9th February 2010

Tuesday 9th February 10

Relaxing day updating this blog and watching the one day cricket, but we did the riverside walk again, with our cameras this time.

This takes us passed the old railway bridge remains and round to the visitors centre and the footbridge to Pig Island.

Wednesday 10th February 10

We awoke to a thick sea fog that had moved in overnight that gave the local hills and trees an eerie appearance but by 9.30am it had cleared and become a very warm day, just like every other day since we have been here.

We drove to Railton to visit a shop called Fibre Optic Magic – Looking Glass Cottage which incorporates a massive array of fibre optic items presenting a fairyland effect. Kids would appreciate even more than we did.

This was followed by a walk throughout the town and a drive around the surrounds to look at over a hundred exibits of topiary that exist in the town, originally started by the same guy running the fibre optic shop, as you can see alongside the shop.

Some exhibits are still in their early stages and display more wire framework than shrubbery but a few more years will see a huge improvement. Those that have been around for a while are really effective.

Some houses had the house number fashioned by their letterbox whilst others settled for animals,etc.

We then drove on to the slightly larger town of Sheffield with a very impressive backdrop created by Mount Roland despite the overcast weather, and as we arrived at a sensible time for lunch we drove a few more kilometres out to Gowrie Park which is a free 48 hour camping ground.

Unfortunately we would require a longer stay than that if we were to use it, plus the road there is not the best for a caravan. However, it is a lovely wooded setting near the base of the mountain and an ideal picnic lunch spot.

We then returned to the town, parked and walked thoughout the town to view the many murals that the town is renowned for.

Amazingly none of them have been spoilt with idiotic grafitti, and age seems to have been kind to the majority of them.

We came across a guy sitting at a table outside a bar with a slightly different pet than the average person, a really friendly alpaca that was treated just like any other domestic pet. Foxy was quite intrigued with the alpaca, not intimidated by size and quite happy to be friends.
Unfortunately we then returned home along the same route, where we could have used another route had we checked the map and taken in different scenery and another town, but no doubt we will catch up with that town at some other time.

Thursday 11th February 10

We spoke too soon, this morning it is raining, consequently had the benefit of lazing around and left with no alternative than a drive just out of town to visit the Anvars chocolate factory. Their dark chocolate was their best offering but left a powdery taste in your mouth and definitely didn’t shape up to the Woodside chocolate in South Australia.

Friday 12 February 10

Still a bit rainy so did our necessary shopping and watched the third one day cricket match up until it was rained off due to the stormy weather in Sydney.

Saturday 13th February 10

This is one day we have waited for in anticipation and meant a 100km drive down to Launceston to their annual Festivale (that is spelt correctly as they pronounce the vale part as valley).

This is their way of showing off the food and wine of the district in similar fashion to the Margaret River Wine Festival, but in our estimation failed on several points but we may be biased. Firstly dogs are not allowed into the park so Foxy had to be left in the car (fortunately it was an overcast day and not hot). Secondly, the evening entertainment was Daryl Braithwaite which is a huge turn off for us, not that we intended staying that long. In fact we wouldn’t have gone at all but for the fact that we had contacted Stu and Be (now based in Hobart) a few days earlier to let them know that we were now in Tasmania. They told us about the Festivale and that they would be there so we arranged to meet them, plus we had the added bonus off Stu’s parent, Dick and Val being with them. It is always great meeting up with people whose company you enjoy and when you haven’t seen them for several years it is so much nicer.

The day was therefore really good despite the minor hiccups and the wine tasting added to the pleasure, plus we took advantage of the swine flu vaccinations that were on offer.

They also have troop of monkeys in the park.

Sunday 14th February 10

Total rest day

Monday 15th February 10

Merry worked on SAFE accounts for part of the day and then we took Foxy for a walk around the riverside walk to the visitor centre so that we could have a look to see what the pile driver noise was all about. Apparently the path beside the caravan park used to be a railway line that continued across the road and along the current walkway and across the river. They have now decided to remove the concrete piles that once supported the bridge. The river splits shortly after the old bridge and creates Pig Island in front of the visitor centre, so we continued our walk across the footbridge despite the ‘Dogs prohibited’ sign that Foxy couldn’t read and took the walk through the picnic area and into the walk trail.

Tuesday 16th February 10

Merry visited a dentist and had one tooth filled. This was directly across the road from Woolworths so we did our necessary shopping before returning home.

Wednesday 17th February 10

We set out to drive to Liena and chose to drive the longer way via Deloraine and purely by chance saw the sign post to Tulampanga Alum Cliffs, so took the slight detour.

From the car park we had a 20 minute walk uphill and down dale to the lookout from which we were greeted with a magnificent view of the cliffs and surrounds. We then had the 20 minute walk back but we were able to let Foxy enjoy this part of the the day out.

We drove down to Marakoope Cave, near Mole Creek, to see the cave and glow worms but arrived just after a tour had begun, so booked for the next tour and had a picnic lunch whilst we waited.

