Blimey, where does time go. Where were we? That’s right, a very wet Saturday morning at 7 Mile Beach Motor Camp. (7 MILE BEACH is alongside HOBART Airport) Seeing as it was so wet, we spent the morning doing school work and updating the blog. In the afternoon the weather cleared up so we went in to nearby SORELL to do grocery shopping and a look around. On the way back to camp we drove past the end of the airport runway just as an A320 Airbus was taking off. Naturally we had to stop, and as it screamed just meters over our heads we were reminded of our ‘jet blast’ days in Rarotonga.
Saturday night it blew a gale all night. First we took the tarp down before it shredded itself, then about midnight, tied the tent down with every available tie down point it had. Sunday morning we packed up just before it started raining again, and headed for PORT ARTHUR, about 100 km away.
PORT ARTHUR is famous for its history as a Penal Colony, and was the first port of call in Australia for convicts deported from England. The wind was blowing at 100km per hour, or thereabouts, and we were concerned about finding somewhere sheltered enough to pitch our tent for the night. We settled on WHITE BEACH, about 10km west of PORT ARTHUR. After erecting our tent in the most sheltered spot we could find, we headed off to see PORT ARTHUR.
We spent a good 4 hours exploring the ruins and enjoying a short harbour cruise, visiting a couple of the outlying islands, one used as a burial ground, and the other as a special prison for boys. The island prison for boys was designed to keep them separate from the more seasoned adult convicts. Boys from the age of 9, to the age of 14, were held there under very harsh and strict conditions. Looking at Cameron it was hard to imagine a kid his age being taken from his parents, and then shipped all the way to Australia, just, as was often the case, for stealing a loaf of bread because he was hungry.
Exploring the ruins left us with very mixed emotions. Some of awe at what the convicts had been forced to build, and what they had achieved, and at other times a feeling of absolute hopelessness and despair at the conditions under which they existed. There was something about the place that got to you. Towards the end of the afternoon, Christel and I looked at each other and realised we were both experiencing the same uncomfortable feeling, and agreed to get away from there as soon as possible. Cameron also commented that he found it to be a ‘Creepy Place’. Having said that, it is definitely a ‘Must See’ experience for anyone visiting TASMANIA.
We arrived back at our camp site to find the wind had changed direction but was still blowing a gale and battering the shit out of our tent. Again we had to anchor it down to every available point. The temperature had been about 14 degrees all day, and with night fall dropped to about 10. We cooked and ate tea in the camp kitchen, then spent a miserable night listening to the wind do it’s best to blow us to bits, with squally showers thrown in for good measure.
Monday 21st, we packed up quickly between showers, and left without stopping for breakfast. As we drove away, the outside temperature on the car dashboard showed 7 degrees! We wondered how bloody cold it gets here in the winter. We stopped in at SORELL again and had a McDonalds Breakfast before heading north up the East Coast. As we headed north the weather improved, and by the time we reached the coast again at TRIABUNNA, it was a relatively pleasant day. The road from SORELL to TRIABUNNA went through very desolate inhospitable country similar to the Scottish Moors. Made you feel small and insignificant.
We were heading for the FREYCINET PENINSULA where we hoped to spend a few days exploring the National Park, including its famed ‘Wineglass Bay’, and it’s pristine white beaches. Our Camps 5 Australia camping guide had described several free camping areas along the beaches and we were hoping to spend time at one of them.
The first one was on the East side of the peninsula about 9km from the mainland. An area known as FRIENDLY BEACHES. We travelled about 4 km down a rough dirt track and burst out onto the coast with miles of beautiful white beaches in front of us. This was to be ‘home’ for the next 3 days.
We found a vacant camp site nestled in amongst the scrub about 20 meters from the beach front. No water, no power, and the nearest long drop about 300 metres away. Brilliant. ‘Our’ beach was about 100m long ending in rock outcrops at each end.
We had no sooner set up camp when we got our first visitor. A wallaby hopped across the road and stopped in the scrub right opposite our tent. We quickly got out our cameras and photographed it from every possible angle. Little did we know how many more such encounters were to come.
That night a possum tried to steal our rubbish bag, and was in no hurry to ‘bugger off’ when I got up to rescue it, and something, either the possum or a wallaby, tried to climb into our dishwashing bucket and arsed the lot over causing a hell of a racket.
Next morning sitting on the beach enjoying our first cup of tea, we watched another wallaby come bounding along the beach towards us. Stopping about 5m away, he proceeded to carry out his morning grooming, and after this little show, quietly disappeared into the scrub. We were spell bound.
The next 2 days were spent fishing off the rocks, exploring and generally lazing about. We caught 2 fish, similar to Cod, which we had for tea one night. Wallabies became frequent visitors to our tent site, and had no problems joining Cameron and Christel for school lessons in front of the tent. On our last morning I woke to find one poking his nose under the tent flap. On getting up, we found 4 within 5m of the tent. They were quite content to just go about their business foraging for food in the undergrowth. What a great experience for Cameron sharing nature like this.
All good things must come to an end, and on Thursday 24th, we reluctantly packed up and headed for civilisation again. We all needed a shower and had a heap of clothes and bedding that badly needed washing. We hadn’t explored the National Park, or seen its famous ‘Wineglass’ bay, but we had experienced what it had to offer in a different way, and felt we hadn’t missed anything.
We travelled north to ST MARYS, and then inland to hit the main North-South Road just above CAMPBELL TOWN, where we had stopped on our way south to HOBART two weeks ago. Then we headed north again towards LAUNCESTON. We are now camped at LONGFORD, a small town just south of LAUNCESTON. From here we intend to explore the LAUNCESTON area, and visit some of its historic sites and places.
It is now Friday morning, and with all the washing done and hanging on the line, Christel and Cameron are doing school work, and I am doing the blog. We have had some feedback from Cameron’s teacher at the Correspondence School, and she seems very impressed with what student and teacher are achieving, which is comforting for Christel to know. This afternoon we will start exploring the area around here. Whew. Finished.
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