April 5 - The End Of 4 Months in Tasmania

 

 

Not real sure where this was taken but it was currently being lived in.  Stuart wanted to tell Kylie (our book keeper) that we had just bought a really good investment property in Tasmania but lucky for her we had no internet for a few days and by then the joke was a bit stale.

We got to Strahan after a trip through Queenstown where the road winds up through the the mountains where only 1 meter away from the wheels is a 100 ft drop.  As we went for a drive round the town including down to the football field which was all gravel Stuart asked me if I wanted to stay there for the night.  I said just get me out of there.  After that drive I was a nervous wreck.

We had booked our cruise on the Franklin River out to Hells Gates and a stopover at Sarah Island. 

The boat we went to Hells Gate in and had a stop over at Sarah Island

 

 

                       The light house at Macquarie Heads at the inlet to Macquarie Harbour on the West       Coast

We had driven along the beach to get to the other side of Macquarie Head to Strahan to try to get a feel of what the convicts could see coming in through the head

 

The closer to the opening of the head we got the more Salmon and Trout farms we found

 

These boats went round each trap and fed them a watery brine of fish food every day

 

On Sarah Island we were met by actors who re-enacted the convicts life for us.  seen here standing in front of the remains of the huge ovens

 

 

Ruins like this stood all over the island.  Unfortunately in the early 1900's authorities came and smashed a lot of the ruins because of the stigma Australians felt about their convict past.

 

 The cruise was wonderful but the walk around Sarah Island which was a Convict Penal Settlement between 1822 and 1833.  There were  about 1300 prisoners who were all second offenders during the period.  Most prisoners came from the convict settlement on the other side of Southern Tasmania at Port Arthur and to get to Sarah Island they had to pass through a narrow stretch of ocean and each convict knew that what awaited them at Sarah Island would be worse than Hell consequently they called this small gap Hells Gates.

These ruins are just that, ruins but with actors as guides it really brings it alive.

While in the area we took a drive to the Tahune Forrest.  There they have a walk along the tree tops  out to a balanced platform where you can look hundreds of feet down onto the river.

Stuart out on the last panel of the airwalk hundreds of meters above the ground

The view from the side of where Stuart was standing right out on the tip

Lake Gairdner was another pleasant  stay where we met some great people.  It was interesting getting the last 5 klms into the lake which was single lane, as gold had been discovered on property a few kilometres further from the lake and the road was windey and up and down (surprise).  There were a number of passing bays and we had to announce that we were travelling between bays 1 and 2 etc as there were trucks and trailers all day every day carting gold bearing rock out of the mine all the way to Beaconsfield about 140 klms away so each only did about 2 runs a day but they went all day.  It is apparently estimated they will get about 20 million in gold but will cost about 10 to extract it.

Stuart came back with a piece of firewood which really made me laugh as it was so big he could hardly carry it but after he got to it with the chainsaw and axe all was good.

  

Heading north we went in to Cradle Mountain and walked to the edge of Dove Lake which we visited last time we were in Tasmania about 10 years ago.  Back then there was about 6-12 inches of snow everywhere.  We also did a couple of walks there but  I was more keen to read about the history of the lakes and how they were formed from volcanos.

Cradle Mountain - shame it was a miserable day

Dove Lake

We had about 4 days in Sheffield where they were having a steam festival,  there were about 35 different steam powered vehicles from tractors to bailing machines to saws to everything powered by steam before fuel engines became the norm.  Peter and Maree Cottrell were there with us so we had another great time with this great couple.

At the Steam Festival there was a group who re-enact the Light Horse Brigade from the First World War
They showed how the soldiers trained at the use of swords and spears.

Two of the many steam propelled vehicles and farm implements on display

As our time in Tasmania was quickly coming to an end I was keen to cook some meals over the fire before we got back to Qld where the weather would be too hot for fires.

