Week 3 West Coast of Tasmania

Route: Hobart - Houn Valley - South Tip of Tas, Lyell Highway (through the middle) - Queenstown (Tasmania)

I left the girls in the afternoon and headed up the mountain again, for a second attempt for the view from the summit. Only this time it was lovely. As I like remote out of the way places I thought I would head all the way down to the most southern tip of Tasmania where there is virtually nothing - South West National Park. This night was the only night when I was really uncomfortable in the van and I locked the doors, drew the curtains and I started thinking about scary movies....Wolf Creek... for no apparent reason. I could not sleep so I watched 5 episodes of a swedish comedy I had with me. In the morning I found out that there is a graveyard just next to where I had been camping..... no wonder I could not sleep!

At this stage I am starting to feel pretty tired driving for quite some distance every day and setting up camp etc. I decided to have a slow day to head to a famous came first and then  and sort out some choses etc. I also had a lovely lunch in a town called Geeveston, which must have had lots of British influence because it was full of tea rooms, cream teas etc. Headed for a free campsite in the Houn Valley which was full of ‘gray nomads’. These people as the semi retired crowd who have downsized and bought themselves a motorhome and travel for most (or a few) months of the year living a pretty simple and cheap lifestyle. I had a chat to a guy who had been living on the road for 9 years who had the most amazing converted pimped up Toyota Coaster van. It even had microwave, sound system, washing machine, etc etc etc etc. All purpose built and nice. He was after a car like mine to explore the outback with. 

I went to Mt Herz and Mt Field National Park for a few walks and had another night in a caravan park surrounded by people in rental vans. Had a much needed shower and hung up my newly purchased hammock in the trees for a internet session. Realised that I had forgotten my jeans in the shower, I went back to get them.....someone had stolen my jeans!!!! Bugger!!! It’s only 2C at night and I now have no socks or pants! Cheeky!!

Did a walk in the morning to Russell Falls which is quite famous falls. They where nothing special I thought. Then I drove quite a bit on the Lyell Highway which was very scenic and stopped off at a few lakes to see if I could fish. Did not really now where to start, so I continued on to Cradle Mountain/ Lake St Claire National Park. This was jam packed with tourists and I booked myself onto a shuttle boat the next morning and had a relaxing evening. The next morning I almost missed the boat! Not used to getting up early! The walked the 3 hrs to get back to the visitors centre. It was nice, but I did not see any platypus, which I was hoping to see. At this point, it’s the only animal that I still have not seen in the wild. I have seen hawks almost every day, echidnas and kangaroos at the campsites, wombats, snakes, lizzards, spiders amongst others whilst out walking. 

I could not wait to get to Queenstown to meet with my friend Em whom I have not seen for the last 4 months. 

I approached ‘Queenie’ as it’s known by the locals in thick fog so that I could not see the barren hills. Queenstown is renowned to be the most environmentally destroyed place in Australia with all the vegetation on the surrounding hills being dead from the mining in the area. On initial impression, Queenstown was much better than what I had expected. Whenever I had mentioned the place, most people had made a funny face and some comment along the lines of “ouhhhh gosh don’t go there - totally destroyed’. It was great to see my friend and we had so much of catching up to do. I had lost contact with her since the move, so I wanted to hear the lot. We decided to go camping at the weekend and that I could stock up on supplies whilst she went to work in the mine. The supermarket in Queenstown is the only place where I have noticed that the insect killer section (including cockroach spray, insects, ants, spiders, flee powders etc) was bigger than the shampoo / shower gel section. I guess this is a few miles from my normal Toorak Village supermarket in Melbourne.  It’s the kind of place where you might see a lady in slippers and nightgown in the shop.... well, I got what I needed. They even had soy milk to my delight. 

We headed to the coast to go camping and had googled to try and find some campsites about 1 hr from her house. We struck lucky and found this amazing place on the ocean. Good job we had Norbert to get us there, it was a 4x4 track to get there, but the views of the ocean was out of this world. PJ (the dog) loved camping and explored the beach and came back with a dead rabbit. I introduced camping to Em one year ago, and was surprised that she was really into it a year later. She even says’ Wish the rabbit would have been a bit  bigger, then we could have skinned it and cooked it on the fire.’ I could not believe it, this is the type of girl who brings makeup camping........ ha ha I was loving the change! One of the locals adviced us that 30 knot winds would hit us that night, so we had to pack it all up and move away on higher ground away from the waves and the wind. 

We had a very memorable night with a big fire, guitar and a charcoaled dinner on the fire. 

Following day, we continued to explore the region. I understood that some of the best 4x4 driving was in this area and I hope I can come back here one day when I am more experienced. Had a lovely lunch in Corinna, a very small place on a river which was the entry point to the ‘ western wilderness experience’ which I decided to drive a few days later. 

After another day relaxing and exploring Strahran, I headed to Point Macuire for some fishing. Again, the locals told me how to set everything off and within 2 hours I had 3 salmon! The guys next to me where typical ‘Aussie blokes’ with a stubbie in one hand, fishing rod in the other, board shorts and checked shirts in a battered up ute (pick up truck) playing 1990’s rock. I waved goodbye and headed home to cook dinner. Me and Em had a final night at her house and we had bubbles due to it being our last night together. Next morning, I headed North to Arthur River.  

