TUMBLING TEMPERATURES IN TASMANIA

Here we are leaving South Australia after spending a nice few days exploring Victor Harbor while staying with Marion & Ross the local sights and shops have taken a pounding, for me a top priority was the replacing of my primark one pound flip flops brought just before we left as the strap had now come apart they just weren’t built for the rugged over landing that this journey entails must remember to let them know when I return, but good news the replacement thongs are an eye catching yellow which every trendy silver haired 51 year old will want to be seen in once I have worn them out a few times, they’re even shaped like mini surf boards so Jan might even be able to use them when the surfs up. Making our way to Melbourne to catch the ferry over to Tasmania we stop off at Apollo Bay to view the property that we had the details for, for those of you who read our earlier blog about the cedar house in the bush at Apollo Bay and raved (well mentioned) on the blog in the Australia edition. We felt it was only fair to call in and give it a viewing to see if the property lives up to the real estate blurb, in which case I could spend the rest of my retirement lump (what’s left after the shares slump) and finish our world travels here in the bush in Victoria, probably not the best idea in light of the recent fires in Victoria. We make the appointment to view with Jo and meet her at the property at 11 o’clock on Saturday, travelling back along the Great Ocean Road the temperatures plummet ( a very similar thing happened last time we traversed this road but this is summer now just!) who says Australia is always hot eh Fiona!! Pulling up at the property which is in a lovely bush setting with Kolas in every tree around the property very nice, but unfortunately the fact that the property would need a major extension if not a rebuild to make it a permanent home rather than a holiday home, let alone the whole places electricity is run off one small solar panel and two car batteries (we even have two batteries in the camper, one for the engine and one for Jan, I make do with the torch) so we pass, weather, lack of sea views, bush fires, and total rebuild convince us that this is not our Shangri-La . We press onwards to Melbourne coming across the camp sites that we stopped at with EOE including the garage just outside Melbourne where again it was blowing a gale and raining at least this time we weren’t in our tent and didn’t cook because we had gone to the extravagance of a KFC, up early 0630 we certainly haven’t done this since we left EOE to catch the 0900 sailing from Melbourne which as it turns out was late by an hour so we could have our much needed beauty sleep. A smooth crossing suited Mrs J down to the ground (or do I mean sea) relaxed’ish she only gripped my arm three times during the whole crossing and one of those was because I said she couldn’t have a glass of red wine at dinner time. Arriving in Devonport it was positively mild compared with Melbourne shorts and t shirt was comfortable evening attire although Jan had dug out the jeans T shirt and 2x fleeces saying what a pleasant evening it was! Monday starts well sunshine and warm but a little windy we head off to the northwest tip of Tasmania a place called Stanley and the “Nut” a huge outcrop of rock that we climbed and then walked around great views out over the Bass strait (that’s the bit of water between Aus & Tas) heading off to the west coast to camp in a National Park campground near Arthur River. Overnight winds which rock the camper but not us to sleep lead to a wet and dreary morning memories of England come flooding back, we are booked on a river cruise up the Arthur River to discover the temperate rain forest and the wildlife that abound there, Sea Eagles nesting complete with young, the different types of trees and how they grow, killing off the larger Gum trees by releasing toxins into the ground when they mature all very interesting along with the barbeque and free wine at lunch all that was missing was the umbrellas but luckily I have my own. A short 2 km drive takes us to Gardiner point otherwise known as the “edge of the world” from here the next landfall is Argentina and it is here that the roaring forties finally come ashore hence the huge piles of driftwood (trees) that are neatly stacked on the rocks. The following morning after a very cold night the battery only just manages to turn over the engine, so high on our list for that day is a garage to get it checked and probably replaced, we drive down the western explorer highway basically its 110 km’s of unsealed road through varied landscape but not as rough as some we have driven, at the end of it is Queenstown and a new battery. Leaving Queenstown heading for Strahan the heavens opened and the roads turned to rivers the winds still blowing and Jan & I are not at our best even the Tasmania’s are commenting on how summer finished on Monday the 2nd March and then we went straight into the depths of winter what happened to the still days of Autumn? After camping at Macquarie heads and not being blown away by the next morning we make our way up into the mountains to Lake St Clair taking in several small walks and waterfalls on the way,

