Hobart to Huonville

We have just spent a couple of days in Hobart, enduring a bit of a cold snap, doing Hobart appropriate activities such as Salamanca Markets (busy), Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery (fantastic) and a funky pub in Battery Point (nice tempura mushrooms).

There was also the fascinating convict relics of the Female Factory and the deliciousness of scones made with beer at the Cascade Brewery. We may also have discovered the first icecream our children don't like when they had a sneaky taste of the stout icecream, actually that's only 75% true, Max thought it was delicious!!

Next stop was Huonville, our base for a couple of days as we explore the south-east. I absolutely adore the Huon Valley, beautiful mountains, beautiful river, lovely orchards and towns with a very serene feeling.

The feeling was enhanced as we found our best caravan park so far, lovely amenities on a farm where the kids yesterday fed a pig, a goat and watched a cow being milked. Dylan tried the milk squirted straight from the cow's udder, and was then a bit embarrassed when the farmer produced cups for the rest of us!

We drove to Hastings Caves yesterday afternoon and decided against the cave tour as Evie and Max were just too tired for the 500 odd steps. Instead we swam in a pool sourced from thermal springs. A beautiful setting and 30 degree water that was fresh and cleansing. Tasmania just keeps getting better and better.

Is this the best waterfall in Tasmania?

This is Russell Falls in Mt Field National Park.

We camped a night in the park, surrounded by Pademelons, and made the arduous 10 minute trek into the waterfalls. They are a three-tiered wonder and apparently Tasmanians are divided over whether this is the best waterfall or whether Liffey Falls (Bob Brown's environmental home) surpasses these.

Fear not friends, the intrepid explorers are on the trail. We'll find Liffey Falls and investigate the dilemma.

So what have we been up to in Tasmania for the last week Part 2

After heading over the Pieman River on the Fatman Barge (how good are those names!), we left Corinna to head towards Strahan on the west coast. We arrived late afternoon to find the whole town completely booked out, including both caravan parks.

Luckily the local golf club allows caravans and motorhomes to camp, so we headed up there, glad that if we need to be, we are completely self sufficient in terms of power, water and toilets. It wasn't too bad, we were right next to an oval so the soccer and rugby balls got a good workout and there were plenty of yellow flowers to make daisy chains.

After spending a day wandering around Strahan, we decided there's not much to it. The reason everyone comes to the town is to get on a ship or a helicopter or a sea plane and explore the region beyond.

Which is exactly what we did with our lovely friends from Canberra: Scott, Felicity, Mia and Lilah. We all booked onto a World Heritage cruise together, and I am so glad that we did. It was an amazing experience.

Our ship - the Eagle

Hell's Gates - the heads into Macquarie Harbour

 The cruise took us around Macquarie Harbour, where the views of the mountains surrounding it were spectacular. We then went through a tiny 80m gap called "Hell's Gates" into the Southern Ocean. How the old sailing ships of the past managed the passage is quite astounding.

The first highlight of the cruise was a stop at Sarah Island, a place with a fascinating convict past as an island of ultimate punishment that ended up becoming one of the most productive and successful boat building ports in the country.

We went on a walking tour with a fun guide, an actor who really bought the island alive - Dylan and Lukas were both escapee convicts who were hanged! It was one of those moments you sometimes have with kids where historical significance is uniquely combined with everyday life - Evie and Max played amongst the ruins of a convict building and Lukas carried his soccer ball for the whole tour to initiate what he hopes is the first game of modern soccer played on Sarah Island!

It really is a fascinating place, check out this link to read more of the story:
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/indeX.aspX?base=2799

The journey now left behind the convict past and focused on the much more ancient one of the World Heritage-listed national park on the Gordon and Franklin Rivers.

We cruised up the Gordon River through the ruggedly beautiful mountain ranges (while enjoying a delicious buffet lunch of course!) and walked through some of the world-heritage listed rainforest.

There were Huon Pines that were 600 years old and a beautiful silence that made me appreciate the significance of where we were standing. Dylan really felt it to, he knew it was a special place to have visited.

As we cruised back up the river, we sat on the deck with the wind in our hair and just breathed it all in.



 A glorious day with a glorious sunset to top it off!

