29/6/10 North West coast

To the edge... we were pushed to the edge today... the edge of the world that is! We drove to a remote (although less than an hour from Smithton) location on the far north west coast of Tasmania today. It is also claimed that you can breathe in the world's cleanest and freshest air in this part of the world as the wind comes in from the south west - southern ocean and Antarctica the only source for the air! That made it sound particularly cold though!

We witnessed some amazing rainbows on the way to the edge of the world - we could even see the end of them in paddocks... no pot of gold though. It was a winding road, through lush cattle farms for most of the journey, with dense forest on occassions. I guess it all used to be thick forest at one time. We passed 'Tarkine Forest Adventures' but, like much of Tassie is closed for winter, so we couldn't stop.

Arrived at the mouth of the Arthur River, which also has a small community of fibro shacks - good old fashioned seaside holiday town. The Arthur River boats were also out of action for winter - the good thing about all these businesses being closed was that we couldn't spend any money! The natural features were free and they were great anyway!

Went to the Edge of the World which even has a plaque to signify it really is the edge. The plaque has a poignant poem on it...

I cast my pebble on to the shore of eternity

To be washed away by the ocean of time

It has shape, form and substance

It is me

One day I will be no more

But my pebble will remain here

On the shore of eternity

Mute witness for the aeons

That today I came and stood

At the edge of the world

And so we stood there, in the cold wind, rugged up, at the edge of the world, contemplating the deeper things of life... well the kids were thinking of the chocolate frogs that mummy had packed for morning tea. So that's where we went... back to the car for chocolate frogs.

Visited Blufff Hill Point and its lighthouse before heading back up to another small community, Marrawah, which apparently is Tasmania's suring capital with a contest each year that attracts international surfers. We followed the signs to a picnic area near the beach. This was a terrific spot. Not as windy, not as cold, either that or we were just getting used to it. The views were great, north towards Mt Cameron West and the windfarms of Woolnorth, which are where the Southern Ocean and Bass Strait meet. There was a long stretch of beach, although covered in

seaweed which didn't help the claim of the cleanest freshest air!

We enjoyed lunch and a walk / run on the beach. The southern tip of this sweeping bay was called, rather imaginatively Green Point - I guess because the lush green pastureland extended right down to the rocks and the waves.

Drove home the route we came and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon around camp.

28/6/10 Stanley

Iconic is the word that comes to mind... 'The Nut' at Stanley is one of those Tasmanian natural features that comes to mind when you think of Tassie... along with Wineglass Bay, Tassie Devils and Cradle Mountain.

This morning we set off to see Stanley and it's famous solidified lava 'Nut' that stands 152 metres tall and imposing over the tiny village. We took a scenic loop road (Dovecoat Rd) for great views - including with a very large herd of wooly looking cows. A westerly wind was blowing and it was very fresh. Ethan and Gemma did not appreciate it one little bit! So they stayed in the car the couple of times we stopped for photos.

Highfield is a historic group of old farm buildings and a rather nice old home, which all enjoy views over the town and lava nut. The brochure for Highfield encourages a tour with the phrase 'enterprise or folly, success or tragedy...' We didn't buy tickets and seek to answer this dilemma behind the story of Highfield, as we thought the kids would have been bored and hard to contain among the fragile relics of an old house. Instead we climbed over the ruins of the old convict barracks - built in the 1830's to house around 40 convicts.

Next we got a photo of The Nut with Godfreys Beach in the foreground. The township had a few quaint cottages, most available to tourists as accomodation. The main street had a few old shops and cafes - again for the tourism trade. Being winter, (or was it the fact that it was Monday?) most were closed.

We returned to our 'home' for lunch and a play on the playground and trampoline before the kids nap time. Gemma loved bouncing - her first go on a trampoline. The boys thought it was great fun too.

Oh, and today marked our 7th anniversary too!

27/6/10 off to Tasmania

"The Mania Boat... the Mania Boat...!!" A chant we'd heard everytime the ad came on TV for the Spirit of Tasmania over the past few months from 3 excited children anticipating a our trip on it!

On a chilly winter's evening we drove aboard the Spirit of Tasmania II, found ourselves at the front of a row of cars giving us pole position for driving off the following morning. Found our way to our cabin - a 'cosy' four berth with a porthole window. Gemma's bed was a portacot that fit in between the bunks. We dropped off our overnight luggage and went for a wander around the boat. As we set sail we had a bit of dinner in the eatery.

When we awoke the full moon shimmered on the still water as we smoothly cruised towards Tasmania. We could see the lights of several towns along the coastline, west of Devonport. The kids enjoyed the view as we entered the Mersey River for the dock.

We found ourselves driving off, first ones off the main deck... and it was 6:30am and pitch dark outside! We figured half the boat would be heading to McDonald's for breakfast, so we didn't join them. Drove out of town and found ourselves in the small town of Penguin. The sun was rising across the sea, creating some great colours in the sky. We bought egg n bacon pies at the just opened for the morning bakery and ate them in the car near the 'Big Penguin'. It was way to cold to get out though.

