Discover Australia

Freycinet National Park

Heading for calmer and warmer conditions we drove straight back up North, through Hobart with only a brief lunch stop at Richmond to see the oldest bridge in Australia, built in 1823. Then on to our next camp at Friendly Beaches, close to Coles Bay. Here we captured photographic evidence of Xavier completing an easy challenge of patting a local animal, we think it is a Forresters Wallaby – let us know if this is right or not.

XwithForrestersWallaby

Friendly Beach saw the first landing of an edible, legal size fish, with a salmon and wrasse caught from the rocks. Xavier and I had an early morning jog to the end of the beach and back.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A trip into Coles Bay saw us visiting Honeymoon Beach, Lighthouse Lookout and Sleepy Cove. Once again the crystal clear waters and colourful landscape is hard to capture in photos, especially when you have a speck of dust on your sensor! Hannah seized the moment, donned springsuit, mask and snorkel and dived in, whilst everyone else was still feeling the cold a little too much.

At the lookout we discovered Freycinet was the place to find lizards in Tasmania and we saw two different types, everywhere!

Hannah and Oscar lay down to measure how long a Bluefin Tuna is, and Oscar eyed up how hard his challenge to catch and eat one is!

The twitching highlight was the scarlet robin and green rosellas but we also found what appears to be a small dead possum by the track.

Categories: 4WD, Animal Action, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Car, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Location, Mitsubishi, National Park, Photography, TAS, Tasmania, Travel, Travel Adventure, Twitcher | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Huonville to the end of the road

From Huonville we drove through Franklin and Geeveston and shortly afterwards the road became gravel once more. We passed through a few sleepy settlements, Lune River, Ida Bay, and Moss Glen before entering the campgrounds at Cockle Creek. This is the furthest south you can drive in Australia. Crossing the bridge into the National Park the road turns North for a kilometre then ends. A short walk takes you to an impressive sculpture of a Southern Right Whale. From here if you want to walk further south you can, but we took the short walk to Fisher Point, where the ruins of a cottage mark the point where a pilot used to reside. Back at Camp the Roaring Forties blew their best and showed us how bleak the weather can be.  The fresh oysters from the rocks were as large as I have ever seen and they tasted beautiful. Whilst there the winds blew, it rained and then the glimpses of sun we got showcased what a fabulous place the whole area of Recherche Bay is. It was still cold though, barely reaching 17 degrees during the day.

Categories: Australian Outback, Beach, Camper Trailer, Car, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Location, Mitsubishi, National Park, Photography, TAS, Tasmania, Travel, Travel Adventure, Walks | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Postcard from Oscar

Postcard from Oscar

My favourite Place was huon valley farm because there was a cute baby goat called bertie. There was pig called may. She eats about 30 loaves of bred each day. I fed bertie sum melck with a bottel.

We also stayd in a place with horses and alpacas and we fed grass.

I am having a good time hope you will write to me soon

from Oscar

Categories: Animal Action, Australian Outback, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, TAS, Tasmania, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: | 1 Comment

Hannah’s first challenge complete!

Hannah received a timely challenge in Huonville, to spot and photograph a duck-billed platypus. Fortunately we were camped right next to a river with them in so after a couple of hours the challenge was complete. They were pretty skittish creatures, not surfacing for any length of time. For any twitchers out there, there were quite a few birds there too, including the striated pardalote.

 

Categories: Animal Action, Australian Outback, Camper Trailer, Challenges, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Location, Photography, TAS, Tasmania, Travel, Travel Adventure, Twitcher | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

Jeffery’s Track to Huonville

We had a seemingly easy drive planned for today after the swim in Lake St.Clair but I had spotted a “short cut”! Just another minor road preventing the need to go into Hobart and out again. Where the dirt started at either end the following message greets all drivers. This would test how well equipped we were, and we could always turn back if required. It was only 15km from Lachlan to Crabtree.

Jefferys Track Sign

Jefferys Track Sign

It was dry and initial indications showed that this track was used by offroad enthusiasts, with some serious sections branching off the main track. The Pajero ploughed on and the Camprite camper trailer followed obediently. Then we reached the following section :

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The challenge was the first hole. The obvious route looked the best but if we couldn’t make it there was no option to winch out. Everyone evacuated the car except me, despite Oscar and Hannah’s requests to remain. The car might have made it but with the camper trailer behind it just fell short so a hasty reverse was required. The only option was a winch assisted one to the right of the track, and fortunately for me with Amanda having seizures up the road, two local lads, Tom and Paddy turned up on dirt bikes offering assistance. Having heard or seen us drive past they had followed for a bit of entertainment I suspect. Apparently they hadn’t been able to get through the previous week due to equipment breakage.

With winch attached it took a couple of attempts to get the car through and onto the second hole which by comparison was much easier. The Falken Wild Peaks traction was good and the Pajero performed immaculately. Thanks Tom and Paddy – it would have taken much longer without the local knowledge.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

From there on in there was an interesting very steep rocky climb, then 10-15 minutes descent down similar. I would have been keen to wait and watch the 4WD coming the other way without winch. Hopefully he turned around.

Categories: 4WD, Australian Outback, Camper Trailer, Car, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Location, Mitsubishi, Offroad, Photography, TAS, Tasmania, Travel, Travel Adventure, Tyres | Tags: , , , , , | 5 Comments

Lake St. Clair

Heading south from Trial Harbour we didn’t stop long in Strahan and pressed on to Lake St Clair. Parts of the highlands reminded us of the Alpine regions in NSW, though between the forests emerged plains of tussock grass and heaths that were blooming in pink and yellow (gorse). Every road we drive has spectacular spring blooms. The standout on this leg was the deep red waratah that is interspersed in the forests approaching Lake St. Clair. The lake is the deepest in Australia at almost 200m, and with the altitude has very cold waters, a perfect place for Xavier to attempt the class challenge swim in Australia’s coldest waters.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After eight, yes, eight Weetbix for breakfast he donned a spring suit and jumped into the icy waters, emerging after the agreed one minute timeframe. Job done he even volunteered to take his brother in for a second time.

We thought the campground was a bit pricey for what it offered and when each shower costs a dollar on top of that you’d expect they would be prepared to change money, but it was only done reluctantly. Time to move on to better places.

Categories: Australian Outback, Challenges, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Location, National Park, TAS, Tasmania, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.