Back in "Australia"

Well we had a super smooth crossing on Saturday night and arrived in Melbourne(stepping forward twenty years in time) and unloaded at 6.30am. Said our goodbyes to Alan and Maureen as we were heading in different directions. I had been teasing Alan about not getting lost trying to get out of Melbourne and guess what, I got lost and ended up in the car park of the entertainment centre while trying to get on the freeway to the east.

Anyway we got out of the 6.30am Sunday morning rush hour and stopped at Nar Nar Goon for breakfast before making our way along the Princes Highway calling in to every town along the way. At Morwell we turned off the freeway and headed south to our friends Cuppa and Mrs T on their property 600 meters up in the hills overlooking the Latrobe Valley. Along the way we passed through much of the country which was devastated by the Victorian fires and the devastation is still very apparent with many hills still bare and some of the trees sprouting new growth in a desperate attempt to survive but they tell us that many of there trees will die within the next couple of years.Only three houses of 59 in this area survived the fire and many people died. One can only imagine the fear and terror that must have been in the area as this disaster descended on them. The word miracle comes to mind as you talk to Cuppa about how the fires divided and went around both sides of his property, The heat was so intense the the grasses were withered dry and the cattle could not eat it. It is indeed a miracle that they did not loose everything.

We will spend today with Ian and Julie and tomorrow descend down the mountain to make out way north to Bright before heading east to work out way up the east coast.

The Last Last Post From Tassie

I know I said the last post would be the last BUT I just could not resist this. You know I have been travelling with a "mate" who has been inclined to be accident prone. Well this morning on our last day on the Island he was getting his bus down from the levelling blocks and guess what? You guessed it, another little "incident", he managed to run over not one but two of his buckets.

Lucky for him we are parting company once we get to Melbourne and I won't be around with a camera to record the rest of his journey.

Ah well, life wasn't mean to be simple.

Last post from the "Little Island"

Well here it is Thursday pm and this will be my last post while we are in Tasmania. Just settling down to have a couple days rest before heading to the Ferry on Saturday.

Yesterday we woke up to cooooool breezes blowing off the mountains at Sheffield and it was interesting sitting in my seat watching poor old Alan outside putting his car on the trailer in the freezing conditions. If I had been a real mate I would have volunteered to go and help him but there are limits to mate-ship. I may look silly but I'm not stupid.

Alan and Maureen had once again decided to follow us ( I think he is scared of getting lost) and we decided to head towards Penguin where we had just passed through in the early part of the trip. I have discovered the joys of back road travel and found the longest way possible in the back farming country possible and he came across some magnificent views as we climbed hill and dale. We finally hit the coast at Forth and had morning tea and Turners Beach where I almost got Alan stuck in a one way street. That will teach him to follow me!

We found a nice spot at Penguin at Lions Park and camped with several other motorhomers and conditions were perfect with the deep blue of Bass Straight and lush green of the parklands around us. The local ranger called in to apologise for the toilets not working as they had been vandalised by the locals. A lot of local councils could learn from this council. Beside providing quite a few free camps along the coat they call in every morning and place a note under your windscreen wipers, welcoming you to the area and advising you where the camps sites and caravan parks are and also advising of dump points in the area.

We left Alan and Maureen at Penguin arranging to meet at Latrobe where we will celebrate Maureen's birthday tomorrow. I had advised Alan that the camp site was behind the IGA store and true to form Alan managed to find the wrong IGA and drove unto a car park where he could not get out of with the car on. I guess he is determined to go out in a blaze of glory just like he started this trip. How many times it now that you have have to unload the car Alan????? LOL!!!!! AGAIN!!!

What do you see in this picture

A lot of people must be thinking the same as we are and resting up before the trip, there are at least 5 in camp that are booked on the ferry on Saturday.

Alan is planning to make a quick trip home by the shortest route and we have decided to take the slow boat up the east coast with no particular plan. We are certainly getting used to this lifestyle and Wendy this morning even said "when we left home this morning" meaning the last campsite.

Packing the computer away for a couple of days now so the next report with be from the Big Island

How Changable is Tassie

Well after a couple of days of cold blustery windy days, today has dawned cold but the sun came out and it is beautiful once again, even if the wind is a trifle cool.