So what have we been up to in Tasmania for the last week - Part 1

The answer to that question is a lot! We've been exploring the north west region, trying to see as much of the 'wild' wilderness that our motorhome will let us get to and visit some of the little towns that tell the history of the area.

Waratah was the first of these. A really lovely little town with an amazing waterfall in the main street. We camped next to a lake with a resident platypus and seats conveniently placed to direct your viewing. As the kids rolled down hills outside the pub, we drank a Boags (of course) and had a traditional country pub Sunday dinner: massive plates of roast chicken, the only option on the menu and thankfully very delicious!
 

After chatting to the pub owner and a couple of other travellers in the pub, we changed our plans for the next day and decided that driving into Corinna and the Pieman river wilderness was an opportunity that we just couldn't miss.

And I'm glad that we did. A beautifully isolated old mining town in the wilderness where we walked in the cool temperate rainforest, admired the river and marvelled at the lives of the miners and piners that lived there in the 1800s.

The only way out (or in depending on the way you are travelling) is via the barge across the river. Luckily Suzy Q fitted on and we had our own private short journey across the river and continued on our journey. Part 2 coming shortly.......

One reason I'm loving Tasmania

Corinna - a miner's hut

The buildings! Get ready for lots of photos...

We've only really explored the north west so far so I know there's plenty more to come, but already I love what I've seen .

Each town we go to seems to have at least two or three beautiful historic buildings.

For many, convict labour created the buildings, for others, it was the mining and logging pioneers in the late 1800s building a town where nothing but wilderness had previously existed.

A very isolated old Ship Master's house near the Hell's Gates
heads to the ocean at Strahan

There seems to be an appreciation of the history of the state and a desire to maintain and preserve it that means a lot of these buildings are well looked after and utilised as part of the tourist trail.

More of a lighthouse than a traditional building,
but lovely nonetheless

Stanley

Stanley - again

The pub at Stanley

At Stanley, with the famous "Nut" (extinct volcano) behind

A hut at Waratah, an old tin mining town

The pub at Waratah - it's for sale - anyone up for a seachange??

Thanks for the lovely welcome, Tassie

Tonight is our third night in Tasmania...here's a snapshot of our evening: rice paper rolls made with Tasmanian free range chicken and organic veges, served with raspberry and chilli sauce bought at the raspberry farm in Latrobe and a bottle of Tasmanian bubbly (a birthday present I bought for myself!)

So thanks Tassie, we're enjoying your luscious produce already.

After a pretty good boat ride over and a quick overnight stop in Devonport when we got off, we boot-scooted out of town for a foodie Tasmanian morning.

In the space of a few hours we visited a chocolate factory, a cherry shop, a cheese factory and a raspberry farm. We of course did lots of tasting and bought some of our favourites - Evie devoured the cointreau truffles, Lukas adored the cherry icecream and convinced me to buy a 920g jar of raspberry jam, Dylan's mature palate liked the wasabi cheddar and Max's favourite was the raspberry smoothie. We all ate way too many 'samples' of the choc-coated raspberries and needed a bit of recovery time afterwards.

Suzy Q was then pointed north west as we set out to explore the wilderness. A brief stopover for a wander down the main street of Sheffield, with walls covered in murals, found us a great organic local grocer for supplies and the fun and really beautiful marble museum (thanks Meredith for the tip!)

The drive through the countryside was through fields of poppies farmed, I presume, for medicinal opium. The beauty of the fields was strangely contrasted to the signs attached to them:

Our camp for the evening was a site in Leven Gorge that felt like an ancient rainforest - think towering eucalypts, moss-covered logs and giant tree ferns. The campfire was lit as soon as we arrived and by dusk we were surrounded by Tasmanian pademelons.

Today we travelled through Burnie to our next destination in the north west, Stanley, where the above dinner has taken place. And just so you don't think everything goes perfectly, about five minutes after taking that photo we had to race around to pack up the camp and dash inside as icy cold rain started pelting down, and here we have stayed for the rest of the evening!

A sanctuary and a strait

We visited a unique place yesterday morning (New Year's Eve) called William Ricketts Sanctuary.

 It's near Mt Dandenong and is a garden with tree ferns and giant mountain ash that is dotted with clay sculptures.

