Tasmania Easter
25th March to 15th April 2005

Trip Reports and pictures compiled by Bryce Messner.

Day One: 25th March 2005 Good Friday written by Bryce Messner

We were all on time at Hawksnest our meeting spot at 7.00am. Hugh & Clive were going to Gundagai to meet us at 10.00am and were a little late arriving but we were in contact as soon as we arrived by UHF as they were close by about 5 minutes away. We had a bite to eat and were on our way again.

Lunchtime came and we stopped at Ettomogah Pub outside of Albury, to the delight of a few who hadn’t been there before. An hour later we resumed our journey.

We arrived in Melbourne without any mishaps, some 19km out, at our overnight cabins. Friends of ours from Melbourne, Barry & June arrived not long after we arrived for a few hours visit and left us instructions on how to get to the ferry terminal.

Day Two: 26th March 2005 Easter Saturday written by Bryce Messner

We were all up early, on time and under way at 7.30pm. A bit worried on this stupid E Tag system and not having the pre paid tags, I decided close to Melbourne to wing it and drive by instinct to find the terminal.

All things don’t go to plan so after a couple of stops for directions we made it on time. Those large blue & white ferry signs are sure hard to find until you are quite close to the ferry.

I had let all my fellow travellers know about no fruit and veggies through customs but I did not know about new laws in regard to fuel in containers and gas bottles. The petrol and shellite were dumped in 44-gallon drums and the gas bottles confiscated and returned at the terminal in Tasmania.

We had day seats, which were not a problem on the way over as there was plenty of room as the bulk of Easter travellers went over yesterday which included Jeff and Elizabeth (long story). They were in contact by radio as we disembarked and guided us in to our overnight cabins. We arrived quite late at 10.30pm. the ship was behind schedule some 3 ½ hours.

Ralph & Mira had a cabin and we didn’t see them for the bulk of the trip, but the rest of us played up and had a ball on the way over, a few people will no doubt remember us.

Day Three: 27th March 2005 Easter Sunday written by Jeff & Elizabeth

We left the cabins at 9am, stopped off to buy groceries for the next few days meals. We drove towards Burnie to visit the Don River Railway Museum. Before going to the museum, we went to the flea markets set up in the park. They were selling all kinds of second hand bric-a brac including camping items, crockery and doilies. After a few items were purchased, we went across the road to the museum.

The Don River Railway was established on the site in 1973 and trains commenced running in November 1976. We had a ride in the steam train along the eastern banks of the picturesque Don River. That took about an hour. We went over the Sawdust Bridge, which was built prior to 1874 and was then, washed away in floods in the 1890s and then was rebuilt in 1988 in an Australian Bicentennial Project. The railway is owned and operated by volunteers.

Once our train ride was completed, we headed off to Sheffield to have lunch. On the way we saw some pretty scenery, but the land was quite dry. In Sheffield there were many murals painted on the walls in the streets. Someone actually stood there for days on end to paint these life-size paintings that appeared so real to look at.

After a quick bite to eat, we went to Dove Lake to take a look at Cradle Mountain.

Upon arriving at Dove Lake, it became clear to us that we were only going to be offered glimpses of Cradle Mountain’s peaks. Unfortunately, the mountain was covered in clouds but a few of us braved the elements and took a few snapshots anyway. The wind was blowing fiercely, lazy wind I call it, and too lazy to go around you so it goes straight through you!

We headed off to find a campsite, which was not the easiest of tasks, as most of the forest was privately owned. Eventually we spotted a little campsite opposite a rest area. It was a nice enclosed area, very quiet, a little off the road, but most importantly there was no wind. We built a campfire, cooked our dinners and had a relaxing evening.

Day 4: 28th March Easter Monday 2005 written by Peter Miller

We awoke to clear blue skies, and the expected top temperature of 19 degrees, an absolutely perfect day.

We left around 8.30am to our destination, Stony Point on the Coast.

Today was no different to the previous day, with an abundance of fresh meat on the side of the road it was everywhere. Our Leader (Bryce) was choking at the bit to skin the odd “Potoroo”.

Lunch was at Pegg’s Beach, with the fine weather we enjoy an outlook to sea. With only a few people on the beach, we had a quiet peaceful break. From our lunch stop we headed to Rocky Cape Light House where we all took time out to take photos of the coastline taking advantage of high position on the point, the road out was incredibly dusty covering us in white dust. Out here there was an Aboriginal cave with a midden of shells and bones some 200 metres from the lighthouse .

