.....it was very greasy on the day we went in.

Really looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

Hey, when you said the "highest pub in Tassie"..do you mean the lodge at Ben Lomund? I don't drink but man, the food there was something else. The couple that run it are chefs and are really trying hard to make a go of it. I'd recommend that place to anyone reading this.

Kind regards John
Hi John,
I'll assume we are talking about the same place with the pub at Ben Lomund, my pics don't mention the word lodge in it though, there's a big cafe sign out the front and signage saying The Highest Pub in Tasmania. The weather was pretty fantastic for the 6 weeks we were there, we only had a few days of rain and got smashed by some savage winds for a few days on the East Coast, but that's pretty good for Tassie i reckon...lol
 

Rumpig

Adventurer
Really cool trip! Thanks for sharing.

I visited Australia 13 years ago and loved everything about the country. Need to go back soon…

Do you know what the age of those old ruins?
Hey johanso, are you talking about the ruins at Port Arthur i posted the pics of? If so it started as a penal colony in 1830 from memory, i'd have to look up when it stopped being used though.
 

Rumpig

Adventurer
DAY 13 - MT FIELD / GORDON DAM

We wake to a nice morning today, our plan for the day is to do a 4wd track on the way to The Gordon Dam, then drive out to the dam itself and then back to camp from there. It's approximately a 100 kilometre drive from camp out to the Gordon Dam, and then you need to come all the way back again on the same road you went there on, so we'll be doing a bit over 200 klms driving today by the time you add in the detour of the 4wd track also. Before we can leave camp though, we need to visit the Rangers Station and get a key that unlocks the gate on the 4wd track we want to drive. The track is called The Saw Back Track, it's definately 4wd only and takes you through to the old mining town of Adamsfield, oh and by the way...you need to pay a $300 refundable deposit to get a key that unlocks the gate to gain access the track. The track is one way only and they limit the number of vehicles that can drive it at anyone time.
Brekky had and vehicles stocked for the days outing, we head over to the Rangers Station to get the key. There's a bit of paperwork to fill in before we get the key, they'll want your name and vehicle details and i think they might have wanted to know who were in the vehicles also. Jeff hands over his credit card and pays the refundable deposit, they actually only process the transaction if you don't return the key we get told as they take down the cards details. The lady taking our details and giving us the key isn't very helpfull on current track conditions, she's never been on the track before and calls for another Ranger to come and speak to us to help us out better. We get the run down on the track and it doesn't sound to bad from how the Ranger speaks of it, we mention we both are driving Landcruisers and running atleast 2 inches of lift (my vehicle has a 3" lift), and the Ranger says we'll be fine then. Aswell as the lift, both vehicles are runing front and back lockers aswell as a winch on the front bar, it's just a shame my winch doesn't actually work at the moment...you might recall i mentioned that back at the start...lol.
We get the key we need and head off towards The Gordon Dam on the Gordon River Rd. The track we plan to drive is about 32 klms past the small town of Maydena, it's the last place to get food and fuel until you return back here again, so keep that in mind. The drive starts off with the surrounding bushland blocking pretty much any views as you drive along the road, occasionally the trees disappear though, and you are then greeted with some pretty nice views of the surrounding mountain ranges.

THE START OF THE DRIVE TOWARDS GORDON DAM



OCCASIONALLY YOU'LL GET A CLEARING SHOWING SOME OF THE NICE VIEWS THE AREA HAS ON OFFER



It's an uneventful run to the start of the Saw Back Track, we stop a couple of times along the way to get pics, and Jeff and Sara manage to see an echidna at one of the spots they pull over at. At about the 32klm mark past Maydena, we turn right off the main road onto a small track which is the start of the Saw Back Track, you'll immediately see the locked gate infront of you, so when you pull up here it's the perfect time to air down and lock it in 4wd. We unlock the gate and proceed through it, immediately you'll notice there's not a lot of width to the track, so prepare yourself for some bush pin striping action.

SAW BACK TRACK







The start of the track is pretty easy going for the first kilometre, though as mentioned already the trees lining the track give the paint work on your vehicle a real hammering. If you're the type of person that hates scratches on their vehicle, then don't even consider driving this track. After about a kilometre the track starts to become a bit more muddy and you lose the hard base you've been driving on, there's some bigger holes starting to appear and the track starts to become a proper 4wd track. A few kilometres into the track and Jeff who is leading the way has become stuck, he's bottomed out in the centre of the track and going nowhere fast, his front and back lockers not helping at all. It's time to run the winch out and drag him up the hill, it doesn't look like a hard hill to drive actually but he's hung up and stuck fast. We run the cable out and find a suitable tree at the top of the small hill that Jeff is stuck on, we slowly drag the vehicle to the top and then it's my turn. Engaging both front and back lockers i tell the misses we should be right here, Jeffs spare tyre under his vehicle has been dragging on the high spots of the centre of the track in various places along the way, and this is what looks like he was hung up on a minute ago. A little bit of right foot....but not to much, and we have a crack at the hill....nup, no luck. I back out and give it another try with a touch more right foot this time....nope, no luck again. I tell Jeff i'll give it one more go, and if no luck this time we'll snatch it up the hill with his vehicle. I give it a 3rd attempt but still don't make it to the top this time either, i'm getting hung up on the diff centres here and need to be running atleast 35" tyres i reckon to get the clearance i need on the centre of the track. There is no choice of line to take here either, it's 2 wheel tracks with embankments on either side of you, so you either have the clearance or you don't, it's that simple. If i really wanted to flog the guts out of my vehicle i reckon i may have made it up this incline bouncing over the holes, but we are thousands of kilometres from home at the moment and still have another 4 weeks of holidays infront of us, so i didn't want to risk breaking something just to conquor a small muddy hill. I grab my snatch strap out and we hook it up to Jeffs vehicle, it's not long and i'm then over the last little rise i was hung up on. We are only at the start of the track and already wondering what the rest of it will be like from here on in, the Ranger back at the station said it should be pretty easy going for vehicles like ours, but we are starting to wonder when was the last time he actually drove this track to know the current condition of it. The track isn't hard 4wding by any means, it's just that the wheel ruts are so deep, we really need to be running bigger tyres to get the diff clearance we require.
We push on a touch further and before long Jeff is bogged once again, like last time he's hung up in the centre of the track, and it's time to break the winch out once again. We winch it free and now it's my turn to have a try, but just like the last spot i also get hung up in the centre of the track also, so we need to snatch it free once again. With both vehicles eventually at the top of the rise, we make the call to turn back and forget about doing the rest of this track. We have no idea what lies infront of us, and at the rate we are currently making headway at, it'll likely be night time by the time we reach the other end of this track. To be honset... if we were back at home driving this with a few of our mates in the 4wd club this would be a pretty fun track to drive, but here we are with our wives and kids onboard on holidays, and we're really not in the mood for trudging through the mud like we currently are and winching vehicles up slippery hills. We find a suitable spot to do a 10 point turn in (trust me there ain't many spots to turn around in here) and start heading back the wrong way on a one way track, we just hope nobody comes the other way as there just isn't anywhere to pass each other on this track in most places. Thankfully we get back to the gate without anyone coming the other way, the hills we got stuck on going up we slide down over going the opposite way, we unlock the gate once again and exit the track. If you have a vehicle running 35" tyres i reckon you'll go much better then we did on this track, if your running 33" tyres as we are, then you'll need plenty of right foot and a zero care factor about how hard you hit the humps and bumps to bounce through the holes...something we just weren't going to do ourselves.

