We seem to be unwittingly switching to the grey nomad mindset! I swear it’s not a conscious thing, but it seems to be happening. Tassie is very busy just now, with lots of vans and motorhomes (owned and hired) and of course, the ever-present Berts. Free and low-cost campgrounds fill up early in the day, so if you want a chance of a spot, you need to be there by early afternoon (at the latest!!!!).
So where we used to leave at a leisurely 10am, and do a bit of touring around on the way to our next destination, we now plan an earlier departure and go straight to our next camp. We can then leave the van and have a look around, knowing that we’ve got somewhere to stay that night.
Now I’m not saying we’re as bad as some of the nomads we’ve encountered. There has been days when we’ve heard vans leaving before it’s daylight proper, but we do find that we need to be on the road sharp if we want to stand a chance of a decent camp. We can then sit back under our awning at 4pm with a G&T in hand and scoff at those hopefuls that pull in and look for a spot. “Surely they can’t expect to get someone at THIS time of day!!!”
And so it was that we left Hobart and headed down the short drive to Kettering to catch the 9.30am ferry to Bruny Island. It’s a short, 15 minute crossing to the island, and the ferry doesn’t take bookings; you just rock up and join the queue. We were lucky with a calm and sunny day to make the journey across and soon we were disembarking on the western side of North Bruny.
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| On the ferry to Bruny |
Bruny Island is actually almost two islands. North Bruny is separated from South Bruny by a 3km long isthmus. It looks so narrow that one good storm could actually make it two distinct islands.
Our camp for the next three days was to be at a National Park campground called The Neck, which is just at the end of the isthmus as you reach South Bruny. It was a lovely, sheltered camp in the trees behind the dunes of the incredible Ocean Beach, so it was a short walk out onto the beach but tucked away from the wind. We found a spot that gave us a bit of space, but also one that didn’t allow anyone else to come and set up camp under our awning. We’d heard that it could get a bit busy later in the day - and they were right. Just down the road was the penguin rookery, where each evening hundreds of Little Penguins would come in from the sea and make their way up the beach and into the dunes to find their nests. They just completed major building works on the roads here to make sure that the penguins are protected from the passing traffic; there’s penguin underpasses and little bridges for them to get over fences. Great to see.
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| Looking over the rookery and The Neck |
Bruny is promoted as a nature lovers and foodies paradise and it was true. There’s beautiful beaches and coastlines and lots of tasty places to visit. We drove around North Bruny one day, which is mostly cleared farmland and took the time to visit the old Quarantine Station at Barnes Bay. A fascinating part of Australian history that we had no idea of. Soldiers returning WWI all had to come through this station before being able to return to their homes, as there was a worldwide pandemic of Spanish Flu. They were stripped, given a Lysol bath and clean clothes and had to remain in the dormitory for a week. Those who showed any symptoms were isolated and quarantined until they recovered (or died)!
We also visited some of the tourist hot-spots - the Whisky House, Bruny Island Cheese Co. and the Bruny Island Chocolate Shop. We were really disappointed in all three places. As I mentioned, Bruny is marketed as a foodie mecca and is a comfortable day trip from Hobart. As a result, there’s lots of little bus tours beetling about the island, taking visitors to all the “must-do” venues (“Right everybody, back on the bus!). If you were an ordinary, self-guided visitor to these places, you had to pay to sample anything. Yes! You had to pay $5 to taste any of the cheeses, $25 to taste the whisky and you couldn’t taste anything at all at the chocolate place (even though the bus tour was sitting down with a big tasting plate in front of them). Needless to say, we didn’t stay and didn’t part with any of our money.
Friday came and that was a day we were really looking forward to. We had booked ourselves on the yellow-boat Bruny Island Cruise, which saw us in a big jet boat heading out from Adventure Bay on South Bruny and travelling down the spectacular coastline out into the Southern Ocean. What a ride!!! The cruise went for three hours and we were able to see parts of the coast that can’t be accessed by car or on foot. Absolutely wonderful - we’d really recommend this one.