Mid afternoon we arrived at Stanley, a quaint town. Obviously, the locals have gone to great lengths to make this the main tourist attraction in the area. “The Nut” is the local landmark, a high headland plateau that overlooks the town and coast climbing 300 mtres from the sea. While most of us caught the chair lift, Hugh and Clive decided to walk the track to the top. At the top, we took the opportunity to take photographs of the area looking out into Bass Straight, then doing the trip down the chair lift with magnificent views over the town.

We also visited a very nice historic homestead over looking The Nut from the western side, well worth the visit. We got there at four o'clock and our visit was free as they were closing in half an hour, good value and well timed.

A short drive up the coast we landed at a camping area managed by Ted & Eve at Stoney Point. An elderly couple that made our stay very enjoyable. The site was basic and right on the coast with a boat ramp. As it was school holidays in Tassie there were several other campers staying the night. Hot water for the shower came from a 9 gallon keg that was on the boil all day. When someone required hot water, Ted would fill a bucket, and then it was a sprint to the camp shower to fill the canvas bag. In a weird way it was fun and a place to remember.

With all the chores including dinner over in good light. We all spent the night sitting around the fire exchanging stories and having a few laughs.

Day 5: 29th March Tuesday 2005 written by Clive Brindley

We broke camp at Stony Point at 8.30am and we headed to West Point, Tasmania’s most westerly point. We fuelled up at Marrawah after travelling through dense forest on a dirt road. Diesel was $1.29 Premium $1.32, unleaded $1.22, but no choice as there was no fuel for the next 184 km.

We turned of the bitumen onto a rough dirt road to take us to West Cape Beach Reserve for some pics of the beautiful coastline and rock strewn beach. We followed Bryce down a sandy track winding through sand hills leading down onto a deserted beach. We all lined up and we took photos of all the cars on the beach at the water line.

Bryce then sped along the beach to climb out and into the sand hills this time at the southern end and we all took off and followed him, again winding through sand hills over a pretty crook track and onto another beach. On our return we followed Bryce up a sandy looking track that he only managed to get through. Due to the track being churned up (likely story TL) our car failed to proceed and needed a snatch from Peter’s Disco and we were on our way again.

Upon more searching in the hills we came across a couple of historic stone buildings, their history was not known, but we thought fisherman’s cottages of some sort?

We moved off only to stop at a right turn down onto the sand again at Arthur River Bridge for morning tea. We went for another beach drive out to the oceanfront and watched the wild seas pound the rocks it was a magnificent sight. We drove through very soft sand on the way out but we were all ok getting back to the road. There were black swans every where we turned on every waterway, they were magnificent.

Back on the track again we headed to Coota Rocks a tiny fishing community in remote country in a sheltered harbour in beautiful stark surrounds, they must be special people to live in this harsh area. In fact one Series 2 owner drove down to have a chat with Bryce when he saw all our Land Rovers.

After leaving here we started to wind back through forest and stopped for lunch on a high outlook with magnificent views. We then headed through more mountainous country with very close forest hemming our side and obliterating our view seeing nothing but forest. We came to a “T” intersection and headed to the Pieman River and a ferry crossing.

This ferry was called a “Fatman Ferry” and had room for two vehicles only at a time. The charge was $20 per vehicle, which was highway robbery, but we could have gone the long way. It is privately owned and gets no government assistance so hence the high cost, it’s about 300mtres across, for the money the toilets could have been better they were subhuman.

We moved onto Zeehan, then to Strahan for a late camp amongst the dunes surrounded by pine forest, and finished of the night with a great campfire.

Day 6: 30th March Wednesday 2005 written by Hugh Scott

A Day Trip on Macquarie Harbour.

WE started early from our campsite in a state forest near Strahan to arrive at 8.00am. Peter and David as usual found the Bakery as soon as we arrived for bread rolls and breakfast. Parking in the car park cost the princely sum of $2.00 a day, had we known the closer car park was $4.00 a day, oh well there’s always next trip.

9.00am we board our boat a three-deck twin hull cruiser, a far cry from my last visit 12 years ago. First stop is Hells Gate where the narrow entrance has tides flowing in quickly and our margin of exit precise to allow us passage out to see and return safely. The air out on deck is very cold, so most of us huddled in side. Ships in the 1830’s had quite a chore getting out. We saw remnants of train tracks on rock jetties from a time long gone, a few more years and all will disappear.

After coming back through we head to a fish farm and we witness them feeding as a farmer sprays pellets bringing them in their thousands to the surface like piranha.

