The East Coast and back again to Hobart

The comparison with Scotland goes on, with the wild wilderness of the west contrasting with the rolling farming country of the east. Our 10-day trip up the east coast took us to many delightful holiday spots and miles of white sandy beaches although there were some stunning mountain areas also. As often as possible we have been walking some of the trails in the National Parks, mostly sticking to the reasonably level ones but now and again we tackled a more strenuous one, always worth it for the ensuing views. Thus we ended up at a lookout over Wineglass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula (above)








The Foreshore Walk at Bicheno took us from the blowhole over red lichen-covered rocks to a bay where we were entertained by a school of dolphins happily swimming among the boats. An intrepid swimmer, having just got out of her wet suit, went out in her swimsuit to swim with them. She said later it was well worth it but she was blue by the time she came back! This water may be beautiful but it's icy!








Note the absence of swimmers on a fantastic beach. We had it all to ourselves but did not swim either!  











Moving inland we were pleased to visit "The Pub in the Paddock", the pub that Karen, Neil and Chrissy were on the point of buying when their financial backer had to pull out and then died. It is a pleasant place, although definitely seasonal, with the added attraction of a pig that drinks beer! It is quite a money-spinner, using up the beer slops from the bar, considerably watered down and sold "for the pig" at a dollar a bottle. She scoffs it in seconds.

Aw thanks, mate

Back in Hobart for the new toilet to be installed in the Winne, we could have been forgiven for wondering if we had somehow jumped a couple of seasons. At the weekend we had -2 degrees  and snow on Mount Wellington, which looks down on Hobart. This is not a high mountain -- 1270 metres -- and the snow would have been down to about 800m. This is the second time we have seen snow during this visit. 

It was fun to catch up with friends of Karen and co from Queensland, Polly and Gerry, who were touring Tasmania in a "Wicked Camper" and turned up out of the blue. Wicked Campers are a relatively cheap camper van hire option and the vans all have graffiti all over them. They are fun. Polly and Gerry really know how to live and to party. We met them a few years ago in Queensland when they took us all, including Derek, Gillian and the kids, out on their boat. It was great fun to see them again, if a tad exhausting!

We also went to see Billy Connolly at the Entertainment Centre. He was his usual outrageous self and we enjoyed him despite the very cold draught coming through the building.

So now we are ready to move on -- with a new toilet and a new tap in the kitchen sink -- hoping to have no leaks anywhere. Again I am not holding my breath. We will go north, "do" the north and north-west coast and then cross back to the mainland. The blog should be more regular at least until we get to Sydney.

Maria Island on a perfect day

Photos only this time. Captions say it all.

Coming out of the harbour at Triabunna

Maria Island from the boat

The commissariat, now the Visitor Information Centre

The "Coffee Palace", now a museum

The rear end of a wombat! She has a young one in that hole under the deck of the penitentiary.

Sign put up relatively recently......

...........after some walkers were taken by surprise

................. and went over this! It is a long way down

A bit crumbly on the edge. Spectacular view of Bishop and Clerk, the two mountains. Strenuous walk, that one, for experienced hikers. We were happy to just look at them!

Plane on the "runway".

Fossils in the cliffs

Darlington, the original convict settlement. It was closed when it was decided it was too easy to escape from. Convicts were then sent to Port Arthur. Darlington became an industrial site, with Portland Cement works opening up there.

Wombat leaving her hole

Cape Barren Geese, which are all over the island. They don't look it here but they are HUGE!

The beach approach to the Painted Cliffs

Painted Cliffs ...........

are created by seepage of water through the sandstone .......

......... leaving deposits of iron oxide

........which create some amazing patterns.

An avenue of superb trees which we think are a kind of cedar but we have to check

This could be daddy wombat trundling towards us quite unconcerned....

... just putting on a little bit of a spurt as he goes past.