TRACK STARTS OUT FINE, A TOUCH WET BUT A HARD BASE



TRACK IS OVERGROWN IN PLACES (not the worst of it pictured), SO YOU'LL GET SOME BUSH PIN STRIPING ALONG THE WAY



YOU CAN SEE JEFF HAS BEEN BOTTOMING OUT IN THE CENTRE OF THE TRACK AS HE GOES







NO PICS OF THE RECOVERIES SORRY TO SAY, WE WERE A BIT BUSY TRYING NOT TO SLIP OVER IN THE MUD...LOL

We lock the gate behind us as we leave and air our tyres back up again, we turn right back onto the Gordon River Rd and head towards Strathgordon. As you drive along the road it starts to open up more, the views along the way of the surrounding mountain ranges are getting pretty spectacular, so we stop to take a few more pics.

THE SENTINEL RANGE



Just before we reach Strathgordon we turn left to go check out a lookout that overlooks Lake Pedder, we plan to have lunch here but as we are taking a few pictures of the view, it starts to shower with rain. The view out over the lake below and of the mountain ranges in the distance is pretty spectacular, make sure you stop here to check it out for yourself. Lake Pedder is apparently Australia's largest freshwater lake and water catchment system, water from here can flow into the Gordon Dam through the McPartlan's Pass canal and as such it becomes a part of the Gordon power station.

LAKE PEDDER, AUSTRALIA'S LARGEST FRESH WATER LAKE AND CATCHMENT SYSTEM...this pic does it no justice at all, that's maybe a quarter of what you'll see out infront of you.



With light rain falling we give lunch the miss for the moment and head off towards the Gordon Dam once again. Passing through Strathgordon you could be mistaken looking at a map that it's a town where fuel and the like would be available, but this doesn't appear to be the case, it's just about a ghost town. Orginally built by Hydro Tasmania as a construction township for the workers damming Lake Pedder and Lake Gordon, Strathgordon nowadays is not much more then a popular spot for fisherman and bush walkers choosing to stay in the chalet or self-contained units that are to be found here. We pass straight through the township without stopping and drive the last 12 klms to the Gordon Dam. As we reach the hydro power plant that is located at the dam here, we notice an aweful lot of dead trees about the place. Iit takes a while for us to realise what has happened here, but we think the water level must be much lower then it normally would be at the moment, and what we are seeing is the trees that would normally be under water.
We pull up at the end of the road where it over looks the dam wall and hop out of our vehicles. The rain has stopped now so we take the opportunity to make a quick lunch, before then walking down a bucket load of stairs to walk along the top of the dam wall itself. The dam wall is 140 mtrs high and apparently holds back thirty times the amount of water of Sydney Harbour. Adrenalin junkies can even abseil down the dam wall for a cost of $210 (you need to book in a tour prior to do this, it's not a turn up and do thing, there's nobody out here most of the time), it's apparently the world's highest commercial abseil, so something to tick off your bucket list maybe. We walk the wall and take a few pics before starting the climb back up to the vehicles. As i go to climb the stairs back to our vehicle i notice another old concrete set of stairs coming down the rock wall to our left, and i wonder what used to be there once upon a time (a lookout maybe?). The drop from the last step there now is a substantial one, i doubt these concrete stairs are accessible by the public nowadays?

GORDON DAM





A GOOD TESTER FOR THE KNEES



PLENTY OF DEAD TREES ABOUT THE PLACE



OLD CONCRETE STAIRS



WATCH THAT LAST STEP, IT A DOOZEY AND DROPS OVER THIS



Back at the vehicles we start our drive back towards camp, we make a quick stop to check out the power station and i am surprised to read that 183 mtrs below the switch yard is where 13% of Tasmania's hydro electricity is being produced. Looking at the power station infront of us, it's hard to believe there's so much more buillt that far underground that we aren't seeing.

GORDON DAM HYDRO STATION



With the last of the afternoon fast getting away from us we head back towards camp, we stop off a few more times along the way to grab a few more pics and end up back at camp later then originally planned. We have some dinner and a few drinks, before heading off to bed for the night after a long days driving.

STOPPING FOR PICS ON THE WAY BACK TO CAMP



THE COLOURS OF THE PLANTS IN THIS AREA WITH THE MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND ARE QUITE PRETTY TO LOOK AT

 
Last edited:

Rumpig

Adventurer
DAY 14 - MT FIELD TO DERWENT BRIDGE

It was a bit of a wet night last night but nothing torrential, the rain started falling lightly after dinner yesterday, which was part of the reason for going to bed earlier then we'd normally do. This morning isn't to bad a day though, it's overcast and threatening to rain but not doing so, we have the diesel heater running in the camper and it's drying out the canvas nicely (it's just damp, not soaking wet). We have brekky and decide we'll do the walk to Russell and Horseshoe Falls this morning before coming back to camp and packing up, as we are leaving Mt Field today. It's less then 150 klms to tonights next camp which is at Derwent Bridge / Lake St Clair, so we have plenty more time to look around here before we need to head off.
The walk to Russell Falls is a pretty easy one and only takes about 20 minutes to do the return walk from the day use area, it's a circuit walk done on a bitumin pathway, and is even suitable for wheel chairs. Horseshoe Falls is a bit of a different story though, it's about another 10 - 15 minutes further on from Russell Falls (45 minutes return walk), but to get to it you need to negotiate going up a heap of stairs, so prepare your knees for a slight workout. We grab our wet weather gear to take with us on the walk just incase, we know with our small kids in our group we'll be gone for atleast an hour from camp maybe longer, so the chance of the rain starting to fall again whilst we're away is a real possibilty. Walking along the fern lined pathway to Russell Falls we stop several times to take pics of moss covered fallen trees and the like, and the kids are enjoying being outdoors and not being in the 4wd's for a change. As you walk along the pathway here you'll come to an intersection with no signage, take either direction (straight on or turn right) it doesn't really matter as it's a loop track to Russel Falls from here, so either way will get you to there. We head straight on at the intersection and before we know it we have arrived at Russell Falls, there's not a massive amount of water coming down the falls, but it's still an impressive sight to look at none the less.

THE WALK TO RUSSELL AND HORSESHOE FALLS



FERNS LINE MUCH OF THE PATH TO THE FALLS



RUSSELL FALLS



We take a few pics at Russel Falls and continue on along the pathway. We come to an intersection and turn left off of the loop track to head up to Horseshoe Falls. Horseshoe Falls is upstream of Russel Falls, so the water cascades over this first before making it's way a few hundred metres further, and then cascades once again down over Russel Falls. Once you turn off towards Horseshoe Falls it's where the stairs start, you'll encounter a few at the start along the track as it climbs uphill, but a touch further on you'll encounter a pretty decent staircase that just keeps on climbing it's way up. The timber staircase is covered in wire due to this being an alpine region, there's a snow field located here at Mt Field a touch higher up the mountain, so ice on the timber walkways must be a regular occurance during the year i'm guessing. We reach Horseshoe Falls and agree the slight workout is worth the effort to look at these falls also, they aren't as big as Russel Falls overall, but the way it sits nestled in the surrounding forest is probably the prettier of the 2 falls to look at IMHO.