Our next stop is Sarah Island and the oldest ship building in Australia. The convicts were used by their jailers to build the ships of course, to the profit of a few, but not the convicts of course. It was closed after 11 years of building some of the most sought after ships of their time.

On our way again and into the Gordon River and as we were slowing down to avoid the wash damaging the banks it was time for a sumptuous lunch. We landed at a special place to view a 2000-year-old Huon Pine or what was left of it.

We are now heading back to port and we witness the outfall of the King River and its dirty brown stain on the harbour already discoloured from the tannin of the tree roots in the water, but very distinct, the result of tailings from the Mt Lyell copper mine.

Arriving back at Strahan we depart for Queenstown, and getting into late afternoon the caravan park is voted a big NO, so we head bush and find a small site barely large enough to hold us at Kelly’s Basin car park walking track. To get there we travelled down a very narrow track for 5km that once was the train track to Kelly Basin Mine. The track in places cut sheer on both sides through solid rock, very eerie in the dark as the sun had just gone down, very interesting trip a must see. There was once a port at Kelly Basin but was abandoned in favour of Strahan, remnants of the old town can be seen if you walk the 15km’s there to see it.

We camped here in the tiny cramped car park, totally hemmed in by huge trees, making it darker than normal. A set of lights appeared out of the pitch night, no Ranger, but Danish tourists in an old Land Cruiser joined us in the tiny site. We had no fire as it was not a designated camping area and Bryce said let’s not advertise we are here, it was a mellow night anyway.

Day 7: 31st March Thursday 2005 written by Peter Miller

After a cool night, we packed up in reasonable time in case we had an early morning visit from a park ranger. In years gone by copper was mined extensively in the area known as East Pilinger / Kelly Basin and transported to Macquarie Harbour. We hiked for a distance down the old track (now a narrow path), and marvelled at the beautiful giant tree ferns and massive lichen growing off the tree trunks. The path followed a primeval river to the sea & our experienced bush walker showed his stuff by going for an untimely swim when he fell into the creek, lucky he didn’t go in all the way, nice one Clive.

Off to Lake Burbury for a photo opportunity then back to that picture perfect town called Queenstown, NOT. We all took the opportunity to restock supplies and fuel and partake of morning tea.
Heading out of town we stopped off at Iron Blow open cut copper mine to check out the damage to the environment, which was plentiful. The copper residue and the water mixed to show typical copper green water as the sun hit it, very spectacular indeed.

Lunch was at the edge of a stream in the Derwent Forest, before heading to Lake St Clair National Park visiting the centre to gain some knowledge on the area, and view the other side of Cradle Mountain. The lake from this side is very large, with small tourist ferry and new wharf, very much back packer and hiker orientated with a very large souvineer shop that was in darkness due to a power failure.

Then it was off to our destination at Bronte Park for a two-night camp. We arrived early in the afternoon and with our early arrival easy set up time with no rush. When the tents were organised, some of the guys went up to the bar to play a little snooker. Ralph and Rita took a cabin, (TV again we guess) and Hugh’s mate John took a room in the hotel style accommodation resort for $65 for the night, he doesn’t like tents either and apparently the dinner served was very much to his liking, Hugh wasn’t feeding him…?

A few of us stayed to enjoy the warmth of the open fire. While we were up there chatting, a gust of wind came through the park that did some damage to Jeff and Elizabeth’s tent. Surprisingly, the tent (A Black Wolf Turbo) that was a recent purchase definitely had a performance issue. With the help of Bryce and Clive the tent was repaired and livable again.

With the two-night stop over, a few of us pulled out the camp ovens. The result was some great tasting lamb and baked vegetables with plenty of large logs supplied by the park. For being in a park, it was just like being out in the bush, well almost!

Day 8: 1st April Friday 2005 written by Hugh Scott

We camp at Bronte Park for two nights to do washing and a good rest. The locals on Thursday night have a party and a drunken Victorian visitor swears all-night and kept some of us awake.

The next morning Clive gets out his tools for some maintenance on his car and Jeff some ongoing repairs to his tent after a heavy wind through the night. I was sick from the flu for most of the day.

I thank Darralynn for doing my washing and pumping me full of tablets. We all had a good meal of camp oven cooking that night also; we had plenty of wood supplied by the park.

Ralph and his mother aren’t getting along so they decide to leave us in the morning. Ralph is taking her home, a decision we are not happy about, and we feel very sorry for Mira it was her holiday too and she paid for the trip (Trip Leader). She was a wonderful cook and shared whatever she cooked for dinner, she made a little extra for all of us to try, the best chips we have ever had and that’s a statement.

