(1) Porongurup 5-8 November

Headed up to Porongurup Range Tourist Park to catch up with all the lovely people there. Sammy also enjoyed catching up with Gypsy, Jak & the very much bigger Padlock. We were happy to look after the park for a day while Fredy & Ulli had a well deserved day of leisure with friends visiting from Mandurah. We finished off the last of the hikes on Porongurup Range, Nancy & Hayworth Peaks. We did the tour of the National Anzac Centre in Albany – well presented with lots of reading.

Well we took our leave of Porongurup, topped up with all sorts of homemade jams, chutneys, olives and of course a supply of local wines and head back to Walpole for another 3wks of house sitting on one of our favourite spots in WA.

(2) Walpole 9-30 November

There was more fishing with Dave & Patsy including a supply of smoked herring. Patsy also dressed a freshly caught rabbit ready for me to cook. I was pretty happy with my effort, being my first time at cooking a rabbit.

Soon to be Roast Rabbit

Enjoying his freshly caught crab

What a white dog looks like after chasing rabbits through swamps

Spied a cute little bunny through the van window

Mandalay Beach, Walpole

Mandalay Beach, Walpole

Mandalay Beach, Walpole

Mandalay Beach, Walpole

We managed to get a house sit at Glen Forrest in the Perth Hills so north we head again – round & round we go, taking in different areas each time.

(3) Quinninup Tourist Park 1-2 Dec

Heading north, we stayed at Quinninup Tourist Park. A little town that has a pub and a caravan park. It had resident roos & emus. The roo actually growled at Sammy. Other than Skippy😉, never heard a roo make a noise before. The emus were very inquisitive in checking out Glen & Sammy. One even checked out what was for dinner, looking through the kitchen window. We decided to support the local pub by having dinner & a drink. Only one other couple there for dinner. Our basic meal took over an hour and $70 later for a meal & drink each. WA really know how to charge. The most expensive state to travel through.

Checking on whats cooking for dinner through the van window.

Heard growling and out pops a kangaroo??

(4) Big Brook Arboretum 3 Dec

Next stop was Big Brook Arbetorum after travelling through Pemberton. A campground in amongst Sequoias, Karri & Spotted Gums with toilets for $15 per night. Due to all the trees, not exactly solar friendly. We walked to Big Brook dam to do some geocaching and because that’s Sammy’s favourite thing to do.

Geocaching we go

(5) Alexandra Bridge 4-5 Dec

We used Alexandra Bridge as our base to explore Augustus. We found some caches in Augusta and checked out the Water Wheel out past the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. The water wheel system was built in 1895 to supply water for the stone masons of the lighthouse & water to the lighthouse keepers cottage. The water wheel was restored in 2001 by the Augusta Historical Society. We also endured a couple of berry turnovers from the bakery as one does😋

Yummy berry turnover

Cape Leeuwin, Augusta

The water wheel

Cape Leeuwin lighthouse

(6) Margaret River. Big Valley Campground 6-9 Dec

On our way to Margaret River we of course had to have a momentary pause at Whirlwind Olive Farm at Karridale. And of course couldn’t leave there without some garlic olive oil, olives & dukkah😋. We camped at Big Valley Campground, a short drive out of Margaret River. Another farm that has diversified by opening up for camping to help supplement their income. $32 pwd/$26 unpwd with toilets, showers & a communal campfire area. Totally recommend it👍 What was even better was the Cheers Wine Tour bus picks you up from the campground as well as the kennels for Sammy’s day care. Thoroughly enjoyed the wine tour (not so much the wine – yes I know that that will come as a shock). The itinerary for the day was Watershed winery, Bettenays Margaret river nougat company winery, Margaret river venison farm, Knotting hill vineyard, Margaret river choc factory, Margaret river dairy company (cheese) & colonial brewery. The wine making/appreciation session at the first winery was really interesting and lunch was yum. Really enjoyed the venison from Margaret River Venison – wish I had have bought more. Our third day at Margaret River we checked out Laurance winery, canal rocks, Yallingup, Bunker Bay, Dunsborough, Busselton and last but not least finished off the day at the berry farm – yum.

Big Valley Campground – Margaret River

Big Valley Campground – Margaret River

Cheers Wine Tour

Cheers Wine Tour – Watershed winery

Cheers Wine Tour – Watershed winery

Cheers Wine Tour – Watershed winery

Cheers Wine Tour – Watershed winery

Cheers Wine Tour – MR Venison

Cheers Wine Tour – Bettenays MR Nougat Company Winery

Cheers Wine Tour

Cheers Wine Tour – Knotting Hill Winery

Cheers Wine Tour – Knotting Hill Winery

Cheers Wine Tour – Knotting Hill winery

Lawrance Winery

Lawrance Winery

Lawrance Winery

Lawrance Winery

Berry Farm

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We continued north, planning to stay overnight at Herron Point again but was all booked out. So we stayed the night at Pinjarra RV rest area, a free camp in town with a nice walk along the river and over the suspension bridge and geocaching of course.

(7) Pinjarra 

(8) Glen Forrest – Perth Hills 13 Dec – 5 Jan

We house sat at Glen Forrest for nearly 4 weeks which gave us somewhere to stay over Xmas. Glen Forrest is in the Perth Hills which we had mistakenly thought would be similar to Adelaide Hills – wrong. It was so hot & so dry and to make it worse we were parked on that red pea gravel which seemed to soak up the heat and hold it😓. While there, we did enjoy a tapas dinner at The Cavern at Kalamunda and Xmas lunch at Chapel Farm in the Swan Valley region. Shame we didn’t take a taxi as it was a eat & drink all you can, so I was the designated driver, since I rarely drive these days. We had a very enjoyable feast. And that pretty much brings me to the end of 2015 at long last🎄🍾🎊

The front yard

The front yard

The backyard

The backyard

The backyard

Sammy meeting the next door neighbours

Celebrating our 35th Anniversay

Xmas lunch at Chapel Farm Swan Valley

Xmas lunch at Chapel Farm Swan Valley

Xmas lunch at Chapel Farm Swan Valley

Our New Years Eve feast

(1) Walpole 14 Sept – 1 Oct – house sit

Had a great time in Walpole looking after a house on five acres with a few sheep (who loved eating oranges), chooks (free eggs) & massive gardens of fruit, veg & flowering shrubs. Glen was in his element on the mower with the joy stick for steering. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to buy acreage just so he had an excuse to buy one😉. The next door neighbours, Dave & Patsy were very welcoming.

One of the dams

The golf course

Driveway into property

Just a glimpse of the veggie gardens

Marron from the dam

Unfortunately a female with lots of babies

Fish for dinner

Tingle Tree

Inside the Tingle Tree

During our stay at Walpole, we went on the WOW boat cruise around the Walpole-Nornalup Inlets Marine Park out to the mouth of the inlet. You have the opportunity to walk over the sand dunes via a well worn track to the ocean side (our guide leads the way to check for a local snake that sometimes sleeps on the track😬). He then provides homemade cake, tea & coffee. The best part of the cruise is the knowledge he imparts and his very energetic personality. He has a box of dress up like items on the boat to help in describing & acting out whatever he is talking about – he was a bit like Steve Irwin in his enthusiasm.

Walpole-Nornalup Inlets Marine Park

Southern Ocean

Don’t think he was happy having his nap time interrupted

We joined the neighbours for a night of entertainment by “The Old Fella” who came fourth I think, on Australia’s Got Talent at the local community hall. A good laugh was had by all, especially one lady who’s laugh was quite contagious. He offered to pay her to join him on his rounds of the towns😉.

Our sightseeing from Walpole included Valley of the Tree Tops Walk. Due to us already doing the Ottway Tree Top walk (which we found disappointing) and Tahune air walk in Tassie which we really enjoyed. Anyho so we decided to do the free guided tour around the base of the Tingle trees which was very informative and glad we did it. We drove out to Circular Pools, hiked up Mt Frankland & enjoyed the serenity at Fernhook Falls. Of course there was the obligatory honey tasting/purchasing, chocolate tasting, ice creams & fudge. We had the most expensive fish & chips at Peaceful Bay. Checked out Parry Beach & Conspicuous Cliff. Glen went fishing at Mandalay beach with Dave & Patsy, next door neighbours at Walpole. And remembered to do some geocaching.

