Planes, boats and automobile, it’s Tassie road trip time.

[bPeteb]

We woke before the sun came up and decided we'd go to Burnie instead of Devonport. That gave us an extra hour at Cradle as Burnie opened at 8:30, Devonport was 7:30. It was further ,but it was A road all the way.

Off into the fog


but we were soon out of it and it was little more than an hour to the testing centre. The queue wasn't very long when we arrived at about 8:45 and it was clear we could get the van in and through.



It took longer then we thought it would but time no longer mattered. We drove out at about 10:30. The doctor who had taken our details hinted we should go and stock up. Odd suggestion considering we were supposed to be self-isolating but if you had nothing you'd have no choice.

We called Cradle Mountain and they conformed we couldn't return. Without prompting we were told the night's site tariff would be refunded as they were denying us entry. It was all handled so well. They said they hoped our results came back quickly and we would be welcome to return. One thing that they did say was we shouldn't actually be 'camping' and that self-isolation should be in a permanent structure. We checked and that was actually true but how were we going to organise that? We decided we'd just stay in the van and not go near anyone.

We needed a free camping spot to stay in. We started heading west but then BigAl said he'd found somewhere that looked amazing. We turned around and here's where we ended up...



If you're going to self-isolate make sure it's somewhere as magical as here!






you can tell by how close the tracks are that the 2:20am train was a little loud...

 

[bPeteb]

there is a paid caravan park at the eastern end of the bay. The train line goes right around it so we'd take free anytime







it's a penguin habitat but noone's home


who knew you could cook pizza in a frying pan? BigAl is very resourceful


washed own with Bream Creek bubbles


we were then treated to the most spectacular blood moon






at 9:40pm my phone pinged. Our results were back. Both negative. The holiday was back on!

 

[drron]

What great news. And that camping spot is beautiful but over summer it would be crowded.

 

[bPeteb]

What great news. And that camping spot is beautiful but over summer it would be crowded.

I bet it would be drron. When we got there noone. There were five others eventually who overnighted. One sadly not self-contained, who parked right behind us, and we heard her getting out during the night to pretty obviously use the beach/bushes as a loo

 

[bPeteb]

Day six with an ultimate destination of Strahan but we had unfinished business at Cradle Mountain.

The returning penguins woke us at 5ish with their screeching calls and we went for a wander in the moonlight (no torches unless they are red filtered allowed) but they were all in their burrows/boxes/bush holes.

Were then greeted by a beautiful sunrise. Self-isolation at Hall Point just couldn't have been better







then off we went back to Cradle Mountain







We got to there later than BigAl planned but I was really in no rush to leave Hall Point.

We got straight onto the shuttle and went all the way to the Dove Lake. The plan was initially Dove Lake walk but for some reason we changed to Crater Lake.

Spectacular weather and scenery







Neither my lung nor BigAl's knees were up to the scramble up to Marion's lookout, however beautiful the view would have been. The full Crater Lake circuit was therefore completely out of the question. It just didn't matter. We just lost ourselves in the beauty and serenity of the place.

 

[kookaburra75]

Fantastic Trip Report - sadly mine will be a lot simpler, which I hope to start today as we were there at the same time.

 

[bPeteb]

Our original plan if we'd been able to stay the previous night was to have dinner at the lodge with friends who were staying there in a King Billy Suite. We'd been in contact and knew they'd gone out walking but it was a laugh to bump into them as they came down off the Crater Lake walk. We agreed to meet for lunch at the tavern.

We kept going towards Ronnie Creek with our aim to see wombats. So far we'd just seen the ones at the wildlife park and another one dead on the road just outside the road into Cradle Mountain.



they are around here somewhere





and there they were just up the boardwalk from the Ronnie Creek shuttle stop

 

[bPeteb]

We had a long lazy lunch at the lodge tavern. Some ok pizza and haloumi and a second drink that I shouldn't have had. I was well under limit with two but it was a decent drive across to Strahan and instead of a cider I should have had coffee, or even coke.

The creek cascading down beside the lodge


there was some roadworks on the way to Strahan but we were lucky at every set of lights




I was very relieved when that ocean came into view


the two camp gounds in Strahan are across the road from each other and around the headland from the town centre. We had chosen BIG4 Strahan Holiday Retreat | Book Direct & Save With BIG4 and it was a great little camp. Very old school but with a number of quite nice looking cabins



After getting parked and connected we walked around to the town centre, took some pics of tomorrows transport


and had dinner at the Hamers Bar & Bistro | Relaxed Strahan Dining. A little surprised by the prices. $42 for a steak. Lucky those smashed potatoes were delicious because the steak was past medium rare ps, this was in the bar, not even in the bistro!@



Strahan by night

 

[OZDUCK]

Enjoying your photos and commentary as they are bringing back nice memories of my tris to Tassie in the 1980's and early 2000's. It was also impressive to see how you managed to 'make lemonade from lemons' when you had to isolate yourselves.

As regards your query - "Maybe someone can explain the history of the truly ginormous churchy building just down the road from BIG4 Launceston Holiday Park | Book Direct & Save With BIG4. It was more convention centre than church from what we could work out."

I stopped at that caravan park around 1985 and remember wandering around the local area and saw some impressive buildings but they weren't a 'Church" in those days but the factory buildings of the struggling Coats Patons Woollen Mills which closed its doors in 1997. When I returned in around 2004 it was deserted. For a bit of the background this link will tell you all, or perhaps more, that you want to know.

