Devonport

Arrived in Devonport on the afternoon of 22nd January, checked into caravan park in East Devonport. Our first evening after dinner we walked to the shore area alongside the caravan park and watched the Spirit of Tasmania II set sail for Melbourne... we'll be on board the same boat in 2 nights time.

 

 

On Jan 23rd we drove to Burnie (about a 45 minute drive) to catch up with Darrin's family again.  Had lunch there and then a walk around the Romaine Reserve backing onto their house. The following pics are of cousin Henry, Auntie Kirsty and 'Queensland' Nanna with the kids...

We'd promised the kids a suprise on our last day in Tassie.  We took them to the Don River Railway in Devonport. They all love trains, Zac especially so.  They were all thrilled to be there.  Our visit included a 30 minute ride on a 1939 Diesel Rail Motor along the Don River to the coast and back.

The trip down, we were right alongside the driver. Zac got to blow the whistle a couple of times which he was delighted about.

(Zac with his hand on the whistle button)

 

After the train ride we wandered around the rail yards which had a mixture of diesel and steam locomotives, plus a variety of passenger and goods carriages.  Some had been faithfully restored by the volunteers who run the railway, some were in much need of some TLC to get them up to the condition they once were. We also got to go inside the actual workshop with one of the volunteers who showed us around a genuine tank engine, which looked remarkably like the famous 'Thomas'.

After lunch we drove out to Ashgrove Cheese for some more sampling and purchasing

Dropped into Anvers Chocolates again as well to taste some more fudge!

 

 

With time to kill before our evening sailing, we went to a great adventure park on the west side of Devonport, right on the Back Beach where the kids had a great time.

Before long, it was time to go and hook up the caravan and join the queue for our trip home. Took our own dinner on board which we enjoyed as the ship left the port.  Initially the journey was reasonably rocky and we 'drugged up' and got an early night!

 Greeted by a warm morning and colourful sunrise as we docked into Melbourne.  The end of a terrific family adventure that took us to some great places around Tasmania over our 34 days. We'd experienced such a range of natural scenic beauty, interesting history and architecture, adventure and exploration, such a variety of animals in the wild, a few squabbles and tantrums... quite a few actually! But it was an awesome time. Now that we're home and have begun the unpacking and cleaning our minds have already begun to think about where we might go next...

 

 

 

To Devonport

Our free camp overnight was in a great park, with ponds, ducks, walks, playgrounds, decent toilets and even hot showers. The only down side was the logging trucks which seemed to go past all night, oh, and the family of ducks who enjoyed the night under our bed! On a morning walk before packing up more ducks were encountered as well as a mummy padelmelon with its youngun'.

 



 

Not far from Scottsdale we stopped at the Bridestowe Lavender farm - the largest privately owned one in the world, at 260 acres. This is the flowering season so it was the best time to be there.  Three weeks in January is also harvesting time, so there was a lot already harvested.  We did enjoy a wander around the property, including under the 2 old oak trees planted in 1881. Saw some harvesting, then went and watched them extract the lavender oil, a process that only takes 18 minutes per huge tub of harvested flowers.

 

In the gift shop we browsed everything lavenderish, the colour purple quite an eyeful and the smell quite a noseful! Sampled a tub of Honey Lavender icecream which was very nice!

After the lavender farm we drove through Lilydale, took back roads across the Tamar Valley towards Devonport. This meant bypassing Launceston and the busy highway.  It was quicker anyway, had less traffic and was more scenic.  Stopped practically under the impressive looking Batman Bridge over the Tamar River for lunch before continuing on to Devonport for our last 2 nights of this trip.

 

 

To Scottsdale

Another sunny morning in Scamader, but for us it was time to pack up after breakfast and move on.

We were headed inland now, beginning the journey back to Devonport. 

 

Our first stop on today's leg was at a tiny community called Pyengana.  There are a couple of places there that attract the tourist - the first is the 'Holy Cow Cafe and Cheese Tasting'.  In a nice green, fertile valley they make some terrific cheddar cheeses. We tasted a variety of mild and tasty ones, plus some flavoured ones such as pickled onion cheddar and chilli cheddar.  Made some purchases, had a cuppa and a yummy choc brownie for morning tea.

 

 

The other spot in Pyengana was just another km up the road - the 'Pub in the Paddock'.  A heritage listed building, literally standing in the middle of a paddock.  We popped in briefly, and I have to confess we contributed to the alcholism and general unhealthiness of the local pig, Pricilla.  Apparently she loves a beer, so we bought her one...

 

 

Truth is, the bottle of beer was mostly water with a dash of beer... but she did down the whole bottle in a matter of 3 or 4 seconds!

 

 

Our drive continued east, up a winding road through the Weldborough Pass, claimed to be one of the 10 best drives in Australia. The surrounds were nice, green ferns, Myrtle forests around every curve. It was a slow journey, but a pleasant one.  Not much traffic on the road. Our whole journey was only around 100 kms but it took a couple of hours.  We stopped in the old tin mining town of Derby by the Cascade River for lunch which was a quiet, peaceful spot.

We continued on and mid afternoon arrived at our destination, Scottsdale.  This is the largest town between Launceston and St Helens.  It has a nice free camp spot on the edge of town, by a pond and park.  There were already a few people set up, we joined them, finding a nice spot right next to the pond. Several ducks including 4 brand new ducklings are our new neighbours.

 

 

Tomorrow morning we head to Bridestowe Lavender farm and then head to Devonport where we have two nights.  We are catching up with Darrin's family again on Wednesday, then get the boat back to Melbourne on Thursday evening. Our mobile internet service expires tomorrow, so the last of the holiday blog updates may have to wait til after we are home.  We have one more suprise up our sleeve for the kids while in Devonport, so check back on the weekend to see what it was!

St Columba Falls & Binalong Bay

About 30 minutes drive from St Helens, we visited St Colomba Falls, one of the highest falls in Tasmanian at 90 metres. Could see the falls from the car park, but then there was a 10 minute walk along a lovely trail through Myrtle, Blackwood and Fern forest to the base of the falls. Ethan, as he often does, spotted some wildlife - a pademelon further up the track.

We enjoyed the view for awhile, had some morning tea while taking it all in before walking back to the car.

 

From the falls, we drove to Binalong Bay, the southern end of the Bay of Fires.  Found another stunning beach where we spent several hours, including a picnic lunch on the sand, beach cricket, getting wet in the crystal clear water, climbing on rocks and building sandcastles.  Zac built an impressive fort up on a rock. The three boys went wading out into the water and around to a small secluded cove, then up on some more rocks.

 

Due to popular demand, later in the afternoon we returned to Peron Dunes for some more stunt action leaping from the top of a sand dune!  Jet was happy being the photographer, getting lots of action shots while the four kids had a great time jumping, leaping, rolling down the dunes, getting sand in all manner of places...

 



Bay of Fires

Today was full of 'oohs' and 'aahs' as we explored the area north of St Helens, past Binalong Bay, known as the 'Bay of Fires'.  Many think it was named this because of the many orange lichen covered rocks at different points, but apparently it was named this because Captain Tobias Furneaux in 1773 when sailing by saw many Aboriginal camp fires from his ship.

The sky was a deep blue, the water an unbelievable shade of aqua, the sand white as white.  Constrasted with the rocky outcrops, it was simply stunning.

We stopped at various locations along the 13 km stretch of road that leads up to 'The Garden'.

Our final stop also involved the kids getting completely wet and sandy - we got a little wet too.  Ethan even buried himself with help from his brother and sister.  All in all, an awesome day!