Queenstown

A little like a mining town. They used to mine copper here, and well before that, gold. Not much happens here now. They closed the mines after a couple of deaths. They might re-open it someday, but not in the next year of two while they sort out the problems they have. The population has reduced from ~8000 to ~2500.

We'd heard about a little steam train that runs between here and Strahan. It used to carry ore to the coast. It it what they call a rack and pinion railway as the train has to engage with some cogs (a centre rail if you will) which helps it pull itself up the 1 in 10 to 1 in 20 grade. We bought a ticket and spent 5 hours wondering though the forest across about 80 bridges and through virgin forests and over rivers. It was a great day.  We headed north that afternoon.

Queenstown on the way in. The road is pretty windy.

 The engine on the manual turnaround.

The little train that could. The front 2 carriages are for budget travellers like us. The back carriage is the dining car. The get to eat and drink along the way.. fine dining!

 The King River in the background.

Cradle Mountain (The Overland Track)

The day has finally arrived, and so has the other member of our group, Irish.
We parked the van up in the car park at Lake St.Clare for the week, jumped in our exclusive bus, with 7 others, and embarked on a tortuous three hour drive to the start of our walk on the shores of Dove Lake.

The day was pretty ordinary from the outset but the forecast was for finer weather from tomorrow..... and it was.

The first day was all up hill, wet, misty, slippery and cold, but we prevailed and made the first official camp by about 6pm. We were there with about 10 other trekkers. We could've/should've tented it, but it was late and we were tired. Someone started cutting wood at about 2am, so we moved onto the verandah. Note to self... tent next time.

We pitched the tent the second day, but the guy cutting wood also decided he didn't want to upset anyone, so her moved outdoors too... about 4m from us!

Day three, strategy.... waiting at the door... where will the chainsaw be tonight.. tent or hut. The rest is history!

The scenery along the track is great. The operation is very professional. We elected to do the track without support for about $200. There were groups with a guide paying about $1800, and there were the Chardonay set paying in the order of $2900. The pack weight had a lot to do with the cost. Our packs weighed in about 13-16kg's. It's a lot to carry each day. We walked from 4 to 8 hours each day depending on the terrain and how many breaks we took.

We met a couple of bikers at the Derwent Bridge Pub after the walk. One walked up to me and said "Is your name Bryan?", "Yep."..."and is that Rose?""Yep". "I'm Dave Anderson, I looked after the bar at your wedding". That was 34 years ago.

Near the Boat Shed at Cradle Lake.

The blind leading the blind. All they needed to do was look behind them..

The swim to Snake Island was cold, the swim back was colder. We signed the visitors book on the Island. It's not got too many names in it since 1831.

Lunch by the stream. Time to refill the drink bottles (upstream).

 A selfie at Pelion Hut.

The landscape changed daily and some of the tracks were pretty gnarly.

 Lunch at the base of Mt Ossa.

Tents went up most evenings. These wooden platforms worked well.

Everything that could go in the tent, went in. Food went in the hut out of reach of the o'possums.

 Aaarrgghhh! Are we at the top yet..

The hut was built in 1910 and I'm sure they use the same design for the bunks they use in the modern day huts.

 There were some fantastic falls.

 Lunch break. Salada's and Vegemite..

We bonded pretty well with these guys

 Beside the boat at the end of the track.

The first beer, or was it the second, third... I forget!

Mt Fields (National Park)

We're making our way west now and made it a short way out to Mt Fields NP. A really nice place, some great walks to various waterfalls. We're feeling pretty fit now in the lead up to our Overland Track walk next week, so we walked for about 3 hours this morning early with full packs. We felt great.

 Russell "Mc"Falls

 Horseshoe Falls

This little critter came up to us, we took his photo, and he turned tail and ran off.

MONA (Museum of Old and New Art)

We hadn't intended to visit Mona but good friends of ours had dropped by earlier in the year and recommended it.