Next we continued west, driving through Wynyard and up onto Table Cape. The cape is the remnants of a volcano's feeder plug, has terrific chocolate brown soil and they grow tulips and other flowers in spring. We parked at the lookout which afforded great coastal views back towards the east. There was a walk of about 20 minutes to the lighthouse. As it was sunny, but only 4 degrees, we donned beanies, gloves, fleecies and coats and braved the chill for the great coastal stroll.

Next we drove on to Smithon, just past Stanley which was where our accomodation for 4 nights was. We had found ourselves a house at the 'Riverbend Youth Camp' which was only $50 a night. As there were no camps in we also had free access to all other facilities such as the trampolines, playground and large rec hall. The house was old but comfortable - quite a big living area. Most importantly it was warm and cosy! The kids particularly liked the chooks that hung around in the gardens around the house.

Meeniyan - April 1st - April 5th

Hi All,
We are now back home again after spending a few days at our friends home in Meeniyan. (No mobile internet available there!) They have recently purchased 16 acres of land down there and their lovely new home sits atop of the rolling hills with wonderful views over the landscape and great sunrises and sunsets. In the mornings you could hear the cows mooing as they awoke and wandering around trying to find the tastiest bit of grass.
Campbell and Zachary had a wonderful time catching up and spending time with each other romping around the large backyard, playing lego, riding bikes and generally playing. Ethan and Gemma also really enjoyed the large backyard and all the adventures to be had there. Bryn (Campbell's little brother) just sat quietly and observed the chaos of playing children erupt around him and would occassionally join in.
It was really lovely to catch up with them all again.

Cape Paterson

Cape Paterson - Day 4

We decided to go on the Screw Creek Walking Trail this morning. It is located in Inverloch at the end of the council camping ground. Loaded up the prams with hats, drinks, snacks etc and off we set. The walking trail follows Screw Creek for a while and then heads off up the hill to Townsend Bluff where you get some fantastic views of the surrounding beach areas of Anderson Inlet – very blue seas and skies – Lovely.

The walk took us an hour or two with lots of stops along the way including spotting tiny mud-crabs in the mangroves, a gnarly old gum tree with some great branches for climbing, and of course the views of the inlet and across the town of Inverloch.
Decided to have fish and chips in the local park for lunch – Fantastic fresh caught fish in a light crispy batter – yummy. The kids had a great time playing in the park – they especially loved the big ‘wibble wobble’ bee! Gemma did spend more time chasing sea gulls than on the playground though. Speaking of sea gulls – they were not shy ones – they swooped down and nicked things off our fish and chip paper and tried to swipe things out of the kids hands!

Next we headed back to the van for naps for Ethan and Gemma. Zac and Darrin went for a walk and explored some rock-pools finding a variety of sea life including a variety of coloured starfish, small crabs and an anemone looking thing. The rest of the afternoon was spent as chill time. The kids have been great but they have done so much walking in the last few days we put on a movie for them and they got to watch it while eating dinner! Showers and bed soon followed.


Cape Paterson – Day 5

We did not plan on going anywhere today. Gemma had another rough night – her teeth have been giving her quite a bit of grief and she awoke cold at about 2am and could not be convinced to stay under her own covers and warm up so she ended up in bed with us. Ultimately this means we get squashed into 1/3 of the bed and Gemma sprawls out over the remaining bed space ensuring her absolute comfort and pick of the pillows - why use your own when you can steal mummy’s???!!!!

Anyway, today we were expecting a visitor - Fiona, a former work colleague of Darrin’s who now lives on Phillip Island, was popping up for a visit. Before moving down to the island she had regularly popped in to visit Jeanette and the kids at home, the kids loved those visits! After playing around outside for a while Fiona arrived and the day progressed with Morning Tea, a walk on the beach, lunch, playing totem tennis and soccer and cricket and finally bed for Ethan and Gemma who were by this stage exhausted!! It was a relaxed day and it was really lovely to catch up with Fiona.
After the Ethan awoke, Darrin, Zac and Ethan headed down to the beach for some fun and frivolity. Jeanette stayed to wait till Gemma woke up – after a while she had still not stirred and so in an effort to ensure she would not sleep all afternoon and not go to bed at night I decided to wake her. This did not go down well as she opened her sleepy eyes, grunted and rolled over, grabbed her Care Bear and pitched it with great accuracy at me then rolled over and tried to go back to sleep……I guess she was not happy about being woken up !!! We eventually made it to the beach and had a lovely time with the others in the waves and building and decorating sand castles. Ethan in particular giggled and ran in and out of the water having a great time.

It was back ‘home’ to the caravan for bath and dinner. (The beach is merely a 2 minute walk through the sand dunes from our site). Went for a walk this evening as the sun was setting – the full moon was a really unusual colour of orange – it just glowed. Very pretty as it shimmered across the water.