HORSESHOE FALLS



From Horseshoe Falls you can continue on walking to another waterfall called Lady Barron Falls, as much as we'd love to go check it out, with the small kids we have we decide the extra 2 hours walking isn't a great idea, so we turn around here and head back to base to pack up our camper trailers. We reach the intersection where we turned off the loop track from Russell Falls and turn left to finish that circuit walk, the track just follows the creek back to the first unsigned intersection, and there's not much to see really on this section of the walk...the first part of the loop we did was the prettier section IMHO.
As we get back to camp i snap a quick pic of the now mostly deserted campground, we are at the front entrance of it, and the powered sites disappear a fair way down the righthand side of here to the ablution block. To the left of where we are camped is a few unpowered sites, over behind that area again is a heap more unpowered sites also, it's a pretty decent sized place they have here actually.

MT FIELD CAMPGROUND.... (you can see we struggled to fit in the powered site here)...self registration hut pictured in the foreground also



With no rain whilst we were away the camper trailer is now dry thanks to the diesel heater, we pack up the trailers but don't hitch them up yet. Before we leave Mt Field we want to go for a drive up to the top of the mountain, and have a look at Lake Dobson. Between the day use area and the campground is a road going off to your right, this is the road you need to take to get to Lake Dobson. The majority of the road to the top of the mountain is dirt, it's corrugated in some places but not a concern for our 4wd's...the 2wd vehicles that drive up here would certainly feel it more though. Part of the way up the drive we stop to take a pic at a lookout / clearing in the trees, the view of the valley below is a nice one to look at.

VIEW OUT OVER THE VALLEY BELOW ON WAY TO LAKE DOBSON



DRIVING UP TO LAKE DOBSON



A bit further on up the mountain we stop to look at some National Parks huts that are available to rent as an accomodation option whilst at Mt Field. The huts were originally used by road workers on Lake Dobson Rd back in 1949, they were later moved to there current location and have been used for public accomodation for the past 50 years. There's 5 huts located here and they are very basic... no electricity, no gas, no hot water, and no lighting for a start. There's a communal toilet for the 5 huts to share, and each hut has a fire place in it. There's bunk beds with vinyl matresses and a sink in each hut, but that's about it. You need to be totally self sufficent if you stay here, basically it's camping in a hut really. The huts are $45 a night (flat rate) to rent, and sleep 6 people according to the Nat. Parks website. They probably wouldn't be a bad option as something a bit different to stay in, and would get you away from the crowds of the main camp ground also.

MT FIELD GOVERNMENT HUTS TO RENT







A touch further on past the huts and you reach the end of the road, we park the vehicles up here and get out to have a look around. Located here is Lake Dobson and it's only metres away from the carpark area, we take a few pics of it and remark how crystal clear the water is in it. Amongst a few longer walks you can do from here, there's a 1.5 klm walk around the lake you can do called the Pandani Grove walk, we don't have time to this walk though, so give it a miss today.
There's a public use shelter located here, aswell as a toilet block aswell. Also located at the top of the mountain here is one of 2 downhill ski parks found in Tasmania, the other being in Ben Lomund National Park. Being we are in Summer right now there's no snow for us to see today though, but this is Tasmania and you never know your luck, it can snow at random times throughout the year in this state.


NO SNOW PLOUGHS TO WATCH FOR TODAY



SOME OF THE FLOWERS BESIDE THE WALKING TRACK LOCATED HERE







LAKE DOBSON



Time is getting away from us now, so we jump back in the vehicles and head back down the mountain. We make a quick stop on the way down the mountain to have a look at Lake Fenton, 20% of the water consumed by Southern Tasmanian communities comes from this lake. A tunnel carries water from Lake Fenton into Lady Barron Creek, it drops 300 mtrs into and intake weir and is then distributed through pipelines to 8 different Southern Councils.

LAKE FENTON



Back in the vehicles once again and it's not long and we are back at camp. We make a quick lunch then hook the campers up to the vehicles and depart Mt Field, just as we do this the rain starts to fall once again. Leaving Mt Field we take a righthand turn and head towards the Gordon Dam on Gordon River Rd, we are taking the scenic route to Derwent Bridge this afternoon and trying to keep off of the bitumin as much as we can. We pass through the township of Maydena once again and not far past there we take a righthand turn onto Florentine Rd. The road turns to gravel from here on until we join onto the Lyell Hwy, it's roughly 65klms of dirt road we'll be driving. This route we are taking passes through logging country and climbs over a couple of mountain ranges along the way. It's an easy forestry drive to do, just watch for logging trucks coming towards you on some of the blind corners.

WHERE WE ARE DRIVING



IT'S A TOUCH WET OUTSIDE AT THE MOMENT



WE SEE SIGNS OF LOGGING HAPPENING IN THE AREA AS WE DRIVE ALONG



THERE'S SOME SIGNAGE ALONG THE WAY...though there's heaps of unsigned side tracks along the way you could get lost on also



STOPPED TO GRAB A DRINK FROM THE FRIDGE IN THE BACK ALONG THE WAY



As we are almost at the end of the track where it hooks up onto the Lyell Highway, we pass by a fish farm. Fish farming is a massive industry in Tasmania as i've mentioned previously, we stop for a quick pic before continuing on our way once again.

FISH FARM ON FLORENTINE ROAD

 

Rumpig

Adventurer
At the end of the track we take a lefthand turn onto the Lyell Highway, it's an uphill climb straight away here and i crawl along up the range in 3rd gear for an eternity before i reach the top of it. Seriously speaking here... this climb up the range was probably the longest climb i had to do in our entire 6 weeks in Tasmania, from a standing start it was one long contiunous climb uphill where i never got out of 3rd gear for ages. I was watching my temperature gauge on my vehicle the entire time we climbed that range, a combination of taking it easy on the climb and the colder local climate seems to have worked a treat, the temperature gauge doesn't rise at all.
Cruising along the Lyell Highway we soon see some large water pipelines running along the side of the road. Tasmania has a 100 year plus history of running hydro electricity power in this state, and what are seeing is one of the many pipelines that help feed water across the state to that industry. A touch further on from here we decend down a steep decline and then pull over at a roadside rest area to take a few more pics of a hydro station and it's pipelines. The rest area is called Nive River, it has a large hut here complete with a large fireplace built inside of it also, something we definately aren't used to seeing back home in Queensland where we live. Pics taken we jump back in the vehicles for the final run to tonights camp, we just aren't sure exactly where that'll be yet.