Day 9: 2nd April Saturday 2005 written by Jeff & Elizabeth

Up and away by 8:30am and down to five vehicles. We drove out by the Great Lake, which seemed very low and onto dirt tracks taking us past Waddamana Power Station. Driving along we passed herds of deer and some lovely old cottages. We stopped for morning tea in the Victoria Falls car park; some of us taking the twenty-minute walk to the falls. The falls were stunning, although only just trickling.

Back in the vehicles and after a short drive we stopped at “Something Wild” Wildlife Park, which was built on an old golf course. We saw wombats, emus, owls, platypus and the star of the show, the Tasmanian devil.

We continued on to lunch at Mount Fields National Park. After lunch we drove up to the visitor’s centre which was the starting point for a short walk to Russell Falls. The walk to the falls was beautiful with some huge swamp gums and lots of ferns. One of the swamp gums had fallen, and it was so big that you were able to stand in it. We stopped for a few photos and then continued on to the falls. When we arrived at the falls, we found that they were not in full flow, but were spectacular anyway, with water falling down two tiers of sheer cliff face.

Once everyone had returned to their vehicles, we headed off to search for a campsite for the night. Upon finding the perfect spot not far from Gordon Dam, we settled in for the night, cooking dinner and enjoying wonderful company around the campfire. We also had a number of visitors at the edge of the firelight, two spotted quolls (Tiger Cats) a number of Potoroos and an Owl.

Day 10: 3rd April Sunday 2005 written by David Miller

We woke to find Ralph had rejoined the group, how he found us is still a mystery, as we were nowhere near the place on the itinerary due to unsuitable sites.
Ralph brought heavy rain and we used the nearby shed to hang our gear while we enjoyed our breakfast. The long drops were quite well designed with a hand full of sawdust to be thrown from a bucket to aid in reduction of smell and breakdown, it worked.

As a few of the vehicles were low on fuel, it became critical that we find a petrol station real soon.

Leaving the campsite we came across some local guys who directed us to Strathgordon Chalet. The weather was now miserable, with rain and the temperature down to about 12degrees. As Strath didn’t have much to offer we headed towards the Gordon Dam. Not a bad piece of engineering and well worth a look if you are over in the area.

Lunch was at Maydena, then off to Plenty and Salmon Ponds to see a salmon farm, the very first in Australia and responsible for all the trout in Australia today. Everyone spent a dollar or two to buy a cup of fish food. The greedy little buggers had no trouble consuming everything that was thrown at them. Bryce & Clive filled their pockets with fallen chestnuts from a huge old tree and Liz later cooked them for the pair.

The group moved on towards New Norfolk where we took on supplies. After a little confusion getting out of the town we headed for a 14km track to take us to Crabtree via Lachlan it was called Jeffrey’s Track. The track was a little cut up, steep and very muddy due to the previous heavy rain but all the Land Rovers made it easy work. If more time were available this would have been a nice play area.

As the rain started again and a few of us still had some wet gear we headed to a caravan park at Snug where we spent the night warm and cosy in our individual cottages. Bryce had his tent erected inside the covered BBQ area to dry and air out and in the morning was ready for another camp night.

Day 11: 4th April Monday 2005 written by Ralph Radovan

We find ourselves some 25km sth of Hobart at the Snug Beach Caravan Park for an overnight stay. Yesterday had light showers when we drove in today very light cloud nice, our group left at 8.40 am for our day trip to Bruny Island just over the water channel (he means ocean TL).

Bruny Island has a north and south section and is around 60km in a straight line on the map. To get there you need to catch a car ferry which has 2 decks and the cost is $25 return, and if you hold a pension, veteran or senior card you get a discount from the ferry man if you show it. We arrived Kettering at 8.30am and had to wait until 9.20am to board and it took until 9.50am to arrive on the north section. The first thing I saw was a Classic Range Rover waiting to board going to the mainland. We passed a sign saying Adventure Bay 39km, we drove in a southerly direction on a sealed road then it turned to dirt. The tide was low exposing long beach flats and at 10.20am we pulled into a rest area for morning tea and left at 11.15 am.