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| Breathing Cave |
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| Seals galore |
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| The yellow boats |
The afternoon was capped off nicely by a visit to Get Shucked Oyster Farm, where we indulged in a mixed dozen and a cooling beverage. A lovely day all up.
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| Doug's first oysters |
Our last day on Bruny was spent visiting the far south of South Bruny. We drove right out to Cape Bruny to visit the lighthouse there and while driving through the national park, decided to take a detour to Jetty Beach. What a fabulous spot! If you’re ever down this way and you have your own accommodation with you, be sure to spend some time here. Just a short stroll down and you have a beautiful, secluded white beach on your doorstep.
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| Cape Bruny Lighthouse |
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| Jetty Beach |
We drove out to Cloudy Bay and walked round the point to sit and watch the surfers for a while. It was pretty rough that day, but they were making the most of it, taking their lives in their hands as the waves broke just metres from the rocks. We then took a 3km drive along the beach to check out the campground at the far end and stopped to enjoy lunch on the glorious white beach in the sun. Last but not least, on the way back to camp, we had to tick off the last place on our trail and visited Bruny Island Wines. Ok, we’ll call that a day.
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| The beach at Cloudy Bay |
The grey nomad mentality was alive and well the next morning, as we were up, packed and on the road in time for the 9.30am ferry back to the mainland. Well, the little mainland (as opposed to the big mainland, when we arrive back in Melbourne).
After disembarking, we turned left when we rejoined the road, and followed the coastline around the D’Entrecasteaux Channel through little towns like Flowerpot, Gordon and Eggs and Bacon Bay. Such a beautiful area and this time of year is when it’s at its best. We stopped in Cygnet, a slightly larger small town, and visited the local market that was in full swing.
Cygnet could be likened to St Andrews or Daylesford in Victoria - a little bit alternative, and full of organic produce and rainbow fashions. We made our purchases from the market (a lemon drizzle cake and a second hand novel) and got back underway. The area around the Huon River is renowned for its apples and it was harvest season. Everywhere we looked there were fields full of apple trees, all laden with beautiful fruit. We stopped and bought some from a roadside stall and not long after, stopped at Pagan Cidery. They make wonderful cider from the local fruit, and some of that made its way into the car also.
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| Cygnet market |
Our destination for that day was the little forestry town of Geeveston at the foot of the Hartz Mountains. This was going to be our base for a couple of days while we explored the area. We set up camp in a great area the town have set aside for travellers and for $5 per night, we thought we were doing well. It was mild and sunny that afternoon, so we sat and enjoyed the sunshine. There was a nearby walk along the creek, and there’d been lots of reports of seeing platypuses in there. We’re now convinced they were all lying - there’s not any that wanted to be seen by us.
During our stay at Geeveston we took a drive down to Cockle Creek, which is the most southerly place in Australia you can reach by road. We took the road less travelled, and drove round the coast via Police Point and Surveyors Bay which gave us great views of the incredible operations of the Huon salmon farms. Their netted rings went for kilometres.
There’s beautiful camping down at Cockle Creek when the weather is good, but we weren’t lucky, and the rain welcomed us as we got out of the car. Cockle Creek is also the starting point of the South Cape Walk, which takes you to the most southerly point of Australia. A 15km return walk in the rain wasn’t really something I was looking forward to (I’m a fair-weather walker), so we abandoned that idea and put it on the list for next time.
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| Cockle Creek - whale sculpture |
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| Furthest road south in Australia |
We did, however, take time on the way back to stop in and visit the Hastings Caves and thermal pools. We thought we’d kill two birds with one stone, and enjoyed a wonderful hour in the pool, followed by a great hot shower. The thermal pool is fed from a spring at a constant 28 degrees, so it wasn’t super warm, but just pleasant. The hard part was getting out and getting to the shower! Once dressed, we took a lovely walk through the rainforest trail (again, no platypus to be seen!) and then enjoyed our picnic lunch. I’d definitely recommend this place, just lovely.
