The last blog finished 2 weeks into our Tasmanian trip. We’re still there – and so dear reader read on…
26th January 2018 – Australia Day
We were staying at the Hobart Show Ground – aka Bunnings Hardware. (Bunnings have just bought a big chunk of the show-ground for a monster hardware store). It’s not a great place but easy to get into the the Hobart CBD.
We were booked to go to the Museum of New and Old (MONA) on the 27th. January
MONA was terrific, there’s an exhibition called the Museum of Everything which has some truely amazing art. Here’s a little blurb about it
The Museum of Everything is a travelling exhibition which opened in London in 2009. Its purpose is to advocate for the visibility of art that falls outside the confines of the art world proper; the work of ordinary people, working far (literally or otherwise) from the cultural metropolis
I found the stuff done by mathematicians fascinating, the attention to details and the recursive nature was mind blowing.
A new wing had recently been added to the Museum – Pharos. We pre-booked to do the Unseen Seen & Weight of Darkness exhibitions. Before entering you had to sign a waiver form and were given a red panic button – neither of which were used.
Only 2 people are allowed in and you lie back looking up to a sphere which changes colours and intensity. There’s no point of reference so it becomes rather dis-orientating. Rather like one of the better mushroom experiences – apparently. Weight of Darkness is the exact opposite – you enter through a pitch black maze and find 2 chairs and then sit is absolute silence and darkness for 20 minutes. Think William got more out of it than I did, mind expansion and dis-orientation is more his thing
Overall the MONA experience was great and high on the lists of things to do again. Interesting to see that the owner David Walsh, who made all his money from counting cards, is supporting the push in Tasmania to get rid of all poker machines from pub and clubs. Lets hope he succeeds.
The images from MONA don’t really do the place justice but they are all our valiant photographer took. I have included the Kittens Tea and Croquet Party for it’s sheer shock value. It actually shows the art of taxidey.
By the way, Hobart was having a heat wave – 38ยบ.
On Saturday we cycled into Hobart – 9kms but again along great cycle tracks. Spent several hours looking round Salamanca Markets – I’m not a great market fan but enjoyed this one. Fish and chips for lunch and then cycled home to Bunnings.
Sunday – still very hot so decided to go to the movies to get out of the heat. Willy wanted to see a newish Australian film “Swinging Safari”. Fortunately half way through the fire alarm went off – we didn’t both going back. Pepper Berry Ice Cream on the way home
Monday – Weather turned very cold didn’t do anything exciting – I read and Willy had a day of self improvement.
Tuesday 30th Jan – I wanted to go to Port Arthur so we decided to head out of Hobart heading in general SE direction. We spent Tuesday night at Tahune which is run by Forestry Tasmania (the badies). There are several walks and a Air Walk which allows you to walk through the canopy. It all quite interesting but propaganda for the timber industry. There seemed to be a shortage of Bob Brown books in the shop – don’t think this was because they had sold out.
To get to Tahune you pass through Geeveston which is the setting for the ABC comedy Rosehaven. After visiting the place you can see why it was selected.
We had a couple of nice Willy van cooked meals – Spanish Omelette with Tuna
Wednesday – From Tahune we moved to Fortescue Bay – the camp site got good reviews so the 12km of gravel road was an acceptable price to pay. We got a good spot and spent three very pleasant days. There are several walks which start at the campsite.
The first one we did was to Bivouac Bay and was rather un-remarkable. Surprisingly this is one of the driest areas of Tasmania so the bush is very scrubby. The Next day was cold and rainy so another day of reading for me and self improvement for William. He improved so much that I beat him at 3 games of dominos and one game of scrabble. He actually changed the domino rules half way through and I still won.
Books Finished:”Our Man in Havana”
Books Started: Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Saturday the weather improved and we did a great walk to Cape Huay – about 9kms, very up and down but fantastic scenery and well worth the effort. This is one of the “Three Capes” walks that the Tasmanian Tourist mob are spending much money on developing and they are doing a great job.
Sunday – Moved on to Port Arthur.
Monday – 5th Feb – Went to the Port Arthur Historic site and did a walking tour and a harbour tour. It’s most unfortunate that the decision to keep it as an important of part of Australia history was taken so late. Most of the building were allowed to deteriorate to an unrecoverable state plus several bush fires have decimated the site but what remains is very interesting.
The contrast between the horrific nature of the both the original penal colony and the 1996 massacre and the absolutely beauty of the place itself is quite remarkable.
I found it strange that during the walking tour no mention was made of the 1996 massacre. I would have thought that the massacre itself and the on-going impact it still has on gun laws etc would have been worth a mention.
Talking to one of the guides it seems that there is still some resistance by descendants of the convicts to keep the place going. Some would like to expunge Port Arthur from History as it is considered a place of shame and best forgotten.
On a lighter note – On the Sunday I managed to “lose” my keys. These are the spare set for Marge and also the bikes. I twice retraced my steps which included a bike ride to the Port Arthur Site and enquiries to the Tourist Information and campsite reception. They turned up the next day in the van while I was out doing the Port Arthur historic site. I think this was a real miracle.
6th Feb. Ten days remain until we catch the ferry back to the mainland so time to start to head up the West coast. Stay the night at Swansea right on the beach. Unfortunately there is a really stiff breeze but it was great to wake up to the sounds on waves breaking on the shore. From here we moved to Coles Bay which is the town nearest to Wine Glass Bay. Manage to get another beach side site at Freycinet National Park. Unfortunately on the Wednesday the weather turned wet so the walk to Wine Glass Bay was delayed.