Unfortunately Foxy had to stay in the car whilst we did the 45 minute tour of this quite large wet cave with a creek running through it, and we were shown through three chambers, but we were only allowed to take photos in the third chamber.

The walk from the car park to the cave entrance was alongside the creek which provided a fern tree shaded view of the cascades and small waterfalls.

We then drove on to Liena to look at the small community where Ashley’s daughter and son in law lived for some time. We didn’t know which of the few houses was theirs at the time but there weren’t too many to choose from, and quite why anyone would choose to live in this remote valley remains a mystery to us.

We then backtracked to King Solomon’s cave to do another 45 minute tour at 3.30pm in this smaller, more compact cave which is the prettier of the two.

It involved more ducking and squeezing than the other cave as there were several low, narrow tunnels to pass through but had more colour in its formations, however, as both were entirely different it was pointless claiming one to be better than the other.

We drove back home the shorter route via the small village called Paradise, which didn’t exactly fit our idea of paradise despite being reasonable scenic, and then through Sheffield and Lower Barrington.

Thursday 18th February 10

Relaxing morning after yesterdays trip, but I the afternoon we took a drive to Burnie for a shopping spree and detoured through the small village of Penguin and the larger town of Ulverstone. This was a very scenic detour and will get a more thorough looking at. We also did a 2km detour to drive up to a lookout that provided 270 degree views to the mountains.

Later in the afternoon we took a walk into, and through, Latrobe to take photos and have a proper look at the heritage town that we are currently staying in.

Friday 29th January 10

Friday 29th January 10

Leisure day

Saturday 30TH January 10

We drove out to near Arthur’s Seat, Red Hill, for lunch at Londonderry Winery with Garon and Sue to celebrate the approach of Merry’s Birthday as they would not be available on Monday due to work commitments. After the excellent meal with excellent company we strolled through the very relaxing gardens and a latte in the hotel lounge before returning home to Stony Point. Garon and Sue were staying at the hotel for the night.

Sunday 31st January 10

We caught the ferry to French Island and took the bus tour around the dirt roads to the general store, inspected some dried up orchids, a short walk on a beach past an old jetty remains, a few Koalas, llamas, a dry scone and chicory type coffee in the old chicory processing plant that is almost ready to fall over.

In all a complete waste of time and money. The island has a large national park and an old prison neither of which we saw. The prison was one of the things that Merry was looking forward to seeing. Lois, the lady who ran the tour was a bit strange and had difficulty remembering the ends of her sentences. At one point she dumped us to go off and help somebody find a key to get into a car.


We never expected to admit that a ferry ride was the highlight of the trip, especially the return trip as the wind had changed direction and intensity and was producing a lot of chop, s0 the view of Stony Point from the jetty was a nice site for Merry after the ferry ride.

Monday 1st February 10

We celebrated Merry’s Birthday on the official day by driving to Phillip Island to use the passes we had purchased that included the Penguin Parade a few weeks ago, but was too hot for the rest of the deal.

We enjoyed the day with the visit to the Koala Park which included two elevated boardwalks to see the Koalas and a 1.5km bushwalk

that produced a few wallabies and another Koala. We saw quite a few koalas walking on the board walks.

We then drove out to Churchill Island (a small Island attached to Phillip Island via another bridge) where we had a picnic lunch and

then meandered through the homestead gardens to the working farm plus another 2.5km walk around the coastline of the northern half of the Island.










The island was very pretty and the Moonah trees were quite different to most trees we have seen. The trunks appear to be almost plaited. We saw quite a few birds but they were all the tiny flitty type birds which you have almost no hope of photographing because by the time you focus they have darted off.

On the way back to Cowes we stopped at ‘Amaze’n Things’ for a coffee and hot chocolate and then collected Foxy from the local kennels where she unhappily had spent the day and retuned home resisting a stop at the chocolate factory.






Tuesday 2nd February 10

We gradually packed up our tables/chairs, etc in readiness to leave Stony Point and ensured our Jerry cans were empty and dry and gathered our portable gas bottles and canisters into one easy to access place, ready for the Spirit of Tasmania ferry. Our departure from Stony Point was to be at about 5.00pm on Wednesday so the packing up was quite leisurely and involved a lot of socializing in the Campers kitchen. Kevin and Christine are also leaving Wednesday morning.
In the evening 5 couples including Kev/Christine, us, the management couple Gary/Diane, Darren/Kerry- Darren is a deckhand on the local Ferry, and Bruce/Judy all went to the Hastings Club for a farewell dinner which proved to be a really enjoyable night out and afforded the opportunity for willing ones to gamble on the pokies.

Wednesday 3rd February 10

Finalised the packing up for Kev/Christine and socialized again in the Campers kitchens and then finished packing our annex, etc in the afternoon and said our farewells at about 5.00pm and drove through to Garon/Sue’s place where we parked on the verge across the front of their gateway. This was a better option than leaving Stony Point at 5.00pm and driving to the docks from there as we would have to be up at about 4.00am.

