Bicheno and the East Coast

After our stay at Port Arthur, we headed up the east coast. We chose Bicheno and St Helens as our spots to stay, although in hindsight I would thoroughly recommend Binnalong Bay over St Helens.

In Bicheno we spent some time chilling out and hitting the schoolbooks, hiking up to the Wineglass bay lookout, checking out the local penguins (some of whom lived under the cabins where we were staying!), taking a ride in a glass bottomed boat and playing at the blow hole.

In St Helens we got to celebrate Dunc’s birthday over multiple days thanks to a very poorly timed power outage. We heard the bang and saw the flash as a good-sized branch hit the power lines outside the caravan park. Thankfully we had enough food in our plastic tub for dinner. We drove all through town in the hope of finding somewhere open to eat out and celebrate Dunc’s birthday, but absolutely NOTHING was open. So Dunc got to have a double birthday.

We spent a couple of days driving around the Northeastern corner of Tassie. We went to Pyenganna and saw the Pub in the Paddock which has a beer-drinking pig named Pinky. We spent the rest of the afternoon speaking in p’s just like Mr Popper’s assistant and Dunc was by far the best (preposterously perfect at pontificating prodigious parses purporting p’s)! We also stopped at the Pyenganna Dairy Farm and watched the cows milk themselves. It was an amazing process and we were quite mesmerised watching the automated milking robot at work.

We headed up as far North as possible, past Binnalong Bay and the gorgeous Bay of Fires with its stunning orange rocks, to the Eddystone Point Lighthouse. From the stunning white sand beaches to the rainforest; we went back to Pyenganna and checked out the St Columbus waterfall that we didn’t know about the day before – whoops! It also gave Dunc the chance to check out some ciders and micro-brewed beers at the Welsborough Pub.

Heading ‘home’ for a bit.

We are a little demoralized. We got news today that Bertha’s engine changeover is taking longer than the longer than expected and we have to move our ferry trip back another 12 – 14 days.

We’ve seen sooooo much of Tasmania. We’ve done “nearly everything, Mummy!” according to the kids, and they are kind of right. There’s sooooo much more we could do, of course, but having to pay for accommodation every night is killing us! And almost everywhere adds another price gouge for the kids – an extra $10 to $20 per child per night. AND you have to make their beds for them! How the hell do they get away with that?!? We are currently in Launceston in a hotel which has FREE kids accommodation, FREE wifi and an indoor pool. And its about the cheapest rate per night so far.

But even so, it’s cheaper for us to fly the whole family home to Melbourne for 12 days and Duncan and I will fly back to collect Bertha when she is repaired. We’ve done our lap around Tas, seen so very much and we are just sick of packing our stuff and moving house every 2-4 days. The kids are sick of the sight of Baby Bertha - though they haven’t complained once about all the driving! Dunc is sick of packing our stuff in the car over and over and over again. We need a break.

So we are off to Melbourne, where we will still be homeless! But at least we can bunk down with relatives and I’m certain we won’t have to move every 2 days. It will be great to see all our family and friends and catch up for a bit.

We have a few days here still – time enough for Dunc to get to the brewery he hasn’t got to yet and for Angus to explore one more museum. I’ll be back soon with some fill-in posts about our time travelling up the east coast, which was just beautiful!

Port Arthur

We had a wonderful couple of days at Port Arthur. We really only intended to go for one day, and we walked the entire site during that day! But we missed a couple of houses that Lexie was really keen to see, and Angus really wanted to go up the guard watch tower so we decided on a whim to go back the next day. How wonderful that all tickets are valid for 2 days!

We had purchased the ‘Silver Pass’ pack, which included 2 guided tours and an iPod for interactive guidance as well. We’ve decided that the tour guides are worth their weight in gold as far as travelling with children is concerned. Both kids always listen avidly and often end up spouting stuff they’ve heard for days afterwards. I thought the iPods would be great for them, but to be honest, at both MONA and Port Arthur, they’ve not really used them much at all. It’s been ME listening to them or reading them and then telling the kids about it while their iPods hang abandoned around their necks. LOL. Actually Lexie has enjoyed them. Angus, not so much.

I found Port Arthur really interesting this time around. Duncan and I had been here 16 years ago on our honeymoon, and that was right after the memorial had been erected to those killed and injured in the awful shootings. It was an overwhelming feeling last time. This time we left the memorial visit until the end of the first day and it was quite separate and removed (emotionally). We told the children what had happened and were able to relate it to them through the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, which provided the new “Buddy Bench” and the Buddy Program at their school.

This time we were able to explore the site and put it in context with our previous tour of Sarah Island in the west. It wasn’t as brutal as I recalled, especially when compared to the horrendous conditions over there. The Separate Prison was quite psychologically brutal though – no surprise that the asylum was next door!

When we returned the next day, we were fortunate enough to spot an echidna wandering the site. It was quite comfortable around us and happily walked right up to Dunc’s foot as we were all standing so quietly still. We were there so early that there was no one to share it with, though we did spot a young family towards the end.

A little update for the visual learners amongst you:

This is where we have been so far. Actually right now we are a little further up the eastern coast in St Helens. We intend to finish off the eastern quadrant and then head over to Launceston and back to Hobart to collect Bertha. Fingers crossed she is ready to make our one week delayed trip back on the ferry on the 15th!

“Come on Dover – move your bloomin’ arse!”