It's just west of Hobart on the Derwent and in the midst of a Winery. The Museum itself is ultra modern with 3 levels dug out of the cliffs (in a James Bond arch villain sort of way). You catch a lift or use the stairs to reach the lower level and then walk gradually back up. A lot of what's on display is very confronting. Maybe that's what art is these days, not just paintings. The artists present their works in various media, both old and new.

 Fairly elaborate display.

There were about 200 of these individual pieces under lights on the walls. Each one is distinct from the other. I couldn't find any two the same.

A modern day Porsche. Yes Ross, it is a real Porsche.

Mt Wellington

Mt Wellington is a short drive from Hobart. At 1271m, it's a good place to spend a few minutes to put Hobart into perspective. There's some great walks from Fern Tree at it's base, on up to its summit.
There are snow posts along the road about 1/2 way up bbrrrrrrrrr!

No snow today though. Another very nice day in fact as we walked up from Fern Tree to the Organ pipes (the rock formations surrounding Mt Wellingtons' summit).  Up hill all the way on single track with numerous steps. The views are pretty spectacular. Photos just don't do it justice.

The Organ pipes from about 300m below the summit.

We were walking along and heard people speaking. There was no-one around until we looked up and saw these climbers. There were 3 of them and they were about 150m up the side of these rocks.

The view of Hobart and surrounds.

Hobart

A city with a small town feel. Cheap real estate, high unemployment, but a very friendly place with a good positive feel. A very nice place really.

We happened to be in Hobart during the bi-annual wooden boat festival. I didn't know there were so many wooden boats around. They really are floating pieces of functional art and they've certainly cornered the market on varnish.

We stayed at "Snug" about 25k south and drove into town. There are no parking charges in the city on weekends and public holidays, nevertheless we found a park for $10 for the day about 100m from all the festivities.

One of our mates rang us the day we arrived. Cleo had been down to sort out some job prospects so we caught up. As chance would have it, JJ and Alistair were also in town so we caught up with them too, then we bumped into Jock and Margie, friends of ours from Gove (now living in Bunbury) and their mate Scott and his partner (forgot her name...oops, sorry!).... amazing! Alistair was down for the festival with JJ. Jock, Margie and their mates were heading up to walk the overland track (as we are). The difference being they are doing the chauffeured walk with a guide, chef, wine, comfortable accommodation. They are quite a bit older than us, so I can appreciate the need for soft warm beds, log fires, etc.

 Lots of wooden boats...

The gang...

Bruny Island

About 30k south of Hobart turn left at Kettering and you're at the Bruny Island Barge. $65 for the car and van return is pretty reasonable and at this time of the year they run continually. It's about a 30 minute ride.

We stayed at Adventure Bay on south Bruny in a van park. It's about a 40 minute drive from the ferry and is the place around which many activities revolve. The Fluted Cape Circuit walk is great, high, close to the edge, white wallabies can be seen in the area together with some ancient whaling station remains. Capt. Cook also landed here. They have the remains of the tree into which he carved his details in 1770.

The boat cruise from the Bay along the east coast down as far as the Briar Islands in the Southern Ocean is awesome.

We stayed 2 nights and could have been there for a week quite comfortably.

On the way off the island we did the Elizabeth Bay walk (about 3 hours) and stopped by a local cheese place for lunch.

On top of the Fluted Cape (on the walk)

The fluted Cape from the cruise.

 The breathing blowhole

 One of the caves on the cruise

 Seal colony on the The Briar Islands

More of the Flutes Rocks

An old whaling hut that has been taken over as a fisho's hut behind the dunes at Elizabeth Bay.

Triabunna

What a little gem this place is. It's the gateway to Maria Island, has a Pub, a campground behind the pub, some old (very old) army barracks, and a takeaway place that does a roaring trade.

We stayed behind the Pub for the price of a gold coin donated to their local charity. We arrived and set up about 1pm, by 5pm the place was full of tents. In fact more arrived during the evening. One happy camper had the grave misfortune of setting up his tent about 2ft from our diesel heater exhaust, needless to say he arose perhaps a little earlier than he'd planned.