Valley of the Giants

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Circular Pools, Peaceful Bay & Conspicuous Cliff

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(3) Greenbushes 2 Oct

It was time for us to head up to our house sit in Baldivis. Approximately 45mins south of Perth. Our first night was at Greenbushes campground in their sports complex. A great free camp with toilets & showers. On our way to Greenbushes we checked out The Diamond Tree (2) south of Manjimup. It is a Karri tree with a wooden viewing platform 52mt up, (well, so I’m told – neither Glen or I were in any hurry to climb it) and is the oldest wooden platform fire lookout still in use today. The Gloucester tree, the second tallest lookout tree in the world at 72mts is in Pemberton but you have to pay to see that one.

Campsite at Greenbushes

Diamond Tree

Lithium ore mine at Greenbushes

(4) Herron Point 3 Oct

What a great little spot. Only stayed one night, but have marked as a favourite for another time. Flushing toilets. The caretakers are sprucing up the place with artwork in the old toilets and the bins. No drinking water, but bore water for dishes etc. Fire rings for when the season permits. Great for the dogs on the beach. And don’t forget the geocache.

A Shoe tree

(5) Baldivis 4 – 27 Oct – house sit

In October, we spent three & half weeks house sitting at Baldivis looking after Gail & Adrian’s rammed earth house & 2 dogs which Sammy thoroughly enjoyed. Their dog Theo was a rescue dog and was a bit apprehensive but with Sammy’s help, he was able to overcome his fear of us, as you can see by the photo below.  Our favourite spot was taking in the serenity, sitting out the back in the pergola area listening to the water trickling over into the fish pond full of Koi. It gave us the opportunity to do sightseeing from Mandurah to Perth.

Kings Park, Perth

Cape Peron – Shoalwater Bay

(6) Lake Brockman Tourist Park 28 Oct

A bush setting caravan park with drop toilets – $30 per night powered which you need to be on as too many trees for solar.

(7) Stockton Lake 29 Oct

A great campsite for $15 per night with flushing toilets beside a beautiful turquoise lake that was just begging for us to go kayaking. Unfortunately also popular with locals with their V8 ski boats and doof door music:(

(8) Queerearrup Lake 30 Oct

A free camp beside a salt lake that somewhere down the track must have been used for water skiing, but the ramp was well & truly high & dry. The lake was dry when we arrived but after a shower of rain overnight, we woke to 2/3 of the lake covered in water. Each day we would wake to a bit more water in the lake even though there had been no more rain.

We then returned to Lake Nunijup (9) for a few days of R&R😉 before heading into Albany to have another element replaced in the Truma HWS😡.

Follow the blue trail above.

Porongurup Range Tourist Park 19 June

As our next destination took us past the turnoff to the van park, we decided to drop in and introduce ourselves. It turned out that the owners, Fredy & Ulli were in Perth visiting a sick friend. Their friends from Mandurah, Sue & Colin had been left in charge and made us feel very welcome. We loved the bush setting of the park and looked forward to spending a couple of months here.

Cambinata Yabbies Farmstay 20 June

A great camp spot for $10 a night with showers & flushing toilets in a renovated shearing shed where they host the silver service Cambinata Extravaganza. This event celebrates the diversity & fabulous products of Heartlands using regional foods. Their yabbies are sold to restaurants in Australia & around the world. We found the tour of their processing facilities very informative.

Amelup Roadhouse on the way north

Cambinata Campground

Drove up to Wave Rock at Hyden from the farmstay. By the time we got there, it was bucketing down. Glad we keep wet weather gear in the car. Shame we forgot to put it on. We did the walk around the breakaways that is just off the road before arriving at the Wave Rock car park. We ended up totally soaked even with the umbrella. Never seen Sammy jump in the car so quick. Usually we have to pick him up & put him in the car as he is still hesitant after being so car sick in his first 12mths. We decided to give Wave Rock a miss. We had camped at Pildappa Rock in SA which we had been told was just as good and it was free. Besides the path leading up to Wave Rock was flowing well after the down pour.

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Dumbleyung 24 June

Dumbleyung Caravan Park

Replica of Donald Campbells Bluebird

Donald Campbell broke the water speed record in Dumbleyung 31.12.64

Lake Nunijup 25 June

This is a great free camp with clean flushing toilets. Lots of firewood & a fire pit. Locals are very welcoming & happy that the camp is being used. You are able to park on what was once the tennis courts with the use of the verandah of the club house to ponder on how good life is, while watching all the black swans enjoying life on the lake. This became one of our favourite camps when in the area.

Mount Barker 27 June

Before heading back to Porongurup we decided to stop the night at the free 24hr rest area in Mt Barker to stock up on food & liquid supplies. Also decided to do our “pay it back” for the free camp & had dinner at one if the pubs. The recommended one (The Top Pub) was booked out unfortunately.

Porongurup Range Tourist Park 28 June – 13 Sept

While in Tassie we applied for the position of caretakers for the Porongurup Range Tourist Park from July to September 2015 and were lucky enough to get it. The owners, Fredy & Ulli were taking a well earned and long time coming holiday to Phuket & visiting family in Germany. This was a new experience for us and thoroughly enjoyed it. We did all aspects of managing a caravan park – telephone enquiries, bookings, cleaning of amenities, camp kitchen, gazebos & cabins, grounds maintenance – which was an ongoing battle with the so called “honky nuts” (gum nuts for us easterners:). Fredy said they would be slowing down over winter – yeah right😏. The black cockatoos and parrots thought it was great fun dropping them on the amenities roof. The community was very welcoming with being provided with local eggs, fruit, homemade jams & chutneys & wines. Thoroughly enjoyed all the wines that we managed to taste – a bit of a hardship, but we had to be able to advise fellow travellers staying at the park😉. This wine region is older than Margaret River and must say I much preferred their wines. Porongurup is well situated for day trips to Albany & the Stirling Ranges. We didn’t manage any walks at Stirling Ranges but did the scenic drive through the centre. From the distance it looks like one long range, but is actually made up of lots of ranges/mountains. There was a couple of snow falls during our time there on top of the Porongurup & Stirling Ranges. We opted to look at photos that some energetic people took ⛄️ We managed to do the Granite Skywalk & Devils Slide walks in the Porongurup Range – each taking approx 2 and a half hours including lunch and lots of pics. And would you believe we had forgotten to do the caches that were hidden on both walks 😕. Beginning of September we said our farewells to people who we had grown fond of. It’s sad that we are meeting and making friends with people we may never see again , but definitely adds to our travelling experience.

Our home while at Porongurup

Dinner at Fredy & Ulli’s before they leave on holidays

Val & Chris at the Mt Barker Top Pub

Ironwood Estate Winery

Sitting around the fire pit at Porongurup

Granite Skywalk

Devil’s Slide

During our stay at Porongurup the element had died in our third hot water system since moving into our van Dec 2013. So we had arranged for a replacement in Albany when on our way to a house sit in Walpole.

Well don’t die of shock but have started on our Western Australia travels at long last. This has been quite a work out for the old brain to recall our travels from last year.

Bromus Dam 29 May

After crossing the Nullabour, we headed south to Esperance. We camped at a free camp south of Norseman, Bromus Dam. Bromus Dam was built in 1925/26 by the railways to supply water for the early steam trains that plied from Coolgardie & Esperance. We followed the pipeline from the dam to the tank where we discovered a cache. Quite an interesting walk. Prior to deciding to camp at Bromus Dam, we checked out a free camp, Jilah Rockhole south of Mundrabilla. It gave us the opportunity to test out the Tyre Monitoring System on the van when we staked a tyre😏.  Worth every cent.

Bromus Dam

Bromus Dam

Bromus Dam

Bromus Dam

Bromus Dam

Bromus Dam

Bromus Dam

Grass Patch 30 May

Continuing south, we then spent a night at a community caravan park at Grass Patch. A great little spot for a night or two, with power, water, amenities, BBQ & fire pit for $20. Love supporting these community caravan parks. And we remembered to find the cache.

Grass Patch

Grass Patch

Grass Patch

Grass Patch

Esperance 31 May

While exploring Esperance we camped at a Caravan Overnight Farmstay, Patroni Olive Farm for $5 pn, no facilities. They showed us the process they use for making their cold press olive oil still using a crusher & presser process from 500 years ago. It’s a husband & wife team doing all the work including picking the olives with a hand held shaker and net.