Tuna Patties Camp style which were amazing

 

As was the Shepherds Pie and Vegies a few nights later cooked in the Baby Q

After a few nights at Wynyard we came into Bernie where we parked right on the beach almost in town.  There was a display at the Bernie Art Gallery of Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions and really, the man was born about 600 years before his time.  Nearly all of his inventions were the prototype for modern inventions like the helicopter, machine gun, bicycle as well as the humble pulley.  Unfortunately, his Mona Lisa is not travelling with the display.

 

A hand driven cart

Made from his drawings all those hundreds of years ago.  Complete with a wooden chain

 

We set a record the other day for the shortest distance travelled from one overnight stop to the other.  We stayed in Somerset for a couple of days and then moved to our next spot Cooee Point in Bernie a distance of about 14 klms. Where we stayed for a couple of nights.

Bernie used to have a very large paper mill until it closed some years ago but they still have a paper making place where tourists can get a hands on feel of how it was done.

Also round the tourist information centre were paper mache figures which looked great.

 

Would have loved to get the detail in this elderly couple but the window behind prevented me from getting a good photo

 

For my craft friends, this quilt was in the foyer of the Bernie Tourist Information Centre and looked absolutely beautiful

 

 

The detail was incredible.

 

Looking towards Bernie from our camp spot at Cooee Point

A large freight ship just pulling away from Bernie

Also along the north coast is the little town of Penguin where all the rubbish bins in the main street looked like a penguin on the outside.  This one however wasn't a rubbish bin.

 

 

As we meandered our way towards Devonport where we are due to catch the Spirit of Tasmania back to the big island it was with a touch of sadness and regret that we still didn't see all of Tasmania dispite 4 months here.

To make up for this in a small way we travelled up the foodies way and visited a raspberry farm , a chocolate factory, a cheese factory and a strawberry farm.

The cheese factory was a return visit to get a tub of herb and olive marinated feta from Ashgrove Cheeses.  If ever you get a chance to try this you will agree it is the best.

We got to the small town of Westbury about 35 klms east of Launceston and spotted a familiar figure.  It was Claude The Mower Man.  Claude walks round Australia pushing a Victa Lawn Mower raising money and awareness for sexually abused children.  Stuart and I first encountered him in Charters Towers about 2 years ago where he was doing the same thing.  He said he was headed to the Biloela, Bundaberg area soon so look out for him and support his cause.

Claude the Mower Man

Tasmania is now a very happy memory and we are ready to face the next chapter of our life in another pocket of Australia.  However we face it with part of our hearts broken from the loss of our beautiful grandson Connor James Daly who passed away a couple of weeks ago.

 

17 February - More Tasmania

My first trip to Mackay for 2014 wasn't very eventful unless you count catching up with family which is always a major bonus.
There were meetings, a trip to Rocky and Yeppoon to see Tracy and Tony, Joe, Nicky and the boys and Nana.
Another cyclone visited our shore while I was there again this year (same thing happened last year while I was home) but didn't bring with it too much damage.  A few trees down around, a small number of houses evacuated in the low areas of Mackay and a large pot knocked over and smashed in Kylies front yard.  It crossed the coast up closer to Bowen and Ayr and we were all hoping that the following rain reached inland to help out the farmers.  Fortunately a few lows some weeks later gave the north and inland some much needed rain, but for some it was a case of too little too late.
A stop over in Brisbane to have a Corneal Transplant in my right eye and then back to Hobart where I resumed our trip around Tasmania before returning to the mainland mid April.

I think the only reason I cope being on the road full time is being able to come home and see family.  Emma is getting to be such a young lady, and told me so.  And Corbin is getting taller every day, while Mikynlee's got the cutest smile that I miss when I am away.  The three older ones it goes with out saying are young adults to be proud of.  I so wish I could see more of the two young men in Yeppoon and the young lady and cute gentleman in Ipswich.

We got 2014 school year up and running with a new staff member who is working out great and Ricki Lee starts a new job with Hastings Deering in a few weeks.

I finally had my right eye down (corneal transplant) and although still a bit sore and very little sight in it yet, about 30 days out so I will be pleased when it is all over with some stitches coming out in May and the final ones next year in February.

The upside of the eye surgery is Pat babysat me on the night following the surgery and we had such a great time reminiscing both reminding each other about stuff from our past that we had forgotten about.  Isn't family great.....