WATER PIPELINES BESIDE LYELL HIGHWAY



THE TUNGATINHA POWER STATION



SOME LOVELY ARCHITECTURE ON THE OLD POWERHOUSE BUILDING



It's not to much longer and we are arriving at tonights destination which is the township of Derwent Bridge, there's not a lot here really, a small cafe / service station, a hotel and a few houses, and that's about it really. We drive straight to the hotel as we have read they do free camping here, we pull up in the carpark out front of the hotel and walk inside to enquire about staying here the night. The pub itself is a nice old building, a big fire place inside seperates the public bar area from the dining / lounge area, and it has a heap of character to it, it looks like a great place to spend the evening tonight. We enquire at the front bar about camping here the night and are informed the camp area is the gravel carpark out the front of the hotel, we don't really like the sound of this option so decide we'll go for a drive 5 minutes up the road to lake St Clair, and see what the camping is like there instead. It's well after 5.00 p.m by now and we walk into the main reception building at Lake St Clair, the place is pretty busy and we stand in line for about 10 minutes waiting to ask about their camping options. Whilst standing in line here going nowhere fast, i start to think to myself how little atmosphere this place has about it even though it's super busy, it's right about then that Jeff mentiones the exact same thing to me, and sick of waiting in a line that's not going anywhere, we walk outside to our vehicles and head back to the Derwent Bridge Hotel to camp the night.
We set up camp in the carpark area and quickly make some hot dogs for dinner. Dinner eaten we walk inside the hotel and spend the rest of the evening sitting by the fire having a drink or two...or maybe 3 or 4 or more as was the case with our wives. Speaking to a few other people here tonight, the hotel apparently does really nice meals, but prepare yourself for the price of them as they don't exactly come cheap. Sitting in the lounge area drinking we get to talking to a couple of ladies who we find out were staying the night in accomodation at Lake St Clair. Funnily enough, these 2 ladies mention to us that they decided to come to the hotel for dinner tonight, as the place they were staying at had no atmosphere to it...so that's 4 people that thought the very same thing now (Jeff, myself and these 2 ladies). We have a few laughs with these 2 ladies and the barmaid also, before Jeff and myself take the kids back to the campers and off to bed. Our wives decide to have a couple more glasses of wine before eventually being kicked out of the hotel, as it's closing time and the lovely barmaid who runs the joint wants to go to bed.
Our concerns about camping in the hotel carpark turn out to be a non issue, the hotel itself is pretty quite (especially when you go to bed around closing time), and the main highway the hotel is located on gets very little traffic travelling along it at night time (it's not exactly busy during the day either i might add). It's a pretty cool night tonight and the heater in the camper is getting another run once again. There ends up being a couple of other vans camping in the car park area with us tonight, i think including us 2 it was 4 or 5 vehicles camping here.

TONIGHTS CAMPING DESTINATION...THE DERWENT BRIDGE HOTEL



WALKING DISTANCE TO THE PUB...LOL
GRAVEL CARPARK CAMPSITE... HOTEL ONE SIDE AND HIGHWAY THE OTHER....but it ended up being a nice quiet location to stay at.



A CRAPPY PHONE PIC OF DUAL SIDED FIRE PLACE INSIDE THE HOTEL

 

Rumpig

Adventurer
DAY 15 - DERWENT BRIDGE TO MACQUARIE HEADS

We had the heater running over time last night due to it being pretty cool, but we wake to a nice morning. Last night we'd enquired in the hotel if a breakfast was available or not, and whilst yes they do have a brekky available, we are told it's a continental one and that we'd be better off going to the cafe down the road to get something as it'd work out much cheaper for our family....you have to love their honesty...lol.
We packed the campers up and headed the short distance down the road to The Hungry Wombat Cafe to have someone else make breakfast for us for a change. The cafe is located at the service station and is decked out in all sorts of wombat paraphernalia inside, we even notice there's a motorhome out in the backyard here with wombat motiffs on it also. We order some toasted bacon, egg and cheese sangas for brekky, and whilst waiting for the food to be cooked have a look around inside the cafe. Whilst looking around i find an amusing poem in a picture frame on a shelf, it read like this....
WOMBAT POEM
As you strolled along the track
Eyes alert and ears pinned back,
You may have seen these queer square turds
And thought, if not expressed in words
The stress of such a defecation
Baffles the imagination
It's not done to entertain us
For the Wombat has an oblung anus

So, if your slumber is disturbed
By cries and screams, don't be perturbed
Eyes shut, teeth clenched, racked with pain

THE WOMBATS GONE AND CRAPPED AGAIN

The feed here at the cafe was nice enough (it's pretty hard to bugger up a toasted bacon, egg and cheese sanga though), Jeff tops up his fuel and we grab a few souveniers also, before heading off for our first destination of the day.

THE HUNGRY WOMBAT CAFE





THE WOMBAT MOTORHOME IN THEIR BACKYARD



On the way into Derwent Bridge yesterday afternoon we passed by our first stop of today, it's only a very short drive back up the highway and we are turning left into the driveway of The Wall. I'll state right now that i have no photos of inside this place at all, as you are not allowed to take cameras of any sort inside here. It's a touch disappointing that this is the case, but don't let this put you off coming here, because if you miss this place whilst you are visiting Tasmania you've honestly missed one of the most amazing things you are likely to see in your lifetime. Ok it's not life changing what you'll see here, but it is some of the most amazing timber sculpture work you'll likely see anywhere in the world IMHO. I can't describe what you'll see here any better then the artist himself Greg Duncan does, so here's his description (taken from his website) of what he is creating here....
“The idea for The Wall is quite a simple one,” Greg says. “I’m carving a series of 100 panels. Each panel is one metre wide and three metres high. The panels will be placed back-to-back. So, by the time I finish, I’ll have created a wall 50 metres long with carvings on both sides - 100 metres all up.”
More information on what you'll find at the wall can be found here
http://www.thewalltasmania.com/ & pics showing what you'll see are here https://www.google.com/search?q=the+wall+tasmania&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=fFRgVaGYNpWE8gXxkoK4Ag&ved=0CDMQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=969 ...to be honest, those pics in the link do not show the detail that is in these carvings, it has to be seen to be believed. I can't talk this place up enough, it really was a highlight of our 6 week holiday in Tasmania...do not miss going to check this out!!!
We spend quite some time here walking through the gallery marvelling at Gregs creation, as we go to leave the premises we have a quick chat with the artist himself and ask when it is he does his carving these days? Greg explains that he used to do the carvings whilst people walked around the gallery around him, but their constant questions and chatting to him meant he acheived little progress each day, so these days he does most of his art work here after business hours.

ENTRANCE DRIVEWAY TO THE WALL





THE GALLERY WHERE GREG DUNCAN'S WORK IS HOUSED



A "SIMPLE" TIMBER SCULPTURE OUTSIDE THE GALLERY BUILDING...i only say the word "simple", as the detail on the carvings inside is so much more then this sculpture has in it.