Patroni Olive Farm

Patroni Olive Farm

West Beach

West Beach

Cape Le Grand NP 

We drove out to Lucky Bay campground, Cape Le Grand NP. The sand was a brilliant white & the water was so blue & clear – just stunning. We also stopped and climbed Frenchman Peak. That was definitely not one of my favourite moments. I DO NOT enjoy climbing a bare rock face. I had a bit of a panic attack about half way up and had to tell Glen to continue without me as he was trying his best to encourage me, but I wasn’t feeling very receptive – I just wanted him to GO AWAY!!! Anyway, after sitting there for approx 10mins thinking about how I don’t want to go any further up, but also don’t want to attempt walking down and thinking where’s a helicopter when you need one, I finally decided to try to continue on up, trying not to think about how I was going to get down. I met a couple of ladies on their way down, one of which was coming down on her bum. I was just short of making it to the top. The last little bit was just too much of a stretch and just couldn’t do it, but was sort of pleased that I nearly made it. NEVER AGAIN:)

Lucky Bay

Lucky Bay

Lucky Bay

Frenchman Peak

Frenchman Peak

Frenchman Peak

Frenchman Peak

Frenchman Peak

Frenchman Peak

Frenchman Peak

Frenchman Peak

Frenchman Peak

Frenchman Peak

Quagi Beach 3 June 

A great camp for $10 per night with toilets. We drove out to Stokes National Park to do some geocaching and came across the ruins of Moir Homestead from the 1870s.

Quagi Beach

Quagi Beach

Quagi Beach

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Moir Homestead

Stokes NP

Stokes NP

Stokes NP

Stokes NP

Stokes NP

Stokes NP

Quagi Beach to Hopetoun.

Dirt road from Quagi Beach to Hopetoun

Hopetoun

Hopetoun

Munglinup Beach 7 June

Another great little campsite for $10 per night with toilets. You have the choice of staying at the caravan park further up the road or camping near the beach. Glen also enjoyed a bit of fishing.

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Munglinup Beach

Millers Point Reserve 10 June

$15 per night with drop toilets.  No Ranger came to collect fees and no box to drop money off so our stay was actually free.

Millers Point

Millers Point

Millers Point

Millers Point

Millers Point

Bremer Bay Caravan Park 12 June

Quite a nice, grassy van park near the mouth of the river.  Glen had enjoyed some fishing while here. The van park advised of a fishing spot along the river. While he was at the fish cleaning station, he got talking to someone and recommended Millers Point and how we camped for free due to no-one collecting fees – it turned out he was the Ranger – whoops. He was all good about it😉.

Bremer Bay

Fish for dinner

Bremer Bay

Bremer Bay

Dinner at the pub

Bremer Bay

Bremer Bay

Bremer Bay

Bremer Bay

Cosy Corner 18 June

A free camp just west of Albany with toilets & dump point. There are 2 levels, the lower one right next to the beach, but completely shaded, so no go for solar.

Cosy Corner

Cosy Corner

West Howe NP

West Howe NP

West Howe NP

West Howe NP

West Howe NP

Well it has been quite a while since we have updated our blog. Partly due to lack of Internet and doing a couple of months work – well not sure if we can call it work as we met some lovely people and stayed in one of the most stunning areas of WA.

So continuing on with our Tassie travels.  After our stay at Sunset Beach we headed over to explore the towns and sights either side of the Huon River.  Our first stop over was at Gordon Recreation Reserve which looked across to Bruny Island.  From here we were able to check out Grand Vewe Sheep Cheesery at Birch’s Bay which was quite a hardship tasting cheese, having a coffee made on sheep’s milk, lunch and a pat of the sheep. Then onto Gardners Bay, Eggs & Bacon Bay, Verona Sands and back to Gordon.  So much realestate with waterfront views.  It would be very tempting to buy somewhere on Tassie.

From Gordon we moved around to Geeveston and caught up with friends – Shirley & Don who we had met in our travels on the mainland the year before and fellow Qlder friends, Rod & Toni. We checked out The Wooden Boat Centre at Franklin and enjoyed a day drive down through Dover, Southport and onto Cockle Creek to check out the campsites for our next trip to Tassie:)

We finished our stay in Tassie at the Blue Wren Tea Gardens which is a few ks west of Ulverstone. We watched over the campground while the owners Vicki & Trevor were having a well earned holiday overseas and their house sitters needed to return to Melbourne a few days before they were due back.  Apart from watching over the campground, we also enjoyed the fresh eggs collected each day and fed the cats.  What a beautiful campground, right across the road from the beach & penguins.  Not that I got to see any penguins😔 but Sammy came across one amongst the bushes and it soon told Sammy where to go in no uncertain terms. But I just loved sitting in the afternoons, watching the ocean – heaven. A great spot to spend either your first or last few days on Tassie.  A short trip from here to the Spirit of Tasmania at Devonport. It also gave us the opportunity to check out Mount Dial Nature Recreation Area taking in the Ferndene State Reserve, a short distance from Penguin.

Sadly, we arrived in Melbourne the morning of the 30 March and was booked into Five Ways CP I actually had a pretty good crossing at long last – drugs are good.  Dometic had arranged for us to have our hot water system and heater to be checked later that day.  A couple of days later we hit the road out of Melbourne with a new hot water system and minor adjustments to the heater.

Our next stop was Smythesdale Public Gardens, Sth west of Ballarat.  A great camp spot with facilites for a donation.  Quite a large area, but of course the next morning a couple of Motorhomers with large buses and trailers decided to park right next to us, right outside our door😡 Of course I very nicely informed them that that was ok to park right on top of us considering the size of the campground and of course not to move as we would move to an entirely different campground.

We ended up at Hynes Camping Reserve on the western side of the Grampians.  What a great little spot for $15 per night on power.  It sits on the edge of Rocklands Reservoir which hasn’t seen water for a very long time.  They have what looks like a fairly new boat ramp which isn’t anywhere near what little water is still there. Even though it was Easter, it was a big enough area to not feel crowded unlike Halls Gap where they were camped on top of each other. We amused ourselves by doing the Pinnacles 5.5k circuit.  “A more challenging walk departs from the aptly named Wonderland carpark and ascends via the impressive Grand Canyon. It does not resemble the American canyon of the same name but is equally impressive with its unique Australian rock formations, albeit on a smaller scale! The walk continues through the Silent Street before rising up to The Pinnacle.” At least half was downhill, but the uphill was quite a workout especially for the one with buggered knees😉 A couple of days later we did the walk to MacKenzie Falls and part of the falls river walk.  Very enjoyable even in the rain.

Our next stop was Horsham Showgrounds, then onto Bolto Reserve at Mannum and arriving at Chris & Val’s at Springton on 9 April as I was booked to fly to Brisbane from Adelaide the afternoon of the 10th for a specialist appointment on 13th April. It was good to catch up and spend my birthday with our daughter – very special. I also enjoyed catching up with some family and friends.  Meanwhile Chris & Val were keeping Glen occupied with some geocaching, food tasting, etc.  I arrived back in Adelaide on the 15th and we moved on from Chris and Val’s on the 18th to start our house sit situated halfway between Lobelthal and Gumeracha until 6th May. The owners of the house, Peter & Rosie were flying overseas to attend their daughters wedding. The house sit included looking after their short haired German Pointer, Tildy. Tildy and Sammy had a ball and helped to keep us fit with a few ks of walks each day.  Their house was approx 163 years old. Some of the doorways were quite low and Glen had to duck to walk through.  On Anzac Day we attended the morning service at Gumeracha. The number of people who attended was mind blowing for such a small community.

We moved on to Stanley on Sunday the first and set up in the camp opposite the showgrounds which is $8 per night and an easy walk into town. We joined in happy hour with fellow campers and shared heaps of advice with them on what to see and do, as they had just arrived from the mainland. One couple was from the Gold Coast and the other from Perth. We spent the next day walking up and around The Nut, which has the steepest grade of walk up a bitumen path I’ve seen anywhere. It also seems to be a lot harder than it did 6 years ago, but that’s just what getting older does to you I suppose.

We also completed a few caches here, then moved on to Smithton free camp on Tuesday. This was just an overnight stop on a few grassy acres beside a small stream provided by the Hotel/Resort.

