2nd week - Wednesday - St Helens

Set off this morning and travelled in the beautiful ferns.  They were huge and magnificent.  Only trouble is that this means hills and bends, lots of bends.   We travelled for an hour - the whole time I was chanting (silently in my head) no trucks, no trucks and it just about worked.  Probably with 5 minutes to go on the bends a truck came towards us.   We only had 1 car come up behind us and we never caught up with anyone.  Coming towards us was 3 combi vans, 6 caravans, 4 motor homes, 5 motor bikes, 30 cars, one with a boat.  I stopped counting about 21km from town when the hills and bends ended.    In that 1 hour we travelled 54 km!  We arrived at the caravan park (which is in Penelope Street) and went to the site we were told, to find people well and truly settled in.  Back to the office to be told to pick any site so we picked one only to find it was too uneven.  We drove onto the next site.  While Ian was driving into our site a jayco dove pulled up a few sites away and started to back in.  We had our van disconnected and then fully set up and the jayco was still trying to back in.  They have finally placed it on their site at a slightly different angle to everyone else.  Ian said they could have pushed it to straitened it.  After lunch we went on a tourist loop going to Scamander, Falmouth, Four Mile Creek, Chain of Lagoons, St Marys and return.  We first travelled along the eastern coast before returning over the hills on the windy road.

2nd Week - Tuesday - Mount William National Park

Today we took a picnic lunch and spent the day at Mount William National Park.  We visited Musselroe Bay, Ansons Bay, Policemans Point and Eddystone Point (most easterly point of the state) where there is a lighthouse.  There are also some buildings there but the area has been given back to the original land owners and the buildings are now falling into disrepair.  It was a strange national park in that there are villages in different bays.  Anywhere between 20 to 50 houses which are obviously holiday homes or fishing shacks.  This is the first time we have seen permanent dwellings in a National Park.  We met a couple from North Carolina.  This is their third visit to Tasmania as they love the area.  This trip they are also going to Hotham and Bright.  We kept running into them at each tourist point.  There really isn't that much to say.  We saw forester kangaroos, wallabies, and an echidna together with beautiful beaches.  Below are a few pictures of the area.

2nd week - Monday- Branxholm

Packed up and set off.  We drove to Bridport but didn't see anything we wanted to stop for.  Next stop Scottsdale where we went to the Information Centre and were told which waterfall had water running and which didn't.  Wandered up and down the street but because of the public holiday not much was open.  Drove to Branxholm where we are spending 2 nights.  It is $20 a night for power, toilet and shower, although hot water is $1 for 4 minutes.  The IGA Supermarket takes the money for the park and they also sell petrol/diesel.  Set the van up, had lunch then drove to Legerwood to see the memorial tree carvings.  Very well done and were carved by the same gentleman who carved the ones at George Town.  The trees were planted in 1918 and chainsaw carved in 2004 commemorating local WWI heroes, Gallipoli and the Anzacs. 

 

There are 4 circuit drives around the area and we chose to do the one that went to the waterfalls.  We went through towns Ringarooma, Pyengana, Derby and drove up Mt Victoria.  The road was dirt and is just over 1 lane wide and is has blind bends so you have no idea if something is coming the other way.  When you meet someone you have to pull as far off the road as you can, close your eyes and pass each other.  At least I was.  At the top of the mountain you couldn't see anything but cloud.  We drove past the first 2 waterfalls as we had been told they had no or very little water until we came to St Columba Falls.  You had to walk 600 metres downhill to the bottom of the falls.  Walking down I was thinking you have to go back up.  The falls were quite impressive.  They are 90 metres high (which are one of the highest in Tassie) and have 42000 litres per minute falling over.  In winter it can get up to as much as 200,000 litres per minute.  It was a lovely walk through the trees and ferns although I was huffing and puffing on the way up.  
 
 

  

We next passed the Pub in the Paddock which is a pub that has been licensed since 1880 and is one of Tassie's oldest country pubs.  They also have a beer swilling pig that lives out back.

Back to the van where there are 2 other vans, 4 tents and 3 combi vans parked with us.  I haven't actually seen another woman yet.

2nd week Sunday - Low Head

This morning was spent doing household chores as we wanted to be around for the fog horn at noon.  Drove up to the lighthouse and there were about 20 people there.  The lady that was going to set the horn off was going around telling people to stand as far away as possible and when it starts if you feel comfortable then move closer.  It hoots 3 times then waits 1 minute and hoots 3 times and continues like that for 10 minutes and then gets turned off.  We had brought ear plugs so sat on the wall behind the shed where the fog horn sits facing the ocean.  It was still loud with the ear plugs.  We walked around to the front of the shed so the horn was facing us.  When it went off it vibrated through you.  Left before the 10 minutes were up and headed back to the van.  In the afternoon we stocked up on groceries and just put the feet up.