Week 1 - East coast of Tasmania

Week 1 - East Coast of Tasmania

Getting started

Arrived in Devonport late at night with a slightly delayed ferry. I had forgotten how sleepy Tasmania is and was reminded upon this fact as soon as I walked into the only open supermarket in the town to stock up on food for the days ahead. Due to the quarantine restrictions for Tasmania I was not allowed to bring in any fresh fruit and veg, so the fridge was pretty empty. Having stocked up I headed to Narawantapy National Park not too far from the ferry terminal. As I was arriving, the sun was setting, the fields where golden in colour and I was starting to realise that I was finally on the way. Some kind soul had left some fireplace unattended with perfect coals on it, and I threw on some sausages and made a salad for my first dinner by myself in Norbert. Felt slightly strange, but had no time to think as I got surrounded by about 20 school kids who rocked up on some sort of activity camp and made lots of noise until 12 am! So much for peace and solitude!

In the morning, I went for a walk and spotted kangaroos, tasmanian pademons, dragon flies, a dead penguin on the beach and a lovely lake. All very nice. Headed East to the Tamar valley in the pissing rain. Stopped at a petrol station and when I had paid for the fuel I realised that there was a sit-on lawnmower next to me which was filling up. This is Tassie after all and the pace is much slower than on the mainland. At night I went on a excursion to try and see penguins on the beach. Mission succeeded and the penguins even walked to close to me that I could have touched them. 

Had a few days when I did not meet many people and headed to the remote North-East corner of Tasmania and specifically Mt William National Park. Found an amazing campsite within about 15 meters from the beach, spotted some fishermen on the beach so I was off for a good start. I got the guys to show me how to set up the fishing rod for the conditions on that we had for the day and got some bait of them as well as good tips. Its amazing how men just assume that you are practically disabled when I comes to practical things (which I can only think it’s because I am a woman). Well, I had a beer and a good chat to the two blokes who where on a lads fishing weekend away from the kids and wifes. Well, it must had been beginner luck because I did catch a nice salmon and they went back to the camp with only empty Jimmy Beam and coke cans. ;-)

There was a guy at the campsite who had the same car as me, so I went over for a chat. His name was Fritz, a retired guy from Holland who was in no rush traveling around Australia. He was a very interesting chap and it turned out that he had crossed the Sahara Dessert 6 times. He pulled out a hammock and had a snooze. I realised that I need one of those as well. Ideal for afternoon snoozes and surfing the net after a hard day driving. I shared my salmon with him and we had a few beers around the fireplace. At this point the two blokes had had a bit too much Jimmy Beam and was still not having much luck with the fishing. I was glad I had Fritz to chat to. 

I continued down the coast to what I was hoping would be the highlight of my trip as I had been to the Bay of Fires once before 2 years ago, when I was in Tasmania with my parents. I found the same amazing campsite as I stayed in previously, only this time the weather was even better and I decided to put up my new external tent ( also know as the 'sup-stuga) for the van to keep out the wind and sun. Again, I headed to the beach to try my luck with my newly purchased bait and hooks from the local tackle shop. I was in luck again, and caught yet another salmon and made some friends on the beach. It turned out that there was 2 more ‘Troopies’ camped next to me at the campsite. They where two lovely couples which I ended up hanging out with for the next 2 days. We fished, cooked shared travel stories and made nice fires in the evening. They had all been traveling for a couple of months and gave me some good tips of what I needed to get. Definitely getting an inverter, which means I can charge my computer, phone etc whilst driving. Bingo!

I liked the Bay of Fires as much this time as last time. It’s a magical place with gobsmacking scenery. I guess that is why there is a picture of this place on the cover of the Lonely Planet for Tasmania. 

We continued in convoy style down the coast chatting on the UHF radio on the way. It’s the first time I have really used the radio since the sand driving course and it makes driving alone less monotonous. The others continued to Hobart and I decided to stop for a night in Freycinet National Park. Once of the most visited parks in Tasmania and renowned for Wineglass Bay. The large visitors centre and the amount of hired campervans puts me off a place like this, but decided to stay the night and explore the area. It’s truly beautiful and I cracked a beer open and went to watch the sunset by the beach with the other travelers. I must had really managed to switch off that night, because I slept for over 11 hours and did not hear the alarm clock the next morning. The plan was to head to Hobart to meet with Maria and Claire, friends from Melbourne, who had gone to Hobart for a weekend getaway. 

I arrived in a bit of a state, slightly late for the Cascade Brewery Tour. The girls had hit the town the night before and was slightly worse for ware. However, the tourguide must have had his weetabix that morning, because I have never seen anyone so high and excited about home-brewing of beer before. It was hard work listening to him talk and we suffered through the 90 minute tour and looked forward to the beer tasting. Following the tour, we drove Mt Wellington, which is about 1,200m mountain near the centre of Hobart to look at the spectacular scenery. All we got was a white fog...... never mind, we would have to try again the next day. Had an eventful touristic cruise at night time for dinner. The food was shocking and the company interesting. This included a whole group of ladies from Geelong  on a dirty girls weekend away who where pole dancing in the main cabin. Well, they made the trip more exciting indeed. 

Next up.... South Corner of Tas and the Wild West