We head back to our vehicles and from here we drive back out towards Lake St Clair which we ever so briefly visited yesterday afternoon whilst looking for a campsite. Before reaching where we visited yesterday afternoon though, we take a righthand turn down a dirt track to Pumphouse Point. Located here is as expected a pump house, built as part of the states hydro electricity scheme back in the late 1930's (completed in 1940), turbines were housed inside a 5 story building which was built about 275 metres (900 feet) from the shoreline out in Lake St Clair itself. The pumphouse is accessed via a long jetty that runs from the shoreline out to the building in the the lake, but before we reach this location we take another small detour and turn off the main track to have a look at a weir. The wier is really nothing spectacular to look at itself, a fairly standard looking set of 8 gates that can be closed to hold back the waters of Lake St Clair from emptying into the river system. What we are looking at here though, is the head waters of the mighty Derwent River, the river flows South from here to New Norfolk, a distance of 187 klms. From New Norfolk the estuary system of the Derwent River runs a further 52 klms out to the sea, all up a distance of just under 240 klms from where we are standing at the moment.
A quick look had at the weir and we continue on to the pumphouse, much to my surprise not long after turning back onto the main track, we have a large body truck coming towards us. There's no room to pass each other on this small track, so i have to start reversing back down the track to find a spot to pass each other. The driver of the truck is quite rude and impatient, as i slowly reverse back with the trailer onboard he is edging right up to the front bullbar of my vehicle trying to rush me faster, i feel like parking the vehicle up in the middle of the road and giving him a mouthful of abuse actually, but i couldn't be bothered. I find a spot to pull off the side of the track and the truck passes us by, i'd radioed Jeff earlier not to come out onto the track to allow the truck to come past first, so he doesn't have to worry about passing him luckily. From here we continue on the short distance to the end of the track, we park the vehicles up in a small turn around bay and hop out to go have a look at the pumphouse. Walking up to the front gate we see a sign stating the pumphouse is closed and currently a construction site, as it is now being turned into luxury accomodation. We walk out onto the beach of the lake and take a few pics, before hopping back in our vehicles and driving a few hundred metres back up the track we came in on. We hop out of the vehicles once again to take a few more pics here, as it has better views of the lake and pumphouse and jetty.

LAKE ST CLAIR WEIR...HEAD WATERS OF THE DERWENT RIVER



THE PUMPHOUSE




VIEW OVER LAKE ST CLAIR FROM PUMPHOUSE POINT



From Pumphouse Point we drive back to the main road and turn right to head out to the Lake St Clair lodge where we'd stopped at the day previous. This area of Lake St Clair is very popular with the bush walking fraternity due to it's accomodation that is available here, it's the destination point (you must walk from North to South apparently) for people choosing to do The Overland Track. The Overland Track is a 65klm long, 6 day trek through the centre of Cradle Mountain / Lake St Clair National Park, it starts near Ronny Creek in Cradle Mountain, and ends here at Australia's deepest lake, Lake St Clair. The lake apparently reaches a depth of 200 metres in some places, and just like every other place we have been to in Tasmania so far, the water is crystal clear. We walk along a small section of the shoreline of the lake here, taking note of the National Parks sign warning to watch out for snakes that have been sighted regularly here, the kids have a run around and we take a few more pics of the lake. We head back to the main lodge area and look around the souvenier store, almost buying a recipe book dedicated to the cooking up of road kill...Skippy the Bush Vindaloo sounded oh so yummy and almost had me sold on buying the book...lol... (for those who aren't Australian, "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" was a very popular kids show here back in the late 70's early 80's)

LAKE ST CLAIR FROM NEAR THE LODGE



WATER IS CRYSTAL CLEAR AS USUAL HERE IN TASSIE



Back at our vehicles and our next port of call is Nelson Falls on the way towards Queenstown, we were told to stop in and have a look at it by the barmaid at the hotel last night, we thought she said it was only about 15 klms out of Derwent Bridge, but it turned out to be something like 60 odd kilomteres away from memory. As we go to leave Jeff needs to do something with his kids, we think we only have a short drive to do to get to Nelson Falls, so he says go ahead and he'll meet back up with us there. Driving along the highway towards Queenstown we pass the mark where we think the falls should be but find nothing, we continue on many more kilometers and still can't find what we are looking for, eventually we think we must have missed the turn off somehow, even though we knew we'd not seen one. We are driving through some pretty hilly and windy terrain now, we've tried calling Jeff up on the uhf radio several times, but get no answer from him. A long long way past where we thought the falls should be i pull off the highway and try to find the place in my HEMA, i eventually locate it and note it's still a bit further up the road from where we currently are. Still no answer from Jeff on the uhf radio we decide to drive to the falls and wait for them there, eventually along the way though we get them on the radio, and confirm the falls location as our meet up point.
We arrive at the falls and knowing Jeff is still a short while away, we head off to go look at them. It's another easy rated track along a pathway to the falls, which should only take about 20 minutes at the most for the return journey. Reaching the falls we agree they are worth the stop to look at, we take a few pics and head back towards the carpark area to have some lunch. As we head back to there we meet up with Jeff and family coming in the opposite way, Jeff tells us of how they were stopped on a small boardwalk section back near the start of the track, and how a snake came up through the boardwalk right at the feet of his youngest boy Lucas. Jeff said he had to quickly grab his son and stop him from walking on it, we later find out going on the description of the snake Jeff gave us, that it was likely a tiger snake which are quite venonmous. Their scare for the day out of the way, Jeff and family also check out the falls before joining us back at our vehicles, where we all have a quick bite to eat on the side of the road here.

NELSON FALLS





From Nelson Falls we push on towards Queenstown once again, the mountainous scenery along the way is pretty spectacular in places, and in a spot somewhere after crossing a long bridge across Lake Burbury, we pull over on the side of the highway to take some pics of what we are seeing. Way off in the distance looking back towards the bridge we'd crossed moments earlier, we are sure we see snow on a mountain peak, it truely is a pretty location around these parts of Tasmania

SCENERY ON ROUTE TO QUEENSTOWN



LOOKING BACK OVER LAKE BURBURY TO THE MOUNTAINS



We push on once again, and a short distance further up the highway we see an old ruin on the side of the road that catches our attention. We make a quick sharp righthand turn off of the highway to stop and have a look at it. There's a fair bit of signage located here at the old Royal Hotel warning people to keep out and that it's private property, i'm guessing they get a fair share of curious people like ourselves stopping here to have a look at this place. These old hotel ruins in the town (if you can call it that) of Linda are a replacement for another old hotel that was involved in a fire in 1910 so i've been informed, i have no idea what the story is with how this replacement hotel came to be how it is now though.

ROYAL HOTEL RUINS IN LINDA





 

Rumpig

Adventurer
From the hotel ruins we push on again and start to climb the range as we edge closer to Queenstown, we soon see a sign saying there's a lookout to the right, so we quickly take the turn off to go check it out. Turning off the highway the road continues to climb and a short distance on we are parking the vehicles up at the end of the road to check out the newish cantilever lookout platform that is located here. Back in 1883 three gold diggers pegged out 50 acres of land in the valley below which we are currently looking over (now known as Linda Valley). Originally they mined the area for 10 years looking for gold, but instead they found a huge amount of copper here. The area that they had pegged became know as "The Iron Blow", this is where it all began for Mt Lyell as far as it's mining boom went.

