Category: Travel

It poured rain almost all night so breakfast was cooked indoors this morning. We made the decision to drive back to Devonport to get Jenny’s phone fixed. It was a two hour drive in relatively good conditions and we waited around in Devonport doing some shopping until the MacShop rang to say the phone had been repaired (all under warranty). The battery had failed and caused some damage to the screen so both the battery and the screen were replaced and she was back in action. Phew, that now means I can have my phone back so now neither of us is suffering from withdrawals.

From Devonport we decided to travel down to Cradle Mountain but the weather closed in with strong winds and rain so we ended up searching for a campsite along the road south west toward the mountain. We managed to secure a spot next to an old abandoned set of cattle yards formed out of large fallen trees arranged as fences. Plenty of animal tracks around so I’m hoping we will be visited by a Tassie Devil tonight!

The cruise aboard the Red Boat was excellent. We left at around 9 a.m. and returned around 3.15 p.m. The trip included morning tea and a barbecue lunch. Their claim to fame is that the Arthur River is the last wild river in Australia – it hasn’t been logged, dammed or mined so its pretty much in pristine condition. The guide was very informative and easy to listen to

When we returned we went out to Land’s End for the mandatory tourist shot before heading deep into the Tarkine Forest before setting up camp at Julius River Campground.

We did another supermarket shop to stock up on our fresh salad supplies before heading out through the edge of the Tarkine Forest down to Marrawah for morning tea and a stretch of the legs along the beach. Bit of a chilly wind today but a beautiful spot.

From there onto Arthurs River ready for our Red Boat cruise up the Arthur River tomorrow. We in the Caravan Park to take advantage of the 240 v power and the hot showers

No doubt about us, we had an enjoyable day wandering around Stanley taking in the sights and sounds, stopping for lunch at Godfreys Beach before heading down the road to Smithton. Another free camp where it seems the main topic of conversation was the automatic toilet (I think I may be travelling with some Luddites – they were scared to enter the toilet of doom lest the door didn’t unlock!

Bob and Jenny tried their hand at fishing in the boat channel with no success as the tide was fair ripping out. High tide wasn’t until 2 am so we decided that fishing was off the night’s entertainment list.

It just must be us! Woken early by a grumpy Little Athletics “lady” telling us that she didn’t want motorhome and caravans hanging around when the kids arrived so we had to be out within the hour. So it was a quick breakfast then into Devonport for a supermarket shop (quarantine restrictions meant no fresh fruit and veg or firewood!!) before heading down the North West Coast to Stanley for another cheap camp. On the way we stopped into several lovely beach communities at Sisters Beach and Boat Harbour. Beautiful spots with very few people around considering it was fine and sunny and Saturday.

The short distances that we are travelling are coming as a bit of a surprise so its hard to get our heads around. It is relaxing getting into camp early. Tragedy of tragedies, Jenny’s phone has carked it (the battery didn’t like being flattened to the point of no return) so I have had to forego my phone to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Looks like a trip back to Devonport to get it fixed.

We were awoken at 5.00 am by a Security Guard knocking on our door telling us to move from the car park and to get in line for boarding the Spirit of Tasmania. After getting over the initial surprise we joined the queue to wait for boarding. We didn’t get to board the ship till 7.30 so we were running behind from the start. They sent us down to Deck 2 where we forced to drive nose first into the bow of the ship – pretty tight squeeze!

We had reserved our recliners so we had great seats right at the windows looking astern so had a great view as we travelled along. It was misty rain in Melbourne so we didn’t have the best view of the city as we headed out to sea but it was entertaining in any case. The facilities on board were excellent so we dined in the “Tasmanian Market Kitchen” where we were able to have good quality tucker at reasonable rates.

We disembarked in Devonport at around 7.30 pm and made our way to Girdlestone Park Free(ish) Camp. Dinner at eight with the obligatory Port nightcap.