The Turning Left Tour - Part 1: Tasmania

Retrospective:
1.   Looking back on or dealing with past events or situations:
2.   An exhibition, or compilation showing the development of an artist's work over a period of time.

So, definition No. 1 seems appropriate in this instance, although I'd really like to be able to use No. 2.   Neither of us is an artist, but Ray has taken some fabulous photos over the past 18 months.  Perhaps he can take care of Retrospective No. 2 some time after we get home and has time to sort through his almost 6000 photos!

Apologies to all those places we've visited which don't get a mention here; not from a perspective of being dull or unphotogenic, but simply that I'm aware of not trying the reader's patience!

So, these places are but a few from our 18 month trip.  Please forgive me if your town isn't mentioned (yes, that's you Jan!)

New Norfolk, Tasmania, 32km north west of Hobart.  Not only is New Norfolk beautifully situated on the picturesque Derwent River,  but the town is home to Tasmania's oldest Anglican church, St Matthews (1823), and the oldest hotel, The Bush Inn, trading continuously in the same building since 1815 using the same licence, dated 29 September 1825!  There are numerous beautifully preserved historic houses, oast houses and antique centres.  We particularly enjoyed staying at the caravan park along the river, as the park was so clean and well run, and the managers friendly. and used this as our base on our meanderings around the south east of Tasmania.

Mt Field National Park, 64 km northwest of Hobart.  Mt Field is Tasmania's first National Park.  Despite being so close to Hobart, and so well loved (this is probably the easiest National Park to access), we found the camping ground to be exceptional, and the short walks to Russell Falls, Lady Barron Falls and Horseshoe Falls rewarding, along with wonderful walks through fern and massive mountain swamp gum forests.  On top of all these attractions is a well run Visitor Centre with (blush) the very best chocolate cake I have ever tasted!

Bicheno and Bay of Fires, east coast.  I guess picking these two out is not really fair to the rest of the east coast, but Bicheno (185km north east of Hobart) is undoubtedly the prettiest town along that coast, with sparkling water, a small harbour enclosed by massive rock formations, and lots of magnificent houses.  It's probably the one place I'd consider moving to, if only for its crayfish and scallops and wonderful deli (oh and the nightly penguin parade, the superb ice creams, and coastal walk!)   Red lichen gives all the granitic rocks along that coast a wonderful red/orange sheen, and this is particularly so in the Bay of Fires, where the campsites are all situated along beautiful beaches stretching from Binalong Bay to Eddystone Point, and named for the Aboriginal fires sighted by Captain Tobias Furneaux in 1773.  We were there early in our trip, before summer started and I particularly remember going for an early morning walk along one of the beaches, shoeless, as one does, and having to run back to the motorhome for my shoes as the sand was icy cold!  Needless to say Ray declined the walk and stayed in bed with the diesel heater going.

Stanley, north west coast. Stanley probably wins the prize for the prettiest town in Tasmania, for us anyway.  Stanley's main street is a patchwork of tiny, multicoloured settlers' houses rising up the hill to the small main street, and includes Joe Lyons Cottage, a restored nineteenth century settler's cottage in which Tasmania's only Prime Minister, Joe Lyons, was born in 1879.  Despite the number of times we passed through Stanley on our way east or west, we never managed to find the Cottage open!  Stanley is dominated by The Nut, which towers over the town, and provides a great exercise walk in the morning - almost straight up!  Once on top of the 143 metre Nut there is a walk of several kilometres which begins and ends at the chair lift (just in case you don't fancy walking back down again).   Despite its tiny population (around 500) Stanley boasts some great coffee shops and providores, gift shops and excellent fish and chips - you can't miss Hursey's Seafoods on the way into town; its building is topped by a gigantic crayfish!

Cradle Mountain.  Not including Cradle Mountain in a list of outstanding Tasmanian places would be tantamount to forgetting to mention the Sydney Harbour Bridge in talking of Sydney.  Despite only having walked a few of the tracks (we figure we'll leave the 6-day Overland Track for another lifetime), we've stayed at Cradle Mountain campground a number of times, both with and without family.  We have wonderful memories of the time spent with Katrina and Dave in the warmth and welcome of the camp kitchen, complete with roaring fires and camaraderie with other campers, to the long night crawl at around 20 km/h in the motorhome on a deserted, winding road, with Ingrid in the front seat wallaby spotting for Ray.  We didn't set out to drive this road willingly, but were forced out of a free camp along the road by gunshots and screaming arguments from a local house.  When we finally found a place to stop we fell gratefully into bed, camped right under the "No Camping" sign!