THIS RAIN JACKETS GETTING A LOT OF WEAR LATELYit’s a little unnerving to see snow on some of the not so high mountain tops around here, especially when the majority of your wardrobe includes thongs, shorts and t shirts which were never meant to go more than 10 feet above sea level, but I do have a fleece and a pair of trousers so if a lot of the photos have me in black you know the reason why. Hobart the capital of Tasmania is our next stop we arrive on the Saturday morning of the renowned Salamander market its packed with tourists and market stalls selling overpriced produce to equally overpaying tourist we didn’t enjoy it and unfortunately it reminded us of the crowds back home something that we are not keen to get back to

THE VIEW OF HOBART FROM MT WELLINGTON

, Tasmania seems to be busier than main land Australia whether this is true or not we are not sure but it appears more crowded and bustling than any other Australian place we have been to. Sunday and after a week on the island the weather is beginning to improve and enter the Autumn phase of still days with blue skies and cool nights perhaps it just wanted to give us a taste of what the winter weather was like in case we felt like settling here but no worries even the Great Ocean Road on mainland Australia was too cold for us. THE MIGHTY GUM TREESWe drive as far as we can down the Huon valley to cockle creek which is as far south as you can drive in Australia, now that just leaves West North & East keep reading the blog to see if we manage it? From the Huon valley we cross over to Bruny Island what a lovely place, quiet,

COFFEE BREAK WHILE WAITING FOR THE FERRY white sandy beaches and few people (there’s a pattern emerging here) and we love it very similar to Kangaroo Island shame it’s just a bit too far south or we could definitely settle here.

AN EVENINGS FISHING ON BRUNEY ISLAND FOLLOWED BY JAN'S FLATHEAD FISH THAT SHE CAUGHT

We spot a white wallaby thinking this is most unusual I snap away with the camera when Jan says there’s another one, as it turns out this is the only place in Australia where they naturally breed and during our three day stay we see over thirty of them even having lunch in the white wallaby cafe the next dayReturning back through Hobart we make tracks for Port Arthur the old settlement where the convicts were transported to in the 1800’s, it’s been turned into a tourist attraction now day’s and you can’t get near it without paying your admission fee,

JUST BECAUSE I'M WEARING MY YELLOW THONGS THERES NO NEED FOR THIS

but it’s been done very well and we spend a very informative day there in the sunshine, no umbrellas required this time. Leaving Port Arthur we head north to Wine Glass Bay, the first part of the name we are very familiar with although foholding wine not for laying on, we trek the 15k trail, down, back, and around the headland taking in the sights and the exercise which is always much needed. TASMANIAN DEVILS FEEDING TIMEWe take the back roads to Launceston cutting through a forest on unsealed roads for 15 km, unfortunately due to a missed turning this turns into a much longer 30km and with one tree looking much like another and no useful road signs we begin to wonder if we will ever emerge from the trees but just before sunset and as the rain starts to fall we find the tarmac highway and Launceston. We wake up in the morning to the sound of heavy rain which has persisted through the night our camper feels damp and we would probably be better off swopping it for a boat at this moment, we decide to drive west and try and find some sunshine and warmth and after a few hours we find a nice campsite within 40 km of Cradle Mountain which we plan to visit the next day weather permitting. Time to dry out all the damp clothing from the night before which is handy because now there is a force 9 gale blowing but at least it’s sunny, Tasmania’s weather is certainly very much like we remember from the UK, you don’t know what you’re going to be getting in the next few hours. Cradle Mountain is the jewel in the crown for Tasmania, a huge National Park with the mountain its centrepiece, it also the place where the Overland Trail begins an 80 km, 8 day walk across the park ending at Lake St Clair one of the top ten walks in the world apparently, we do not have enough time to tackle this although we walk the first few k at each end which only leaves the middle 70km to catch up on a later date!!!, we are very lucky and have a day with blue skies and uninterrupted views of the mountain something they say that only happens 30 days a year so it makes a change for us to actually get one of the good days.

