8th November 10
We packed up the camp and moved to the historic New Norfolk, north of Hobart on the side of the Derwent River, about half an hour’s drive upstream. Many of these towns claim historic value due to the convict labour used to develop them in the beginning of their history. Campbelltown has a long row of paving stones along the footpath on both sides of the road with each one dedicated to some poor soul who was deported for anything from stealing a slice of bread to murder. Some as young as three that didn’t survive the journey out here and wouldn’t have survived if they had stayed in England if they had to steal everything to survive at all.
The park New Norfolk is alongside the river and well presented with plenty of shade. A drive into town for some shopping found a pleasant park at the bottom end of town, but we have yet to find the antiques/museum.
9th November 10
The weather has become more spring like and therefore the daytime temperatures have improved so we took a walk alongside the river which provided some great views of the river. After about half a kilometre or so the track took us up about 60 steps to the top of the cliff and this then led us back towards the town through some very pleasant tree lined streets with very well tended gardens that are now all in flower. When we arrived back at the park we walked the way along the river to the bridge, which took in some interesting real estate. In the afternoon we drove back to Seven Mile Beach to collect some late mail but went over the bridge and along the other side of the river which has some serious real estate, and great views.10th November 10
We had to find a garage that fills gas bottles as we don’t like the exchange system and also one that has auto gas which meant a visit to two garages in new Norfolk. The second one was opposite the central park and as we had our cameras in the car, took advantage of the opportunity to take a few photos. We then drove round to the Oasthouse Museum which turned not to have operated for the last three years, but will be open again in a couple of weeks. We were given an external tour and told that the original owners/builders came from out home town, Maidstone in Kent, and that the hop vines grow up the strings in a clockwise spiral only, in both north and south hemispheres. If you try to train them in the other direction they fall down and wither. There are a lot of hop fields around the New Norfolk area. We then went in search of platypus in the stream alongside the Oasthouse but without luck. The afternoon and evening turned into winter again with rain and a drop in temperature. 11th November 10
We had a pleasant surprise this morning as we took Foxy across to the grass for her morning business, we were greeted by someone from two bays away that we recognised and turned out to be Ivan and Liz Davie. Liz was the MDs secretary at Karratha College and Ivan was the boss cocky at the Karratha Police station. We met him on a purely social basis through our friends Steve and Terry who were their neighbours. Later we took another walk along the river bank, to where the platypuses were still not evident again, by the Oasthouse, and then walked back past the town. In the evening Ivan and Liz enjoyed a bottle of red and some nibblies with us, and shared some tales. They leave in the morning for two days in Hobart before flying home to Broome, where they retired to about a year before we retired.
12th November 10
The weather was reasonable so we drove to Bothwell via Hamilton on the more scenic route. Hamilton is very small as villages go but has a grand old hotel and picnic/camping area. 
Bothwell on the other hand had quite a lot of interesting buildings, a nice park through the centre and a visitor centre which was once the town school but is now the Golf Museum. The Golf course is the oldest in the southern hemisphere and was introduced by the Scottish nobility that settled in this area, which was originally known as Fat Doe. The bakery is still called The Fat Doe Bakery and is where we had lunch but can’t actually recommend it to others. The museum is small but very interesting, especially if you have any golfing interest as it follows the history over a long period, and has plenty of examples of the different balls and hickory shafted clubs over the ages. The area was also the first to introduce a radio telescope thanks to an American who now resides in the cemetery, and also had the first public library in Australia.
Due to the scottish influence, all of the street signs are on a tartan background.We returned home via the main Midland Highway as far as Kempton were we turned off for a look at the small village and then turned off again onto dirt roads over the mountains to go to Gretna which has a Gretna Green Hotel. From here we followed the river to the bridge to New Norfolk to cross to the town side for the Caravan Park.
13th November 10
We walked to the top end of the town to the Memorial Hall for a flower show but unfortunately we arrived nearly two hours before it opened so we returned home via a different route and drove back later in the day. This allowed us to collect over 100 litres of diesel with 8 cents a litre off instead of the usual 4 cents.
The flower show was small but had some really good exhibits; however the judges’ decisions didn’t always match ours, and at times didn’t seem to comply with their own requirements, but we don’t know the relationships between the club members and the judges.16th November 10
We took the 120 kilometre drive out through Westerway and Maydena and out into the wilderness to Strathgordon and the Gordon Dam which took in some great scenery.
We stopped for lunch at Strathgordon, which is the camp base for the Hydro scheme workers and looks like a deserted mote, but has an interesting section of a Huon Pine that was felled in 1975 has tags on its rings denoting special events that happened throughout its long life which included the signing of the Magna charter in 1215 and that was only halfway through its diameter and went on much earlier past Nero fiddling whilst Rome burnt.
The Dam is very impressive, although having seen Kariba dam, is not the biggest we have seen. However, when you are actually on the dam wall and conscious of the forces act against it and the working conditions of the builders, it creates a strong sense of awe.
It is 196 metres wide and 145 metres deep and a walk across the wall provides a view along the gorge and along the Gordon Lake created behind it, but also means you have to climb back up the 196 steps to the carpark. 
On the return journey we turned off along a dirt road to the Serpentine Dam that helps form Lake Pedder but is nothing like as impressive, being only 41.5 metres deep and not particularly wide. We also turned off to Wedge River picnic area but it was rather pathetic with no view of the river without wandering through bush to see it, and no path along it. It is very shallow which shows up the brown/red tallow colouring in the water. After a few more photo stops at the roadside, which included an Echidna crossing the road in front of us. This time we had somewhere to stop off in a hurry and actually got some photos although most were of him/her rolled up in a defensive ball. Interestingly, the Tassie Echidnas have mainly fur rather than spikes for warmth benefits.
