FAIRY TALE FERN GLADE (OR THE PLATYPUS BLOG)



Somerset Caravan Park

 This one is from the heart folks, as the day I write about will forever remain with me. I will keep it tucked in a small corner of my heart, secure there to be brought out and remembered whenever I am in need of a little magic.
First things first however! We finally dragged ourselves away from Stanley and turned back east as far as Somerset – a small suburb of Burnie. This is our ‘jumping off spot’ for Strahan and the centre of the island. The morning we left Stanley, we discovered whilst completing our usual regime of lights and checks that the braking lights on the van were not working correctly. To be fair to Jezabelle (the van) we have had absolutely no problems with her in the past, although once, just around 1 month ago the brake lights did refuse to go on until DD sprayed the appropriate contacts with good old WD40. This time no amount of spraying would fix the problem. The odd thing was the lights would come on some of the time, but very faintly. We tinkered with the problem for some 15 minutes or so until finally we (DD) decided we would just take it very carefully and make maximum use of the indicators etc for the benefit of any following traffic. We were only travelling some 70 odd ks back to Burnie so took off albeit very cautiously.
We arrived at our destination The Somerset Beachside CP without incident. The CP there is well priced and whilst nothing flash, is spacious and the amenities are clean. The manager told us that things are tough in his industry with so many travellers opting for the plethora of free parks available in Tassie. The Burnie council have provided plenty of free parks in their area. The poor bloke had our sympathies – we do try to utilise the CPs as we believe they provide a great service and let’s face it, if everyone insists on free parking, these places will diminish dramatically and then as the councils sell off the land for the free parks when land values increase (as is the want of councils everywhere) where will we caravanners be? The CP used to be a drive in cinema, and has a cafe and nursery at the front. It was all very pleasant and we can vouch for the quality of their coffee.
First order of business was to see to the tail lights on Jezzy. Another oddity now appeared – they would work fine when the headlights were on, but still refused to brighten sufficiently if the headlights were turned off. Nothing DD could do would fix the problem, so off we went to source new ‘bits’. We found an auto shop and DD purchased a new Lead Connector from the car to van and a new Electrical Plug which he duly installed on the car (Zed) – hoping to cover all bases. DD tells me incidentally, that the new Lead Connecter has an LED display showing which leads are active. I am told this is very exciting! Right, all hands on deck and yours truly duly positioned at the rear of the van in order to check the lights once again (yes this was by now a much repeated procedure) – and............................................NUP – NOTHING, still the lights stubbornly refused to perform as required. No change at all in fact. By now girls, you will appreciate that The Bloke had decided The Woman must be getting it wrong – so places were reversed so that he could see the malfunctioning lights for himself as surely The Woman must have it wrong! Guess what? Not bloody working!
OK next step is to talk to another bloke – great, a builder staying at the CP is enlisted and the two blokes spend considerable time going over what DD has already done and the building bloke, himself a sparky, and DD jointly agree that it is a job for an auto electrician. The builder bloke recommended just the man and he was duly contacted and arrived promptly at the CP to check out the problem. Now all the women out there will just soooooooooo appreciate this. DD jumped behind the wheel, the auto electrician took his place at the rear of the van and voila!!!!!!!!!!! Everything worked perfectly. Nothing DD could do would cause any sort of malfunction while that man was there. Don’t you just love it? How many times have we girls taken a vehicle to the repairers only to have the ‘funny noise’ disappear? How many times have we been made to feel like idiots when the ‘imagined’ problem couldn’t be found? Crunch time really came however when the nice auto-electrician asked DD for $45 for the call out. Guess who wasn’t happy. Anyway, long story short, we have decided that we will from now on in, travel at all times with the headlights on – something we really should have been doing anyway in the opinion of The Woman.


DD  On The Look Out

Just in case you were wondering, no this is not the magical memory I will tuck away in my heart, but it will continue to bring a smile to the dial for a while. When we took our river cruise on the Arthur River we were told if we were very lucky we might spot a platypus – needless to say that didn’t happen. The skipper’s off-sider, Mouse did however give us a tip about a little place just out of Burnie where we would be almost certain to see platypus, even during the day. Armed with this piece of information we went in search of Fern Glade where the platypuses live. We shall forever be grateful to Mouse for this information as Fern Glade turned out to be a small (and free) paradise along the Emu River just east of Burnie.

Stunning Reflections

We had planned to be at the Nature Reserve early in the morning but didn’t actually manage to get there until sometime around 11am. The morning was delightfully sunny and there was absolutely no breeze. All good! The nature reserve there is just a dream – lush rain-forest hugging the banks of a sleepy little river. Massive tree ferns dip their fronds lazily in the still waters while tall eucalypts reach their slender branches to the sky. Green parrots skimmed the branches and happy little wrens flitted amongst the grasses and fallen branches overhanging the water. The rainforest was greener and more lavishly adorned with mosses and tree ferns than the Tarkine and the overwhelming effect was indeed one of magic and enchantment. We wandered slowly along the banks of the river, watching the birds and scanning every ripple in the water. We saw many water bubbles rising to the limpid surface and wondered at their source. Of course, in these rivers live fresh water cray, eels and other fish as well as our hoped for platypuses; even if we didn’t spot a platypus, we would be happy.

First Sighting

As it turned out, DD was the first to see our elusive creature swimming on the surface of the river and then duck-diving to the bottom in search of water bugs. We held our collective breath and lo and behold, he resurfaced. Now folks, I hope you don’t think too badly of me here, but I have never seen a platypus before, not even in captivity and I was just thrilled. What an amazing little creature! We were spell-bound watching our little friend fish and hunt. Before I could catch up with DD the little platypus clambered onto a piece of log and gave himself a good scratching. I missed this, but DD caught in on his trusty Canon. We must have stayed there watching the magic for quite some time until the peace was shattered by a teacher with a group of noisy adolescent school kids in canoes. I guess for these locals platypus are a little blah, and of course, they are teenagers! Amazingly after this group had passed upstream and back again, our little mate did resurface, but only once before turning in for the day. We were just so happy to have seen him and consider ourselves blessed. We had been told by numerous locals that we had no chance of seeing a platypus in daylight hours!

Up On The Log For A Good Scratch

In The Clear

Incidentally, just before I leave you this time, can I say I have had more than enough ‘DAD Humour’ to last me for quite some time. I suppose most of you are familiar with the Koala/platypus joke – just in case, There was a bloke fronting the magistrate on the charge of eating koala – he pleaded his case with the magistrate, explaining that he had spotted the koala on the side of the road, dead, after it had been hit by a car. He further explained that he had 6 hungry children to feed and didn’t think it would be disrespectful to eat the little beast rather than have it die for nothing. As luck would have it, the magistrate agreed and let him off with a warning. Just as the bloke was about to leave, the magistrate beckoned him to him and asked “Just as a matter of interest, what did the koala taste like?” “Oh not too bad you know” answered the bloke – “not unlike platypus your honour!” Hmmm, no don’t apologise, I don’t think it is funny either – and boy oh boy am I tired of DD and all his hairy mates re-creating this old acorn at every opportunity with questions like, “what did it taste like” and responses like “like koala, but a bit more salty” – enough – yes darling that does mean you and Steve, and Wayne, and Peter, and...........................................!

Magic Circles

Anyway folks, that is just about it for now until next time when I talk to you from Strahan. I really wish I could include more photos as the ones taken on Platypus Day were just amazing. The effects of the reflections, the sun and the ripples around our magical mate were just that, magical. So.....until next time, keep the jokes nice and let a little magic into your lives. Steph.

Farewell To The Ferny Fairy Glade And The Magic Reflections