As we were running out of gas (needed for cooking and refrigeration), on the way to Freycinet we called in at Bicheno. This turned out to be probably the most expensive gas on earth but we had no choice.
in Bicheno we went looking for some fresh fish for dinner – it is after all a town based on fishing (according to Lonely Planet). We ended up down by the wharf and managed to buy some rather nice Ling and also a lobster roll for lunch.
The ling ended up in a sweet potato and fish curry – extremely nice it was too. The lobster roll was rather lacking in lobster.
The scrabble situation is getting rather tense. I had one absolutely catastrophic loss which coincided with a almost insatiable need for food.
I had some great letters but my brain refused to let me use them unless they were part of a triple word or covered a triple letter – needless to say I lost very badly and indeed my scrabble vibe was killed….. Oh these Norwegians (for anyone over 25 – look it up…)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98145375@N06/25322141787/in/dateposted-public/
On The Wine Glass Bay Walk
Friday 9th Feb – The weather had improved so we decided to do the long version of the Wineglass Bay Walk.
It’s a circular route of 11Km taking about 5 hours. The first part is steep going up and then descending down into Wineglass Bay
From there there’s a beach walk before returning to the start point which is another steep climb from sea level. We actually did it in under 4 hours with several stops along the way.
After the walk we headed North through St. Helens ending up at Binalong Bay (Bay of Fires)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98145375@N06/25322156757/in/dateposted-public/
The Perfect Free Camping Spot – Bay of Fires
which is the start of about 30Km of beach. It was late on a Friday evening before a long weekend in South Tasmania (we didn’t know this) so good spots were at a premium but managed to find a quiet one and then on the Sunday we managed to find a wonderful spot right on the beach. Just sitting there listening to the waves
crashing about 20 metres away was great – what more could one ask for. Unfortunately I’m still reading “Keep the Aspidistra Flying” so feeling a bit guilty.
As an aside, William’s social skills are much improved. Not sure if the scrabble has improved his word-power or what but he is becoming quite a chatterbox – not sure if this is good or bad – only time will tell.
We were both very sorry to leave Binalong bay, the campsite was perfect and free. J
ust before we left, someone gave William a whole fish which looked rather like a salmon. This is one of the benefits of improved social skills – and being a Norwegian it was scaled, gutted and in the freezer in no time.
By now William was talking to anyone and everyone including some mountain bike enthusiasts who recommended going to Derby (pronounced Durbey).
This is the mountain bike capital of Australia. When we arrived, we managed to find another great spot down by the river (again free).
Monday Feb 12th William did 2 of the bike tracks (level 1 and level 2) the top rating is level 6. I passed on the tracks (still had a sore hip from the Wineglass Bay walk) and mooched around and read.
In the evening we went to the only place open – a wine and pizza place. It’s was obvious that the whole town just revolves around mountain biking, they certainly can’t cook pizza or have any idea how a CBA card terminal works. Everyone, including us, got the wrong bill..
We thought Derby was rather a nice place and possibly a nice place to bring up chickens and bees. Probably very cold in the winter and was described by a Tasmania we got talking to as “rough”.
Books Finished – Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Books Started – Thatcher stole my trousers – Alexi Sayle
Tuesday/Wednesday Feb 13th/14th . From Derby we moved on to Launceston (Tasmania’s second city). Another great campsite 5kms outside the city. The place is called Old Mac’s Campsite and has animals, sheep, cows and llamas, and a great cafe.
Unfortunately the weather was terrible, so bad I didn’t leave the van because of gale force winds, didn’t even manage to get into Launceston so have no idea what it’s like. William ventured in but didn’t stay long.
To date my Scrabble performance was acceptable – hadn’t actually lost any matches since the great disaster of Feb 6th but this night I lost by almost 100 points and I have no excuses other than Williams incredible luck and my poor spelling.
Thursday /Friday 15th/16th Feb – Moved on to Devonport in preparation to catch the ferry on the 17th.
In the afternoon we both went looking for a barber. Neither of us had had a haircut since leaving Sydney early January and I hadn’t shaved – we were both looking kind of woolly.
Managed to find a suitable place and had the usual content free conversation and then Willy got the family question “are you two family?” the next one is usually “am I Willy’s father”[*]. Willy decided to head this one off immediately and said we were married. Surprisingly no one missed a beat which is quite surprising considering this is Uncle Otto’s nephew, Senator Eric Abetz country. Probably they discussed it after we left – hope so we don’t want to become mainstream…
[*]amuses him but pisses me off….
Dinner was eating our way through the freezer. Gas has to be off for the ferry so it’s prawns and Ice Cream for dinner.
Took it very easy on the Friday, weather still not great. I went shopping in the morning, did the shopping and then decided that the queues at the check-outs were too long so abandoned the basket. Interestingly there are very few DIY checkouts in Tasmania – what can it mean?
In the afternoon went to see “Three Billboards” – William was doing things around the van.
When I got back to the van I had to Google the movie to make sure what I saw was as the makers intended. The last scene left me totally perplexed. Fortunately Google confirmed I had not mis-understood and I was spot on in my interpretation.
It was a good movie and worth seeing if only to see if you can do any better than the Google explanation.
Went out for dinner at the local Surf Club -which turned out to be very good. This was followed by an early night as we had to be at the ferry terminal at 7.30 the next morning.
Up bright and early to catch the ferry, it happened to be the day of the Devonport Triathlon.
We are due to arrive in Port Melbourne at 18:30 (it’s now 17:00) . Spending the night in a local Caravan Park not too far from the CBD.
We have both managed to sleep most of the crossing so may wander in to Melbourne….
For anyone interested – Lisa (the cat) is extremely well and likes living in Wagga Wagga