 The Pub campground.

Coles Bay

We stayed a couple of nights a the "Bay of Fires" then headed south. We stopped in several places on the way south as the road generally follows the coast and there's interest everywhere.

We've been to Coles Bay before and were lucky to find the best value caravan site ever in the Freycinet National Park ($16 including power and water), on the beach (well back about 50m).

No sooner had we pulled in and set up when the neighbours invited us over for drinks which we repeated for each of the 3 nights we were there. Wine, nibbles and proportional jocularity was amply shared.

Rose and I did a 17km training walk in the national park. We left the camp around 10am and arrived back just before 5pm. We carried full packs. Rose actually carried mine (20kg's+) for a km. We went out to the lodge to celebrate. We slept well that night.

 At the lighthouse this morning

Lorraine, Christine, me, Phillip, Glen and Gay. Bob was off getting me a glass of "Black Chook". Rose took the photo.

Looking down at Wineglass Bay from the lookout.

St Helens (Bay of Fires)

St. Helens is very RV friendly. From the time you arrive, there's free spots, dump points, drinking water, extra long car parks, and everything is easily accessible.

He stayed about 12km north along the coast in the Bay of Fires National Park at a campsite called "Cosy Corner North". We have a parks pass ($60 for 8 weeks). Cosy corner is free. We tucked in behind some trees about 30m from the beach. The wind was expected to reach 60kn that night... and it did There were tents, chairs, all manner of loose materials blown all over the place. We were wraped up safe and sound and only saw the carnage in the morning... oh well!

We spent some time walking along the beach and got some pretty good photos of the angry sea. Later we backtracked about 20km and visited the "blue Tiers" National park. They had a 8km walk around the national park which we thought might be similar to the conditions we'd experience on the overland track in February.... It was cold with a light drizzle and we got a little lost. We met the editor of "Tracks" magazine on the mountain. Tracks is the official magazine of the National Trail. A really nice bloke travelling by himself.

It's hard to tell from this photo but the water was shooting a good 50m and it was continual.... not good surfing weather!! 

Pyengana

Further East we go. The roads are windy and narrow, but even though it's the tail end of the holiday season, the roads are very quiet.The hills and valleys in this part of the state are beautiful.

We've pulled off the road at Pyengana. It's a cattle area surrounded by state forests. There's a cheese factory, tassie's highest waterfall (Columba Falls) and the "Pub in a Paddock".

We stayed at the Pub for free, but the meal cost us $67. That's why it's free. The Pub has some history with various celebrities dropping in from time to time. We didn't rate a mention. The Pub also has a pig that likes beer. Patrons are encouraged to have a beer with the pig. The food is pretty good and so is the wine. So if you're interested in good food and dining with a perpetually pissed pig, then this is the place.

 Columba Falls.

A fern glade on the way to Columba Falls

Derby

What an amazing place. An old tin mining town and a tad dysfunctional. It seems that tour buses used to stop by regularly. Tourists came to see a functional period display of old trades in a lane way of old shacks. These trades included the smithy, the baker, jewellers, etc. The govt wanted to generate more interest in the town so they commissioned a new, modern display centre (and I mean ultra modern), the building now contains the same information, artifacts, and etc that used to be displayed in the old functional displays. It took them 2 years to build the new building which they did on the old function display site. During the 2 years, the bus operators decided there was nothing more of interest and they now drive straight through. The ultra modern building receives occasional visitors and is looking run down and shabby. So much for the "tin dragon route"

But wait there's more. The old open cut mine is across the river and has a white sandy beach, but there is no way to access it. An old tin tunnel 500m from town can be accessed by crossing the river along bridges being built for the newly developed 90km of mountain bike tracks. The MTB track terminates in town and there are bike cleaning facilities, hot showers, toilets, etc...

So, in summary it's a really nice place, nice friendly people, great free camp right on the river, and in an idillic setting but it's lost it's identity.

We loved the place.