Evandale, Central Tas.  Evandale sits on the banks of the South Esk River, 18 km south of Lauceston.  Apart from its Pennyfarthing Championships in February, it also boasts one of the biggest and best little markets outside Hobart (yes, I know I haven't included the Salamanca Markets; I apologise).  Selling everything from cheap jewellery to expensive antiques, we appreciated the fresh local produce on offer, particularly the wonderful fresh apples, such as Cox's Orange Pippin, which I can't remember tasting since my childhood.  Unfortunately we didn't bank on the supply running out between one market and another; had I known I would have bought every apple on offer!  We also ran into one of Ray's cousins, with her husband.  What are the chances of finding someone you know in a place you frequent so rarely?

Maria Island.  It seems such a long time ago that we arranged a 4-day walking tour on Maria Island, and being so early in the season, we were the only walkers - but with a guide apiece!  What a magnificent island this is.  The whole of the mountainous island is a National Park and has such a checkered and interesting history, from its beginnings as a penitentiary in 1830 to its later incarnation in 1880 as a winery set up by Diego Bernacchi and then a short-lived cement factory.  By1929 all these ventures had failed, leaving the island to farming for another 40 years.  The island abounds in Cape Barren Geese, Wombats and Tassie Pademelons, and the scenery is spectacular.  From the Fossil Cliffs and Painted Cliffs to the 620 metre Bishop and Clerk and 711 metre Mt Maria, there is great walking, swimming,  biking, and bird watching (think the Forty Spotted Pardalote).  We thoroughly enjoyed our guided walk and would certainly recommend it.

Flinders Island.  Perhaps not strictly Tasmania, but needs to be included here.  The island was first colonised at least 35,000 years ago when people made their way across the then-land bridge which is now Bass Strait.  Flinders Island forms part of the State of Tasmania and is the only island in the Furneaux group with more than one permanent settlement (Whitemark with 170 inhabitants and Lady Barron with 130).  The islanders refer to Tasmania as "the Mainland" which can be quite confusing to someone from the Mainland Mainland!  Obviously if you've already read our Flinders blog you will already appreciate this beautiful little island, just 54 kilometres from the north eastern tip of Tasmania.  We spent 3 weeks there in a little "hippie" van, without all the comforts of our Kea, but were blown away by the beauty of the place, from magnificent Strzelecki Peak to the wild beaches and headlands to the north of the island.  Camping here was freeform and fluid - wherever we stopped the night was the campsite, and most of these were on lonely but beautiful beaches.  It was always interesting in the morning to trace the animal tracks on the beaches - mostly wallabies and the occasional wombat!  We were told that if there was someone on "our" beach, just find another one, and that was true.  Only once did we have to find another one!  Apart from 1 lovely campground which was provided with a camper's hut and new showers and toilets (1 of each plus a Disabled), our ablutions consisted of a bucket of (usually cold) water poured over one another, or if we were fortunate, there was a water tank and stand.  On the not so warm mornings I catered to Ray's aversion to cold weather by heating the water in the bucket; such a good woman he has!

There are so many places which I haven't included here: Port Arthur, Sorrel, Smithton, The Edge of the World, St Helens, Deloraine, Bridport, Georgetown, Oatlands, Beaconsfield.  To all these towns I apologise but refer the reader to previous blogs.  Hopefully I've done all these places (and more) justice there.

We couldn't leave Tasmania without mentioning new friends.  We met so many great people in Tasmania and had so many interesting experiences, but the best of all was a chance meeting in the aforementioned New Norfolk campground of a lovely lady from Richmond.  She not only shared her wine and nibbles with us, but later took us in as orphans of the storm when we had to leave our motorhome overnight in Hobart for a service.  It's chance meetings such as this that make life so interesting, and we now converse almost daily (over Scrabble) and will always remain friends.  We're hoping to lure her for a holiday in Brisbane on our return, though think she'll probably prefer to wait until our Climate Change changes - perhaps in March or later??



//Part 2: The Red Centre.