SUNDAY 19TH MARCH - THE LAST POST

 

It is exactly six weeks ago today that we left home. What a great adventure we have had.

Today started with the Burbie Canyon walk in the Warrumbungles. Otherwise we have spent the day in the car and are now on the shores of lake Coolmunda near Inglewood. 300 klms to go to get home tomorrow.

This is obviously the last post for this trip. I hope those who have been following it have got as much enjoyment as we have had having the adventures described in it.

SATURDAY 18TH MARCH - STILL HEADING NORTH

We had a pretty relaxed driving day today and are now camped at Camp Wambelong in the Warrumbungles. There is no phone signal so there will be a delayed post.

We are camped in an isolated corner of the camp ground on the bank of a gently flowing creek for which I can't find a name.

We are continuing to avoid the wild weather although we have seen a few sprinkles of rain and the wind sometimes gusts quite strongly.

Our plan is to get to somewhere near Goondiwindi tomorrow and home on Monday. Gone are the days of all day driving stints.

FRIDAY 17TH MARCH - WEDDIN MOUNTAINS

Happy St. Patricks Day.

We suspect that today is the first day in six weeks that the car hasn't moved.

Today was a very virtuous day in that we did the two hour Ben Halls Cave and Berthas Gully walk this morning and followed up with a two and a half hour walk this afternoon along Basin Gully. As we were heading up Basin Gully, two wedge tailed eagles passed low overhead. Of course, the camera was in the back pack.

We head further north tomorrow. I wonder where we will meet the rain.

 

THURSDAY 16TH MARCH - HEADING NORTH

No photos tonight. In fact, I will be very lucky if I can even post this text. The signal is very weak although I have been able to send and receive emails.

We are at the Weddin Mountains National Park near Grenfell in NSW. It is one of a series of reserves which occur along the Lachlan Fold Belt, a massive landscape feature which runs from Queensland, through mid western NSW and into Victoria.

Having heard all the horror stories about rain, rain and more rain along the coastal belt, we have given up the idea of going to South West Rocks on the way home and will stay west and out of the rain for as long as we can. Having said that, it seems that the rain will catch us in which event, we will just head for home.

WEDNESDAY 15TH MARCH - VICTORIAN HIGH COUNTRY

We had a decision to make this morning in that we wanted to explore the high country but we also wanted to keep heading north so we went exploring with the caravan in tow.

The Alpine National Park is fantastic in summer. It would be fantastic in winter too but, in summer, everywhere is accessible. A lot of the places that we went would only have been accessible by long distance cross country skiing in winter.

We followed a dirt road that took us to the upper areas of the ski field. It had potential but we weren't prepared to go too far towing the van.

The focus of the high plain is Falls Creek but there is so much more to the area than just the ski resort. As you would expect, it was a pretty quiet place in summer but there is plenty of mountain biking and walking to be done.

It's hard to rate camp sites because so many have been so good but tonight's is up there among the best. We are on the banks of the Murray about seven kilometres east of Walwa if you want to look up where that is.

TUESDAY 14TH MARCH - ON THE ROAD

Driving day today. Not much to report other than it was a delightfully uneventful day.

 

We followed the Princes Highway until Bairnsdale where we headed north up the Great Alpine Road. We are camped in the Alpine National Park at the Jokers Flat camp ground. Once again we have a babbling stream beside us – the Mitta Mitta River. We are not quite the only ones here but might as well be.

We have no phone signal here so, once again, there will be a delay in posting.

MONDAY 13TH MARCH - MELBOURNE

 

Look who we found in Melbourne.

After a very comfortable night in our cabin on the Spirit of Tasmania, we disembarked and navigated our way to the caravan park. Bass Strait was a millpond.

 

After doing the washing and having breakfast, we went to a nearby park where we caught up with Tony, Kim Lorraine and the boys. It was great to be able to spend some time with them.

 

Later in the day, we went to visit Kim's aunt and uncle, Ruth and John. They are in the heavy vehicle towing business and have some very big toys.

