Weather Watchers...

Well if nothing else, Stuart’s skill in reading and interpreting weather maps has improved on this holiday! We spend quite a bit of our internet allowance checking the weather, trying to work out our options. And the wind and rain certainly seems to be following us down the coast! We have had two campsites in the last week that have turned into mud puddles!

Thankfully we narrowly missed flooding and road washouts in St Helens on the east coast – the flooding there happened two days after we left! We have been doing lots of moving around to avoid getting caught out (this is where the weather watching comes in handy!).

We’re happy to admit that dealing with the wet and wild weather this year does sometimes get us down. Especially after days of rain when the canvas is saturated, whilst the bedding, towels and clothes are all damp. The windy conditions also belt the camper around quite a bit! We try and keep ourselves amused, reading and playing games, however we recently widened our scope, with Michelle engaging in ear candling, whilst watching and discussing the actions of a local kangaroo that was acting really weird – we eventually decided it was either about to give birth or suffering some strange, psychotic illness. As you can probably imagine, we’ve been getting a little down and really annoyed at missing out on things to see and do due to rotten crappy weather! That being said, we’re still in a better position than many others!

But when we get little breaks in the weather, we try and do as much as we can. We managed to jag a break in the weather for our Fairy Penguin tour in Bicheno. It was so cute to see them waddling up the beach in little groups. The guide knew an enormous amount about the penguins and was able to show us nesting couples with young at various ages. Unfortunately, cameras aren’t allowed on the tour, but the next day when we took a drive out to the town’s blowhole, we managed to find a baby chick waiting for his parents to return. So I snapped a photo of him!

A little bit of water diversion required!

Determined to spend as much time as possible in the Tassie wilderness, we headed out to Friendlies Beaches campsite in the Freycinet National Park. The beaches along this coastline have long stretches of pure white sand, with turquoise water and plenty of the bright orange fungi growing on the rocks. We had a couple of windy walks along the beach between showers, saw one CRAZY naked hippy swimming in the ocean, and lots of other soggy campers! Thankfully, our campsite was quite sheltered from the wind so we decided to stay put for a couple of nights, but the rain certainly tested us! Although our campsite was reasonably flat, we must have been just that little bit lower than the road, as the pools of water along the road, they eventually flowed into our campsite. Stuart spent a lot of time playing engineers, digging drainage holes and building small levys to try and direct the water away from us, but we still ended up wading around in a huge puddle!

After a couple of wet days, we decided a hot shower was in order, so we packed up in the rain and headed down to the main section of the national park on Coles Bay. We had planned to do an overnight paddle – YEAH RIGHT – it was still raining and the wind was pretty strong! As this park includes the Tassie icon, Wineglass Bay, camping here is extremely popular and sites are designated via a billet system each summer. We were lucky as a campsite was available for one night so we jumped at the chance despite the fact that we really just moved our camp from one mud puddle to a new mud puddle! More digging Stuart!

It was from here that we were at a loss as to what next! The northeast of the state was flooded, rivers were swollen, there were gale warnings and we heard the Police Commissioner asking people to stay off the roads if possible! Given we had to pack and move somewhere, we got on the internet and found a historic town called Ross, an hour inland and away from the wind. And even better, you could rent a historic stone cabin for $60 a night. Sold!! The town was quite beautiful, with plenty of local craft galleries and convict era stone bridge. The main road junction in the centre of town was called ‘The Crossroads’ with the four corners described as temptation (the pub), salvation (the church), recreation (the town hall) and damnation (the old jail). Funny enough, Damnation was up for sale as a private residence! We decided on temptation and went to the pub for dinner!

As we bunkered down in our cosy cabin for the night, the ‘weather watching’ kicked in and SURPRISE, SURPRISE, a flood warning was issue for the river running through the town (thankfully it was for the lower section a bit further downstream!). We woke the next morning to howling winds, with the gusts just under 100km/hr, however, the sky was clear – no rain! We headed back to the coast (which ironically only had gentle wind!) to a caravan park in Coles Bay and have been enjoying the last two days of beautiful, stunning, lovely SUNSHINE!

In no time at all the camper was drying out, as was the washing and we were on our way, hiking up Mt Amos to see the best views of Wineglass Bay! The hike turned out to be pretty challenging, especially since hanging out inside a camper for days on end doesn’t do much for your fitness levels! The steep rock faces had us using every muscle we didn’t know we had, and a crash course in scrambling techniques! But we kept going when other holiday makers were turning back and were rewarded with a perfect, stunning view of Wineglass Bay! Well worth the climb!



Atop Mt Amos with Wineglass Bay in the background!

The following morning we woke to another clear and sunny day! Hooray! Time to unload the kayaks and we headed off on a lengthy paddle around Coles Bay, with stunning views up at the mountain we climbed the previous day (from the water it looked even steeper than what we encountered on our climb!) As we reached parts of the coastline beyond the main tourist areas, we discovered an old quarry site where they used to mine the pink granite, including the old timber windlass used to load it on the boats. We were just loving being able to get out and do something physical again – in the beautiful warm sun!