Sat Night - Low Head Penguin Tour

We were told to be at the Penguin tour at 8.15.  Arrived at 8 to find we were the last there.  We split into 2 groups of about 12 (we had 3 kids in ours) and went down to the beach.  The Penguins are around 33 cm high and weigh about 1 kg.  We were told to stand still and the Penguins would come close to us. Of course the eldest kid (about 6/7) can't stand still.  The Penguins got to the shoreline but didn't come up the beach so we walked back up to the bushes where the nests are.  The tour guide had an orange light which does not disturb the birds.  He shone it on the nest and 2 baby penguins were sitting there.  Of course the kid runs up to them and they disappeared back into the nest.  The guide tried hard to get the kid to stand still but the parents weren't any help (not mentioning nationalities).  We spent just over an hour wandering the sand dunes and beach and saw about 12 birds and was within 2 feet of them.  One bird walked over the guide's helper's foot.  It was a good night and we were lucky to see the birds we did as it is the end of the breeding season and there are only about 5 nests left.  Would recommend this tour.  Nowhere near as sophisticated as Phillip Island but nowhere near the numbers or cost of Phillip Island.  

We had changed into long pants and took a jumper with us as we thought it would be cool by the beach at night.  Didn't even need the jumpers.  It was a very pleasant evening.

No photos today, as Penguins have no eyelids, there was no flash photography allowed.  The light could blind them.  

 

Saturday - George Town - Low Head

Drove to the Low Head Lighthouse and had a wander around.  It has the only operational "G" type diaphone in the world (whatever the hell that means).  It was first used in 1929 to warn sailors they were nearing Low Head and abandoned in 1973 because of technical advances in navigation.  In 2000 a group of volunteers restored the fog horn and in 2001 it was heard again.  It currently sounds every Sunday at noon and is described in the brochures as "the magnificent roar of a thousand elephants".    Hopefully we will hear it tomorrow.

Next stop was the Low Head Pilot Station Museum.  There are 13 rooms with information and exhibits about whaling, deep sea diving, navigation, shipwrecks, semaphore and morse code and relics from the numerous wrecks of the area.   Over an hour later we headed back to van for lunch.  

The afternoon was spent at the Bass & Flinders Centre.   This has a replica of the Norfolk which was the ship that Bass & Flinders sailed when finding out if Tasmania was an island or attached to the mainland.   There are about 10 different types of boats there together with nautical memorabilia.  You can even walk on the replica of the Norfolk.  The side railing is so low I felt uncomfortable walking near the edge.  I have no idea how all the sailors never went over the edge.  The stairs down to the inside were far to narrow for me to attempt, although Ian went down for a look.  I must say all the staff at any of the places we have been to have been extremely helpful and knowledgeable.  

Back to the van to update the blog and have a bite to eat before heading out this evening to see the penguins.

Friday - George Town / Low Head

Rained during the night and another overcast day of about 22 although the sun broke through for the afternoon.  Packed up then chatted to the neighbours before setting off.  We are only going about 10 km as the crow flies but about 50km by road.  First stop was after we had crossed Batman Bridge for a photo opportunity.  The bridge is one of the world’s first cable-stayed truss bridges, the overall length of the bridge is 432 metres and was built between 1966 and 1968.

Batman Bridge

Next stop was George Town where we wandered the main street before heading into the Watch House.   Only 3 original buildings remain in the town, the watch house, the pub and a double storey house.  An elderly lady lives here and she opens the house a couple of times a year.  Apparently it is filled with period furniture.    The watch house is now a museum with a model village of the town in the early 19th century.   The women's holding cell displayed 49 small square quilts by members of the quilters' guild of NSW.  Another cell was set up how it would originally have looked and another held a display of 80 dolls in national dress.

Next stop Low Head our home for the next 3 nights.  Set the van up and had lunch.  Looking through the brochures we had picked up I noticed that there were quilts displayed at the community centre so we headed back to George Town for a look.  There are 3 quilts, one depicting George Town, one Low Head and one Bell Bay.  They were sewn by the George Town quilting group and well worth the trip back into town.  We drove down to the shoreline and found a park with chainsaw statues carved in some trees.  Very intricate work.

 

We headed up to the lookout next and climbed the tower for a view over the surrounding area.  The area all the way up the hill to the lookout had been burnt, you could still smell the burnt wood.  Nature is amazing as on a closer inspection you could see the new growth.  We later found out that some kids had set the fire in December.   Driving back to the van we past a signpost for a water tower mural so took a detour for a look.  Probably needs a bit of a touch up as it is looking a bit old.

George Town