Ok for one night and then we moved on to Arthur River and once again met up with Geoff & Joy Burgess & their Scottish friends. They had booked on the Arthur River cruise for the next day, so we shot down to the store and booked ourselves on as well. A great happy hour was had as usual. This is an excellent camp with fairly new flushing toilets and fire pits scattered about.  We boarded the boat and were welcomed by both the new & the previous owners. The weather Gods were shining down on us, as it was a very pleasant day and you are always pretty sheltered from the winds upstream amongst the rainforest. We cruised for a short time with some great facts and history of the area being provided by both of these characters, who obviously enjoy what they do. We soon came to a spot where they feed a couple of sea eagles with whole fish thrown up onto the bank. I was lucky enough to snap a shot of one as it grabbed the fish, although not perfectly focused. As we were getting close to the lunch destination we first had to pass over a shallow sand bar and just our luck, it bottomed out and we were stuck well and truly. We thought we would have to wait for the other cruise boat to come and give us a tow, but after many attempts at rocking the boat back & forth & side to side it finally moved forward and on to our lunch mooring in the forest. One of them gave us a guided walk through the forest describing many of the trees and plants along the way. He was once the owner of a sawmill so he had an extensive knowledge & experience on the subject. His mate prepared a fantastic BBQ’d lunch while we were gone and we even had some wine thrown in to wash it down. All in all, a fantastic and informative day on the Arthur River.

After two nights here we headed south down the western explorer towards Corinna on the Pieman River. Geoff & Joy and friends went around by the bitumen and down to Strahan as their friends only had an on road van. We let our tyres down and took it fairly easy as the road was a little rough and loose in sections. Surprisingly the countryside was quite mountainous as I had, for some reason, pictured this section as fairly flat and scrubby. It was an enjoyable drive as we only passed a couple of other vehicles along the way. One section had warning signs advising of a short very steep climb ahead, so I put the transmission in low range and thank God I did! Pulling 3.5t of van up the section certainly put everything to the test. We later heard of one person who ignored the warning, got half way up with his Bushtracker van and couldn’t make it. The car slid back and jack-knifed into the van. He got out using his low range, but it would have been quite frightening during the slide back. Once at Corinna we found there was no suitable camp and as we had expected our rig was too long to go on the Fatman Ferry to cross the river. So we headed northeast and on to Waratah which was our planned destination.

We stayed at the council park on the banks of a lake right in the middle of town. It’s one of the few towns built around a huge waterfall that had been used to run a large mining structure which was built right over the falls. Like many towns it is considerably downsized from what was here in the early days, but the mining is still going ahead in the hills. The next day we drove back towards Corinna about 10klms to walk down to Philosophers Falls. This was another amazing walk which followed along the edge of a stone water race which was amazingly built by hand to convey water to the nearby Magnet Mine which closed in 1940. There’s a set of 200 steel steps down to a viewing platform at the end giving you a great view of the top of the falls. It’s incredible to think that all this existing forest is actually regrowth but it looks quite natural and like most other forests in Tassie covered in green moss.

After two nights in Waratah we went south via Zeehan, through Strahan and out to Macquarie Heads, the mouth of the massive Macquarie Harbour. The road out to the Heads was rough & stoney gravel, which is in contrast to most of the roads in Tassie that are in quite good condition. We found Laurie & Helen and set up camp beside them with the intention of doing some fishing while we were here. But it was very windy on the beach and the current was ripping through the heads with lots of weed in the water. We had a great camp behind the foreshore trees that completely blocked the wind out so the pig was lit & happy hour rolled on.

The next day we went for a drive to Montezuma Falls via Zeehan which was about a 40 minute drive to the start of the 4wd track. This is one I’ve heard about and been wanting to do since we were here last time. Don’t be fooled by the sign at the start that says 2 hrs return as it took us closer to 6 all up. It didn’t help that we had a kayak and a boat on top as there were quite a few low branches that got a nudge on the way. This track follows an old rail line that is very narrow, rough & boggy in places. We often had to pull our mirrors in as it was that narrow. Low range was the gear of choice, with great care taken not to scrape the edges or bash something in a bog hole. It was fortunate that we didn’t meet any cars coming the other way as there was simply nowhere to move over nearly all the way. We did meet a group of locals on quad bikes that managed to back up for us and reckoned we could get through to the end of the falls. There was one washout on a hairpin bend that we had to scrabble up that got the heart racing and then, fortunately we met two vehicles that had stopped for lunch. They advised the next washout was quite difficult and as it was only 3.5klms to the falls, we decided to walk rather than risk any damage or getting stuck out in the bush. If we didn’t have all the gear on top we would likely have made it unscathed but as it turned out there were several large trees hanging low across the track that would have stopped us anyway. The walk was enjoyable as being an old rail line it had only minimal incline. We stopped for a snack at the start of the walking track before walking the last 400m into the falls. Just before we got to the falls we had to cross a suspension bridge that was quite narrow and easily got a bounce up. I had to carry Sammy across as it was quite a drop to the river below. We made our way back out and re-inflated our tyres before heading back. We also now had orange mud on the cars and on our trouser legs, which a young boy spotted when we stopped at Zeehan pub for a late lunch. He said “you’ve been up to Montezuma Falls haven’t you?” Clever kid!!

The next day we left Strahan and drove up the range to Queenstown, did a shop and headed out to the southern end of Lake Burbury near Darwin Dam. From Queenstown we had to climb up a very steep range for several kilometres and stopped at the lookout just over the crest. Wow!!! What a view. This country is spectacular and photos just don’t do it justice. We then had to descend down to the dam in first gear with gentle application of the brakes to try and avoid overheating them. It had a small camp area that used to be the construction site when they built the dam and a boat ramp was on the side. What a fantastic time we had here, the locals camped beside us made us feel very welcome and the scenery was to die for. These guys are all fly fishers and had many years of experience so we managed to get some tips off them before we left. I got to catch my first rainbow trout and Laurie caught a couple of good sized brown trout. They were fantastic eating and I’m sure it has something to do with the pristine waters they were caught in. That’s what’s so special about Tassie, the water’s crystal clear and the air is the cleanest in the world.

We went for a drive further down the road for about 14klms and turned into another old rail track, but this one has been maintained and is in good condition. Once in the parking area we donned our backpacks and headed off on a 15klm return walk into Kelly’s Basin. There’s not a lot of maintenance done on this section of the track and requires some climbing over rocks, logs and negotiating bog holes. This track follows the river most of the way until you near the old township site. Once again we’re in thick rainforest with ferns and moss everywhere, so a constant watch for tiger snakes was required. It’s hard to believe that about 80 years ago there was a full on town here. The bush has regrown and other than a few kilns from the old brick works and a couple of boiler tanks, you wouldn’t know it. There’s also remnants of an old jetty that carried the bricks and tourists on rail carriages to the transport ships.

After a week in this paradise we decided it was time to move on. I have to say the only drawback was the horse flies during the day that could bite and draw blood, leaving you with a painful site for several days. We had to go back through Queenstown in order to head east, so it was up and over that huge range again. I think new oil in the transmission and new brake pads will be in order when we get back to the mainland. At the top of the range I explored an old miners tunnel that went back about 150m into the hillside. At the very end someone had placed an old bathroom vanity, complete with toilet roll. Quirky!! Thankfully no-one had used it. The range heading towards Hobart out of Queenstown is feared by many people as they say it’s very steep with tight hairpin bends. On both occasions I have driven this road I have found it to be quite enjoyable as it’s not as steep as many others and the road itself is in excellent condition. The views of the ranges around you is also spectacular. Just for something different we went up and down numerous hills and valleys once again and spent the night at Bradys Lake free camp.

The next morning we continued on to Hobart staying at the showgrounds in Glenorchy a western suburb of Hobart. We would be here for more than a week as Deb needed a tooth crown replaced, I had doctors appointments and needed a medical exam for my license renewal. Deb also had an appointment with a respiratory specialist as her chest problems were getting worse and needs further treatment.

We then returned to Sunset Beach for another 5 nights and was able to get out fishing in the kayak two more days and caught a good feed of flathead & a squid once again.  Rod & Tony were here also and they smashed the flathead outdoing my catches each time.  They are hooked on this place, excuse the pun.  I’ve also mastered the art of filleting these beasts, which makes them much more enjoyable to eat.  We picked up a hint front some friends to coat the fillets in crushed up salt & vinegar chips.  Yum!!!  It was also great to catch up with Harvey & Marie and hopefully we will catch up with them one day.

On Thursday the 1st we followed Dave & Jenny into the forest down several tracks and to a lookout over a gorgeous bay from high up on the cliffs.  A very special place and out of the wind as well.  Most left the camp ground on the Friday morning leaving only Craig & Wendy & Laurie & Helen with us.  They went hiking in the morning while Deb & I took Sammy to the vet again as he had a small infection on his face from an insect bite that needed attention.  Once back at camp it was time to catch up on some blogging as the wind was once again in force making it very unpleasant outside.