 

Today we start heading north. It seems that the weather is pretty challenging on the NSW coast so that may have some bearing on the route we take to get home.

SUNDAY 12TH MARCH - LAST DAY IN TASMANIA

Well, surprise, surprise. I didn't expect that I would have anything to post a blog about today but it has been a very productive day. We left Bakers Beach this morning and our excellent camp site was immediately occupied by one of our neighbours.

 

We went to Latrobe where there was an excellent Sunday market at the Axemen's Museum. Trish bought a few useful items.

 

From there we went to Sheffield where Steamfest was on – an exhibition of all things steam driven. Interestingly, there was nothing modern being driven by steam. One would think that there is a modern use for steam power.

 

We are now hanging out at Devonport waiting until we can get on the ferry. Loading starts at 5:00pm. We wake up in Melbourne in the morning.

SATURDAY 11H MARCH - BAKERS POINT

Energetic day today in that we did a three hour walk along the beach and then up to Little Badger Head overlooking Copper Cove.

We didn't know it until the lady in the Visitor Centre told me when we arrived yesterday that this weekend is a long weekend in Tasmania so the camp ground is now full but, apart from being able to hear kids having fun in the distance, our little corner remains very peaceful.

Loading for the ferry starts at 5:00pm tomorrow. We have a cabin booked so will hopefully sleep soundly as we cross Bass Strait. By coincidence, Tony and family will be in Melbourne on Monday so we are looking forward to catching up with them.

FRIDAY 1OTH MARCH - BACK TO BASS STRAIT

We successfully extricated our van from our fabulous lake side camp site this morning and left the Great Lake behind us.

We are now back at sea level camped in yet another delightful spot at Bakers Point in the Narawntapu National Park on Bass Strait a little way east of Devonport. Usual coastal story. We are camped in the bush about 50 metres from the beach. We will be here until we get back on the ferry on Sunday evening for an overnight crossing.

On the back of the map showing the walks in this National Park is a map of Tasmania with all of the national parks and reserves shown on it. In the last four weeks, we have visited, roughly in this order, the Gunn Plains State Reserve, Rocky Cape National Park, Arthur Pieman Conservation Area, Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Mole Creek Karst National Park, Bay of Fires Conservation Area, Ben Lomond National Park, Douglas-Apsley National Park, Freycinet National Park, Hastings Caves State Reserve, Hartz Mountains National Park, Mount Field National Park, Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, Southwest National Park and, of course Narawntapu National Park.

What a fabulous trip we have had.

THURSDAY 9TH MARCH - HIGHLANDS POWER TRAIL

Having done the short walks at Lake St. Clair this morning, we headed north on what is described in a Hydro Tasmania brochure as the Highlands Power Trail. As you would expect, there is plenty of hydro infrastructure around.

We are now camped at Penstock Lagoon, an idyllic spot which we have completely to ourselves apart from the fishermen in their boats on the lagoon. It's not surprising that we have it to ourselves. The track in is a bit challenging. I managed to get the van stuck against a tree and bent the rear bar on a rock which was just a touch too big for the van to go over. All's well that ends well although we are yet to get it out.

 

The lagoon is no longer part of the hydro scheme. It now has a reputation as a “fishing paradise”. There are plenty of fly fishermen but I haven't seen any action yet.

The lagoon formerly supplied the water to run the turbines at the now decommissioned Waddamana Power Station. The power station is completely intact and is now a museum – well worth a visit.

Heading further north tomorrow We return to the mainland on Sunday night.

WEDNESDAY 10TH MARCH - HANNAH'S 10TH BIRTHDAY

 

Happy Birthday Hannah.Sorry we're not there to help you blow the trombone, sorry, I mean to blow out the candles.

 

Before leaving Mount Field this morning, we went to the Junee Cave Walk a walk which follows the Junee River upstream to the point where it emerges from a cave. Apparently the Junee Florentine karst system has the deepest two caves in Australia.

