RETURN TO DIARY

We travelled the west side of the Tamar Valley taking in the views from West Head all the way to Launceston. Visiting the gold mine site at Beaconsfield and camping overnight beside the Batman Bridge at a free camp site. We were surprised to see numerous fields of opium poppies, evidently grown and used for medical purposes with signs warning unauthorised use may cause death!

Another leak in the van and after advice from a caravan supplier we picked up a new better quality water pressure reducer from a hardware in Launceston, hopefully no more problems.

Launceston was full of century old timber houses and elegant stone town buildings. Cataract Gorge was right beside town with a good walking trail around it. Sandy overcame her fear of heights, gingerly making her way across the Alexandra Suspension Bridge at the beginning of the trail. At the first basin a swimming pool has been installed, you could tell by the number of people it is a popular place to relax when the temps heat up a bit. The north side of the gorge was green and moist in the shade while the southern return track was showing the dry conditions they are experiencing here with little moisture and mostly dry vegetation. Sandy had a go on the nearby Cable Hang Glider and loved every minute of the short flight off the quarry face. The screams of excitement were mingled with a few fun expletives on the way down!

Evandale was a delightful Georgian village from the 1820's. This town also hosts a penny farthing championship in February, we may try to return as many good words have been said to us about the event. At the town of Perth we found the century old Police Station for sale, including jail and stables. Just unusual enough for us so that we would love to own it, pity about the cold climate.

We saw a picture of the zig zag road to Ben Lomond Ski Village and decided to go for the trip. The road is named as Jacob's Ladder and it is a single lane gravel road that twists back on itself many times as it climbs to the top. Today was cool and the clouds were sweeping thru the timber ski village. Not snow but still a cold feeling watching the clouds skit past.

Ben Lomond Village

After a free camp at Scottsdale we drove up to the small seaside village of Bridport then via Gladstone on to Cape Portland and Little Musselroe Bay. These last two places were quite delightful but as we wanted a place to stay for Christmas we decided that it was a bit remote. It would have been around 200kms return to pick up food from Scottsdale or St Helens and 60kms to Gladstone for water. If it wasn't for Christmas we would have stayed for a week and put the boat in, as the water looked good for fishing with reef and islands just offshore.

On the way to the Bay of Fires we stopped at the Weldborough Myrtle Forest, a short walk but very pretty. Interpretive signs explain the history of the forest in children's language. Worth a stop on the way thru is "The Shop in the Bush", advertised as Tasmania's top bric-a-brac shop and they could be right. Nowhere near a town, it nestles on the side of the road with such a variety of goods for sale dating back to the 1800's. If you like curios, books, old jewellery or the rare and unusual then have a look.

On a day trip out from the Bay of Fires we took in St Columba Falls, Ralph Falls, the tree carvings of Legerwood and then Derby. Derby had a Tin Mine Historical centre with buildings and displays but it shut at 3.30pm and we arrived at 4. Closing time seems a bit early for a tourist attraction.

Ferns from around St Columba and Ralphs Falls

Ralphs Falls plummet down the fluted cliffs of Mt Victoria. The longest single drop waterfall in Australia (cliff top to valley).

Wood sculptures of Legerwood's proud war heroes

Following WW1 a row of pine trees were planted in memory of fallen soldiers. When the trees were deemed unsafe the community raised funds to have these chain saw sculptures done on the tree trunks in memory of those soldiers.

We set up camp at Swimcart Beach in The Bay of Fires just two weeks before Christmas hoping to beat the rush of campers we had heard about, also the fires had just started south of here at St Marys. The rush never happened, we think the fires kept people away until Boxing Day when they arrived in droves. Ross and Jackie, fellow travelers, who have now settled in Sheffield dropped by for a few days and lots of catching up was enjoyed by us all. We had a lot of maintenance to do so we made use of the time sitting still. My car started losing power and I ordered a new fuel filter but the next trip into town it was even worse so a visit to the mechanic was required. After phoning a diesel mechanic he was informed that there is an inline filter in the injector pump inlet. This was found to be full of dirt and promptly cleaned. I had to do this a second time before heading south.