The artist lived for many years in central Australia and felt a strong affinity with the tradition and culture of the local indigenous peoples.

It is a very peaceful place to spend half an hour walking around.

 

Now we're on the Spirit of Tasmania, almost having crossed the Bass Strait.

Despite the early start to get here, it's been quite a fun day (and we all downed travel sickness pills to make sure it stayed fun).

There has been plenty of activities for the kids, including face painting, cartoon drawing, badge making and a lunchtime movie screening. So look out Tassie, here we come!

Lukas' painting he got done on his arm

A loaf of bread for New Years

And here's what's lovely about adventuring around Australia.

This loaf of fresh-baked bread was delivered to our motorhome doorstep last night about 10pm by a lovely old man, Leon, I met over the exceptionally good oven in the camp kitchen.

We only spoke for about 60 seconds as I took a roast out of the oven and he prepared to put his bread in, and bonded over our excitement at having a good oven to actually bake in.

And then 3 hours later, he turned up with a warm loaf of bread for us all to enjoy. What a generous and kind start 2015!

A Melbourne kinda day

Today we went to explore Brighton Beach, a special request from Dylan who was really keen to see the bathing boxes. Unfortunately the weather wasn't as keen for us to be there, it was blowing a gale and almost sleeting. We donned our coats, and being the intrepid explorers that we are, managed to walk the box strip (actually Brian, Evie and Max bailed halfway but the big boys and I made it despite being almost washed away a couple of times).

The kids each chose their favourite:

Dylan's favourite

Lukas' favourite

Evie's favourite

Max's favourite

 After Brighton, we headed up the beach road to St Kilda whuch we planned to explore for the afternoon. We found a big open carpark (essential for parking Suzy Q) and made a sandwich to eat before we left. We were listening to the cricket while eating when it all got a bit exciting, so decided to drop everything and head into the MCG for the afternoon session. Why? Because we could!

It was a great afternoon in the hallowed ground, which I'd never been to before and I have to say was most impressive.

Unfortunately the Aussies couldn't show us a win, despite Max and Evie yelling Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi (or in Max's case Aussie Aussie Aussie...Aussie Aussie Aussie) but what a way to spend a spur-of-the-minute afternoon.

Oh yeah, and we'll forever remember our visit to St Kilda: a sandwich in a motorhome in a carpark!!

A lovely Christmas holiday

It's funny when you're on a six-month adventure to think of having a Christmas holiday, but I'm really glad that we did. I decided it would be nice for the kids to make Christmas a different part of the adventure, one involving a week in a caravan park by the sea like thousands of other families do every year.

We had a great time doing not much at all. Less adventuring and more relaxing : flying our new kites and watching the sunset over the ocean were priorities.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day we moved as far as the steps to the beach for a play in the rock pools, building sand castles and jumping over a couple of waves. Not a great swimming beach, as Dylan will attest to following a couple of dumpings, but fun nonetheless.

A barbecued butterflied lamb and snow pea salad made for a special Christmas dinner and some biscuits and puddings purchased in a gift box back at Beechworth Bakery ensured we had plenty of goodies to eat.

We also ventured all the way across the road to the Kilcunda General Store, a funky little cafe/post office/general store for a couple of coffees and even breakfast one day.

A day trip to San Remo and Phillip Island ticked another box as we watched the pelicans being fed, saw koalas and experienced the famous penguin parade. It was ridiculously busy and I suspect we'll find peak tourist season is not our favourite time for touring. I'm hoping we might find some more penguins in our travels (maybe Tasmania?) that we can enjoy without the 3,000 other people.

Once again, a couple of quiet moments saved us from the crowds...a walk along the pier after the pelican feeding frenzy where we saw big stingrays and dolphins surfing the tide....a little winery 'Purple Hen' on a Phillip Island back road where Brian and I got to taste while the kids played with some toys and picked giant gum nuts off some amazing eucalypts.

So all in all a nice break in one spot for a week with some time to relax, I even got to read a book, something I haven't done in a very long time!

We're now staying about half an hour out of Melbourne for a couple of days until our Tasmanian Adventure begins with a big boat ride on New Years Day.