WE DIDN'T REALISE WE WERE THIS CLOSE TO HOME

The Ferry crossing back to Melbourne is like crossing a mill pond, again Mrs J is very happy and sleeps like a baby all the way over its amazing what a few glasses of wine can do. We are back in Melbourne for the Formula 1 Grand Prix and are staying with Jane & David (Jan’s friend from netball who emigrated out here three years ago), getting off the ferry at 0720 in the morning we have to drive across Melbourne in the rush hour trying to follow the map while completing with rush hour traffic, and trams that trundle up and down the middle of the street stopping to disgorge there passengers in the middle of the road, where all vehicles then have to stop to allow them to cross to the pavements, it was quite a steep learning curve but we arrive safely and with no pedestrians stuck to the bull bar on the front of the camper a real bonus. We are going to be spending a few weeks in Melbourne what with the GP going on for four days we also have several jobs to get sorted, the truck needs servicing we have already done over 11,000 km’s in it since we left Sydney, we need to sort out the next step of our travel from Australia to wherever next, and our travel insurance is about to expire as on April the sixth it will be one year since leaving home just where has the time gone. Meeting up with some ex EOE’s in Melbourne is our first social event Jo & Doug have just recently arrived from Asia and are about to fly out to Sydney, and Kat & Mo are based here in Melbourne,

EX EOE's, ME, JAN, MO, JO, KAT & DOUG

it was good to catch up on the different tales of what each of us have been doing before Jo & Doug dashed off to the airport to catch their flight to Sydney which was handy because we had been in the pub since dinner time and six hours later we were getting passed our sell by date. We spend the next day surfing the net trying to find different ways of getting from New Zealand to Canada, container ships, flights, or a combination of both but after lengthy discussions of what we want to do and see we have come up with the following timetable. We are going to be leaving Australia on the 15th October making full use of our one year visa, flying to Fiji for a month, accommodation still to be sorted but will book most of it after we arrive there. Then from Fiji we fly to New Zealand on the 12th November picking up our camper on the 14th and also my parents who are flying out to meet us and tour New Zealand with us for the five weeks. We fly out of New Zealand on the 18th of December direct to Vancouver to meet up hopefully with my relations who live there, we then hope to rent an apartment up in the Rockies for about six weeks February /March so that we can ski some of the different slopes that Canada has to offer, and for those of you who are interested in skiing Canada with us we will let you know when we have an apartment and what dates are available. That brings us right up to date the only thing left to sort out now is the road trip across Canada and then the flights back to the UK but we’re think about that later there’s still six months in Oz left to enjoy first. The Grand Prix was a luxury that we decided to indulge in when setting out on this trip, never having been to one back home in UK we decided to splash out on grandstand tickets for Australia and what a great spectacle it was, the noise and speed of these cars just cannot be appreciated until you are sat trackside at the GP even if we were surrounded by Ferrari fans. The days were sunny and a warm 28 degrees although sitting on the grandstand with no breeze was liken to sitting under the grill and sun block was a definite must how they got on last year when the temperature was 40 degrees I’ll never know, the whole weekend was really well organised with free trams to and from the circuit into the city the queues kept moving and even on race day we were back in the city within 30 minutes of leaving our seat in the stand, I’m sure the transport for the 2012 Olympics in London will go just as smoothly!!!! We managed to get a behind the scenes look at the circuit on Wednesday which was very good with a pit lane walk and a look into the garages which resembled operating theatres with their powerful lights and pristine clean conditions, unlike the pit lane walk on Sunday morning which after getting up early and queuing for an hour lead to a

IMPRESSED WITH THE EARLY MORNING START TO VIEW SOME GARAGE DOORS

walk down the start/finish straight with all the garages still closed, never mind at least the race was very entertaining with Jenson taking the first win of the season. It’s been a busy two weeks in Melbourne we would like to thank David & Jane for letting us stay and use their home as our base for the past two weeks,

DINNER & BRUNCH AT DAVIDS & JANES WAS NEVER A SNACK

also for showing us some of the secret bars that Melbourne has tucked away down quiet back streets and side accesses to buildings the sort of things that you don’t find on the usual tourist trail, plus also giving me the opportunity to go sailing the first time in 35 years, breaking me in gently with a calm sea perhaps next time we will get the wind! to really liven things up. Tomorrow it’s time to move on and head off to Western Australia and Perth, the scenery is supposed to be spectacular over there so we are really looking forward to moving into this stage of our trip and the second six months in Australia.