One must say the town of Dover in a very Eliza Doolittle accent, don’t you know?! We combined our trip to Cockle Creek with a call in at the Thermal pool at the Hastings Caves. We didn’t bother to go into the cave itself, having so recently seen the incredible Marakoopa Cave. We thought we’d enjoy the 28-30C pool instead. It was lovely but also a little disappointing. The pool looked just like any council swimming pool, with blue painted concrete and paved edges. Aside from the knowledge that the warmth was provided naturally, there was nothing to indicate that it was a natural phenomenon. It was also a stinking hot day, which meant that, whilst it was lovely to swim, the water felt cold by comparison. LOL. Which was nice, but in the end I got a little too cold and was not too upset when closing time came around.

The next day we drove pretty much right back to where the pools were, but this time turned left instead of right and had a ride on the Ida Bay Railway. It’s a wonderful trolley train, which goes right along the coastline and terminates at a gorgeous little beach. The train stays for about 20 minutes before heading back, but we had packed a picnic lunch and intended to wait for the next train. We had a wonderful time pottering around on the beach. The children and I made a sand sculpture and Dunc taunted the fish. Or I should say, the fish taunted Dunc by watching him cast lures at them and then swimming away!

We also called into the most gorgeous town of Geeveston. The information center was another incredibly interesting one, with activities for the kids and a resident artist for me. There were sculptures all through town, wonderful shops and the best bakery pies we’d had in a long time – yumm!

It was a rather long drive from Dover to Port Arthur, so we tried to keep it interesting for the kids by stopping lots of places. We loved the Apple Museum, climbed all 259 steps up the Shot Tower in Kingston and rugged up like Antarctic personnel at the CSIRO Antarctic Division Visitor’s Centre.


We could not believe the weather! The forecast was for 23, but check out the screenshot that Duncan grabbed below: a low of 17 but a current temp of 11! Tasmania can be FREEZING at times! We also had a visit from the tooth fairy and I just had to include the pic of Lexie making herself comfy at our cabin at Port Arthur.

Our first major milestone – Most Southern Point!

We have made our first major milestone on this trip – though if you want to consider catastrophic engine failure as a milestone, perhaps it is our second!

After Bruny Island, we made our way south to the town of Dover. From this base we could do a few day trips, the most exciting being to travel as far south as possible. Whilst there is more of Tasmania to explore past the ‘town’ of Cockle Creek, it takes a 6-8 day hike or a serious 4WD and we were happy enough to get to the ‘end of the road’ and the whale sculpture which commemorates that.

It was a truly stunning day and to our surprise we actually had 5 bars of mobile phone service in the middle of nowhere! We were able to call our mums and celebrate while the kids clambered over the rocks and paddled in the crystal blue water.

Beautiful Bruny Island

Wow this place is amazing! I didn’t know we could get such beautiful beaches so far south. The sand in Tasmania is so variable! Some beaches are non-existant. Just rocks and gravel. Others vary from pebbles to course sand but here on Bruny Island we have that wonderful fine white sand that squeaks when you walk on it and gives the water such incredible shades of blue and green. Breathtaking!

We went on our 3 hour cruise in a jet boat – the 4WD of the sea. It was a leisurely cruise for the most part, but when he pushed the throttle that boat could move!! We saw towering cliffs, caves and imposing coastlines and the most wonderful wildlife like birds (Eagles and Shearwaters) and went to the Australian Fur Seal colony where we saw the lazy blokes loafing around. As an added bonus we were lucky enough to come across a nursery pod of Common Dolphins. There were soooooo many of them, all frolicking around the boat. Some of the babies were so young it was their first time leaping out of the water! They were so tiny and wobbly. Even the tour guide was moved. Some were the youngest he’d seen. Having so many young ones meant that the dolphins were not leaping as high above the waves, but we still had our fill of looking at such graceful and beautiful creatures.

 

 

We have been going for a walk every evening after dinner. On Bruny Island, we drove to the end of the road at Adventure Bay and made our way along the beach to a grassy area where the ‘painted wallabies’ gather. Painted wallabies look like albino wallabies, but they are not quite genetically entirely albino. I was a bit worried when we had seen what felt like a hundred normal wallabies but no white ones. And then we spotted one! And then another and another and we had a wonderful stroll all about the grasslands and (slightly illegally) through a disused caravan park. It was our best after-dinner walk yet!

We had 2 nights on Bruny Island and spent our last day driving around the island. I didn’t realize it was so big! We saw the Museum with the tree that Captain Cook carved his name in when he landed here in 1777. We drove all the way to the other side and checked out the lighthouse. 

And we had the most incredible lunch at the Bruny Island Cheese Company. It was delicious! We got to see how they make cheese and there was also a baker rolling out the yummiest sourdough baguettes in a wood fired oven. He was the nicest young guy who had all the time in the world for our children. Actually everyone was great with the kids – the chef was happy to make special toasties without mustard for them, and the taster happily carved pieces for the children as well as us. It was only after we paid the bill and realized how astronomical it was, that it occurred to us that they probably don’t get many kids there!

We were perfectly timed to make the ferry back to the mainland of Tasmania. Apparently some people have to wait in line for over an hour, but both ways we just rocked up about 20 minutes before it was scheduled to leave. And they only charged us $30, instead of the $35 peak times fee. If January School Holidays are not peak times, I’d love to know what is!!