Now we head to Adventure Bay where it was Captain Cook’s first landing place in Australia and they have a caravan park named after him. We drove around slowly twisting beachfront road to a sign saying site of St Paul’s Church destroyed by fire Feb 1927. The road now ends at Cookville at Adventure Bay Holiday Village and we turn around and head SW for Cape Bruny some 30km’s away at the end of the southern part. Along the way we stop at a lookout at Mt Mangana some 571 metres high. We arrived at 12.40pm at Cape Bruny lighthouse, which was built in 1836, looked around and left for a lunch spot at Jetty Beach. After 40 minutes we head back to the ferry and stopped to look for penguins, but all we saw were burrows in the sand, best time is night. Our trip leader was the only one so excited he drove over a plastic road marker, it just popped back up with no damage. Clive was giving it to Bryce again. Bryce then hurried us all up and it was a mad dash for the ferry was leaving at 3.13pm and we just made it with 2 minutes to spare.

Back on the mainland at 3.40pm we head south down the Huon Valley and to our campsite at Gordon in a reserve right on the bay looking west to Bruny Island where we have just been, arriving at 4.10pm. Today we done 171km and spotted 2x Series 3’s, 2x Discos, 3x 110’s, 3x Rangies and a Series 2.

Day 12: 5th April Tuesday 2005 written by Darralynn Messner

We leave our fantastic campsite on the bay at 8.15am and follow the coast road B68, all the way hugging the coastline to Huonville. Along here the views over the water are great and we pass a number of potential campsites.

In Huonville we stop and have morning tea, while we wait for Hugh to repair two deflating tyres while he gets the chance. The large bakery here is the best we have come across, the food excellent and we stock up on fresh bread still warm.

Not long on the road we stop again at the town of Franklin and visit a wonderful antique shop and some visit the boat building shop that has a small museum of Huon Pine boats.

We travel the full length of A6 until we come to Cockle Creek the furthest you can drive south and take pictures at the bronze whale sculpture over looking a very pretty bay. We backtrack along the dirt road and stop on a large grassy area opposite the ocean for lunch. The ground here is very soft and if wet I’m sure we would have sunk. All along this waterfront are large camping area, and as we are slightly ahead of ourselves we move on instead of camping, I would like to have stayed.

From here we visited the Tahune Air walk near Geeveston, an incredible area fairly new as it was not here on our last visit in 1999/2000. This walk carved out of the forest strung on steel suspension and supports 80 metres in the air above the forest floor ending in a fantastic overhang to view the two rivers converging into one.

From here we move out and take some back roads on dirt and come in the back door of Hobart which we pass through and with some stressing of my driver at the night setting too fast. We pass through Cambridge and over a very long man made breakwater that connects Sorell by road. We were hoping for a campsite at Dodges Ferry but no luck the Caravan Park has shut down since our last visit. We finally after much yelling at one of our participants for not listening after a number of “discussions” and U-turns we settle for the night in the grounds of the Primrose RSL club. Wood supplied, toilets and showers all for $2 a head, unfortunately its bingo night so no meals are on tonight, no matter we have a very pleasant night around our campfire.

Day 13: 6th April Wednesday 2005 written by Bryce Messner

After a good breakfast we move out at 8.00am and head down Port Arthur H’way, crossing the isthmus at Eaglehawk Neck, where in the days of Port Arthur eight savage dogs were strategically placed to stop runaways from the Penal Colony. It was known as “the dogline” and the dogs bore names like Ajax, Ter’em, Muzzle’em.

We turned off the H’way and headed for Doo Town, here all the properties were hanging shingles naming their homes like “Gunna- Doo”, “This-il- Doo”, “Doo-in-time”, “Doggy Doo” etc. Along here are a couple of unique natural wonders like The Tessellated Pavement (lots of perfect squares of rock set out over a hundred odd metres square) we also saw two penguins swimming amongst the kelp 20 metres off shore. The Tasman Arch, and Devil’s Kitchen the latter on very rough days throw on a spectacular display but on this occasion the seas were come. Further back the Blow Hole equally unimpressive with out big seas.

At Port Arthur we paid our money to explore this historic site, only after about 15 minutes there it absolutely poured with rain. We headed back to the restaurant and had lunch, but the rain did not abate, sad for those that had not been before, but there’s always next trip.

We head out and find ourselves at Lime Bay on the peninsulas NW, the rain now eased off allowing a good chance to explore this site once used to mine coal, & also used to make bricks. The old cells here some in good condition still show how inhumane this time in history was, the cells pitch black & underground and incredibly dank and small. This area very well preserved and a lot of restoration evident with new sandstone blocks in place on the man building.

We head toward Richmond, first stopping at Copping Museum a must visit worth the $7. At Richmond we take a few pics of this Heritage listed town, every building a sandstone treasure and in fact the oldest standing bridge in Australia 1823.