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| Hastings thermal pool |
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| Platypus Walk - no platypuses |
We also had our sights set on the Tahune Air Walk while we were staying in Geeveston. We took the drive up through the wonderful, dense forest for about 40km to arrive at the base of the walk. There’s 3 different trails to follow, and we decided if we linked them all in a figure-8 we’d be able to cover the 5 or so kilometres easily. The first walk took us through old-growth forest through a stand of Huon pine. Huon pine is perhaps Tasmania’s most famous native plant. It’s prized by boat-builders and furniture makers for its wonderful properties. But unfortunately it grows very slowly and has barely survived the massive logging that was undertaken in the early years of settlement. There’s only a few areas remaining now where Huon pine can be seen.
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| Tall trees at Tahune |
The second stage took us up and along the Air Walk. It’s a giant gantry structure which you climb and it allows you to walk amongst the canopy of the trees, looking down on the forest floor, culminating in a long cantilevered lookout over the Huon River. It was a spectacular view, but a little unsettling as the lookout swayed and bounced.
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| Airwalk in the canopy |
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| Doug on the lookout |
We finished the afternoon but walking up, through the forest, along one side of the Huon River to the confluence with the Picton River, and crossing over two suspension bridges and walking back down the other side. Great walk - and fun to be had on the bridges. A great day was finished off by - you guessed it - great fish and chips from the little shop near camp (and still no sign of a platypus during our after-dinner walk).
Geeveston is a great little town with a big heart. Like so many small towns in Tasmania, it relied on its industry for survival. In Geeveston’s case it was forestry. Now with automation and with the forestry commission pulling out of the town, they’re working hard to keep things going. Their low-cost camping initiative is one element, as is the volunteer-run information centre, which serves as a bit of a museum also. All hoping to serve the ever-growing army of travellers. We loved Geeveston.
We were doubling back on ourselves a little when we left Geeveston, heading back up through Huonville (stopping for supplies) and through Hobart (not stopping) to head out the Lyell Highway, taking a westerly direction for the first time. We were looking forward to Mount Field National Park, which was to be our next stop. Being only 80km from Hobart, it’s a favourite of both locals and tourists, so we weren’t sure if we’d get a spot in the national park campground. Our grey nomad training came in handy again, as we rolled into the campground just around 1pm, and nabbed one of only 4 remaining spots. Happy with that!!! Also happy about the campground having a washing machine, which got rid of the mountain once again.
In the lower section of the park is lots of lovely walks through dense rainforest with abundant wildlife (including the possum who danced on our roof most of the night) and three beautiful waterfalls. The upper part of the park is mountain scenery and alpine moorlands and lakes and longer walks through glacial valleys surrounded by steep cliffs.
We walked among the tall trees marvelling at the size of the swamp gums (the world’s tallest flowering plant). You get a different perspective on trees when you travel with an arborist, and I tried to convince him that the rangers might not be too happy if he got his climbing gear out and started scaling the giants.
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| Horseshoe Falls |
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| Russell Falls |
We also took in the waterfalls. Russell Falls is the major attraction of the park and can be reached very easily from the visitor centre. It’s pretty, but much nicer was Horseshoe Falls, which is a little further on and took a little more effort. And if you continue round the circuit you reach Lady Barron Falls, another beauty.
Rather than drag the van in the long windy road to Strathgordon, we chose to leave it at the national park campground and do a day trip in. The 98km drive is through the beautiful wilderness of the Southwest National Park, through the flooded Lake Pedder, ending at the Gordon Dam. The dam was built in the 70’s by the Hydro Electric Commission (HEC) and is part of the Gordon River Power Scheme. A huge hydroelectric plant is built underground near the dam and is the largest in Tasmania. What they don’t tell you is that it wasn’t really necessary for the state’s electricity needs, but it went ahead anyway.
The scenery through this area is just stunning. Every corner brought more fantastic views of lakes and mountain ranges. The dam wall is impressive and you can’t help but appreciate what went into such a construction, but now that the power station is established and running almost automatically, the HEC have pulled out of maintaining the rest of the area. Everything looks a little sad and neglected, from the railings and what used to be the visitor centre (now closed), to the signage and lookouts. Doug was keen to go out onto the wall, but I chose to do my admiring from the safety of the top. There’s a company that takes groups abseiling down the wall and Doug would have signed up if we had managed to get in touch with them before we went. Nutter!!!!