We have spent the day going to Railton the topiary town and it was a bit of a disappointment, the town being a bit run down and the topiary just so so. I guess it is just a relatively new concept trying to give the town some distinction and no doubt with time it will work but at present it is a half finished town project and didn't really impress. Maybe I'm getting too fussy in my old age. Wendy did manage to get a hair cut there, probably the only customer for the day.

We came back to Sheffield and found Alan and Maureen had snuck into our camp site while we were away. We ran into them up town and had lunch together.

Sheffield is known for it's mural and they are everywhere. Just last week they held their International Mural Festival which draws large crowds. I'll let a few pictures tell a thousand stories.

This is the view from our camp site

Gee it's cold

Camped at Sheffield, looking out over Mt Roland, the wind is blowing a gale, the bus is rocking and it's freezing cold. Friends of ours are making the crossing tonight, sure glad it's not us on Bass Straight tonight.

They even had snow in Victoria last night and we've got to go through there yet.

Only mad dogs and Englishmen would live in this weather. Now I know why all these Mexicans migrate north for the winter. Anybody got a spare hot water bottle?

I've Been Everywhere (remember the song)

Well here it is Sunday and we are camped in the bus in the rain on a concrete surface at a a little town called Gowrie Park in the middle of nowhere and to prove we have been everwhere we have even taken a photo of of "Nowhere Else" which we visited today. I kid you not there is a place in Tassie called Nowhere Else and we have been there so I can now proudly say "We been everywhere man"

Since I last brought the blog up to date we have travelled far and wide but really haven't travelled far, just seen s a lot and enjoyed ourselves. From Beaconsfield we moved on to Port Sorell where we camped at the Boomerang Camp which is like a scout camp but with better facilities or power, dump point, showers, toilets and free use of the laundry. There were only four of us in camp and had a good chat. One couple had camped at Beaconsfield the night before us and had their motorhome stoned during the night. Luckily we didn't know about this or Wendy would have had a fit.

From Port Sorell we travelled to Devonport where I had to check something out fo the club and then we went to the Don River Railway and had a ride on a chuchu train. This dedicated bunch of enthusiast are keeping the railway alive for the next generation to enjoy. Unfortunately it had settled in to rain and we didn't get to see the best of it but I hadn't been on a train in 45 years, except for the Wilderness Railway  on the west coast so it brought back memories. We decided to head to Latrobe as we knew there was a good camp site there and settled in only to have the weather improve and discover friends we had made on the this trip were also there, it being a popular site for those waiting there return journey to "Australia". We ended up going to dinner with Sandy and Mary-Jean and Gordon and Helen. This morning we woke to find Brian and Rhonda from Townsville had also joined us in camp. This truly is a small world down here.

Today we have taken a round about trip to Sheffield but we had not made it finding a nice spot at Gowrie Park for the night, getting here via Devils Gate and Lake Barrington. The dam at Devils Gate is quite spectacular and unique in design with double curvature and is one of the thinnest dam walls in the world due to its unique design. Approx 80meters in height and 130meters across the top of the wall it holds back 27kilometers of waters in it's dam. Not far from there we took a turnoff to the Lake Barrington recreation grounds with a very steep decent only to find about a million people (slight exaggeration) and a major rowing regatta in progress. Getting through the masses in narrow roads in the bus was an exercise in itself and the second gear 2k climb back to the road was "interesting".

We finally descended from the mountain country after of course visiting Nowhere Else and have now settled in for the night and the camp site is rapidly filling up with Queenslanders.

We hope to catch up with Alan and Maureen by Friday as it is Maureen's birthday and no doubt there will be a celebration.

Time Is Getting Short

Well time is getting short on the Island and although we seem to have been away from home forever we only have eight days left in Tasmania.

We spent a very enjoyable night at Myrtle Park which is a great camp site in the middle of the Tasman Highway. Our drive to get there was also an experience choosing to take the back roads as much as possible and seeing country not usually seen by the "mass" travellers. The camp site is maintained by the Launceston Council and has the exorbitant fee of $3 per night with showers, toilets, fireplaces etc, etc and it was just our luck for it to be raining all night and with no TV, mobile or internet reception I was starting to have withdrawal symptoms.

