The 5th, 6th and 7th week 19/02/2012 to 10/03/2012

Well I’m back, I know I’ve been a little slack but it’s amazing how close you can be to a capital city and not get any signal for the wireless internet. Oh well these are the things I must put up with I suppose.

Port Arthur – We had 2 half days at the Convict Settlement, when you buy a ticket it is good for 48 hours. The first day we had an introductory tour with a guide and about 20 others, she gave a quick rundown on the place and we took a ferry trip around the harbour to get a full perspective of the whole area – the Isle of the Dead and the Boys Island. The Boys Island is where they kept the boy convicts – they were aged between 9 and about 12 after that they were considered to be adults, it certainly was a different time. After lunch we took a drive to “Remarkable Cave”, another arch, I think the remarkable thing was these kids “boogie boarding” just off the cliff face near the entrance to the cave. The second day at Port Arthur we hire some headsets that give you a commentary of the different places at the settlement, much better than just wandering around the place, very informative.

REMARKABLE CAVE

PORT ARTHUR

Hobart – after Pt Arthur we head to Hobart and stay on the banks of the Derwent River at Berridale.  A reasonable park but certainly not the best we have stayed at. Wildlife is ok, but not rabbits, they were everywhere in the park; one could have got a good feed if you were so inclined. First day we head off to Richmond – one of Gaila’s favourite Tassie spots, lots of convict buildings, beautiful churches etc. In the afternoon we headed up Mt Wellington, a 22kl drive from the bottom to the top, not Gaila’s favourite road in Tassie, very winding and a long way down, brilliant views of Hobart and the surrounding country. Thursday 23^rd February is a day we will always remember, we headed into Centrelink @ Glenorchy. The people that worked there were great, friendly and really helpful. We were sitting talking to a staff member when coming from the far left was the sound of raised voices and this female abusing the elderly man with language that was “less than pleasant”, apparently the old guy had bumped into her and she took offence to that so she started to abuse him, well her partner got into the act and started hitting the old guy, so the old guy retaliated and started punching the young one, all hell broke loose staff and security guards come from everywhere throw them all out and the young starts chasing after the old guy, the police arrive, the staff member sits there smiling and says, ”just another happy day at centrelink”.

RICHMOND BRIDGE

HOBART FROM MT WELLINGTON

MONA, Museum of New and Old Art, a privately owner museum, David Walsh (formerly known as Glenn – until his mother found God and changed it at the age of 5) put $100 million of his money into this museum. It is certainly different, with some very confronting pieces of art. It is on the grounds of Moorilla Vineyard and Moo Brew Brewery. Google it, it is different.

Salamanca Markets – what can I say, seen one market you’ve seen them all, just in varying sizes. Nothing out of the ordinary, the woodturning was all the same, seen one pepper mill and pen........ You know how it goes. Maybe it was different years ago but a disappointment now.

Port Huon - about 50kls south of Hobart, past Huonville. We stayed at a council camp site, $30 for four nights, has water and toilets, BBQs etc on the banks on the Huon River. Half the money from this camp goes to the local yacht club, the council also has a site at Franklin, closer to Huonville for the same cost and the money from there goes to a group restoring an old theatre in Franklin, as I have said before a lot of mainland councils could learn a bit from the people down here. While staying at Port Huon we visited the Wooden Boat Centre in Franklin – they run wooden boat building courses of all types. There was a 10 foot Huon Pine clinker dinghy that was just about finished, it was a true work of art, bloody beautiful. We also visited the Tahune Airwalk, a truly magnificent thing. Walking some 40 meters in the air through magnificent trees, many of the trees still tower over you.  Compared to the airwalk we visited in Borneo this structure was amazing, even Gaila coped with it, in addition they have constructed a new walk the follows the banks of the Huon and Picton Rivers with swinging bridges that cross them (Gaila decided not to do that part of the walk).

TAHUNE AIRWALK

BORNEO AIRWALK

Southport – after travelling about an hour south of Port Huon through Dover (a very nice little seaside village) we come to Southport. Southport is the most southern town in Australia, reasonably isolated, no mobile phone (except on a point over looking Roaring 40 Beach – you guessed it, it was and probably will forever), no internet and the only TV was ABC analogue, sometimes. South of here is Cockle Creek, it is the start of the South Coast Track, a 7 day walk to Melaleuca (from there you have to fly out or walk back). I on the other hand did the 15kl South Cape Bay walk that takes you as the name suggests to South Cape Bay, a spectacular view from the cliffs overlooking the bay, with the next stop being Antarctica. The sets of waves rolling in were perfect, oh for a long board and a bloody thick wetsuit. Speaking to a couple of walkers on my way back they told me that there are boards stashed away all along the coast in the area, and regularly you will come across surfers trekking in with their boards, I didn’t see any on this occasion. The following day we took a drive to Hastings Caves and Thermal Pool, it was not a particularly warm day and the problem is that I am basically a wimp, what’s the point of getting into your swimming gear then walking to the pool to get into the warm water and then getting out into the cold air and them having to go to the showers to get dressed again.  We did however take a very pleasant walk through a forested walk along the stream that comes out of the caves system.

SOUTH CAPE BAY - NEXT STOP ANTARCTICA

Snug – what a funny little name for a place. After our 3 days at Southport this was our next stop, about 40 minutes from Hobart on the Channel Highway. Snug was one of the areas of Tasmania that was devastated by the massive bushfires during the 60s. During our time at Snug I took a trip to Bruny Island. A 15 minute ferry ride from Kettering and then off you go, Bruny is made up of two island joined by a narrow neck, discovered by French explorer Tobias Furneaux in 1773 and named after French explorer  Bruni D’entercasteaux and visited by Capt. Cook for a few days in January 1777 to restock with water etc. History lesson over. Apparently the birth place of Truganini, a memorial is dedicated to her on the lookout at the neck (after climbing 236 stairs to get to it – however well worth the climb). On our second day we took a trip to Cygnet, via the “overland route” as opposed to the coastal drive we took with the van, luckily I was warned about it by a traveller we met at Port Huon.

THE NECK - BRUNY ISLAND

RUSSELL FALLS

HORSESHOE FALLS

Hamilton – our three nights over at Snug we start the journey west. Hamilton here we come, about 2.5 hours travel, through the centre of Hobart, along the Brooker Highway to New Norfolk and across the mighty Derwent River onto the Lyell Highway to Hamilton. We are staying at another council “freebie” $5 a night, maximum stay 3 nights, suites us fine, toilets, shower and BBQ. The camp site is on the banks of the Clyde River, a delightful spot to stay so you can explore the area. After a restful night we head off to Mt Field National Park. We did a very nice walk to Russell and Horseshoe Falls and then drove up the mountain to Lake Fenton, was starting to get rather chilly up there – sort of felt that it wouldn’t be long before the white stuff began falling. All that aside except for the 16 kl of winding dirt road (and you all know how much Gaila loves winding dirt roads up the side of a mountain) it was very nice.

This has now bought us all up to the end of our 7^th week in Tassie and with only 3 weeks to go before we head back to the mainland we best get a wriggle on. Talk to you all next week.