Binalong Bay would be a good place to buy a house if you wanted to live here, too cold for Sandy. A North facing bay with St Helens facilities only 10ks away. One 3 bedroom house with ocean views was advertised for $240,000! A lot cheaper than the mainland. St Helens area is Tasmania's holiday coast as it has a warmer climate than Melbourne being protected from the southerly winds.

St Mary's Fires weren't too far away from our camp at Swimcart Beach in The Bay of Fires

The Bay of Fires was named as such because the early explorers could see numerous aboriginal fires along this coastline.

A few days before we left Jason, Amanda and their seven children camped near us. I was invited to go crayfishing in his new 5.4m Stacer boat. Up at 5am we fished for cray bait (gurnards) then dropped the pots. Another couple of hours fishing saw us catch a variety of reef fish. The next day (and our last) along with another camper, Alan, saw us hauling in the pots catching 2 crays. These were later cooked by Amanda and given back to us for our tea. Both Jason and Allan had been catching crays for a while and were happy for us to have them. They tasted yummy, thank you very much Amanda. We also caught 15 flathead and 7 squid. Jason liked his flathead so I filleted them for him and we kept 4 squid. I donated a squid jig to Jason as he had never caught squid before and two of his children love them.

This is part of Swimcart Beach where we camped just outside St Helens, white sands and red granite rocks.

While camped at Swimcart we also met up with Keith and Bear (the huge dog) whom we had last seen at Christmas in Moorook, South Australia. A small world for us campers. He had been camping and diving in Tasmania for the past 10 months.

Travelling south we passed thru the towns of Scamander, Falmouth and Four Mile Creek which were hit by the recent bushfires. On a few properties we saw piles of corrugated iron which were all that remained of what was once their houses. The forests were reduced to ashes that will take many years to recover, it was sad to see the destruction.

Freycinet National Park camping area was full so we parked the van and trekked up to the Wineglass Bay Lookout. Camping in the National Park is done by ballot, 12 months prior, so finding a vacant campsite is impossible. Later we backtracked to Friendly Beach and set up camp for the night.

Near the lookout was this comfortable chair to relax on.

Wineglass Bay

Travelling thru Swansea we noticed that a half crayfish and chips was $32.50!!!!! must be tourist prices. At Triabunna we had a $2 shower at the Tourist Bureau on the wharf. St Helens also had a hot shower on the wharf but theirs were free. Mayfield Bay free camping area was full, as could be expected on this Christmas/New Year week but it was right on the highway so we may not have stayed anyway.

We arrived at Sorrell Tourist Information and asked about accommodation at Port Arthur. They kindly rang around and found us a site at the National Park, Fortescue Bay, where we camped for 2 days (including New Years Eve) before heading on to the caravan Park at Port Arthur. While camped in the park I had to remove and drain the main fuel tank, drain the sub-tank. Also clean the inline filter every time I returned from a drive. The track in was 12 k's and corrugated which stirred up the fuel we put in the tank at the United service station in St Helens. A black algae type sediment is blocking the inline filter. I ran the 80 litres of fuel thru a filter which separates water from the diesel and we ended up with about 2 litres of a yellow liquid which wouldn't go thru the filter. The diesel was a bright green. The yellow and the green didn't mix but the yellow appeared by feel and smell to be diesel. I'm not sure what I'm running on at the moment but when I get to Hobart I will see if I can get some diesel additive which may help me remove the final bit of contamination.

The coastal waters appear very protected with many coves and bays providing sheltered anchorage for yachts and boats. The mountains are now running right down into the ocean, very picturesque.

New Years Eve was a quiet affair this year, in bed by 10.30pm. At midnight only a few revellers were heard by me, Sandy was fast asleep.

More from the southern part of the Apple next month.

Peter and Sandy