NOSTALGIC NEW NORFOLK (2)

Early Morning on the Derwent

The Flight Of The Peking Ducks

Yes, well one of the reasons we are here in Tasmania is to experience a cooler climate. We can already tick that box – mind you I’m sure Tassie has some much colder weather to throw our way yet. Still, we are experiencing overnight temps close to zero and daytime temps that do not make it to 20 degrees and it’s only April! I actually am enjoying the cooler weather but paradoxically missing the sunshine. I like the cool weather but what I really love is those clear, crisp autumn days at home where the sun shines down on us and the air sparkles like champagne. We did actually have one of those beautiful days a couple of days back, but I have to say those days seem a rarity. Most of the time, so far at least, the days are grey. Clouds hug the hill tops and thick white mist crouches in the valleys. A pale and insipid sun peeks sporadically through the greyness promising warmth but not delivering. To enhance the feeling of gloom, smoke left over from the bushfires mixes with the low clouds and creates a spectral mist everywhere – making everything seem slightly fuzzy around the edges. Oh, perhaps that’s just my failing eyesight!

Rural Contrasts

In my last blog I mentioned our friend Lee (she). Now Lee (she) has a beautiful daughter who currently works and lives in Perth. As we were planning on visiting with Lee (she) for a little while, she (Lee) has asked if we would like to House Sit while she (Lee) visits the beautiful daughter in Perth for a couple of weeks. Well – what a wonderful idea! We agreed to go and visit Lee to see what the drive-way and parking situation would be like for our van and so a date was set for a visit. She (Lee) lives in Kingston, high up in the hills towards Mt Wellington. DD bravely drove through the Hobart traffic (about half as bad as Perth traffic) to take us to Kingston. We managed to find our way to the gravel roads that lead into Lee’s place and then proceeded to ‘hill climb’ our way to the home. The roads are gravel, narrow, steep and pot-holed, but DD is confident we will manage to get Jezabelle into Lee’s driveway. I hope the bloke is right! As there is a circular drive we should be able to exit OK too.

The house is a cedar style home nestled into the hill-side and boasts some delightful views through the heavily wooded mountainside and across the Hobart waters. She (Lee) is, like me, an animal nut and has an abundance of wildlife she watches out for from her wooden bower. Numerous Pademelons hop up towards dusk to see what goodies they might score from Lee’s vegetable garden and at night a few possums wander around looking for titbits. She (Lee) tells me there are also a family of owls who roost in the surrounding trees at night, serenading her with their mellow hoots.

Derwent at Rest

She (Lee) also has a beautiful and sensitive elderly border collie, Daisy and a rambunctious young Maine Coon cat, Bugsy. Did I mention in my last blog, that she (Lee) is manic, frenetic and somewhat nutty? Good, saves me explaining that a second time. During our first visit, she (Lee) made us incredibly welcome (something for which I shall be eternally grateful) and proceeded to try to give us her entire library (considerable) and an array of homemade relishes and sauces to take away with us. The library of course, was just a loan, but there are only so many books one can fit in a caravan. She (Lee) is a keen gardener and had an abundance of tomatoes which she had been bravely attempting to bottle into sauces and relishes. She (Lee) seemed to be awash in the stuff. I must say it is all delicious too!

She (Lee) was disappointed when we refused her hospitable invitation to stay for dinner. She had already made us lunch. At her insistence (we didn’t need much pushing) we agreed to return a week later and stay a couple of nights, thus getting a feel for the critters and the house before taking on the responsibility of house-sitting. The next week saw us, minus van, once again taking the ‘hill climb’ to the little house in the hill. This time I was able to reciprocate a little by taking a few odds and sods with us to try and balance Lee’s incredible generosity. It is somewhat like taking Ice to the Eskimos mind you. There seems to be nothing really that she (Lee) needs.

Morning Diamonds

During our first visit, when she (Lee) was inviting us to come and stay with her, it evolved that I had never tasted Peking Duck, and that DD remembered fondly Lee’s preparation of that succulent dish in his somewhat misspent youth. I have since learnt not to even hint at something you would like in Lee’s presence as she will then go out of her way to make sure you have your heart’s desire. She (Lee) immediately promised to make preparations for Peking Duck on our return. In the interim period, between visits, we were regaled, via email, of the exploits of the two unfortunate birds who were to grace our plates later in the week. These poor plucked creatures, had to be soaked in vodka (poor babies) and then hung to dry for a couple of days. Hanging vodka soaked plucked and pinked ducks is no easy feat when one has a mischievous young cat whose legs are permanently hollow, a foxy old collie and swarms of wasps.