Eventually as it was getting late and we head north to Oatlands and a campsite on the highway. The area is very nice but a little too close and passing traffic noisy until late in the night, but a nice grassy area with toilets and shelter.

Day 14: 7th April Thursday 2005 written by Sue Brindley

We depart the Oaklands campsite at 8.30 am and into Oaklands to visit the laundramat to catch up some long needed washing that takes hours by the time we finish.

John and Ralph spent the night at the pub instead of camping with us, as they seemed to prefer this to setting up a tent (I think they liked watching television).

The boys visit the antique shops and take lots of photos in this town of wonderful historic buildings and huge flourmill.

We move onto Ross further north, also a very photographed town of historic buildings. Here we run into the Governor General stopping off for a loo stop, Jeff actually does run into him on his way into the loo without knowing who he was until after.

We lunch on the South Esk River at a very pretty roadside pull in and its very cold; we can see a storm brewing ahead the way we are heading.

We soon get onto dirt again travelling through hardwood forest passing through a number of small towns like Stanhope & Mangan. Along here we spot about 30 wild deer grazing almost in the middle of town, they barely acknowledge our presence until Bryce pulls over and mutters something about if he had a gun… The deer disappear at this thought and a local, who hears the comment, says you had better not, you never know who’s listening!

We head to Griffin State Forest were we set up camp for the night on the banks of the South Esk River, dashing around trying not to get wet from the steady drizzle falling. But its not too bad as it stops later on making for a very nice night around the campfire.

Day 15: 8th April Friday 2005 written by Peter Miller

The Griffin camp area was fantastic spot for a must stay for another night going into the region. Good amenities and a gentle stream, with nothing but fresh water and a heap of fish waiting to be caught.

It had been drizzling all night so we packed up and headed to the Ben Lomond National Park to visit the local ski fields. Access to this area was up the famous Jacobs Ladder a tightly twisted road that traversed up the mountain with little or no armour rail.

Once at the peak, the staff of the chalet fired up the fire to make the place comfortable and proceeded to serve us refreshment.

On the move, again down the hill we lunched at Scottsdale at the local pub. After which we went our separate ways to explore the town.

We found the local Mitre 10 store and cornered the market on pressure pack cans for our cooker. Then it was off to the local saddlery where the owner briefed us on the local price of hay and other horse related matters. Lucky for us the saddlery sold honey and after a sample we had no hesitation to purchase a container.

By mid afternoon, we were back on the road to Tomahawk, a coastal town with little activity. The weather was turning nasty and we were advised not to camp at our proposed campsite up on the north East Cape, we were told it would be very windy. Unfortunately, the caravan didn’t have the room for us, so we decided to move on to Bridport. While at the Caravan Park we noticed fuel leaking from our vehicle. As it was not serious, we continued on to the next town.

Arriving at Bridport, we noticed a backpacker’s place. After a quick chat with the owner a deal was made for us all and everyone was called back to work out who was staying where. It faced the ocean with great views over Bass Straight and was very comfortable, tidy & clean. John was not happy having to be in such close proximity to Hugh, his snoring was driving him insane. We all went our own way for dinner, some to the fish co-op others to the local pub.

With the heater on and the kettle boiling, we spent to rest of the afternoon having a chat in the lounge area planning the next day’s activities.

Our resident mechanic thought it was best we wait until the next morning to check out the fuel problem.

Peter Miller

Day 16: 9th April Saturday 2005 written by Sue Brindley

Today we say goodbye to Liz & Jeff, they have to be back in Sydney for work commitments, we are at Bridport on the north East Coast not far from Launceston. Peter & David Miller have mechanical problems & he too will leave us to travel back to Sydney, as the Discovery can’t be repaired for a number of days.

We move out for George Town at 9.30am but first we go for a spin on the sand to make our mark on the low tide side of the river. We travel for awhile heading west, but then detour towards the coast because there is dirt road there instead of tar. This leads us in the back road to Low Head where we visit the light house, Pilot Station Museum where we have morning tea. We arrive at George Town for lunch where we head to a park on the point to enjoy the sunshine after the previous day’s rain.

We then move out following the Tamar River south, where we cross the magnificent Batman Bridge high above the water line. We take pics of an old 1843 Church at Sidmouth then onto Beaconsfield. Here we visit and spend an hour at the Grubb Shaft Gold Mine, with its comprehensive display of old equipment, & historical pioneer artefacts, this is definitely worth the visit.

