5th Week - Wednesday - Wynyard

Packed up and hooked the car up.  The caravan stabiliser unit turned red, it is meant to go green.  Okay we will travel without the stabiliser.  Plugged the caravan brakes in and the controller in the car shows a fault.  Great now what.  Pulled the van out of the site and tapped the brakes a few times and the controller resets.  Off we go.  Drove for about 20 minutes and the controller indicates the the caravan brakes aren't connected and various other errors.  Decided not to go to Cradle Mountain without brakes.  Found a spot to turn around and headed towards Burnie.  Once in mobile range we rang RACT.  Half an hour later a guy turns up and recommends we go to an auto electrician and gives us the name of two places.  Ring the first one and they can fit us in next Tuesday.  Rang the second one and he said this afternoon.  Got a park in Burnie to wait the 3 hours until we could get the van looked at.  While waiting we rang Cradle Mountain and were very lucky as they could cancel tonight and move it to Friday so we will have Thursday / Friday there (if the brakes can be fixed).  Rang where we stayed the last 3 nights and said we would be back.  Finally it was time to take the car and van to the auto electrician and the car wouldn't start.  We had left the fridge on battery because it won't work on gas but the fridge was meant to be set up so it would run off the second battery and not the car battery.  We couldn't even jump start the car from the second battery.  We turned the fridge off and we had only just filled it with food!  Ian walked down to the auto electrician who said he would send someone to jump start us.  Ian arrived back and decided to try and start the car from the second battery again and it started just as the auto electrician pulled up.  We followed him back to the yard and 1 1/2  hours later they have done everything they can think of so we set off.  Unfortunately 5 minutes down the road it started playing up again so we have decided to stay put for a week and take it to the first auto electrician and hope they can fix it.  This is the one the RACT person had recommended in the first place so we are booked in for next Tuesday.  So here we are back in Wynyard for the next week so don't expect any posts for awhile as nothing will be happening.  (Luckily the food survived so one good thing for the day)

5th Week - Tuesday - Wynyard

Drove to Somerset  (about 10 km) where there is a caravan sales place and shop.  Our fridge did not enjoy the trip over and had decided not to work on gas.  It was working before we left home but will now not light so we thought we would see if it could be fixed as we can't free camp without it.  Anyway this place does not do repairs so we will have to stick with powered sites.  Back at Wynyard we stocked up on groceries and got the washing up to date as we are off to Cradle Mountain tomorrow

5th Week - Monday - Wynyard

Off on the scenic tour.  Drove to Boat Harbour township and then down to Boat Harbour beach.  A lovely little beach.  There is also a free camp site on the shores of the beach.  There was 1 tent, 1 van and 1 combi type bus set up there.  Another 2 vans would have made it extremely cosy.  While we were strolling along the beach 5 vans turned up and all got out to survey the site.  We drove off and passed another 2 vans heading to the camp site.  Hope they all had a fun night.   Next stop was Sister Beach, also a very pretty and child friendly beach with shallow water.  We then headed towards the Table Cape Tulip Farm, of course it is the wrong time of year, but would look spectacular if the tulips were flowering.  Stopped at the Table Cape Lighthouse before heading to Table Cape Lookout giving views of the coastline.  There is also a 30 minute walk along the coastline back to the lighthouse passing a spectacular waterfall (according to the sign).  We got to the waterfall which had a trickle of water and I turned back and returned to the lookout.  Ian continued the walk to the lighthouse and then returned to the lookout.   Final stop Fossil Cliff and lookout.   Back to the van for a swim and spa.

Boat Harbour

Boat Harbour

Wynyard

5th Week - Sunday - Wynyard

Only going a short distance this morning so slowly packed up and still arrived at Wynyard by 10.30 so went and had coffee and visited the information centre to kill enough time to go to the park.  Set up and are having a quiet day, getting the blog and photos up to date and talking with our neighbours.   Can't believe that a month has gone by already.

4th Week - Saturday - Tarkine Drive

Packed lunch and set off on the Tarkine drive which is a loop track taking you through the Tarkine Region.  We probably covered 180 km for the day.  We went through the towns of Marrawah, Arthur River, Edith Creek, Irishtown and Smithton.  We stopped at Bluff Hill Point and Edge of the World lookouts, Nelson Bay, Couta Rocks, Kannunah Bridge overlooking the rapids of Arthur River, Sumac Lookout overlooking Arthur River and rainforest, Julius River, Dempster Plains Lookout with views of buttongrass plains leading up to the hills, Sinkhole, Tayatea Bridge and Trowutta Arch.   A few of the stops required a walk to the viewing area.  All, bar one, were extremely easy.  The last was a bit harder because you were climbing over tree roots and rocks so the ground was uneven and slippery.  The whole area is a conservation area and was one of the many bushfires Tasmania had about 5 weeks ago.  Of the area we saw about 80% of it was burnt.  In one of the little hamlets we drove through, one house had aluminium cladding which was melted.  You could smell smoke as there were areas still smouldering.  Some of the roads were still closed.  A very enjoyable (but tiring) day.

 

 

Arthur River coastline

 

Sinkhole

 

Arthur river

Trowutta Arch

Trowutta Arch

 

4th Week - Friday - Stanley

Drove the short distance to Stanley and set up.  The town is at the bottom of "The Nut" which is 143 metres high.  13 million years ago lava shot through the earth's surface, cooled and formed basalt and formed The Nut.  You can either walk up to the top or take the chairlift.  I am sure you won't be surprised to hear we took the chairlift.    There is a 2km walk around the Nut plateau which gives you great views.  We also came down on the chairlift.  We then strolled around the historic village of Stanley looking at the old buildings.  We ended the day with an ice cream.  Ian had the lavender flavoured one.  The taste wasn't very strong but the colour was a beautiful purple.    Started blowing a gale and rained during the night.  Few people putting their awnings up during the night.

Chairlift view of Stanley

The Nut

4th Week - Thursday - Burnie

First stop the Information Centre which is also the maker's workshop.  They have artists and craftsmen who demonstrate their skills (and also sell their products).  After looking around here and deciding to skip the museum and art gallery we chose a tourist drive.   First stop was Fernglade Platypus Reserve.  There is a walk along the river bank through ferns.  Fernglade has a reputation for being one of the most reliable places to see a platypus in the wild.  The best time being early morning or evening.  Here we are arriving mid morning so what would our chances be.   We parked and while Ian got his camera out, I wandered to the river where a platypus was swimming about 10 metres from me.  It went underwater so I tried to get Ian's attention without scaring it.  When the platypus surfaced I stood still and watched him.  Each time he went under Ian moved closer to the side of the river and we watched him until he went under the trees on the opposite side of the river.  Off to do the walk, which was very pleasant and then returned to the river but no sign of the platypus.  Couldn't believe our luck at managing to arrive at the time we did.  Back in the car and we drove past the Hellyers Road Distillery which is the largest boutique whiskey distillery in the Southern Hemisphere and on to Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden.  This garden has 20,000 plants and is the only known place where the entire range of the world's rhododendrons can be grown in the same garden.  Unfortunately wrong time of the year so we didn't go in.   Finished the tourist loop by parking back at the information centre and strolled along the boardwalk that runs along the beach into the city centre.  Looked around the shops, grabbed lunch and then strolled back to the car and drove to Roundhill Lookout.    There are 3 different viewing platforms but unfortunately the clouds and mist were rolling in so not quite as spectacular as could have been.  Stocked up on some supplies and back to the van.

Fernglade Platypus Reserve

Fernglade Platypus Reserve