 

We also went up to the alpine area of Mount Field National Park and did the Lake Dobson walk. It was the first time that we clearly saw trout in all the waterways that we have explored.

 

The ski field is substantially higher in altitude than the point to which you can drive. Apparently intrepid Tasmanian skiers walk from the car park up to the ski fields with their gear before they can start skiing. I'll stick to Perisher thank you.

 

This afternoon, we made our way to the Derwent Bridge/ Lake St. Clair region where the Derwent starts as water escaping from Lake St Clair.

We are camped on the shores of Brady Lake, another very picturesque spot.

 

On the way, we passed a few hydro electric power stations including the Tarraleah station which is in the distance at the bottom of the pipes which apparently feed water to the turbines at a speed of 270 klms per hour.

We propose to do the Lake St Clair short walks tomorrow before heading further north.

TUESDAY 7TH MARCH - BEN'S ANNIVERSARY

Incredible day today. The engineers would find it incredibly interesting and the environmentalists would find it incredibly disappointing. We drove from the Mount Field National Park where we are camped to the very large Southwest National Park which contains the vast Lakes Pedder and Gordon. The vast areas they cover was, until the 1970's, pristine wilderness.

Presumably, what we now see downstream of the dam walls is what was formerly seen on the upstream side of them as well.

 

We visited:-

 

Gordon Dam

Serpentine Dam

Scott's Peak Dam

Edgar Dam

At the Gordon Dam, adventurous people were descending by rope from the top of the dam wall to the valley floor 140 metres below on the downstream side of the dam. They are welcome to it. You can just make out the person in the lower middle of the picture above.

At Steve's suggestion, we visited an absolute gem being the Styx Tall Tree Reserve. It is very difficult for a photograph to do justice to a tree which is 400 years old and 87 metres in height. The reserve is an area excluded from logging where the giant trees remain undisturbed, other than by the forces of nature. There were some very large ones laying on the ground.

Tomorrow we will be exploring the alpine section of Mount Field and then heading a little further north to Lake St. Clair.

MONDAY 6TH MARCH - BACK TO THE FOREST

We received really sad news this morning in that our very good friend Trevor Park's wife Sonja passed away last night. She has been battling cancer for some time.

Tomorrow is the ninth anniversary of Tony and Kim losing Ben so it is a sad time. Our thoughts are with Trevor, Tony and Kim.

 

We are now back in the forest where we prefer to be, camped by a babbling stream in the Mount Field National Park. Given that we are less than 100 klms from Hobart, it is fairly popular so it is not exactly secluded but it's a lot better than a city caravan park.

 

 

This afternoon, we spent several hours walking the Waterfalls/Tall Trees circuit and visited the:-

Russell Falls

Horseshoe Falls and

Lady Barron Falls

Tomorrow we propose to head out to Lake Pedder/Strathgordon being at the end of the road on which Mount Field is located. We also want to explore the Lake Dobson area of the National Park being an alpine area 16 klms from the camp ground apparently used for snow skiing in winter.

SUNDAY 5TH - HOBART

Today was a very cultural day. It was built around our meeting with Steve and Tish for lunch at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Before meeting them, we explored the waterfront and, after lunch, checked out the museum exhibits – very interesting and informative as you would expect.

 

From there we went to MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. We weren't aware of it which surprised Steve and Tish but they described it as a must visit destination, so we did. It's the largest privately funded museum in Australia and is built three stories underground into the harbourside cliffs at Berriedale.

Some of the exhibits were fantastic. Others were obscure but, for art lovers, an absolute mecca. The concept is spectacular. The photo above is a fountain which spells out words - very clever.

Tomorrow, we head back to the bush as the countdown starts for our return to the mainland next Sunday. Unfortunately, because of commitments that Mal and Paula now have, our trip to Charleville for the opening of the Story Bridge has been postponed so we will have to devise a different program for the trip home.