We received emails describing swarms of wasps streaming after the pink and plucked ducks followed by the exploits of an eager young cat who obviously considered these pink treats would suit his tummy very well.

By the time we arrived for our two day visit the ducks were just about to be placed in the oven away from the predations of drunken wasps and anxious cats. In due course, despite what seemed to be domestic chaos, the ducks arrived on our plates with all the traditional accompaniments and we and our fellow guests were treated to a wonderful ducky treat. I am such a terrible old hypocrite – I really love ducks – they are such beautiful creatures and the sight of ducks swimming placidly about on the water always warms my heart, and yet, and yet, I can sit down and consume duck and thoroughly enjoy the experience. Oh the shame!

Daisy Peeking Wistfully at the Peking

She (Lee) absolutely blitzed the ducks – they were amazing and delicious – then, bless me, she produced the most incredible Sticky Date Pudding which she served with home- made liquorice ice-cream and dollops of cream. Oh wow! Needless to say we all consumed way too much food and some of us, who you ask, ‘why not me’ she said, consumed a wee bit too much of the liquid refreshments as well.

Now we come to the flight of the Peking Ducks – we all sorted out dishes and the general residual chaos that emanates from a night like this, but at the end of the night we still had two not just plucked, but pretty well...................................ducks to dispose of – well the frames of the ducks at least. Now, I did mention that she (Lee) has a somewhat flimsy hold on sanity– yes, I do believe I did – so I was not too surprised when at the end of a brilliant evening, she (Lee) decided that the ducks deserved to be set free to fly off to whatever home they had come from. To this end, she (Lee) cast the poor denuded creatures, now minus not only their feathers but also their pretty pink flesh out into the dark night skies, hoping against hope that they would despite all their sad depletions, fly to freedom once again.

Reluctant Sunshine on the Derwent

It would appear that it was I, not she (Lee) who was not quite sane as in the morning, when we peered somewhat anxiously over the balcony where the freedom flight had taken place, there were no ducks to be seen! They had obviously taken their opportunity and flown away, featherless and fleshless, back to their home. As there are no carnivorous critters living in Lee’s back yard and both the Daisy the Dog and Bugsy the Cat had been confined to quarters overnight, we can only conclude the ducks made a break for freedom. Now I feel better about consuming the poor creatures as it seems I was able enjoy my repast whilst not impinging on the welfare of the ducks. Amazing!

We had an wonderful two days visiting with Lee and are looking forward to spending another couple of days with her before house-sitting on the 7th May for a couple of weeks.

The only down note about all of this was DD losing his wallet. On the way to stay with Lee, we stopped off to grab a few things to take with us (the ice to Eskimo stuff) and then as we had not stopped to eat lunch, decided to be very naughty and stop in at Mackas for a quick bite. Yes, I know, we should never have gone there, and everything that happened subsequently was very much our own fault. We learned this bad habit after mum passed away last year. The Funeral Directors were right next door to a Mackas and we went there for a fortifying coffee one day. They do have excellent coffee! It was a sad day indeed, as in the 10 plus years we had been together, we had never been to a McDonalds store – until last August. Whilst there we thought we would try their Angus Burger – bad mistake! They are actually nice! Since then, we have from time to time repeated our crime and gone again into the Golden Arches for a happy but very guilty meal. This day, the same thing happened and as we were walking back to the car after our meal, DD noticed he did not have his wallet. We could find it nowhere and DD rushed off to the bank to cancel all the cards while I retraced our steps trying in vain to locate the lost wallet. There is incidentally a very important lesson to impart here. Under no circumstances get behind the wheel of a car when you have just lost your wallet and the ramifications of the loss are still racing through your head. My very sensible and grounded bloke nearly managed to get us killed or at least severely maimed in the first few moments after the loss had become apparent. Even DD with his Very Good Brain did a minor panic during that drive to the bank.