On Sunday the 4th Deb & I drove to the Coal Mines on the Tasman Peninsula and did a 2 hour walk around the site.  A very interesting site that has only recently received World Heritage recognition, so lots of work has been done and I imagine more is to come to ensure the site is maintained as best as possible.

The cells are in amazing condition considering they’re almost 200 years old and open to the weather.  It was a long uphill walk past the police quarters to the top of the mine shaft which was 92 metres deep originally with side tunnels running out from it’s base.  The prisoners were sent here as additional punishment for reoffending, so this was known as the worst place to be sent.  The men were lowered down the shaft sitting facing each other on a steel cross bar at the end of a rope and winched down.  They worked the mine on hands and knees pushing carts of coal along on rails.  Water filled the lower chambers and had to be constantly pumped out to the surface.  An old boiler tank still stands at the top of the shaft.  The coal was moved on rails down a fairly steep incline with a convict applying a hand brake to maintain control and then loaded onto boats.  A pulley system was employed and as one lot of carts descended full it pulled the empty ones back to the top.  The coal was of poor quality as it spattered sparks as it burnt.  Prisoners were kept in separate cells as it was of concern at the time that the men were getting up to immoral behaviour.  We drove to the nearby Lime Beach campground and were surprised to find hundreds packed in here for the Christmas break.  We then drove down to Nubeena for a couple of geocaches and a look around then back to camp.
Monday the 5th was spent drying and slowly packing up everything.  We departed Sunset Beach Camp Spot after 3 weeks and said goodbye to Harvey & Marie until we meet again somewhere.  We shopped in Sorell and topped up our water before heading up to Kimberley Cottages at Levendale a short drive north through farmland.

The hosts here, Lance & Cynthia Wilson are the most welcoming people you could ever find and have had the most interesting lives which they are happy to share with you.  We were invited to join them for a roast lamb dinner.  Amazingly everything they eat here is home grown, meat, veggies, eggs and fruit obtained on their farm or locally.  Lance is a renowned writer winning author of the year in 2008.  His books are fictional but based on the many experiences of their lives in Arnhem Land, the Kimberley’s and Tasmania.  (See his website – Lance C Wilson) We stayed here a week enjoying their hospitality which included smoked eel, freshly caught wood duck and home grown lamb chops.  Fresh veggies from the garden and eggs from the chook pen, wow, this is old fashioned farm life and shows how cheap you can live if you put your mind to it.  The Wilsons have lived in some very remote places so they learnt to be self sufficient in order to survive and enjoy fresh food.  Lance took us 4wding around the 7,500 acre property across the road which belongs to Cynthia’s brother.  It was fairly dry and lots of good water holes were all but dried up, so fishing was limited to the dams.  He is getting fisheries to deliver 30cm trout for the dams which should be good fishing in days to come.  The weather has mostly been cloudy with some showers and night time temperatures down to 7 degrees.  Not bad for summer.

On the 7th we had a communal fish dinner with the Wilsons & another couple from Hobart who were camping with us.  We had some freshly smoked eel, which was caught in the dam and I must say it does taste a bit liked smoked chicken & not as oily as I thought it would be.  Deb went with Cynthia & her grandson for a drive to check the old local school which is now closed.

Thursday was a day of rest & on Friday we went for a drive to the east coast through Buckland to Orford & then Triabunna.  Buckland has an historic church with beautiful stained glass windows & some of the oldest graves we have seen.  Orford is a quaint little seaside town & Triabunna is just north of here.  We had lunch from a popular food van located behind the Triabunna Hotel which overlooks the marina.  We also did a few geocaches along the way with a very difficult find near an old boat shed at Orford.  Cynthia cooked up some chicken wings & veg for dinner which was a lovely way to end a great day.

On Sunday the 11th, we watched Lance & Cynthia dress a few ducks they had caught in a trap on the dam.  We froze one for later (much to Deb’s delight…Not!!) .  Deb made pizzas for dinner for us & the Wilsons, which was most enjoyable.

On Monday the 12th we packed up and said our good byes to Lance & Cynthia and thanked them for a wonderful stay.  We may return here before heading back to the mainland, we’ll wait & see.  We drove towards the central lakes area & spent 2 nights at Kempton free camp on the way.  Like many other towns in Tassie it has lots of history relating to it’s convict era and early farming days.  We walked around reading all the little information plaques on the many historical buildings and once again found a couple of geocaches.  One in particular was very hard as it was a small section of a branch shoved in a pine tree with a hole drilled in one end and a plug of wood inserted to encase the cache.  Sneaky!!  This was a free camp but felt it worthy of a $5 donation just the same.  Hopefully these camps will remain if we support them appropriately.

On Wednesday the 14th we headed up to Lake Arthur stopping at the Steppes Sculptures along the way.  These were sculptures placed on stones in the bush in the middle of nowhere.  Very strange place to put them.  The wind & rain pounded us all night after setting up camp at Jonah Bay beside Lake Arthur.  I’m sure this would be a great spot to camp in good weather but the wind shook the van all night & it was very cold.  This is a real fisherman’s camp with lots of guys who look like they have all seen better days, with missing teeth, huge beards & wearing the standard camo fishing gear which seems like a uniform around here.  All that aside, they were friendly & welcoming & happy to share their fishing tips.  But unfortunately the fish weren’t biting and the weather was crap.  Laurie had completed his 6 day hike from Cradle mountain to Lake St Clair so they joined us the next day.  Laurie & I headed out to try & catch our first trout, but the wind limited where we could go and there was lots of weed tangling our prop so we returned to camp.  The fact that the locals weren’t out fishing should have been an indication to us that it wasn’t the right time to go out at all.  There are warning signs around the lake about sudden weather changes and the dangers to boaties and one guy copped a blast of wind that spun him around and nearly flipped him over.  We tucked ourselves indoors and played cards at night to avoid freezing to death outside.  Part of the reason for the extreme weather here is that the central lakes area is situated on quite a high plateau.  Meanwhile back home everyone is complaining about the heat, I don’t know which is worse.

On Friday the 16th we decided the weather wasn’t going to let up, so we headed north down into Deloraine and stayed at a free camp in town for a couple of days.  We went for walks around the riverside, did some shopping, baking and played yahtzee at night.  On Sunday we visited Ashgrove cheese, Christmas Hills Raspberry farm Elizabeth Town.  We drove to Meander Forest Reserve, Mother Cummings Peak, Warners Sugerloaf and ended the day with an excellent meal at the Deloraine pub.

On Monday the 19th we headed to Mole Creek caravan park & Laurie & Helen went to Launceston to take care of some business for a couple of days.  It was a small caravan park beside a pretty little stream.  Unfortunately they packed everyone in and didn’t have enough facilities for the number of people staying there at the time.  On Tuesday Deb & I went for a drive into the nearby mountains to see Devils Gullet & Lake MacKenzie.  Once again the weather played havoc with our plans.  It was over 1450 metres elevation and the wind, rain and thick clouds were all around us at the lake.  We drove out onto the lake with limited visibility and it was like driving on a moonscape, with rocks everywhere until we reached the waters edge.  The waves were braking, wind was roaring, rain stinging your face and we only caught glimpses of the dam wall.  On the way back we decided to stop at the Devils Gullet and do the 500m walk to the lookout in the hope that the clouds would break if only momentarily.  But no, the walk was beautiful, but the view was a total whiteout even though we waited for a while hoping for a break.  We checked out the camping at Lake Paragana and Lake Rowallan before returning to camp.

The next day we moved to the free camp at the back of the Mole Creek Hotel.  Again, nice green lawns on the banks of a small stream, with small trout & even a few platypus.  For some strange reason everyone was packed into the caravan park when nobody was camping here.  Laurie & Helen rejoined us here and we decided to support the pub for dinner that night.

On Wednesday the 21st we went for a drive & walked to a lookout at the allum cliffs, high above the MacKenzie River.  Of course we couldn’t resist finding a cache there as well.  We then went to the Chudleigh Honey shop for icecreams & honey tastings.  Then onto the silk & fudge shop for some more tastings.  Mmmm good diabetic food.