We also have a brief visit at the Australian Maritime College at Beauty Point then back track to the Batman Bridge Reserve to set up camp for the night on the river. Bryce heads down to the shoreline where there are millions of large oysters exposed at low tide and he consumes many of them, no one else partakes.

Noisy hoodlums force Darralynn to dial 000 after midnight, and get the police out to move them on and as usual Hugh sleeps through the whole commotion.

Day 17: 10th April Sunday 2005 written by Clive Brindley

We finally get to sleep in the early hours, which meant we got up a bit late and we depart for Launceston at 9.30am a bit worse for wear.

On the way we stop off for a look at the ruin of the Supply River flourmill circa 1825 – 1888. We travel along gravelly beach road then onto the highway and into Launceston.

In Launceston we have morning tea at a park overlooking the river then move onto King Park and visit the monkey pit of Japanese Macaque’s, they are very entertaining. We also visit the Greenhouse with its many splendid exotic plants.

Across the road we walk over to the National Auto Museum, and have a good look at a large range of old cars and bikes, especially taken with the Ford exhibit and a 1966 GT Cortina similar to one I used to own.

We move out and have to miss the Boags Brewery as its closed on Sunday. We head south and pass through Longford and visit a number of antique shops, Hugh buys an old Land Rover ute at one of them.

We wind our way through magnificent countryside and arrive at the base of the Western Tiers, which we proceed to climb. It’s a long way up and looking over our shoulder as we climb we see fantastic country span out before us. Arriving at the summit of the Tiers we then drive on until we find our turn off to Arthurs Lake and our campsite for the night on its shores, and what a campsite it is, a week could be spent here no trouble. Another fantastic campfire intermingled with a little rain sees us off to bed around 10.00pm to face another great day to come.

Day 18: 11h April Monday 2005 written by Hugh Scott

This was to be our last day in Tasmania before boarding our ship to the mainland. We left our fantastic campsite on Arthur Lake on the Central Highlands, and notice a Toyota Hiluxe owner boil water to tip over his engine to get it going. He has been cranking for ten minutes or more, eventually it fires but sounds sick, Land Rover Owners boil water for a cuppa, strange people Toyota owners.

After that we stop at Liffey Forest Reserve at the falls which is a 20-minute walk. Lunch stop is Deloraine in a small park in the middle of town, then after lunch we head to Mole Creek and look at some local produce, then retrace some of the good roads we started on at the beginning.

Our next stop is at Wilmot the site of the first G.J.Coles store, which has lots of nostalgia inside. We then head to Penguin the long way, but absolutely having fantastic sites and views as we climb and wind over narrow roads and steep mountains to get there.

We follow the coast all the way to Devonport viewing all the little towns along the route until we arrive at Devonport late afternoon and head out to the point for a last looksee of Tassie and its wonderful sites.

We then go through the process of lining up to go through customs and our trip back to the mainland. We on this occasion end up on the lowest deck and are last off.

The night trip back not quite as good as going over. We haven business class seats that are far from comfortable and none of us males sleep much at all. Sue and Darralynn have a cabin and sleep well, as does Ralph in a cabin by himself, next time…!

Day 19: 12th April Tuesday 2005 written by Bryce Messner (Peter back in Sydney now)

We arrive on time in Melbourne and quickly unload and find our way onto the M1 motorway heading to Geelong. Eventually we see our turn off to The Great Ocean Road too late, and with some skilful driving find the correct route without backtracking.

We stop at Torquay for morning tea just out of town at a lovely park over looking the ocean. Our next stop then is Bells Beach, famous for big surf, Movies like Point Break, Romper Stomper (Russell Crow gets stabbed on the beach at the end).

We have lunch at Apollo Bay in the park and lucky to get all together, as there are hundreds of people milling around, the fish ‘n’ chips are great. Clive recounts losing the top of a finger as a boy and not being aloud to swim on his holidays here, poor little sod (he is still scarred from this experience)!
Whilst here two young German lady tourists (who Clive was chatting up at a previous stop) come up to him and ask did he lose his camera. Upon his startled reply they produce the camera, he had left it at Bells Beach and have been looking for a Red Series 3 Stage 1 Land Rover to return it to him for the last 100km’s and every town in between 10 in all. Clive couldn’t stop kissing them in gratitude, what a set up, Sue do you trust this man (I was only jealous TL).

Down the highway we stop and take pictures of a koala, very close and very low in a tree on the edge of the road. John wants a better shot of him as his face is buried, and taps him on the shoulder only to get abused for disturbing his peace by an American lady tourist, she was quickly told they are “our koala’s” not American, sod off!