With only about 5 weeks left in Tasmania we headed south east to Port Arthur where we planned to do a Tasman Island cruise.  We booked for Monday as the weather wasn't the best and looked forward to seeing towering cliffs drop down to the sea, sea caves and natural archways and also hoped to see seals, dolphins and other sea life.  In the mean time there was a lot to see and explore in the Port Arthur.

Port Arthur, the site where convicts were sent for 47 years from 1830 til 1877 named in honour of Lt-Governor George Arthur.

Also a very sad place where 34 people lost their lives in the café when a gunman opened fire on them in April 2000.  This plaque is set up in the memorial garden as a quiet reminder.

What remains of the church which is supposed to be the most haunted place in Port Arthur

Inside the most haunted place in Port Arthur (the Church)

 

In the chapel, prisoners were bought in in chains with their heads hooded so that they couldn't see each other and into individual cells.  they could only see the minister and the guards.

The minister in action, and yes Mikynlee Stu Stu was conducting the music.  Lol

 

 

While in the area, we went to a little town called DOO TOWN. This was established when one enterprising person named their home and had the word "doo" in it.  Then numerous people followed suite and called their homes names with doo in it as well and so we have DOO TOWN which is just out of Eagle Hawke Neck.  There was Da Doo Run Run, Doo For Now, Doo-ing it Easy, Doo Us, Yabba Dabba Doo, Gunnadoo, This will Doo, Humpty Doo and so on on nearly all of the houses.

This statue is at the narrowest point of Eagle Hawke Neck which divides Port Arthur from the rest of Tasmania  As a deterrent to stop convicts escaping up into the rest of Tasmania the guards had a row of savage dogs chained across the small space of only about 30 mitres 

Down near the blow hole it was recommended that we go to the caravan selling cooked food.  Their cooked fish, prawns scallops etc were to die for.

Even the Sea Gull thought the food smelled great and lined up.

Monday we did a cruise from Eagle Hawk neck out around the south eastern point of Tasmania into the Great Southern Ocean where we saw the most amazing cliff and rock formations.  We were in a small boat that held about 30 people all rugged up in red head to toes spray jackets which were needed as we dida lot of bucking and wave jumping and was as close to white water rafting as I want to get.

Me in my pretty red waterproof jacket

                    These pictures are many but too rugged and beautiful to leave any out.

 

This Blow Hole was incredible and then on the cruise, we saw it from the other end below.

However the magnificent cliff faces hundreds of feet high and even going into the cave openings where we got within about a mitre and a half of the walls of the cave with waves smashing up against the rocky walls. I got this great shot of the other boat that was traveling with us just after we came out of the hole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we came across dozens of seals sunning themselves (what sun there was) on the rocks.  Heading back out to sea a bit we came across a large school of baby fish which were being herded into a group by dolphins who were then joined by seals, albatross and numerous other sea birds to dive and swim amongst them and have lunch.

 

When we came back to shore we were all frozen but in awe of how rugged our coastline can be in comparison to the soft waves and rolling surf and sandy beaches we have in Queensland.

Unfortunately as I was only about a week and a half out of my corneal transplant my eye was subjected to a bit of wind and I paid for it that night and next day.

Monday night we stayed at a free camp at Dunalley.  The camp is on a huge block near the pub and the night we were there there were over 30 vans.

Dunalley is a town that in early Last year was nearly totally destroyed by fire.  It is now up and running with a new school and many new homes on the original sites.  Unfortunately, it reminded me of Maryville in Victoria with blocks of land with only a driveway and cement water tank as proof that someone's home once stood there.

We were very keen to get over to Bruny Island for a few days but we opted to leave the van at Gordon, a little village not far from Kettering where the ferry leaves from.

We had been told and shown how prolific and large the oysters were just for the taking at a few spots on Bruny so hoped that the tide was out at the right times for us to do some harvesting.
Unfortunately, it was raining when we went there and found a lovely Oyster farm that sold us 2 dozen.  Not as much fun as prying them off the rocks ourselves but just as nice.