The Forth Week 12/02/2012 to 18/02/2012

So after some time of free camping it’s into a caravan park for a few nights to catch up on the washing etc, and flushing toilets. We picked a small park in Bicheno, not very big, not very new but all the same it was a pleasant park. We had a very nice spot under a lovely big shade tree, and the take away had the best fish and chips we have had since arriving in Tassie.

BICHENO BLOWHOLE

We booked in to Freycinet National Park Camp Site, $16/night for power and water, not big sites but very nice all the same. The camping area is located on Coles Bay - just a very short walk to the beach. Gaila did venture into the water, I on the other hand rested peacefully on the beach. The last time I went for a swim was in Borneo almost 12 months ago - the water was considerably warmer there. This is a very popular area and your stay is limited to 10 days – more than enough for us. Apparently this place is so popular with the "natives" that they have a ballot system for the major holiday periods of Easter and Christmas/New Year. As I said in an earlier blog, I did a very good walk to Wineglass bay. Gaila and I did a smaller walk around the Cape Tourville Lighthouse which gives you brilliant coastal views up and down the coast and also into Wineglass Bay. In fact we did this walk twice, the first time it was brilliant weather, sunny, calm and clear. You could see the dolphins in the water etc., the second time was a few days later with the weather not so brilliant and it was a really interesting contract between the two days. The wind was howling so the sea was somewhat more aggressive and the coastline just looked more rugged.


VIEW NORTH FROM CAPE TOURVILLE



WINEGLASS BAY FROM CAPE TOURVILLE

WINEGLASS BAY - BAD DAY

As I have said previously the distances travelled to get around this place are not what we are used to on the mainland. A point being, we had a day where the weather was a little unpleasant at Freycinet so we decided to take a run up to Campbell Town for the day, a round trip of about 200kls. Campbell Town is on the Midland Highway, the main road between Launceston and Hobart. As much as I generally like coastal areas, I find that the older areas through the centre of the state that we have visited have more character and personality to them. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with the coastal towns but, they don’t seem to have the same “soul” and history as the places we have seen through the middle. Campbelltown has the obligatory "old bridge", named The Red Bridge, this bridge is built from 1.25 million red bricks manufactured on site - hence the name. The Red Bridge was finished in 1838, then they had to move the river course about 200 mts in each direction to flow under the bridge, interesting concept. The town has tree carvings similar to those seen in many other towns. I suppose that it is a good way to use an otherwise condemned tree.

RED BRIDGE - CAMPBELL TOWN 1838

It is really interesting the different people you meet at these camp sites. As an example the first van that was next to us at Freycinet was a couple from Beenleigh in Qld, they were doing something very similar to us, the second couple were from France, near the alps between France and Switzerland who were out here visiting their daughter and her husband in Brisbane and took 2 weeks to see Tassie. The daughter and her husband came out here backpacking about seven years ago and have since taken Australian citizenship. The third person I met was a guy from Launceston who comes to Freycinet every year for ten days in early February. He was in the Forestry industry in Tassie putting $850k per week into the Launceston economy and then with a govt decision it’s gone. So he has moved his equipment to Victoria and spends most of his business’s money in Victoria (I’m not saying its right or wrong but just commenting on the people we meet).

We have finished our stay at Freycinet and we are heading off to Port Arthur for four days. This is our biggest travel day with the van since we arrived here. Six hours with stops in Swansea for coffee and Sorell to do some shopping, the larder was getting very empty. We are staying at White Beach, about 12 kls past Port Arthur.

Gaila and I visited Pt Arthur with Simon about 20 years ago, but we didn't see any of the other "attractions" in the area. We settled into our site at White Beach, again a pleasant c'van park, reasonable prices and under a shady tree. Again just a short walk to the beach (no swimming this time - not the best weather), the usual washing etc carried out on the day of our arrival.
The second day we headed out and visited The Tessellated Pavement, the Dog Line, Tasman Blowhole, Tasmans Arch and Devil's Kitchen.

NO ESCAPING THE
DOG LINE

The Tessellated Pavement is an area of rock on the shoreline that with the ingress of water and salt over the eons have caused the rock to split into tiles. The Dog Line was at Eaglehawke Neck, this was were during convict time they place rather ferocious dog every 15 mts to alert the guards of escaping convicts. The area was only about 150mts wide. The Blowhole, Arch and Devil's Kitchen are all well known rock formations around Eaglehawke Neck area.



BEING LOWERED INTO THE MINE
SHAFT



RUINS AT COAL MINE SITE

During the afternoon I visited the Convict Coal Mine ruins - Tasmania's first operational mine. Work at the mine commenced in 1839 with a contingent of 150 convicts and 29 officers from the Port Arthur settlement. A large sandstone prisoner barracks was constructed from sandstone hewned on site along with officer quarters, a bakehouse and chapel.
The miners were lowered into the shaft (by 1847 the shaft was about 100mts deep) two at a time astride a steel pole via a winch operated manually by convicts, the coal was raised out of the mine the same way in buckets. Initially the water was pumped out again manually by convicts until a steam driven pump was installed in 1841. The Govt closed the mine on both "moral and financial" grounds in 1848, it was then leased to private operators with limited sucess until final closure in 1877.

See ya all next week...