Next morning we decided to break camp and head to Bridport via Scottsdale and the drive up the range was interesting to say the least with rain and thick cloud necessitating very cautious driving. When we reached Scottsdale we made a quick stop at the bakery for the usual vanilla slice and it was pouring rain, heaviest we had seen in Tassie and guess who should drive past and pull up but John and Marion. We had a chat in the rain and then went on our way to Bridport. The weather slowly improved and by the time we reached the coat it was almost fine. Bridport did not impress so we just had a look around and then headed west to lunch in George Town and then settle in for the night at Batman bridge where it again rained during the night.

This morning we crossed the bridge and headed south along the Tamar River and stopped at the Swiss village at Gridelwald before venturing further south to the Cataract Gorge in Launceston. This beautiful spot is totally unexpected in the heart of a city and we spent quite some time walking the area. The climb back up to the car park had us both puffing and sometimes I wish we had started this motorhoming adventure  twenty years earlier.

The day was still young so we headed north along the East Tamar Highway to Greens Beach with it's really welcoming signs telling you there was a $500 fine if you camped outside the caravan park. Needless to say we spent nothing in this town and travelled on. I really object to councils who try to force you into their parks, what happened to free choice.

We travelled back via Beauty Point where we finally got to see a platypus or several actually at Platypus World where we did the conducted tour. There fascinating animals truly are amazing and we learned lot about this iconic animal. We then went on to Beaconsfield where we looked through the Mine and Heritage centre. The Centre now has a display of the mining tragedy and rescue and when you see the size of the cage these men were trapped in you get some idea of the enormity of this rescue.The picture at left is the actual entrance to the mine from where they emerged after their rescue

Tonight we are camped in the Beaconsfield show grounds with  local Tasmanians and we had the greatest happy hour of the trip so far. I have never laughed so much with one of them being a natural comedian. The real joy of travelling is the people you meet and tonight has been one of those special nights. Long live the tradition of the happy hour.

Easter is Over

Well it is Easter Monday and we are settling down for the night once again in Longford where we started our Easter break. Wendy was just commenting tonight that she thought Easter would be a bit boring being away from family with whom we traditionally get together but it has been far from so.

We spent Good Friday in Longford showgrounds and new found friends from Townsville, Brian and Rhonda who we met at Hellyer Gorge turned up and camped beside us, then Mike and Joan from Brisbane stumbled upon our campsite and spent the after noon with us. Mike and Joan decided to move camp to join us also.

On Saturday we were on the move again and travelled through Carrick, Hagley, Westbury and Deloraine where we settled in for the night and run into more friends we had met in our travels. Westbury has the famous Prean's Steam World with the most fascinating collection of old steam engines and tractors I have ever seen. The foresight of the three Prean brother to get this collection together is a marvel.

After spending the night at Deloraine we explored the area and just had to stop at the Honey Farm at Chudleigh and sample the wares. We left with the wallet much lighter and the bus much heavier. The ginger honey ice-cream was too kill for. I wanted to go back for another one but I wasn't allowed. We continued on to Mole Creek before doubling back to go to Elizabeth Town where the Ashgrove Cheese factory is situated (with their painted cows) I am sure I am going to leave this island about 20 kg heavier, they really shouldn't have all those samples on display.

We had decided to move East when Easter was over and check out some of the country be bypassed because of our need to get to the rally, and decided to backtrack to Longford once again for the night. Upon arriving in camp, pretty late in the afternoon only to find more travelling friends Sandy and Mary-Jean who we had met on the west coast also in camp. Needless to say we are still in camp here enjoying each others company.

In the morning we are heading east through Evandale to a lovely spot at Myrtle camp on the road to Scottsdale. Time is now getting short with only twelve days to go before we are on the ferry on our way home, with mixed feeling, sort of happy to be heading home but sort of feeling sad to be heading home.

Our travelling companions Alan and Maureen are still down in New Norfolk (last we heard) with Alan's son, having spent Easter with them, but he will no doubt be starting to head north again and we will no doubt hitch up again before heading for Devonport to catch the boat across the moat.