On Thurday 22nd we moved on to Lake Paragana to try our luck at some trout fishing.  Craig & Wendy had been down south & came to join up with us also.  On Friday I caught my first ever brown trout.  It was only 250mm but still 30mm bigger than the minimum allowed.  We cooked it on the pig with some butter & garlic wrapped in alfoil and it was beautiful.  They seem to be a difficult fish to catch as we spent many hours trying to get more but without success.  It was the Australia Day weekend so lots of people arrived for the celebrations, but most were pretty quiet.  We had a couple of good days of weather and it turned crappy again on the Sunday.  I walked up to the Gadds Falls across from the camp ground.  The rainforest was beautiful like most places in Tassie, covered in green moss and dripping with moisture.  It was a little spooky also as many have spotted tiger snakes and they are very aggressive when disturbed.  Thankfully I saw none.  We spent the next few days relaxing with a few bouts of fishing which only resulted in one more trout for me.  Craig managed to catch 3, but poor Laurie dipped out.  He reckons he’s going to stick to salt water fishing where he seems to have more luck recently.

We left Lake Paragana on Tuesday 27th and drove to Sheffield passing through some magnificent mountainous country.  Sheffield is known for the murals on many of it’s buildings which are quite impressive.  We spent the night at the Sheffield recreation grounds free camp and headed back into Leven Canyon the next day.

We had to go down a very steep 2klm descent to cross the river at Lake Barrington.  The brakes were rather smelly on the van at the bottom & the engine was quite hot after climbing up the other side.  Really not suitable for anyone with an underpowered vehicle, that’s for sure.  We found a nice camp spot amongst the huge tree ferns and set out to do the circuit walk to Leven Canyon.  It was a steady climb for about 500m to the lookout and the view down into the canyon was spectacular to say the least.  After absorbing the views for a while, we took the 697 stairs down to the lower lookout.  After that it was a fairly steep graded 600m back to camp.  There was some firewood supplied, so we enjoyed the evening around an open fire over a couple of ales.

The next day we went north to the coast stopping at Blue Wren Tea Gardens at Ulverstone.  The hosts here were fantastic and very welcoming like so many of the places we’ve stayed in Tassie.  They sure are a friendly bunch down here.  The trend seems to be going towards more low cost camps than just free camps.  We’ve found these places clean with good amenities and great hosts, well worth the 10 or less dollars per night.  This spot looks out over a bay and Goat Island and set amongst some beautiful gardens.  They even had a wedding here on the weekend which didn’t effect our serenity at all.  We had a couple of very reasonably priced meals in the cafe and they were delicious.  The hosts (Trevor & Vicki) joined us for happy hour each night, which was wonderful getting to know them.   he next day we went for a drive up to Gunn Plains soaking up more of the beautiful scenery Tassie seems to have in abundance.  We stopped off at Preston Falls which was only a short easy walk from the roadside.  I spotted a large tiger snake sunning itself on the rocks just below the viewing platform.  We also did a few geocaches around Ulverstone and one out on Goat Island which can be reached at low tide.  We climbed up a small rock face and crawled through a small cave to reach the location of the cache on the other side.  One of the most interesting cache locations we’ve been to so far.

26 NOVEMBER 2014 – Deb primed herself with sea sick meds in hope that she would have a good trip across Bass Strait on The Spirit of Tasmania. We met up with Craig & Wendy & Martin & Amanda on board and naturally had quite a few drinks to celebrate the start of our Tassie adventure. Unfortunately Deb was sick around 2am as the seas were a little rough. We left Sammy in the van overnight as we thought he would be more relaxed in there rather than a steel cage with lots of other dogs around him. 27 NOVEMBER 2014 – After disembarking around 7am and passing through the quarantine checks we headed for Mac’s Farm in Launceston about an hours drive from the boat. This is a fantastic spot for $10 per night to explore around this area and the owner is full of advice on things to see and other places to camp. We drove up to to a ski lodge at Ben Lomond climbing what they call Jacobs ladder a series of switchbacks on the road up the side of a very impressive rocky mountainside. Once at the carpark we walked to the summit, or more like climbed, taking about 45 minutes each way. We located a cache at the first peak and then went on to the highest. This is the second highest peak in Tassie at 1500 metres.

The next day Deb and I walked the eastern track in Cateract Gorge which is quite steep with large stepping stones for stairs. Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we got back to the car at the top. We couldn’t go right around this time as dogs are not allowed in most areas of the gorge.

We all headed out to Liffey Falls SW of Launceston down through Bricknell.  This is very picturesque farming country and one of the most notable crops is the paddocks of white poppys grown for medicinal opium.  There are large signs warning against attempting to take this crop for obvious reasons.

2 DECEMBER 2014 – After stocking up on fishing rigs, bait & advice from Gotya Tackle we headed off with Laurie & Helen to Myrtle Creek 20 odd klms NE of Launceston.  This is another beaut camp on the banks of a little stream for the huge sum of $6 per night.  The amenities are A1 and the office sells fish & chips & basic needs including firewood.  We fished our butts off trying to catch the allusive trout.  I hooked one & got it to the bank when it flicked off the line right on the edge.  We saw other people catch one here & there but it was not to be.  Laurie & I even went upstream in the kayak looking for untouched locations.  But even though we didn’t catch any it was the most beautiful location you could imagine with crystal clear running water, moths & butterflies flitting about, moss covered logs and ground cover.  Aaaagh the serenity.  The water, as you can imagine was freezing, but after a while you couldn’t feel it.  Funny that!

4 DECEMBER 2014 – We continued NE through Scottsdale & Bridport to meet up with the others who had set up camp at South Croppies, Waterhouse Point.  It was an interesting trip in as it was raining and we were following a grader in on the dirt roads.  What he did was remove the hard surface and we had to work hard to keep the vehicles on track while slipping & sliding.  As you can see from the photos below the track was quite interesting & the last section was a tight squeeze through the scrub with both sides of the van touching the bushes & sand edges.  We caught a few silver trevally & wrasse off the rocks on the point.  The water is the clearest I’ve seen anywhere. We had a big cook up of 6 fish on the Webers that night & the taste was fantastic.  This is livin’!!!

5 DECEMBER 2014 – We moved on to Village Green at the top of Waterhouse Point along pretty good dirt roads, passing a boat ramp where the water was so clear you could see the ramp going off way down into the water.  Wow!!!  The beaches here have the red algae on the rocks that give the Bay of Fires it’s name.  It was a great free camp with a newish hybrid toilet which actually flushes with a foot pump, very flash.  🙂  I fished off the rocks at high tide and was finally rewarded with two Australian Salmon.  I didn’t think I was going to get the 2nd one in as it put up one hell of a fight, jumping & flicking about.  But what a great feed we had that night.  There’s nothing like freshly caught fish cooked in alfoil on the Weber.  Yummy!!!

7 DECEMBER 2014 – Deb & I headed back through Scottsdale towards the east coast passing through Derby.  This was a favourite of ours last time we came here 6 years ago, with beautiful gardens all down the main street & a great free camp by the river.  Unfortunately the town seems to have deteriorated somewhat & they don’t allow dogs in the nicer area, so we moved on towards Pyengana.  We went via the town of Legerwood known for its wood carvings in the main street.  Apparently the trees were dying so they had a chain saw sculpter come in & carve the trees into a memorial to our soldiers.

We passed through Weldborough which has a great pub that previously had free camping out the back, but now charges $15 for unpowered site.  They are trying to attract tourists in the northern areas & this will not help their cause at all.  We ended up at the Pyengana Recreation Reserve which is a free camp with flushing toilets and a huge flat area to set up camp.  They are soon to install showers and hopefully they won’t then feel the need to charge fees.  Camped here, you are 400m from the Holy Cow cheese factory and about the same in the opposite direction to the Pub in the Paddock.  Of course we supported both businesses.  We had the most amazing meal at the pub in a really fantastic atmosphere with tons of history adorning the walls.  We also drove up into some forestry trails to see St Columba Falls & Ralphs Falls.  Unfortunately the track to the 2nd falls was washed out & we could only walk to the Cashs Gorge lookout.  This was pretty special all the same and a different type of walk along a boarded walk nearly all the way.  Lots of wombat poo was on the trail, but we didn’t see the responsible creatures anywhere.  How do I know it was wombat poo?  It’s the only creature I know of that craps in cubes.  How? I haven’t got a clue.