We stopped to admire the view of Lake Pedder and the surrounding mountains on the way back, and to grab a bite of lunch at the Lake Pedder Wilderness Lodge (all that’s left of the town of Strathgordon). The lodge is built in what was once a thriving HEC town while the dam was being constructed, and now that the company has pulled out, they are trying to re-establish themselves as a tourism venture. It’s a bit of a strange place, but they’ve restored some of the buildings and are trying hard. And with the beautiful backdrop of the lake, we really hope it is a success. The views on the beautiful day we were there were, in my opinion, better than Cradle Mountain. Just breathtaking.
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| Lake Pedder |
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| Reflections in the water |
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| The Sentinel mountain range |
The road is a favourite drive for motorbike riders and our drive back to camp that afternoon was made a bit more dramatic by coming across a group at the side of the road. One young lad hadn’t managed to take the corner and had slid off the road. Thankfully he wasn’t badly hurt - maybe just his pride - and after offering what help we could, we left them to wait for the flatbed.
We moved on the next day, saying goodbye to the beautiful Mount Field National Park and heading further across the Lyell Highway towards the west. The term “highway” infers that it was a major road, which in fact, it is. But it’s narrow and windy and steep in parts and our short journey of just 130 or so kilometres took us till lunchtime. We stopped for a cuppa in a small town called Tarraleah. Well, we thought it was a small town, but it turned out to be another of the towns left behind after the HEC built its hydro scheme - just a ghost town.
But this one was a bit different. The town was constructed as a residential village for the HEC staff, but much of it was sold off in 1998 and the rest was abandoned. But a local family bought what was left in 2006 and started creating a “resort”. There’s a restaurant, cafe and caravan park and the little weatherboard cottages that remained have all been renovated for accommodation and painted in pastel colours. It’s a bit “Stepford Wives”ish and it felt all the more eery because there was hardly a soul there, apart from the staff. But they make good coffee!!!
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| Cottages in Tarraleah |
The 130km took us to a little town in the mountains called Derwent Bridge, famous as the entranceway to the southern end of the Cradle Mountain/Lake St Clair National Park and for being the home of The Wall in the Wilderness. We stopped in a free camp in the pub grounds and grabbed some lunch in the glorious sunshine before heading off to visit The Wall.
There’s so much information available on The Wall, I’ll leave you to google that further. Suffice to say it’s an exhibition of one mans art, two huge 50m-long panels of wood carvings depicting stories of struggle and loss. Absolutely everyone we spoke to who’d been to Tassie advised us that we “had” to visit The Wall. To say I was a little underwhelmed might describe my reaction. I have no doubt at all that the man is incredibly talented and what he has presented is phenomenal. But there was quite a bit of unfinished work, and by all accounts it will never be finished, so it just falls that tiny bit short of being brilliant. My opinion only - you will have to judge for yourselves.
The pub where we were staying is an old mountain-lodge type establishment - a massive, high-roofed structure featuring lots of wood and stone. The secret weapon, though, is the Sri Lankan chef they have in the kitchen, Ami. His curries are the stuff of legend (at least on Wikicamps) and we couldn’t not go in for dinner! A wonderful meal and a bottle of wine later and we slept like kings.
We were a bit indecisive the next morning - do we stay or do we move on? We decided to hedge our bets, and go off and explore the Cynthia Bay area of Lake St Clair, before making up our minds. We drove the 5km into the park and left the car in the carpark before heading to the visitor centre. This centre is the southern point (or end) of the famous Overland Track, a spectacular 80km walking track which links Cradle Mountain in the north to Lake St Clair in the south. It’s a popular walk so the centre was busy with people who’d just finished the trek, all laden with packs and gear. We felt a bit like “wanna be’s” as we were only doing the 6km circuit along the foreshore of the lake and back through the forest.
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| Lake St Clair |
We got back to camp at lunchtime, and after a bite to eat, we decided we’d push on a bit further and head for Queenstown. It was to be a long weekend in Tasmania (and most other states) and we were conscious of avoiding crowds, so we thought a couple of days in the caravan park in Queenstown would be a good idea. As it turned out, it was.
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