Thursday 4th February 10

We had a later early start by rising at 5.00am and left Garon/Sue at about 5.50am and had a short drive to the docks, arriving at 6.30am and joined the queue of caravanners. We actually were on board Spirit of Tasmania 2 and settling in for breakfast at about 8.00am. Foxy was left in the caravan rather than the ships kennel so that she was in familiar surroundings as she hates being left alone at the best of times. The kennels were right beside our van anyway so she wouldn’t have gained anything. She was in there for nearly 11 hours until 6.50pm but made no mess, but I imagine she cried all the way. The journey was smooth and if you didn’t look out of the window it felt just like being on a plane. Although we were reasonably comfortable travelling in cattle class we upgraded to the ocean view recliner area for $20 each which gave us a guaranteed seat of our own once we had removed the usual Asian that had sneaked in without paying. Whilst the ride was good the meals were nothing special despite being in the so called classy restaurant rather than the food hall, and saw off the best part of $100. We were about the fifth vehicle off at Devonport (the benefit of being early to get on) and were though quarantine, collected our gas bottles and on our way within about fifteen minutes, and five minutes later were in Abel Tasman Caravan Park and pouring the first glass of wine. Fortunately the crossing was really smooth although boring but not more so than sitting on a plane for 11 hours. The advantage with a ship is that you can move around. Merry went for a walk to look at the other decks but most of it was locked off so she only saw decks 7 and 8.

Friday 5th February 10

We drove into Town and bought some fresh veggies as what we had prior to the ferry trip was cooked ready for ‘bubble and squeak’ to avoid throwing them out as they are not allowed into Tasmania in their fresh condition. We also had the usual battle with Centrelink whilst in town. We had only booked into this particular caravan park as a convenience on arrival as it is very close to the docks and you can watch the ferry come and go. We arranged to go to another park in Latrobe about 10km away so we didn’t set up the annex. Other than a walk along the path which runs alongside the Mersey River mouth to see if the Spirit of Tasmania was back in we did not do much for the rest of the day.

Saturday 6th February 10

We moved to Latrobe Mersey River Caravan Park and set up the annex this time, after moving into 3 different bays to check if we could fit in. The park is only 2 years old but the design of the park is ludicrous with extremely narrow bays with low wooden walls that house the taps and power supply, sticking inward from the boundary fence. If you park too close to these walls you can’t remove the toilet cartridge for emptying, but if you allow enough room for this you don’t have enough room for the annex on the other side. They have also planted trees near the front of the bays for you to manoeuvre around, just what you want when you are reversing a caravan. The third bay we tried just made it possible to achieve, and get the car off the road, but one still has to move ones car every now and then to make room for other people to manoeuvre their vans into place. Otherwise it is a clean fresh park in a pleasant area and now that we have managed to settle in will be here for a few weeks at least. The general outlook from the park is to tree lined hills on one side and a park on the other side of the road bordered by the Mersey River. Our length of stay will probably be determined by the amount of disturbance we suffer moving the car to let other people manoeuvre their vans. Most people we have spoken to claim they will not be back to this park because of the inconvenience caused by the lack of room, and that would apply to us also. The sites are only suitable for overnight stops when you don’t really need to use an awning, and definitely not use an annex, but the bays are too short to allow the car and van to be left connected if you only stay one night and want a quick get away the next day.

Sunday 7th February 10

We walked into town along what used to be a railway track but is now a shaded pathway with memorial posts depicting some of the wartime battles that Aussie troops were involved in. There are some lovely trees along this walk and you can see into a few gardens with lots of vegies growing in them. Latrobe is very pleasant town with a similar feel about it that you associate with Hahndorf. The shops are quaint with antiques, crafts, and a small market every Sunday plus a car boot market on the third Sunday of the month. It also includes the usual general shops – unlike Hahndorf. We saw some green houses for sale in one street which was like England. On the mainland they sell shade houses.

In the afternoon we took Foxy for another tree lined walk alongside the river to the visitors centre and back.

Monday 8th February 10

Performed the necessary household chores plus wiring the vans battery to an Anderson plug on the side of the van to allow us to connect the solar panels when required. Another walk along Bells Parade (the old railway track) into town to get some milk and a socket for the 15 amp caravan lead that Barry slightly altered when he drove off from Stony Point with it still attached to the caravan and the power supply in the park.

At 7.00pm we met with a Landcare guide and went in to Warrawee Forest reserve to track down our first sightings of Platypus. It took a while but eventually saw five but as they only stay on the surface for about 30 seconds getting a good photo is not easy. Watching for bubbles can help predict where they will surface next but by the time you actually see them, get them in the camera viewfinder/screen, focus and shoot you usually only catch a tail end or a water disturbance where they were. Our photographs were less than spectacular but Ron the guy doing the tour did say that this was not a good day and offered to open the gate at 7.00 am for us if we would like to go back in the morning but as Merry is not a morning person this was not taken up. He did say we were welcome to go back at any time to get another look.

Rick phoned in the evening to tell us he has got what sounds like a great job. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it works out for him this time.