9 DECEMBER 2014 – We left Pyengana and headed down the range to St Helens on the coast.  This is a vibrant town with most shops & services available and is just south of the very popular Bay of Fires area.  We had already seen this area previously so we decided to head south and go inland again.  We stopped in at a free camp at The Chain of Lagoons which was rated quite well on Wikicamps, but it didn’t appeal to us as it had limited sunny areas & the area that did, didn’t have beach access.  So we headed inland to Lake Leake which has almost 5 stars on Wiki, but again we were dissapointed as it had 3 powered sites for $20 per night & one unpowered site that was shaded.  So we continued on to another free camp in Campbell Town beside the river.  It’s a large flat grassy area with only bins supplied.  There are public loos available about 400m away in the main street and a dump point not far.  It’s a very interesting town with quite a history relating to convicts & the building of a spectacular bridge that took about 15 months to complete back in 1838.  There are hundreds of bricks inlaid into the footpath in the main street that have details of individual convicts, such as name, crime & sentence.  Amazing stuff!!!  We also did a few geocaches in the town within walking distance. 11 DECEMBER 2014 – We were advised by a local that the Ross Bakery was pretty special, so we headed south & pulled off the Midland Hwy into the quaint little town of Ross, which is also known for a spectacular bridge built by the convicts of long ago.  The bakery lived up to its reputation with Deb having a pastie & me a scallop pie.  Again Yummy!!!  We also took away a vanilla slice for afternoon tea.  And you guessed it….Yummy!!!

We then continued down the highway into Oatlands with its iconic Dutch style windmill & the free camp beside Lake Dulverton across the road.  Sadly the lake is just a muddy swamp full of reeds at present and is is not very attractive.  We had noted on Wiki that there was a better camp beside the windmill located in what used to be the old cattle yards.  You can stay here for three nights free of charge with toilets located across the road or in the info centre at the mill.  This mill has been recently restored & is actually working, grinding flour.  The number of old stone buildings in the town is amazing and guided (at a cost of $15) or self guided tours are available.

On Sunday the 14th December we headed down to Primrose Sands via Richmond to check out a free camp beside the community hall, but unfortunately there was a Christmas event on at the time, so we continued on to Dunally.  We stopped in and unhitched the van in the free camp beside the Dunally Hotel & went a few K’s down the road to check out the camp we had booked into at Sunset Beach.  The pub only had a porta loo on the block which they kept locked during their operating hours to lure people into the hotel & hopefully spend money in there.  Whereas Sunset Beach had a great amenities block which was spotless & it had easy access onto the beach & awesome views for only $10 per night.  The owners were very helpful & friendly, the only drawback was we were exposed to the never ending winds that blew almost every day.  I launched the kayak here and caught some flathead and a stargazer, one ugly fish but it tasted great.  We found a few caches around Dunally and went for walks on the beach most days.

On Sunday 21st we went for a drive to Dodges Ferry for their markets.  The others (Laurie & Helen, Martin & Amanda, Craig & Wendy) re-joined us after exploring the northeast coast since we left them at the Village Green.  We had met a couple who were from the Glass House Mountains area & were camped with us also.

We invited them to join us for a drive down to Port Arthur to attend the carols by candlelight being held in the historic church with no roof.  We thought this would be something different, and it turned out to be very different.  We parked in the car park & walked through the beautiful gardens to the church which was illuminated by very effective lighting which highlighted the huge turrets above.  We took our seats in this fantastic setting and were awaiting the carols to begin when a woman entered from a side door and asked if anyone had medical training.  Nobody moved , so I walked out to assist, thinking someone had simply tripped over or something.  As I exited the door I saw that they appeared to be attempting CPR on someone just outside.  It was a 47 year old male who had a massive heart attack and had fallen face first onto the gravel.  I took over CPR, defibbed the patient twice with an auto defibrillator.  An ambulance arrived about 20 minutes later & we worked on him for about 45 minutes.  He now had a pulse & was breathing on his own, so we then proceeded to load him onto a chopper for transport to Hobart Hospital.  I returned to the church & heard the last song before heading home exhausted.

Unfortunately the life support was switched off about 6 days later & he passed away the next day.  The Local cop (John) organised a free ghost tour and access to Port Arthur, as well as a boat cruise out of Hobart to Ironpot Lighthouse for Deb, Kylie & myself in appreciation for assisting with the patient.

We still managed to have awesome happy hours despite rain, winds, winds & more wind.  Kylie flew into Hobart on Christmas day to spend 5 nights with us, so we headed into town to buy a tent for her to use & keep for when we want to go bush.  The tent turned out to be very poor quality and definitely not designed for Tasmania’s winds.  So we returned it boxing day & bought a much better one for only $40 more.  While we were in town we drove up top of Mount Wellington to show Kylie the amazing view over Hobart.  It was absolutely freezing (4 degrees) and winds at about 80kph so it was challenging to try and walk around and pose for photos.

Saturday 27th we drove into Hobart to go to the Salamanca Markets which was packed with people as always.  We placed Sammy in doggy day care, which he always seems to enjoy as he gets to play with lots of other dogs.  The variety of stalls at Salamanca was quite amazing and the smell of exotic foods was incredible.  We then drove up to Mt Nelson up the zig zag road to the Semaphore, which was a signal station that relayed messages between Port Arthur & Hobart.  We then drove down to The Womens Factory in Hobart near the Cascade Brewery.  And no, it’s not where they make women, it was a very harsh womens prison where they weren’t allowed to speak and worked long hours in horrible conditions.  After several hours of browsing we were exhausted and headed back to camp about 45 minutes drive away.

On Sunday 28th we visited The Blowhole, Devils Kitchen & The Arch before heading to Port Arthur after lunch.  We did the cruise around the bay and walked around most of the buildings before going for dinner up the road a bit at the Port Arthur Lavender Farm.  It was yummy & the prices were reasonable.  Thanks for the shout Kylie!

We then returned to Port Arthur for the ghost tour which was quite interesting.  Especially when we went down under the surgeons building into his morgue.  It was like a dungeon with a stone slab in the middle of the room.  We walked about with only 4 lanterns to light the way.

On Monday the 29th we headed into Hobart again to do the Ironpot cruise.  This was excellent timing as many of the yachts from the Sydney to Hobart race were still to arrive, with the winners already in port.  It was a blowy day for a change so the trip was quite exciting riding the big waves across the harbour and out around the lighthouse.  The boat was incredible, a 34 foot rubber duckie/aluminium type hull with 3 x 225hp outboards which pushed it along quite nicely.

  The skipper was the owner of the company and his commentary was very informative.  We also managed to watch two maxi yachts fight it out for line honours on the way back to port.  We then had a look around the docks and a snack at the Tastes of Tassie Festival, which showcases the wines and foods of Tasmania.

Kylie flew out on the 30th and I think we can say we were all quite exhausted after 5 very active days of sightseeing, but hopefully Kylie now has a taste for Tassie & may return to explore it further another time.  On New Years Eve we fired up the pigs and put together a variety of foods for all to enjoy into the night.  As usual the food was great & the company equally as good.  Most hung in there till the clock ticked midnight and we could even hear the rumble from fireworks coming all the way across the bay from Hobart.  Unfortunately we could only see a glow from them as there is a few hills in between.

We managed to spend lots of money on the car and on Kathmandu clothing while in Adelaide, so we decided we need to stay away from cities as much as possible. The house sits were great and allowed us to stay in Adelaide for 3 months at no cost, so it wasn’t all bad. Our grandson, Ollie is growing rapidly & we plan on calling in again around April on our way west. While there we helped Jason build Ollie’s new cubby, visited boutique breweries & some wineries in McLaren Vale region.

We left Adelaide on Wednesday 8th October 2014 & went via The Barossa to Springton to stay with friends Christine & Val who are fellow Kedron owners. Rick & Lea were there also, so happy hour consisted of good friends, fine wine & yummy nibbles. We also enjoyed a roast pork dinner together with Apple crumble & custard for desert. Deb & I went on about a 5 klm walk the next morning to try & compensate for the extra calories but an extra 50 k’s or so was needed I think.

On Friday the 10th we travelled to Swan Reach on the Murray. This is a favourite free camp of ours when passing this way. There are only a few spots on the water so you have to be lucky to score one. We spent the first night behind another van but quickly jumped in when one moved from a water front position the next day. We walked about 200 metres to the ferry & crossed over for a walk around town, a visit to the grocery store & lunch at the pub overlooking the river. The Meals were great and the beer was most enjoyable. I put the end wall of the annex up & the TV outside & spent the Sunday watching the Bathurst race. And what a race it was!