Ode to Coats Patons

An emergency dash to Launceston found us in the historic red brick building that was built as a canteen for a large mill that once employed thousands of Tasmanians, first to build the factories and…

tastetravel.wordpress.com

 

[RooFlyer]

washed own with Bream Creek bubbles

Self isolation is just hell ...

 

[RB]

Fantastic report again. We are hiring a similar vehicle in Adelaide next month. We had a similar vehicle in NZ before & really enjoyed the lifestyle

 

[bPeteb]

I have just realised I have been remiss in not thanking @kookaburra75 and MrsK for their very kind offer of help as we went into isolation. This is an amazing community of great people and BigAl and I would like to thank you and Marianne so much for your contact and offer of getting anything that we needed if isolation had continued. Thank you so much

 

[bPeteb]

I'm not sure if @kookaburra75 chose upper deck on their Gordon River cruise but @RooFlyer is mid-report and is about to show how the upstairs people live. I'll give you the downstairs perspective, albeit window seats, not centre

We chose Gordon River Cruises | Gordon River Cruise Tasmania for a couple of reasons. Smaller boat, RACQ discount but most important for us on a cruise where mirror reflections are a big part of the trip - a half hour earlier departure. Spirit of the Wild is also a fantastic looking boat, a lot like the Mona ferries.




It was allocated seating and we were second row from the front on the starboard side. Heaps of room and of course very close to the door out onto the bow


In the forward main cabin everyone faced forward but in the smaller rear cabin the middle seats faced to the stern.


It would have been an interesting ride. Upper deck or whatever it is called gives you access to the middle deck open deck over the bow and of course the cabin, but nowhere else, even the open deck at the stern.

We spent nearly the whole journey out on deck, either on the top deck or the bow.


We first headed out across Macquarie Harbour




to Hell's Gate where we past through the narrow opening between the shore and the lighthouse.

 

[bPeteb]

I was super interested in the rock wall that had been built inside the harbour to control the channel and then the deeper wall out into the sea


@RooFlyer has just posted pictures of this beach from the sand


it was then back through Hell's Gate and then south east across Macquarie Harbour to the Gordon River. I missed these, our route, and some local information



we met the big red boat on its way out to Hell's Gate. Did we snap you @kookaburra75?




past the fish farms that no matter what they say CANNOT be good for the water quality of Macquarie Harbour


and to the mouth of the Gordon where we changed from diesel to electric drive

 

[RooFlyer]

Upper deck or whatever it is called gives you access to the middle deck open deck over the bow and of course the cabin, but nowhere else, even the open deck at the stern.

Pah-lease! "Premium upper deck" Nah, we could go all over

past the fish farms that no matter what they say CANNOT be good for the water quality of Macquarie Harbour

They are very heavily regulated and monitored - and Tassal at least publishes its metrics on its web site Our Planet - Tassal Dashboard
I'll put a bit more in my own TR.

 

[bPeteb]

Pah-lease! "Premium upper deck" Nah, we could go all over



They are very heavily regulated and monitored - and Tassal at least publishes its metrics on its web site Our Planet - Tassal Dashboard
I'll put a bit more in my own TR.

Yes. I 'miss-wrote' that. I did mean to say that the special people only had those two spaces to themselves, the rest they had to share with us plebs

 

[bPeteb]

Just love the concept of the hybrid drive of the boat. Not sure if both of the companies offer it on their vessels. It was so incredibly quiet slowly sailing up the river. Also no idea if the river calms back to glass for the second boat but for us it was just beautiful. Excellent running commentary the crew, one young guy in particular, and video presentations from actors playing characters associated to the history of Macquarie Harbour.

And so to the river photos. Their will be a few...

 

[bPeteb]

The boat's first stop of the day is at a place called Heritage Landing where there's a nice boardwalk. Lots of interesting fungi. The strange little mud towers were eventually found to be the air holes of a large shrimp or crayfish (I think that's what we were told?).

 

[bPeteb]

We headed back down stream and lunch was served not long after. It was very well managed by the crew so that only small groups were at the buffet at any one time. Sure the specials upstairs got ocean trout as well as the salmon but what we got was a very sufficient spread. They wandered around offering seconds to anyone interested. No idea what we drank, it was white, maybe a pinot grigio? I'm sure I've caught my mum's dementia



Neither of us noticed the red boat pass us. Surely it follows the same route. Maybe we were down in the most spacious loos either of us have seen on a 'small' boat. They were like the loos in a nice hotel.

The wind was coming straight up the river from Macquarie Harbour. There wasn't a refection to be seen, in fact in places there were whitecaps and there were a lot more as the diesels kicked in and we powered across Macquarie Harbour towards our second stop, the convict settlement on Sarah Island.




As previously mentioned the commentary of the crew was excellent and two of the crew onboard were actors in the play Ship that Never Was'. As we'd left Strahan the play was mentioned and we'd said we wanted tickets. These two crew also acted as guides on Sarah Island. Sarah Island | Parks & Wildlife Service Tasmania

What an incredibly interesting history.








We had a terrific day. Couldn't fault the boat, the crew, the itinerary and of course the food and wine.

 

[bPeteb]

It was a quick walk back around to the camp ground to get changed for dinner and the play. And to get in a quick beer.




The show first The Ship That Never Was

It was terrific. The creation of the ship was something to behold. Audience participation hilarious.







the walk around to Risby Cove was a little rushed as the show had finished late and eaten into the time allocated to it