IRON BLOW LOOKOUT





I DON'T THINK I'D BE SWIMMING IN THAT WATER



We rejoin the highway once again and it's not far before we are stopping once again, we are at a small lookout which over looks the township of Queenstown down below. We take a pic of the sign here and a few more pics of the barren surrounding hillsides that surround this town. Old mining practices has taken a huge toll on the hillsides of this area, the landscape almost looks moon likely with it's lack of vegetation in many areas, but there are signs that mother nature is ever so slowly starting to reclaim the odd area back again here and there.

WELCOME TO.....



THE LANDSCAPE AROUND HERE CAN BE PRETTY BARREN, THOUGH THE ODD BIT OF FLORA IS STARTING TO MAKE A COME BACK ALSO



We drive into town here and do a restock of grocery supplies, it's Xmas eve today and we know we won't be able to get anything where we are headed for the next few days. Whilst here in town i search for a shop to grab some large pop riverts and a cheap riveter to fix something that has come loose on Jeffs camper trailer, i eventually find what i am looking for and after purchasing what he needs, we all meet back at the vehicles ready to head out of town. The last thing we need to do before leaving is to grab some fuel for the vehicles, i find a servo around the corner and whilst paying for my fuel i ask the attendant if by chance there is a car wash of sorts in town, as our vehicles are filtyh diirty from the rain we encountered whilst driving Florentine Rd the other day, and we can't go near the vehicles without getting crap all over us. Much to my surprise the fella says he has a car wash bay on the side of his building, the machine takes $2 coins and it's basially a gernie type of set up with soapy water and even hot water functions. You need to work quickly with this machine as it gobbles $2 coins like a slot machine at a casino, i put $6 worth into the machine and end up with a vehicle and camper that's not quite clean, but good enough to get near without attracting dirt all over your clothes. Jeff takes his turn giving the vehicle and camper a quick wash over, and with this job done we head off out of town towards Strahan.

WE CAN'T NEAR THE VEHICLE OR CAMPER WITHOUT GETTING DIRTY



HE AIN'T NO JESSICA SIMPSON WASHING HIS VEHICLE THAT'S FOR SURE...LOL



The road from Queenstown to Strahan is a pretty windy one, it takes a fair bit longer to drive then you'd expect it to do going by the distance alone. With the afternoon starting to get away from us, we push on as quickly as we can along this road, though the campers on the back don't help us out to much. We reach Strahan and pass on through it without stopping, we are headed for Macquarie Heads campground which is located at the Northern end of Macquarie Harbour, roughly about 15 - 20 kliometres out of Strahan. Arriving at the campground we stop in at the care takers house to see about making payment to stay here, when we mention we are here for a few days he tells us just to go find a spot to set up in, and to come back tomorrow sometime and fix him up for the payment. We do as he suggests and find a nice grassey spot in a flat area to make camp for the next few days, there's a few people set up here at the moment which limits our choice of where to go, but overall it's not to busy currently.
With camp set up Jeff and i go for a walk out onto the beach, it's only about 30 metres away to the beach from our camp site, and we cut through a small vacant site behind our camp area to do this. As we cut through this site we are pretty disgusted with how the previous camper has left the site, a fire is still smouldering away unattended, there's broken glass from beer bottles about the place, and a pile of cigarette butts like you wouldn't believe laying here on the ground also. We walk back to our camp and grab a bucket to get some water to put the fire out properly, it takes atleast 4 bucket loads of water to this, the first bucket load of which bubbling back up out of the sand with how hot it was in there.
The sun is now starting to set, so i grab the camera and head out onto the beach to try and grab a sunset shot. There's some colour in the sky which is nice to see, i snap a few pics of it and head back to camp to join the others. Unfortunately we didn't get around to grabbing firewood today for a fire tonight, so it's not to late of a night had by us all, we have dinner and a few drinks, then head off to bed eager to see if Santa can find usl tonight or not.

TONIGHTS CAMP LOCATION IS....



GEEZ SOME PEOPLE ARE GRUBS



SOME NICE COLOUR IN THE SKY AT SUNSET TONIGHT

 

Rumpig

Adventurer
DAY 16 MACQUARIE HEADS

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.....Well we are camped roughly 2500klms (1550 miles) away from home at the moment, and appears the Bearded Jolly Fat Man in the red outfit has managed to find our location overnight. The kids wake to find their Christmas stockings with some small easy to transport presents in them, it seems Santa didn't have much room in his Landcruiser... errr i mean sleigh, to transport big presents big this year, so he went with slim profiled presents he could easily hide...errr i mean pack for transport. It appears Santa didn't have any room left for the adults to get presents this year, or maybe they were just too naughty to get some....oh well, their 6 week holiday in Tasmania wil have to do instead it seems...lol.
Unwrapping their presents, Ipad minis seem to be the order of the year for our 2 girls, aswell as some small monster trucks also. Going by the big smiles on both our daughters faces, it appears Santa brought them just what they wanted, and luckily for them Mrs Claus has been busy pre present delivery, charging them up and downloading games and other stuff on them to use...nice work Mrs Claus.
It's a bit overcast and gloomy outside today, so we have a lie in bed whilst the kids set about taking their new Ipads for a test run.

SANTA FOUND US OVERNIGHT



SANTA MANAGED TO FIND US LAST NIGHT IT APPEARS



LOOKS LIKE HE GOT THE GIRLS JUST WHAT THEY WANTED



LUCKILY MRS CLAUS HAD ALREADY CHARGED THEM, AND DOWNLOADED STUFF ONTO THEM ALSO



MAYBE IT WAS OUR XMAS TREE WE ERECTED YESTERDAY AFTERNOON THAT ALERTED SANTA TO OUR LOCATION?....complete with star on top, glow sticks to light it up at night, and ornaments cut out from the side of a coke can box we noticed in the back of the fourby.



Eventually we drag ourselves out of bed and cook up a nice feed of bacon and egg crosionts for breakfast, the kids have all gotten new monster trucks (including the Tassie Devil one each, so they have the same ones), so they spend some time playing with them whilst we sit back and do not much at all but relax....it is Xmas morning after all.

KIDS PLAYING WITH THEIR NEW MONSTER TRUCKS



CHILLAXING AT CAMP ON XMAS MORNING



As we sit around camp i spot a small wren flying back and forth about the place, these birds are like fighter planes zipping around all over the place from one spot to another, and the fact they don't stand still for long makes it hard to get a decent picture of them. I eventually get a few pics taken, and then Jeff and myself head down to the caretakers house to pay for our stay and grab some water in the empty 20ltr buckets that Jeff is carrying with him so we can have some showers. The caretaker here is a real character, he's rough as around the edges and doesn't put up with any crap from anyone. The guy must think he's 10ft tall and can fight like a world champion cage fighter the way he talks, but in reality he's not real big, as skinny as a rake and getting on in years... a pretty nice guy really, but a real character that's for sure.
Going to pay for our stay we don't really know how many nights we'll be here for, our original rough trip plan had us arriving here tonight instead of last night, so we think we might stay here longer then we originally thought now. Not knowing how many nights to pay for, the caretaker tells us not to worry about it, just come see him in the next day or so when we know what to pay for....he trusts us to do the right thing it appears. We grab the drums of water and head back to camp and everyone has a shower for the first time in a few days. The park itself only has composting toilets here, no showers at all, we are using the diesel heater of our camper trailer to have a hot shower with, which is definately nice on a cool overcast day like today is.