Cape Paterson Day 3

The kids all woke up early today – well it was not really all that early – it was around seven am but it seemed much earlier as it was still so dark.
After breakfast we decided to head off towards Phillip Island today. After a quick stop at the chemist to get some medication for Gemma who was a very grumpy little girl (gotta love teething!) we continued our drive.
First stop was the Penguin Parade complex. Paid a nominal fee to be allowed to wander around their information galleries, down to the nigh time parade observation deck and their exhaustive gift shop with just about every penguin related item you could ever possibly not wish to own.
The kids enjoyed watching a cute little penguin through its observation hole in the gallery. Gemma was convinced it would hurt her and once assured it would not hurt her she was then convinced it therefore must want her to cuddle it!!
Grabbed a quick snack for lunch and continued towards The Nobbies. It has been fairly recently re-furbished and has an equally exhaustive gift shop with the main focus being the Australian Fur Seals. Entry here was free so in we went! Kids had a lovely time playing on their indoor playground and we enjoyed a coffee overlooking The Nobbies and the floor to ceiling glass windows.
Went for a walk along the boardwalk and saw a family of penguins hiding under the boardwalk. There were a couple of young ones there too as they still had their grey – brown down feathers. Walked back up the boardwalk towards the blowhole, however as the ocean was relatively calm we did not really get to see it “blow”. Did also see two groups of penguins peering out of thier burrows at the people walking up the boardwalk peering at them!!
Began driving back towards the van and all three kiddywinks fell asleep so we kept driving up the coast towards Inverloch to have a look at some of the many signposted beaches along that stretch of road. Eagles Nest, Twin Reefs etc…. We did stop at one called The Caves where there were dinosaur bones found many years ago. As the tide was out we were able to go walking, climbing and splashing through some rockpools and towards the Caves. Darrin and Zac managed to get into one of the caves while Jeanette, Ethan and Gemma went looking in rockpools. As the tide started coming in we hiked back up to the car and headed home for a BBQ dinner, bath and bed.

Cape Paterson

Yesterday, Saturday 27th March we drove down to Cape Paterson. We left around 11:30am after Zac's swimming lesson and some early lunch. It was an easy drive and we were soon set up at the Cape Paterson Foreshore Caravan Park - site 19, under the pine trees with coastal views through the scrub. The playground is nearby and the kids can play with us supervising from the van - so that's what they did while we set ourselves up.

Following this and a cuppa, we walked down to the beach - the kids loved running down the sand dunes and then exploring along the beach. Gemma enjoyed playing with a bunch of seaweed, Ethan found a couple of very large cuttlefish washed up. Zac got sad when he got wet.

Dinner consisted of a hearty casserole pre arranged by Mummy and just reheated. The kids scoffed it down with little hesitation. They had baths and then an early night - all in bed by 8:15. Ethan didn't fall asleep straight away and was able to come outside and meet the two possums that were just outside our door - it looked like a mother and child. Daz and Jet watched some telly and chilled out after the possum viewing.

Today, Sunday 28th, we had crumpets for breakfast and then drove into Wonthaggi where we visited Coles. On the way back towards Cape Paterson we called in at the 'State Coal Mine' - a old mine that operated between about 1915 and 1968 digging black coal out of the ground which was predominently used for steam trains. It is now set up as a visitor's centre with several old buildings, heaps of information and plenty of rusty old machinery. There was supposedly over 3000 km's of tunnels around the area! Yes, over 3000! Much is now filled in or full of water. It is possible to join a tour underground to see part of the old operations. This tour was not suitable for Ethan and Gemma, so I promised Zac we'd return for this another time.

A volunteer, Jack - whose own parents and grandparents worked in the mines here (his grandmother was the first midwife in Wonthaggi) gave us a tour of the buildings above ground. We also met 'Cobber' - the Welsh Pony. These ponies were used in the mines and hauled the coal out in little trolleys on railway lines. They must have been very strong ponies! Unlike the welsh mines, these ponies were allowed to come back above ground when off duty. The Welsh ones often went blind due to living their entire lives underground. In fact the Wonthaggi ponies were very well looked after - in fact better than the humans as they took longer to train for their work, making them more valuable!

We returned to the caravan and had lunch outside under the pine trees. It was a warmish day although cloudy. After lunch and a bit of a play, the two youngest ones had a nap. Zac and Daz returned to the mines to do the underground tour. We donned green helmets - Zac's a bit too bid even set at its smallest size. We were then led down a steepish entrance way and under the surrounding paddocks. It was interesting hearing of life for the miner's and their ponies and seeing how they used to work. Most of the tunnelling and mining was done by hand so it would have been hard work. Zac got some coal to take home as a souvenir. After about an hour we walked back out of the mine - a reasonably strenuous walk. In a few months there will be a dedicated tramway that raises and lowers visitors in - all operated by cable winch. They have just installed a 1930's winch to haul it all, and work needs to be done on the tunnel to make the new tram to fit.

Zac and Daz drove back to Cape Paterson and joined the others down on the beach near the surf lifesavers club. All the kids had a ball playing in the sand and paddling in the water. It was still quite warm and overcast - a band of rain is forecast for later in the evening.

We gave the kids a warm bath before dinner. We then enjoyed shepherds pie and blue jelly.