Glorious Autumn


Of course, it was my fault. I had insisted that DD change his jumper before leaving to visit Lee – I had shockingly insisted that he wear something clean and not quite so moth-eaten as his usual gear. What a wicked woman! It turns out that the pockets in the fresh jacket are not very spacious and THAT is why said wallet jumped out of his pocket. As I said, My Fault – OK – Whatever! What probably was my fault was that I did go back and check where we had been sitting at McDonalds and saw nothing. I spoke to the other people in the cafe and the staff, but nothing.

When we told Lee about the loss, she was confident we would never see the wallet or its contents ever again. She (Lee) assured us in dark tones that the folk in New Norfolk are directly descended from the bad hombres who were imprisoned on Norfolk Island (true story actually) and as such would not have even let the wallet touch the ground before scooping it up and utilising the contents for their own nefarious purposes. The fact that DD did think he might have dropped it on the ground outside the local TAB added somewhat to that sad belief. I, having one of these nefarious convicts in my own antecedents, felt a little wounded by her inferences of inherited impurities.

DD has always been a super lucky cuss (he has me doesn’t he?) and later that afternoon he received a call from the McDonalds cafe – the wallet had been handed in after my visit! When we finally collected it 2 days later it was completely intact – even down to the couple of hundred dollars inside it. As I said, very, very lucky! In the meantime we had cancelled our Visa cards and arranged for my son Brett to pay DD’s driver’s license which had fortuitously arrived in the mail at home the previous day. We have since received the new cards in the mail and all is back to normal. Lucky, lucky man! The people of New Norfolk can hold their heads high as they are obviously amongst the most honest folk on the planet (along with yours truly of course). Full marks too to the young manager at McDonalds as he did all the right things, down to putting the wallet in the safe for us until we could collect it.

Afternoon Delight

So our visit to Lee was eventful and enjoyable. DD has his wallet back and all is well with the world. I have to say a positive word or two about my bloke here too. My granny once wrote in my autograph book “A Man worthwhile is one who can smile when everything’s gone all wrong” – DD is just such a bloke. He can get very odd indeed over small stuff, but when a major like this happens, he is calm itself (once the Visa has been cancelled that is) and even managed to remain quite cheerful; he didn’t really blame me, well, not much anyway and he kept his equilibrium through the whole experience. Priceless!

We are now at the time of school holidays again and so have decided to stay in this lovely caravan park until the 5th May when we will tow Jezzy up the ‘hill-climb’ to stay with Lee. I will keep blogging between now and then however, as we still have a couple of escapades I have not filled you in on, and we plan on taking a few more excursions from here as well.

Stay tuned as I come back to regale you with the horrific story of the bum-numbing, nerve tingling near death excursion to the peak of Mt Wellington and the case of the slavering camels. Until next time, laugh well and fly free – Steph.

Priceless

NOSTALGIC NEW NORFOLK (1)

Reflections of Autum - New Norfolk on the Derwent

(Bountiful Bonorong & Barney the Runaway Wombat)

Hello! Well you have had a bit of a break from my ramblings, now you have to pay! Firstly, thank you so much for the encouragement and acknowledgements I received following my last somewhat pathetic request for a response. It was childish of me but I was extremely gratified by all the wonderful emails I received. I shall not ask again – well not soon anyway.

Now, on to more important things – what have we been up to since my last blog? Perhaps the reason I haven’t blogged is that we haven’t really been on the move, even though we have been quite busy. We moved from the beautiful Mt Field National Park to the picturesque and historical town of New Norfolk – that was a couple of weeks ago and guess what, we are still in New Norfolk!

Perhaps we were just ready for a bit of a break, or perhaps it is the sheer comfort of this Caravan Park, whatever the reason, we are more than happy to stay here for a little bit. We have not been idle during our stay here however, and have visited a few spots readily accessible from here.