A WREN THAT WAS FLYING ABOUT CAMP



Showers had an everyone smelling nice once again, we jump in the fourby's and head out onto the beach for a look around. The tide is coming in at the moment it looks like and it's pretty windy out on the ocean side of the beach, so we only travel a short distance around to the headland near Hells Gate before turning back around and coming back much closer to camp to park the vehicles up. We let the kids run around on the beach here for a while and take a few more pics to remember our holiday. We have a bit of fun with the pano mode of my phone camera here, having my eldest daughter stand still as i slowly pan around, then once out of screen shot we get her to run around behind me and hop back in the picture again at a different location as i continue the pano shot...the pic turns out ok in the end we reckon...lol

A PIC OF THE CRUISER ON THE BEACH



NOT SURE, BUT THE LIGHTHOUSE IN THE BACKGROUND APPEARS TO BE ABLE TO BE VISITED BY TOURISTS IF YOU HAVE A BOAT?



A BIT OF FUN WITH PANO MODE ON MY PHONE



With no fire had last night, Jeff and myself decide we are going back to camp to grab my chainsaw i've brought on the trip, and go for a drive to find some firewood. We leave Jeffs vehicle with the wives and kids as they play on the beach whilst we go do this. Heading back towards Strahan you pass through a fair bit of bushland, there's also a heap of pine forest here also. We serach around the area for some decent timber but don't really find anything we think is suitable to cut up. Locals seem to chop up in big chunks the felled left overs of the pine trees, but you need a heap of this stuff to burn as it burns pretty quickly, and to be honest, it's pretty wet in the middle and not the best for fires IMHO. Anyhow, the small chainsaw i have onboard with us isn't really big enough to cut up the pine trees like the locals do, so we drive all the way back to Strahan looking for something decent. We arrive in Strahan with no firewood found, there's not much more then pine forests and saltbush seen along the way, we drive about the town looking for somewhere that's a one in a million long shot to be selling firewood on Xmas day, knowing this is highly unlikely to be happening.... and as expected we are correct. Strahan on xmas day is alot like a ghost town, we hardly see anyone at all, and we are just about the only vehicle driving on the roads at the moment. We drive out of town headed back towards Queenstown where we came from yesterday, we'd noticed better forests more suitable for getting firewood from back here on the drive in yesterday, and this is where we've ended up. Not to far out of town we turn up a dirt track running into the bush, we climb to the top of a hill on the gravel track and find a spot that has exactly what we are looking for. There's some sort of level pad that's been cut up here by an earth moving machine for some reason, at the edge of it we see there's a nice log sitting there perfect for what we want, so we set about cutting it up and then splitting it with the log splitter. We spend an hour or so cutting the timber with my chainsaw and splitting it, the chainsaw's a bit small for the job we are using it for, but eventually we get the job done. Timber loaded onto the roofrack of my fourby and tied down securely, we head back towards camp where our wives must be wondering where we've gotten to the past few hours. Passing back through Strahan i pull the vehicle over to the side of the road and make a quick phone call back home to my family, to wish them all a merry xmas. Today we are wearing jumpers and jackets to keep warm down here in Tassie, but back home in Brisbane they are having a heat wave and sweating it out big time on xmas day...i think i'm glad we're down here at the moment. Where we are currently camped there is no phone reception at all, i tell the family i'll get the kids to ring them tomorrow to wish them a merry xmas, when we come back to town with some phone reception.
We head back to camp and unload the firewood from my vehicle, and get a fire going. The wives are busy preparing a ham for tonights dinner, it'll be baked in the gas oven of Jeffs camper, and has a yummy plum sauce, dijon mustard, apple sauce,brown sugar and macadamia nut glaze going on it. Dinner is cooked and as expected it's delicious, the skies cleared nicely from the slight drizzles of rain we were getting just in time to eat dinner around the fire, we have some pudding for dessert that Sara cooked also, and spend the evening sitting around the fire. The odd drizzle of rain falls as we sit around the fire tonight, but it's falling so light, that we don't even bother getting out of it. A nice Xmas day had here in Tasmania, we eventually call it a night and head off to bed.

A MANS WORK IS NEVER DONE...LOL...we had to cover the firewood with a tarp due to some light rain falling this afternoon



FAMILY PIC ON XMAS DAY IN TASSIE....aheat wave back home, ski jackets for us down here though...lol

 

Rumpig

Adventurer
DAY 17 MACQUARIE HEADS

It's another lazy start to the morning for us, as we don't actually have a lot planned to do today. The sky is overcast and threatening to rain in places, but the wind up high in the sky is pushing the clouds along pretty quickly, so one minute the sky might be ok, then next minute you aren't sure if it'll rain or not. Most of the showers pass by around us, but we do get one torrential down pour that lasts about 5 minutes only, then before we know it the sky is looking fine again. We need to head into Strahan today to look into booking a few tours we want to do whilst in this area, which is just what we do after we eventually have our breakfast. First stop of the day though is to drop some rubbish bags off at the industrial bins across from the care takers house. The facilities here at Macquarie Heads are pretty good really for the low cost they charge to camp here, there's the big industrial rubbish bins we've just stopped off at now, drinking water available at the care takers house, 2 pit toilets and even a decent boat ramp and jetty for the avid fisherman...off which there appears to be a few of them around these parts here. On top of all that there's nice grassey areas to set up camp on also, it really is quite a nice place to camp at.
Throwing the rubbish into the bins i notice a few birds sitting on the end of the jetty, so i grab the camera and snap a few pics of them, before jumping back in the fourby and heading off to Strahan.

BIRDS ON THE JETTY AT MACQUARIE HEADS



Arriving in downtown Strahan (population about 630 people), we find the place a touch busy this morning and struggle to get a carpark in the main street...it's a big change to the ghost town Jeff and i found here yesterday. The town itself thrives on it's tourist trade, once the tourist season is over though, many businesses apparently close up shop until the tourist season starts back up again. Located infront of the hotel in the main street is 4 metered parking bays, the rest of the entire surrounding area is free to park in though, just not these 4 particular parking spaces for some reason. Low and behold the only vacant car park in the entire street is located in the pay to park spot, i pull into the space and jump out of my vehicle to see what the damage will be to park here. Much to my surprise it was only something like 20 cents to pay to park here, i wonder why they even bother to have the meters here at all actually. With the meter fed, we walk across the road to the tourism shops located on the wharf, to book our tours.
The first tour we book to do is the Gordon River Cruise on "The Big Red Cat", this is an all day cruise which departs at 9.00 a.m and returns at 3.00 p.m, and it includes a buffet lunch also. The cruise costs us $260 for our family to go on it, and the description of the days outing is listed below.....
- See some of Australia's oldest convict ruins on Sarah Island, a settlement which pre-dates Port Arthur by decades. Created to put the 'fear of God' into the convicts of Van Diemen's Land, this tiny outpost of 18th Century British penal history hides a fascinating tale of human triumph over adversity, brought vividly to life by expert guides;
- Hear the intriguing story of Macquarie Harbour and its settlement;
- Passage through Hells Gates the narrow entrance to Macquarie Harbour named by the convicts on their way to Sarah Island;
- See high-tech aquaculture where hundreds of thousands of Tasmania's famous Atlantic Salmon and Ocean Trout are farmed;
- Cruise past the majesty of the rugged mountain ranges in Tasmania's World Heritage-listed South West Wilderness National Park;
- Spend two hours in the serenity of the imposing Gordon River, complete with a stroll into the rainforest, which reclaimed the land after the last Great Ice Age.
- Listen to our narrative, which brings the river and its rich history to life complete what is an unforgettable experience.
- Enjoy a sumptuous buffet lunch freshly prepared on board - includes smoked salmon, cold meats, a selection of salads, fresh fruit, Tasmanian cheeses and local bakery bread.

