SUNDAY 11TH - SPIRIT OF TASMANIA

Today was a very leisurely day in that, apart from having to get up at 5:15 to be at the ferry terminal to commence the loading process at 6:30, we spent the day in a recliner chair on the Spirit of Tasmania – not quite a cruise ship but a pleasant reminder of recent adventures.

We are now in a caravan park in Devonport where the temperature is 15 degrees. No heat wave here.

Tomorrow, we will do the shopping, tidy the car and van and generally get set for our leisurely month of touring. The real fun begins.

FRIDAY 10TH FEBRUARY – MELBOURNE

Another almost uneventful day travelling from Lakes Entrance to Melbourne ready for our early morning departure on the ferry in the morning.

I say almost uneventful because when we got to the caravan park where I had booked a site, I discovered that I booked it for Friday 10^th March, not February. What a goose.

Fortunately I booked the ferry for Saturday 11^th February so we are definitely going to Tasmania tomorrow. The park had no sites available but they upgraded us to a cabin beside which there is room to park the van so we get to spend the night in air conditioned comfort. Every cloud has a silver lining.

The maximum forecast temperature for Devonport for the next week is 21 degrees so we are definitely going to be leaving the hot weather behind us. Jeans and jumper weather.

THURSDAY 9TH - ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Another big driving day today. Fortunately an uneventful one. We covered 550 klms along the Princes Highway to Tyers Lake Beach, just east of Lakes Entrance, 300 klms east of Melbourne.

Given that it was an uneventful day, I have very little to report, other than the fact that at Cann River, where we stopped to get fuel, the temperature was 41 degrees. It is a very pleasant temperature by the Tyers Lake, where we are camped.

 

WEDNESDAY 8TH - BOODEREE NATIONAL PARK

A very relaxing day today with lots of exploring, both walking and driving We checked out Murray's Beach, Stoney Creek, Moe's Rock, Governor Head, Wreck Bay, Cape St. George Historic Lighthouse ruin and, of course, our campground, Green Patch and adjacent beaches.

 

Fortunately we saw very little rain today although it has looked threatening all day. There is a distinct contrast between the spectacular ocean cliffs on the exposed coast and the idyllic beach and water conditions within the bay. As you would expect, the camp grounds are on the sheltered bay side.

Jervis Bay is a Naval training base. There are no docking facilities as such but L01, which Google tells us is the HMAS Adelaide, a Landing helicopter dock ship cruised by.

 

As you would expect, there is plenty of local wildlife enjoying their protected environment.

 

We are approximately 800 klms from Melbourne with two days to get there. Hopefully we will be somewhere Lakes Entrance tomorrow night.

 

TUESDAY 7TH - GETTING SOUTH OF SYDNEY

You will be pleased to know that the van is in perfect working order and we did approximately 600 uneventful klms today. Our only challenge, apart from the Sydney traffic, was rain. It has rained virtually non stop from just north of Sydney and, as we sit in the van at Booderee National Park near Jervis Bay, the rain is as steady as it has been all day.

I got quite wet setting up camp but recovered with a nice warm shower and have no plans to go out in the rain again. Unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow is continuing rain so, while the area looks very interesting, we may not see it at its best.

 

Our campsite is a delightful one tucked away in the bush. I will get some better photos tomorrow. The good news of the day was that Paul from Carafix sent me an email agreeing to cover the cost of repair and to replace the damaged wheel. He can't explain how the wheel nuts came to be loose - a complete mystery.

Our next driving day will be Thursday when we head for the Lakes Entrance area. Melbourne on Friday. I expect that it will be a red wine night tonight.

 

MONDAY 6TH - A DAY AT KEMPSEY

The news of the day is of course that Deb is pregnant. Congratulations Deb. How exciting but it does muck up our photo wall. We will have to do it yet again!

The other news of the day is that it took all day to get the van fixed but it is fixed so, while we are still in Kempsey tonight at the expense of RACQ Ultra Care, we head further South tomorrow. We have two useful wheels and plumbing that works.

We did get to South West Rocks today and I did get in the water but only as a day exploring the area while the van was being worked on.

We checked out Crescent Head, Goolawah National Park, Limeburner Creek National Park, Hat Head and South West Rocks – a very interesting part of the world. We will need to try and spend more time here. I took some photos on my phone but can't work out how to transfer them to the computer. The phone is plugged into the computer but the computer doesn't seem to recognize it. Help!

Tomorrow night, we hope to be at Booderee National park near Nowra. Freeway day tomorrow.

SUNDAY 5TH - ON THE ROAD AGAIN

The blog is back, this time for our Tasmanian adventure.

I was expecting to be telling you that we arrived at South West Rocks this afternoon and, after setting up camp, went for a lovely surf but alas, that was not to be.

About 20 klms from the turnoff to South West Rocks, I heard a peculiar noise so I stopped to investigate. The left wheel of the caravan had sheared off all but two of its wheel studs and I strongly suspect that the last two were about to go. We were very lucky that we didn't lose the wheel while travelling down the highway at 110k. Being a prudent person, I got the van serviced before the trip and it seems that Carafix left us with untightened wheel nuts. I will have that conversation with them tomorrow.

So, after all these years of paying for RACQ ultra, we finally got to use it.

When the tow truck man was attempting to winch the van on to his truck, he managed to rip out one of the plumbing lines causing the floor of the van and everything stored in cupboards on the floor to be flooded. Hence the photo. What is not hanging off the van is on the nearby clothes line.

So. We are not at South West Rocks. We are (almost) comfortably settled at the Sundowner Caravan Park in Kempsey with no running water in the van and no ability to tow it anywhere. Fortunately, we have made contact with a caravan repair man who confidently expects that he can fix the wheel studs and the plumbing tomorrow. The tow truck man is paying for the plumbing but we have a residual concern in that, did the water flooding the floor of the van do any long term damage to the floor, cupboards etc? Everything now looks superficially dry but what will the future hold. We might need to trade it in on a new one earlier than intended.

Hopefully, we will be at South West Rocks tomorrow night. What a great start to our adventure!