Our next destination is gained, and we take some time out to view the 12 Apostles. Quite a change from our last visit, but it looked like preparations were being made to start charging for the privilege, only time will tell. We ran into the young German girls again, a change of clothes into very short mini skirts this time…! Clive and I get back to the cars in the car park but no wives, we left them back at the 12 Apostles, Clive’s sent to find them as it was his girl friends that distracted us after all.

Heading further west we come to London Bridge and take a few pics, then head north to search for a campsite and settle at this fantastic Crater Lake that none of us had ever heard of or been to before near Camperdown.

Day 20: 13th April Wednesday 2005 written by Ralph Radovan

I woke up to Happy Birthday Ralph, by the campfire, thanks kind generous people. This morning at around 2.00am we copped gusty winds, but my Shippe Shape roof tent rode it out and I dozed off again until Kookaburras woke me up at 8.00am.

Now we were roughly some 180km west of Melbourne heading in a NE direction but our campsite is set up in a dead volcano crater at Lake Gnotuk, talking to a local fisherman he says its 200 feet deep here.

10.30am we start to move out briefly stopping on the hill to view the other Crater Lake, and get buzzed by a biplane super spreader and yes John had his camera ready in a flash. We then move out to Camperdown, where there are rest rooms and morning tea alfresco style. Then we move off to Lismore, the roads are straight and long and flat and very dry. Fuel wise I had my best 15.5l/100, worst was 18.2l/100 off road but averaged 16.2l/100 for the trip, not bad from a ’96 V8 Rangie full of gear and roof tent (I say TL).

This part of Victoria I have never seen, and so many tractors on the road and off here must be true farm country. As we drove into Lismore we fuelled up then off to Ballarat 72km’s away, which looked like a mini Penrith. Next Bryce spotted an antique shop on the way to Daylesford, so a compulsory stop here and we had a late lunch as well. A nice town like a mini Paddington (NSW) so many eateries for a small town and expensive.

At 3.30pm we left for Castlemaine and then onto Bendigo at 5.20pm where we turned off to Eaglehawk and then onto our campsite in Bendigo National Park at the Whipstick section after a 257km day arriving at camp at 6.00pm. This was to be Johns and my last night, leaving one day early to return the Shippe Shape the next day and not have to pay more rental money and also return the rented Engel fridge to All Camping Supplies at Thornleigh. On this trip nothing failed me other than a lady in a L300 van running into my bumper on the Sprit of Tasmania, luckily only moving dirt off the bumper.

I filled petrol up at West Wyalong at the Shell and lost power big time. I limped home on ¼ throttle from Cowra. Ward at Graeme Cooper found a blocked fuel filter. Thanks to all for the last 3 weeks and 6,400km of travel, Ralph.

Day 21: 14th April Thursday 2005 written by Bryce Messner

We said goodbye to Ralph and John as they leave early and bolt for home. We left the campsite at 9.30am at a leisurely pace and head into Bendigo.

Here we head to the historic Tram Ride which travels up the main street, terminates at the Tram Museum and back through town to the Tram Station, definitely a high lite of the wet day we were to have. Also we visit the War Museum in the middle of town and this is very good also worth the visit. Do not miss a visit to the tourist centre with its walk through history exhibition, this is excellent can’t more highly recommend, a lot to see here, could easily spend more time but have to move on.

After leaving town a few kilometres out we stop at the Botanical Gardens to consume our pies and are back on the track by 2.15pm.

We head off to Echuca looking for a campsite but continue on and locate a perfect site on the Murray River in Barmah State Park. This has got to be one of the best campsites we had, no one around, heaps of wood (red gum), free fishing rods (Clive found two in a PVC tube leaning on a tree). It’s a beautiful night around the fire on the banks of the mighty Murray, we vow to return here one long weekend.

Day 22: 15th April Friday 2005 our last day written by Darralynn Messner

Hugh has set up his shower and we all take a leisurely shower with plenty of water on tap, well out of the river, all except Clive who goes for a swim in the river. Steak for breakfast with eggs and toast before breaking camp at 11.30am, a very hard thing to do at such a nice place.

Our next stop is at Cobram for lunch, but the pie shop (very new) has none as its not due to open for a few more days, so hamburgers in the park surfice.

We travel the back roads to Wagga where we the last three cars say our goodbyes until our next happy meeting (Burrendong Dam Trip), thanks to all for a memorable trip.