Full details of the trips the company runs, can be viewed here http://worldheritagecruises.com.au/index.php?page=the-cruises

With our cruise now booked we head next door and look into booking a ride on The West Coast Wilderness Railway. We had hoped to do this steam train ride from Strahan the following day after our river cruise, but as we enquire about doing so, we find that the train only runs out of Queenstown on Sundays. It's not quite what we'd hoped to do, but we decide to book the train ride on Sunday morning out of Queenstown instead, and we'll just have to get up early in the morning and drive the 60 odd klms to take the train ride. The train ride costs us $220 for our family to go on it, so in the space of about 15 minutes we've spent almost $500 booking these 2 outings...oh well, easy come easy go as they say...lol.
With the tours booked, we jump back in our vehicles and head up to the IGA store to grab a few supplies. The IGA stores down here in Tassie are much bigger stores then we are used to seeing back home, i guess the lack of Coles and Woolworths stores in many of the towns down here means these stores still have a chance of surviving here.
Supplies grabbed we then head back towards camp, but decide we'll go check out some of the Henty Dunes area of Ocean Beach. We arrive at the carpark area near the track that heads down onto Ocean Beach and deflate our tyres to 18psi, we have no idea what the sand is like to drive on where we are about to go, but hopefully it won't be to soft.

THE SIGN AT THE ENTRANCE TRACK ONTO OCEAN BEACH



We drop down onto the beach and make a righthand turn to head towards the Henty Dunes, the sand at the start here is pretty firm and easy to drive on. The beach is just about deserted as we drive along it, we see one other vehicle near where the entrance track is located, but other then that there's nobody at all out driving on the beach. A short distance from the entrance track we pull up to take a photo of a vehicle half submerged in the sand that must have gotten bogged here long ago. It's a strange choice of vehicle to take onto the beach, and we wonder if maybe it wasn't stolen and bought down here as a joke, or was someone just plain crazy in thinking their Commodore could actually drive down here and they got stuck?....we'll never know i guess. Either way, there's a car wreck sitting submerged in the sand here, i'm very surprised the local council leaves it here and hasn't removed it actually.

COMMODORE WRECK SUBMERGED ON OCEAN BEACH



Continuing on our way and Jeff is up front with me following a safe distance behind, we've heard of how trecherous some of the West Coast beaches are in Tasmania can be to drive on, so i hang back a touch just incase Jeff runs into trouble, so atleast i have a chance to stop beforehand and maybe be able to rescue his vehicle if need be. As we crooze along the beach we find ourselves hitting some pretty soft sections of sand as we go, one minute the sand is nice and firm and easy going, then suddenly without warning you sink about 3 or 4 inches down into it, and i'm shifting down gears and giving the right pedal what for to keep momentum going. We strike a heap of these real soft patches along the way as we make our way to the mouth of the Henty River, we eventually get to a point where we can drive no further without crossing the river, but it looks to deep and wide to do this for our likings, even though we can see wheel tracks from ATV's that look to have done the crossing at some stage in the past. We hang around at the river mouth here for a short while taking photos and letting the kids run around some, before turning around and heading back towards camp. Before we leave here we deflate our tyres to 16 psi to see if it makes any differance in the soft patches.

HEADING TOWARDS HENTY DUNES....you can see where Jeff has sunk into the sand a touch here...it gets much worse further up



END OF THE ROAD....AT THE HENTY RIVER MOUTH ON OCEAN BEACH



IT'S TO WIDE AND TO DEEP FOR ARE LIKINGS TO TRY AND CROSS THIS





We drive all the way back along Ocean Beach past the entrance track that we came down onto the beach on, we continue past it and follow the beach all the way back to camp. The slightly lowered tyre pressures don't seem to have made a differance at all in the soft sand either, i'm guessing we'd need to have been much lower then that to drive that area easier. I can't recall how many kilometers of beach we drove all up, suffice to say it's a decent distance of beach driving you can do here. The beach between the entrance track and our camp is much easier to drive on then the beach area back towards Henty River end, there's no real soft patches when you drive along this other section of beach, it's a pretty easy drive at this end really. We round the headland at Hells Gate and notice quite a few quad bikes zipping around on the beach here, back home in Queensland quad bikes aren't allowed to be riden on our beaches, but down here in Tasmania it's allowed, if you have the right licence for doing so that is.
We stop on the beach for a short period of time and watch a few fisherman to see how their luck is going, they reel in a couple of salmon whilst we watch, so it appears they are doing ok today. We then head back to camp and have a bite to eat for lunch, toasted sangas are on the menu to help try and warm us up abit in this cooler weather.

DRIVING BACK TO CAMP PAST THE ORIGINAL ENTRANCE TRACK...you can see Jeff has barely left a mark on the harder sand down this end of the beach



We don't do much else the rest of the day except relax (as best we can) back at camp, the hoards of campers have arrived today to do their Xmas / Newyears camping thing, and there's quite a few quad bikes getting about the place at the moment... with several riders not being very considerate of the other campers about the place. With all the kilometers of beach to ride on down here, it appears the bike riders only want to hoon around on the section of beach that is near camp, we can't understand the novelty of it ourselves, and wish they bugger off further down the beach with their noisey machines.
The past few days have been quite overcast and our 80W solar panel hasn't been putting enough charge back into the camper, so i drag the genny out this arvo and fire it up to recharge the battery bank. We get the fire going earlyish today as we have a heap of wood to burn now, a few drinks are had around the fire and i try and grab some more sunset pics out on the beach also, but the cloud cover puts an end to any hope of that happening. As the night rolls on a few drunken clowns decide to start setting fireworks off close by, the serenity we'd had here the previous 2 days andnights is long gone, we'd hoped it wouldn't get like this once the Xmas crowds arrived, but sadly it has. To be truthful here, i'm probably exaggerating how bad it is here with the crowds, they most certainly could be a lot worse and a lot more noisey then they currently are, but when you've been camped the past few weeks at times in places that have practically nobody about the place, this here feels noisey and busy at the moment.

GETTING THE FIRE GOING IN THE AFTERNOON...that's only a shower tent you see to the left by the way



NO LUCK WITH SUNSET PICS TONIGHT...the best i could do looking in the other direction

 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
185,527
Messages
2,875,534
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top