On the road again

Oof! Good news from Perth. Phillip and Megan still have a house although by all accounts only just. Fire up to the veranda and saved in the nick of time. Many others are not so fortunate. We love Roleystone but Warwick has said for some time now he would never live there because of what he saw as a threat of fire. Such a disaster. It seems it was all caused by someone using an "angle grinder" (don't know what that is but evidently it sent out sparks which were enough in the tinder-dry state of the place to set it all alight.)
We are on the way up the east coast -- by all accounts fantastic. We stopped for a coffee this morning and as we were coming back to the van an identical vehicle was pulling in beside us. An interesting conversation ensued (instigated by the other couple) which started along the lines of "Having any issues with the Winnebago?" I thought I might explode. Similar scenario with theirs, and, interestingly, they had been at one of the many Winnebago Christmas gatherings and it was all a catalogue of "issues". We are not alone! While we were talking I had a call from Dometic (the toilet people) commiserating and saying they would try to get us yet another toilet bowl asap but it could be a while. I can't understand the problem, since it only has to come from Melbourne. There is at least one boat a day and it is a short hop from Devonport to Hobart..........
Anyway, we will be leaving the van behind when we go off to Maria Island tomorrow. Another penal settlement but apparently not haunting as Port Arthur was. Also very much a haven for birds and animals. Photos to follow once we have been.
Wish it was a wee bit warmer!

Natural disasters

We have always known that Australia was a country of extremes, but the beginning of 2011 beats everything. First of all the floods in Queensland got everyone's attention and we were following Brisbane in particular, with Derek and family living there. Fortunately they were high enough up to escape flood damage, but the loss of property and the mess everywhere was heartbreaking for many of their friends.
The monster cyclone Yasi was the next one and it just blows the mind. Watching the size of it on the television as it approached, it was difficult to imagine that the whole thing could pass without loss of life. Fortunately only one person seems to have died, suffocated by the fumes from a generator as he sheltered in a non-ventilated part of his house. We had some concerns for our house in Dingo Beach but in fact Yasi came in a bit north of there and we seem to have escaped damage. The heartbreak for thousands of people who have lost everything is hard to watch. Queenslanders are a special breed and they WILL come through it, but it will be a long uphill struggle. Then it was the turn of the river country in Northern Victoria and adjacent parts of South Australia to suffer devastating floods, causing us to drop our plans to visit these areas on leaving Tasmania.
Last week it was the extreme heatwave in Sydney that held our attention, with Rob and family there. Schools were refusing to let children out at breaktimes as it was too hot, so everyone was stir crazy. Ryan's soccer trials on Saturday could not be held until the temperature came down to 32 deg. and at 8 o'clock at night it was still 35!
The last straw was last night's television news showing the horrific fires in the south-east of Perth where over 40 houses have been burned down. Again fortunately no lives have been lost but many people have lost everything. Our nephew is among those who have had to evacuate and we are waiting to hear whether he and his partner still have a house.
We are relishing the safety of Tasmania and tomorrow we will be off to do the next stage of our tour -- up the east coast this time and back in about ten days' time hoping that finally the benighted Winnebago will get a new toilet! I wonder why I'm not holding my breath!

Port Arthur in the rain

The remains of the penitentiary on a very wet day

The penal settlement of Port Arthur was a sobering experience. To walk among the ruins of this infamous place would have had an effect anyway but the misery of the existence of these poor souls was brought home even more with the rain pouring down.

The commandant's house

The church looking suitably ghostly during the ghost tour in the evening

Fortunately the second day was more clement and we had a very interesting trip to the Isle of the Dead where the convicts and their overseers were buried. 

Graves on the Isle of the Dead

A strikingly simple memorial to those killed
in the 1996 massacre

A tour guide who was passionate about her subject made it very interesting and the whole visit was well worth while. Add to that the memorial to those who were killed in the massacre of 1996 when a gunman ran amok and we were very quiet in the van for a while.

All the time of course we were checking on the progress of Yasi which was threatening to be catastrophic. It was indeed a monster and many places are destroyed but thankfully (and unbelievably) no lives have been lost. We have had no adverse reports of our house at Dingo Beach so we assume it is still standing. Many people are not so lucky.

The best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley. We have an ongoing problem with the toilet in the Winnebago for which we have been waiting for parts. Everything arrived the other day and therefore we set Monday as repair day, after which we would move on, do the remaining bits of Tasmania on the way to the boat to cross back to the mainland. A phone call from Winnebago today tells us that when they unpacked the new toilet bowl today in preparation for Monday, they found it had been smashed in transit. So we are back to the drawing board. Since it takes 10 days to get things sent we will now do our trip and come back to Hobart for the repair. The whole thing is a pain, and I can't wait to make a visit to Winnebago headquarters in NSW.