Home                                                                                                             TASMANIA

The couple of days in Melbourne were spent on admin, visiting friends and generally relaxing.

 I went sailing on the Sunday on an 18 ft Prindal catamaran.

That evening I was guided to Station pier to board the "Spirit of Tasmania" to go across Bass Strait to Tasmania. It was just as well that I was guided as with the heavy traffic and sun in my eyes I would surely have missed a sign somewhere and become totally lost. Once the car was on board it was just left with the handbrake on and in gear. I was traveling steerage so had a seat allocated for the night. It6 turned out to be quite comfortable and I had a good sleep.

Once I was off the ship i headed for Launceston with a few deviations on the way, a couple of historic towns (they all are here in Tasmania), a visit to a steam and tractor museum at Westbury that was very interesting, then to Longford to see what was left of a public road motor racing circuit from the 1950s and 1960s. All that is recognizable is a Hotel that was on one of the corners and a railway crossing. The hotel is full of photographs and memorabilia, so I had an interesting time there.

The first photograph shows the Hotel with cars taking the corner that you can see in the second photo as it is today. Note the hay bales on the outside of the corner with the spectators standing directly behind. A bit different than the extreme attention paid to safety these days.

                                      This photograph above shows the effect of the railway line on the faster cars.

The next visit was to the National Motor Museum of Tasmania at Launceston. This was very neat and tidy and well set up and had some interesting exhibits.

After a bit of to'ing and fro'ing I drove one of the Targa Tasmania car rally stages just outside of Scottsdale called "The Sideling". It was worth the trip over just to drive this. Its the best piece of road I've driven on in a clubbie. Even better than the Alpine roads of a couple of weeks ago. After having to travel 15km on a dirt road I had trouble finding a camping area and eventually found a place at 6pm, so the first day was a big one but full of interest.

Hope its not too cold tonight. It was!

 Heading south to Saint Helens I drove the Weldborough Pass Targa stage. From there to Sorrell I got about 40 km of rain but it was patchy and not a major drama. I stopped at the "Spikey Bridge" and Richmond to take a photograph of Australia's most photographed bridge.

There seems to be a dearth of caravan parks in Tasmania. I had trouble finding one again and had to go 2 towns further than I had intended. I was lucky the tent area was undergoing maintenance so I was given an almost finished cabin for the night. Thank you Big 4 Caravan Park Cambridge.

The next day was spent visiting Port Arthur. This was well worth the visit and inspecting the various museums, houses and ruins was a good history lesson. In addition and associated with the general area I also visited some geological features and Eaglehawk neck where the port Arthur prison peninsula was guarded by a line of dogs across the narrow piece of land.

                         Tasman Arch                                                                                    Port Arthur

I stayed that night with a friend who lives at Bellerive in Hobart and enjoyed catching up on 20 years of gossip.                                                                                                                                        

                Outlook from the balcony of where I stayed in Hobart.

The Huon valley beckoned the next day, so I headed south to visit the Tahune Forest Airwalk but when I saw that it was only 40 km from the turnoff the end of the bitumen I had to drive there. I now claim to have gone as far west, north, east and south as the bitumen in Australia!

                                                                                The end of the road!

The mechanical parts of the air walk were similar to those I had been on in Western Australia earlier in the trip, but the biggest trees  are higher and larger in diameter in Tasmania. I came back through Hobart and then headed west. I decided to go a bit south west and have a look at Lake Pedder, Lake Gordon and the Gordon River Dam. These are all in what is known as the South Western Wilderness are and it is world heritage listed, I found a public camping area on the edge of Lake Pedder and set up there for the night. I discovered that the formation of Lake Pedder by damming three major rivers was the catalyst for the formation of the Greens political party.

I continued on the next day to the Gordon River Dam. This is quite an imposing engineering structure and I'm glad I went and had a look at it.

After backtracking quite a way I then headed for Queenstown near the west coast. The surrounding hills here used to look like a moonscape because of the effects of the Mount Lyell Copper mine. They are slowly revegitating but still have a long way to go.

I then went through Strahan, a pretty little town on Macquarie Harbour and up to Zeehan for the night.

                                                                           Building in Zeehan.

After a stormy night I headed north traversing several more Targa Tasmania stages, the best of which was Hellyer Gorge. Absolutely brilliant!! I maintained my record of avoiding rain even though the road was freshly wet for over 80 km. After reaching Wynyard I headed west to Marriwah, then doubled back visiting Stanley and its famous "nut"

At Ulverstone I turned south to Preston where I was staying for the night with a couple I had met early in the trip at Port Lincoln. I visited some local waterfalls the next day and then went to Levin canyon and Cradle Mountain.

                                                                    Lower Preston falls.          

                                                             Levin Canyon.

                                                              From Levin Canyon.  

                                                                                                         Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain.

After this I drove around some of the areas near Devonport to ensure that I arrived there in time to catch the ship. I had a bit more rain off and on during the day but again not enough to have to stop.

To really appreciate Tasmania you would have to spend much more time there than I did. It is certainly a beautiful place.