Every afternoon the wind picked up to 30 + knots so we decided on Monday that we would move on & try and find something more sheltered from the wind. We paused in Wakerie to do some shopping & stopped by the river for lunch. We continued on to Moorook which has a pleasant camping area right on the river with nice grassy sites for $10 a night unpowered or $16.50 for powered. There are clean flushing toilets, a dump point & drinking water on tap behind a small shed near the boat ramp here also. Even though it is close to the road there is very little traffic & quite peaceful. The bird life is plentiful & it’s a great spot for kayaking or boating. It may get noisy in summer on weekends as they water ski here as well. They have huge meals at the the club & there is a shop across the road. We also started a new hobby to give us an added interest while on the road, it’s called geocaching & it’s worldwide. There are caches hidden all over the countryside, usually in places historic or with a unique view. We have downloaded an App for $12 & it scans your local area for caches & guides you to them. We later upgraded to premium membership for $39.  Once you find the cache you log it in the cache & then online. The person who placed the cache gets an email & any notes you may include about the find & it is added to your list of finds & a smiley face appears on the map.

We stayed at Moorook for a week & then moved to Lyrup on Monday 20th October. This is another great spot on the Murray & as we were expecting temps of 38 degrees we hooked up to one of the four power outlets for just $5 per night including camp fees. There’s a great club in town & the meals are massive. I hade the biggest t-bone with mushroom sauce I’ve seen in a long time for $19 & Deb had chicken Parma that fed us for lunch the next day as well.

After four nights at Lyrup we then headed southeast into Victoria to another favourite stop at Murrayville. We had power, water & immaculate ammenities for just $9.90 per night. We did some sightseeing as we searched for more caches & found some interesting history around the town. A local asked me to come and show her how to put the awning out on her 2 year old van, which they had used about 6 times without knowing how to set it up. I was repaid with a dozen eggs, after all it is the country.  We met a couple from Woodford near Caboolture who were camped beside us.  They were excited at the prospect of retiring in the next couple of years and discussed it over several happy hours with some fine old port consumed in the process.  We also had a great $10 roast meal at the local cafe on the Sunday night, which was on paper plates with glad wrap over them.  Now that’s classy!  For just $55 you can stay a week, so we moved-on on Friday 31st October.  They just got a grant to install two cabins & a proper camp kitchen but unfortunately this means the fees may rise to $15 a night.  Still, cheaper than caravan parks.

  Our next stop was Walpeup about 85kms east.  It’s another little town that charges $10 per night with power & water available & the amenities are spotless.  It’s only a small park which can accommodate about 10 vans.  There’s also a bush walk across the road that leads to the cemetery which we often visit to gain a feel for the history of these remote towns.  The graves here aren’t that old as the Mallee was one of the last areas to be opened up for farming wheat & sheep due to the nature of the Mallee scrub.  Also it’s basically desert country with extremes of climate experienced throughout this area.  There were a number of people camped here for several months as this was the start of the grain harvest season.  The women are employed to operate the weigh bridges etc. in air-con comfort, while the men drive trucks, work in silos and fixing huge tarps over the grain stores.  We stayed here 2 nights while the wind blew & shook the van about.  Truly this is harsh country to live in.

On Sunday 2nd November we moved on to Lake Lascelles at Hopetoun about 75klms south of Walpeup.  This is an amazing camp situated about 400klms from both Adelaide & Melbourne.  There’s free camping allowed for about 1.5klms around the lake, with the remaining 500m taken up by a number of unusual cabins recently built to look like water tanks, shearing sheds and stables.  They’re quite swish and only cost about $30 per night per couple.  There’s about a dozen powered sites for $20 per night and surprisingly these are well supported even though the free camps beside them are equally as good.  This demonstrates that caravan parks need not feel threatened by free camps as there are people that will pay a reasonable fee for power and water.  But they won’t be ripped off by the greedy ones charging exorbitant fees for jumping castles & pools with water slides.  There’s 3 toilet blocks, bins and a number of taps around the lake.  There’s even a dump point down the road.  The lake is used by locals for skiing so it can get a little noisy on weekends and I heard you need to get in early over school holiday periods, as it gets packed out.  There’s heaps of bird life here & I especially liked the red rumped parrots.  Like many towns throughout the Mallee country this town has many businesses closed.  It has a small IGA, butcher come coffee shop, post office come camping supplies, cafe and hairdresser.  We made a donation for the free camping and spent about $400 at several businesses in town during our stay.  We endeavour to support the towns that offer these facilities in order that they will see the value in having free camps and hopefully spread the word.  Photos of Lake Lascelles below:

We could have easily sat here until we were due in Melbourne, but decided we should move on and see other places while we are here.  We left Lake Lascelles on Monday 10th and stayed at Green Hill Lake, Ararat which unfortunately was quite dry at the time. The wind was howling once again so other than a short 30 min walk we hid in the van most of the time and moved on the next morning.

On the morning of the 11th we left Green Hill Lake, did some shopping in Ararat and moved on to Glenpatrick Campground.  This is a beautiful camp in a valley surrounded by forest and the sounds of bush birds all around.  There’s a brick shed with a fire place that was great to keep warm in out of the wind.  There’s also very clean flushing toilets maintained by a local named Col.  It’s a donation only camp and is sometimes used by various 4wd clubs as there’s plenty of forest trails around the hills.  We met with a few others and had a great night of wine & port around the fire together.

We phoned Mal & Kerry who were travelling in the area and decided we’d meet up at Laanecoorie free camp by the Loddon River.  We went via Maryborough (Victoria that is) to do a shop & have a look at the famous railway station which is quite spectacular as can be seen below.  On arrival we set up in a lovely spot that was fairly level and plenty of sun.  Within 5 minutes this tosser in a motorhome pulls in right beside our annex blocking any view.  How rude, as there was plenty of room to spread out.  The next morning this tosser then fires up his gennie and goes to hop in his little Suzuki to drive into town.  I then tore strips off him for parking so close and then running a gennie right beside me.  He said it will only run about 6 hours.  I cracked and gave him quite an earful before he switched it off and took off.  Some people need to learn some camp ethics.  But all that aside we had a lovely time for a few days with Mal & Kerry who we haven’t seen for quite a while.  We introduced Mal to geocaching and he took me out gold detecting.  We had much more luck with the geocaching than gold detecting.  We only found the tip of a miners pick and several tacks and crap.  But it’s a rewarding hobby for the lucky ones and I can see how it could become an obsession.

On Saturday 15th Nov Mal & Kerry headed south to do some more detecting and we went northeast to Greens Lake free camp which is in between Echuca, Bendigo and Shepparton.  Its quite a large lake which is pipe fed like many throughout Victoria for irrigation and recreational purposes.  There’s a six month maximum stay here and there are a few Grey Nomads members who come and stay here for 4 or 5 months every year but manage not to look like feral camps.  They welcomed us into their group on arrival and we joined them for a birthday party for one of their group who was 78 years old and still travelling in his motorhome on his own.  We had set up camp right on the waters edge so we could pump water directly from the lake as needed to save carting water all the time.  Well this turned out to be not such a good idea as it bucketed down rain most of the night and we were surrounded by water in the morning.  If we needed to move it would have been quite a challenge and likely would have required some winching.  Thankfully we had a mostly fine day following and some wind to help dry things a bit.

After a couple of days squelching around on wet ground we decided to move on to Warburtons Bridge near Castlemaine.  This is another gold mining area with numerous areas where you could still see evidence of diggings throughout the bush.  Apparently there were about 30,000 miners in this area at one time.  The camp was a very peaceful area on the banks of the Loden River.  Quiet during the week but can get busy on long weekends & holidays.  The sounds of bush birds rang out through the day and into the night.  We went for a drive up through the hills and into the forest and located another 10 geocaches.  We stayed here about a week until it was time to head to Wandong to have the grey water tank fitted.

We stayed at Barringo Reserve on the Sunday night.  We walked 5 klm to a cache and only just located it before our phones died.  We really need to get a proper handheld GPS if we are going to make this an enjoyable hobby.

We headed over to the caravan repairer at Wandong the next morning, dropping the van off and heading down to Campbelfield to pick up the tank and some fittings.  This of course took longer than expected and we didn’t get started till 11am.  Then we had several leaks we couldn’t fix due to the type of drain hoses that Kedron had fitted.  We stayed overnight and and went to the local pub for a most enjoyable meal as we needed to get some more fittings in the morning from a Mitre 10 hardware 10klms away.  Eventually we got away and headed down to Melbourne and stayed in the Five Ways Caravan Park overnight.  We did some washing, shopping and topped up our tanks before heading down to the waterfront waiting to board the Spirit of Tasmania at 5:30pm on Wednesday 26th November.