Cloud Reflections

 The first of these was Bonorong Wildlife Park – this was actually quite by accident. Our map showed a Wildlife Reserve at Bagdad and that was what we set out to find, find it we did but from our perspective at least, it was a total non event. We found a gate – the gate had a collection box which asked for a $2 coin – we duly inserted coin and drove in, closing the gate behind us, and found................absolutely nothing! Well, there was a bit of a shelter and some seats and a map giving directions – I suppose we should have looked at the map.....but..............there are some days when the navigator doesn’t dare make those sort of suggestions to a somewhat disgruntled driver...............that was one of those days! We simply sat in our 4 wheeled armchair and watched through the windows in bemused silence as the seemingly virgin bush looked back in at us. Hmmm, I believe this was just what it said it was, a wildlife RESERVE!!!! Not a wildlife park. The idea was to get out and walk through the virgin bush and get up close and personal with the real thing. Yep, well that didn’t happen. We simply drove through the available road space and back thru’ the gate, shutting it firmly behind us. Why the place was specially noted on the map is beyond us, but hey, it was a really pretty drive and the day was beautiful with soft blue skies scattered liberally with fluffy mauve clouds echoed by deep purple cloud shadows across the gilded hills and limpid waterways.

We took a side-street to drive through the pretty little town of Kempton – a small farming town doing a good impersonation of my idea of a tiny English village. Along the way we stopped and had some fairly typical road-side fare (truckie style) at a servo which advertised ‘Mood Food’ – the name appealed, but the food was not really all that wonderful – adequate, but really the epitome of all servo food the country over, albeit plentiful. Sitting outside the servo eating our deep fried fare was quite surreal however, overlooking sculptured golden hills dotted with bleating sheep.


Beautiful Old Church at Kempton



Our Luncheon Companions


On the way home we stumbled over a great wildlife park near Brighton. The park is called Bonorong. As we had set out to see a wildlife park we decided to drop in. We were still hunting the elusive Barney at that stage. What? I haven’t told you about Barney? How very remiss of me. Sorry! Right, well we have a mate living down here in Tassie and she (Lee) had been guiding us from afar, recommending various venues and sights to see. Mt Field was one of the areas she had recommended. Now, I had only met Lee once, and that had been at Trent’s wedding (Trent is DD’s son) and as that had been for me a somewhat frenetic and nervous time, I didn’t have very clear memories of Lee. I did remember a vivacious and happy individual, but it hadn’t really registered that she (Lee) was actually at least moderately insane.

Sorry, but this story does require a little explanation. Now I was a little nervous of she (Lee) as she had been and still is a good friend of DD’s ex, and I was not quite sure of my welcome etc,. Having since met she (Lee) I can now tell you that she is quite mad, and absolutely wonderful –a great gal who I hope I can now consider a friend. So this is all background stuff. Anyway, she (Lee) had recommended not only Mt Field but also a wildlife park there called ‘Something Wild’. The main attraction there, being a young wombat called Barney. What I hadn’t understood about Lee was her compulsion for ‘finding out’. We looked and looked for ‘Something Wild’ all to no avail – finally discovering it had, like so many businesses in Tassie, closed its doors. Well – disaster! What happened to Barney? Lee had told us in her emails about Barney the Wombat – Barney was brought up at the park and had failed the freedom test. It seems they had tried to repatriate Barney to the bush, but he refused to go, resorting even to swimming the swiftly flowing river to come back home to the park. Lee was devastated as she had been a huge fan of Barneys’. She was understandably worried about the little fella.

Could This Be Barney?

There ensued from here a manic game of ‘Where’s Barney’ – we were firmly told in no uncertain terms that we had to find the delinquent wombat. Ever tried to find a needle in a haystack? Same thing! She (Lee) was so insistent we dare not fail in our endeavours. We had been told by a lady in the know that all the animals from the shelter had been passed on to other wildlife institutions – we thought Bagdad would have been a likely spot and that was the main reason for our journey there.

Needless to say, our search at Bagdad was fruitless. We walked thru’ the entrance to Bonorong however, and asked the nice young man at the counter about the animals from ‘Something Wild’ and he advised us that they had all been repatriated to the bush. When we told him about the aberrant Wombat and his refusal to ‘go native’ he recognised the story and was able to tell us, finally, that Barney is alive and well and living the life of Reilly with a bloke who loves him. Thank Goodness For That – finally a happy ending to the Barney saga.

