Feb 2009

Today we took the very windy road to Freycinet National Park to walk the 4 hour walk of Wineglass Bay and Hazards Bay. It was a fabulous walk.

The beginning of the walk up to the Wine Glass Bay Lookout and then down to Wine Glass Bay Beach was the most popular walk in the area, and as such it was meticulously paved in the local pink granite rocks which were used for supporting overhanging walk paths, back filling run off banks and making resting seating along the 1.5hr walk. It was very steep and very worth while to do. Sharon was concerned about her knee injury and returned early in the walk.

Wineglass Bay

Sharon, Me & Wayne on Hazards Bay

Hazards Bay from above

We decided to keep heading round towards Launceston, as Wayne and Sharon were starting to feel pushed in how little time they had left in the state. We made it to Hotel St Mary’s just in time for dinner. Wayne rocked up about 20 minutes before us and asked if they could pay for a shower. The girl in shock (not having been faced with such a question), got the manager. “Giday, I’m Bruce” was his welcome, and needless to say they hit it off. He was happy to offer them a shower free of charge if they stayed for a couple of drinks or dinner. Easily done. Only problem was it was cold. We wished they had the fire on, but we had a great night. We were even invited to park out the back of their block behind the pub on the river. It was perfect quiet and peaceful place to stop.

Awoke to the discovery that we were on a fabulous dog beach. Midget played till she couldn’t stand up anymore and we had a lovely relaxing morning.

sunrise outside of the Sandy Bay Rowing Club

The boys had arranged to go on the Cascade Brewery Tour. We arrived at 1pm and Sharon and I enjoyed lunch in the café. It then appeared that a talent show was taking place outside so we were able to watch and listen to the kids performing. The boys returned to enjoy their beer tastings and then decided to take home a few packs of Cascade Black that can’t be bought outside Tassie. They were well chuffed.

tassie tiger as made for the cascade commercials - you should just be able to make the brewery out in the background

Headed north up through Richmond and then on to Swansea. The coastline is surely pretty and somewhat remote.

Swansea was a very cute little town of just 600. We noticed many of the key buildings around the town had been renovated very successfully and there were also many new buildings that fitted in beautifully with the older buildings around town. We later found this man was a rich mainlander who had “taken over” the town. Some were upset, as he was pushing and wished to get his way, I guess because he was used to it, and also because he was doing so much for the town. One old lady we spoke to said she was happy as his renovation and new additions has bought both an optometrist and chemist to the town, which they didn’t have before. Apparently the tourist season (now just finished) brings the population to 1000 during the season. But they were on stage 3 water restrictions which really surprised us how dry and baron the countryside did look.

We enjoyed fresh Swansea fish and chips from one of the three fish & chips shops in the town. The owners also had two elegant restaurants as well as the tourist icon of the Barkmill Tavern & Bakery on the outskirts of town. See http://www.barkmilltavern.com.au for more info. It was also a museum, bottle shop, restaurant, café and the famous bakery, as well as new backpackers. It was very well done. The owner had just held a garage sale yesterday selling off all the items in old building he’d just bought in the centre of town. A lovely heritage building that had been turned into an accommodation venue in the 1960s with horrid extensions (now about to be removed). There is a lot happening. It would be good to get back here one day to see how it looks.

Got a late start but managed to get on the 10am ferry back to Hobart. Found a parking bay by 11:15am and were heading down to Salamanca for the Markets. It had certainly grown in size since we were last there. Really enjoyed walking around in the sunshine and we all had a great afternoon. We then went back to our vans and found a great pub for dinner up in Battery Point. The Shipwrights Arms. What a great little place. We couldn’t get in for dinner as they are apparently booked out for dinner 6 nights’ a week! Amazing stuff. The owner sent us up the road to De Angelo’s a nice little Italian restaurant but it too, was fully booked. We settled for the Indian a couple of doors down.

We retired to the beach front out the front of the Sandy Bay Rowing Club. Still scratching dead skin off our faces!

sunrise

Midget thinking the fish would be nice if I could get my feet in the freezing cold water...

Woke to mist everywhere. It was really beautiful. We got an early start and eventually the mist lifted an the sun came out. Another perfect day. Arrived in New Norfolk on the Derwent River in time for morning tea. Enjoyed a walk up and down the main street and the cute antique shops etc. Real Estate is much more pricy now we’re only an hour or so from Hobart.

We then scooted through Hobart and headed down south past the Weather Bureau’s Antarctica Divisions flash offices, and out to Kettering where we took the ferry over to Bruny Island. It only takes 15 minutes to reach this paradise.

sitting on the ferry

Its really amazing. There are still some farming areas on the north island, and the south is mostly holiday houses. There was also a Bligh Museum where lots of his diaries are on display. There is also a piece of the tree that Cook cut into to tie the boat up to when he stopped in a quiet bay in 1777. The tree died and a plaque now stands where the tree used to.

There is a bit of everything on this island. Sheltered beaches, lovely white sandy beaches, large mud flats, oysters galore, penguin breading, bird breading protected zones, sailing harbours and more. In fact, we’ve been told by many at the boat show, that they’ve spent years cruising around the islands of Tassie in their yachts. You can really see why after visiting Bruny.

Midget & Buster (the pub owners dog) and Daughter

There are plenty of free camp sites around the island. It’s a shame that most of the roads are unsealed. The dust is the hardest part to deal with on the island. There is nothing on the island but a pub on each island. We went to the south island pub for dinner and all had a great time. The people are very laid back who live there and the own of the pub’s dog, allowed Midget to enjoy the surrounds with him. They even had a play. Steve later took Buster and Midget over to the beach for a swim. They had a ball. Buster is a ridgeback lab cross. Really cute. He just couldn’t get over why he wasn’t allowed in… I enjoyed a glass of wine from a Bruny Island chardy and it was beautiful.

We found a nice quiet spot on the beach for the night.

We awoke to enjoy a walk around to the Train Station. They also offer fabulous heritage train trips up through the hills and its supposed to be very good. Its surprising how many of the town’s folk are involved in the tourism industry. We watched the 3 staff getting the passengers on board, followed by the three or 4 engineers involved in driving the train, and then two vans pulled up with a further 5 or 6 people unloading all the food and drink to be consumed on their trip.

We walked back along the old train line back into town. The tracks have been removed and a lovely walk path now exists to walk into town around the bay. Its such a pretty spot, but supposedly it rains all the time! The picture above is of the Piners Punt. The Piners were the Huon Pine collectors who used to go out in one of these little dingies with all their food (two people) for 3 months at a time. Often with their hands frozen to the oars they'd row up the Franklin River to find the trees, cut them down and get them to the waters' edge to get them to barged back to town. It must have been a very hard life. Especially as the trees were harder and harder to find.

We stopped at one of the many cafes along the waterfront for breaky. Then headed off up the road to Queenstown. It was a little more alive since our last visit, but sadly the town was quite run down. There was a pub for sale for $250,000! A bargain in anyone’s language. But desperately in need of repair and a liquor licence to go with it. There was also a cinema for sale, but we didn’t get to find out how much that was.

Unfortunately due to the cheap price of houses the town was overrun with bogans and down and outs. I’m sure there are people trying to make it work, but I don’t think I could buy here as it would be just too hard (even though the cinema is very interesting)…

We then moved back up the rocky mountainside into the national park. We went to Lake Sinclair and did the Figure 8 Loop around Platypus Lake. It was very pretty with many different types of foliage. It was fabulously beautiful.

We then kept going further up the road till we started to see too many animals beside the road and we pulled up beside this untouched beautiful lake. We and Sharon & Wayne had this part of the lake to ourselves. The silence was deafening!