To end the day, I even joined Stuart in some fishing from the rocks! Whoa! AND I even had fun, catching two fish (not edible ones though). But my patience did run out in the end, and as he was trying hard to persuade me to hang in for a few more cast on a different rig, I declared ‘IVE HAD ENOUGH’ and promptly walked home on my own (Yes it sound’s bad, but not really, as the camper was only about 200 metres away!) Personally, what was better than the fishing, was the HUGE stingray that came gliding over the rocks in front of me and stopped just three feet from where I was standing! It was easily over a metre in diameter! With the most beautiful large eyes and a white underbelly that showed when it curled the edge of it’s wings, they have to be one of my favourite creatures on the planet! So graceful.

So with two days of sunshine and a few activities under our belt, our spirits were renewed, clearly seen by one happy man standing at the bbq with a beer in his hand as the sun sets!

Mish and Stu



Across the seas...

WE ARE IN TASMANIA!!!!

Our fears of a seasick journey across the Bass Strait were in vain as our trip was relatively smooth with a short period of three metre swells as we exited the harbour. It was pretty quick getting the car and trailer through security checks and onto the ship. Any periods of waiting were entertained by a mural van carrying six foreign backpackers, who decided to dispose of their illegal substances before boarding by smoking it all in the car park! Their van then broke down during the security check – all six backpackers piled out and push started the van into the docking area. The van then breaks down again as they are driving it onto the ship, so the attendant helps them push start it AGAIN, and they are ushered to the front of the queue, just in front of us – great! It was pretty funny though and kept us amused!

The boat trip was smooth sailing, for nine hours we took Quells, had naps and munched on ginger nut biscuits the whole way, keeping ourselves busy by playing ‘BananaGrams’- thanks Tina, great chrissy present!

Looking out on the Tamar River

We were warmly welcomed to Tassie by our new friends and generous hosts Paul and Carol, who we were introduced to over Christmas being my friend Brenda’s in-laws! When we arrived at Paul and Carols we were awed by the AMAZING view from their house which sits high up on the banks of the Tamar River. We were once again totally spoilt and thoroughly enjoyed their company as well as use of the guest unit, the spa with a view, great meals and bottomless cups of tea on the verandah watching the yachts and kayakers paddle past. While I slept off a bad cold, Stuart even spotted a seal swimming up the river! On the last day, I was starting to feel better, so we all took a drive to the quaint town of Evandale, browsed the Sunday antique markets and had lunch in a beautiful old pub with a walled beer garden.

Thanks to Paul and Carol, we will see you again in six weeks time!

We are now happy to report.... We are BACK living in our Cubby Camper! It feels like ages with the break in Melbourne over Christmas and New Year. We stocked up again on food and fuel and headed in a north-east direction to start circling Tassie in a clockwise direction over the next two months! Our first overnight stop was Waterhouse Conservation Reserve, which was a beautiful introduction to the remote and rugged Tasmanian coastline. We explored the waters edge at low tide and marvelled at the three very different and beautiful rock types that made up the beach. They seemed so ancient and fragile, but will probably be there for millions more years!

The next night we moved further east to a sandy beach camp in Mount William National Park. White sand and turquoise water so inviting you wanted to dive in.... except it was absolutely freezing! Only a mad man like Stuart would go for a dip at dusk to get clean! I, on the other hand, showered from a WARM bucket of water! Stuart also took the opportunity to do some fishing... no luck though!

This orange algae is on all of the coastal rocks

From Mt William NP we were into the Bay of Fires’ coastline. More stark white sand, turquoise waters and brilliant orange algae covering the large boulders scattered along the beaches. Stunning! We explored Eddystone Point which has an old lighthouse built in 1898 and then headed to Policemans Point which was full of campers, reminding us that it was school summer holidays. We took our time, further exploring the cluster of free beach camps around the centre of the Bay of Fires only to find ourselves struggling to find a campsite as late as 6pm (thanks to daylight saving it doesn’t get dark until 9pm!) Just as we were contemplating wedging ourselves in amongst the throngs we stumbled upon an isolated bush camp right on the bank of Big Lagoon! We had our own little swimming beach in the sheltered lagoon, whilst being able to listen to the pounding surf of Bay of Fires coastline in the background. We spent two nights here and a whole day of doing nothing without seeing another soul! Bliss!

After our day of rest, I felt thoroughly refreshed as we headed into the nearby town of St Helens to spend a couple of nights catching up on washing etc... And here we are! Tummies full of fresh local seafood – oysters and fish and chips (the fish was flathead for all the fishermen)!

"Which cheese should we buy?"

We spent today enjoying a bit more Tassie foodie goodness, with a trip to the nearby Pyengana Cheese Factory! We tasted all their variety of cheddar cheeses and were amazed at how the same type of cheese can be so different at the various ages – from six weeks to two years. Their Devils Cheese (with lots of spice and chilli) had my eyes watering and me in a coughing fit! - much to everyone's amusement! From there we headed up to St Columba Falls, which are the highest in Tasmania, finishing off the day with a beer at the 'Pub in a Paddock'?! Yes, it is just a pub in the middle of a paddock. It has been there since the late 1800’s when the owner's sons became more interested in beer than farming, so they just licensed the homestead! And why not!

We hope everyone is well in the New Year! Tassie weather is being very kind to us with predominately blue skies and only one brief shower of rain so far. Sounds like Perth is the other good place to be right now in this country. We certainly have seen some rain on our supposed ‘endless summer’ holiday, but counting ourselves very lucky to have avoided the flooding disasters happening to people in Queensland and Carnarvon!

Mish and Stu