So...Bonorong is a very good and well run Wildlife Park and I would strongly recommend it for those of you who wish to see our native animals in a semi natural environment. They had a good number of Tassie Devils there along with some white wallabies, large roos and various birds. I was horrified to see two magpies in a cage – they did have a bit of a sad story having been hand reared and then handed in as their carer had no license to keep them. Not knowing the full story I suppose I should keep my criticisms in check, but really! Maggies in cages – horrid thought I think. I am really missing my maggies – we see so few here. In fact, we really see very few native birds here full stop. Certainly though, there are numerous blackbirds and sparrows. We do see the odd Currawong, Kookaburra, Wren and parrot. There are copious numbers of the Tasmanian Forrest Raven and abundant Banded Lapwings, but sadly very few magpies. I really am pathetic, as I become very animated and excited when I glimpse the odd magpie along the way. Perhaps the east coast will be different. One of the favourite residents at the park was an Old Man Kangaroo – much like one we had at Bullsbrook. This old bloke had taken up residence in the middle of the lawn and was not about to move for anyone. One of the rangers there told us he seemed to get more food than anyone else as he always managed to get the sympathy vote. We were told he had been there from a young Joey.

Life is Tough Sometimes

A Rare White Wallaby

It would seem that I have a bit too much to tell you in one go, so I’ll be kind and split this into a couple of issues. I will tell you though, before I go, that this is a great little Caravan Park. We are right on the banks of the Derwent River, the bays are huge and generally drive through, the amenities are not new, but very sound and clean, the whole area is well grassed and the place is pet friendly. The rates here are also very good, particularly if you are staying for a week or more. The park is council owned and has had the same very obliging and amenable manager for some 6 years. The park is pretty well protected from strong winds as it sits down behind rocky walls. The town of New Norfolk is historic and has many, many historical and somewhat quaint buildings. The European influence here is very strong and with advent of cooler weather the autumnal colours of the trees along the river bank are getting to be quite exceptional. The town is not huge but does boast a Woolies for grocery shopping and an absolute abundance of antique shops – none of which we have been into. I figure it is best not to be tempted! After all, we ARE in a caravan.

Just Dont Disturb Me With All That Raking!

So until next time when we will talk about the flight of the Peking Ducks – be kind to each other and never give up. Steph.

It's OK Guys, Ducks, not Geese!

MERITORIOUS MT FIELD

Beautiful Russel Falls

G’day – you know most people we see in and around Caravan Parks use the Aussie vernacular G’day more than any other mode of greeting. I have tried simple Hellos, Hi’s, Good Mornings and all the others, but it seems that Slim had something with his G’day, G’day - usually followed, I might add by “How’re you goin?” Even the international tourists seem to have picked up on G’day.

Well, we are still in Mt Field – have been here for almost 2 weeks – longest stay yet since arriving here in the Apple Isle. The long stay is partly due to Easter and wanting to make sure we had a bay somewhere, partly ‘cause we really like this spot and partly ‘cause I have bin crook. Those bloody spots!!! Almost gone now I’m happy to say and the throat is feeling better and so am I in general, albeit not quite 100% yet.

Due to the longish stay I even dug my paints out to have a bit of a go, but sadly the cold weather combined with a very worrying lack of talent and or real drive to paint, they have sat unloved and unused except for a desultory brief attempt and a few sad daubs of paint on what was a pristine canvas before I despoiled it. Hopefully better weather along with better health will see a better effort – otherwise you are all doomed to be swamped by Blogs as I look elsewhere for a creative out.

Can I ask a bit of a favour here? Is anyone reading the blogs? I know I have a terrible tendency to be super long winded and wordy, but I would like to think that someone somewhere is getting something from them. I have not had any comments either privately or via email for a little while and am wondering if my readers have all fallen by the wayside. Could you just let me know if you are at least looking at the pics, just so I know there is some value aside from the personal, in writing the blogs. I do enjoy the writing, but being abysmally human I also would like to know if I have any readers out there.

Bush Fires Have Left Their Scars on the Way to Mt Field

Anyway, to more important matters, I hope that everyone had a wonderful and peaceful Easter – we certainly did. Having been in this park for a little while now, we have of course made friends (as all good campers do) with a couple of other folk here and the little camp is quite social. We were inundated briefly by young families who flocked in for the 3 main holidays – it was one of those quintessentially happy/sad times, watching other families interacting and missing our own young ones. We have to say too, that the multitude of children running (read biking) around the camp were super well behaved and we had no problems at all with any of the rather ferocious looking folk/families which descended on this place.

DD commented on the strange appearance of some of the little tots here - the mystery was cleared up when I pointed out that the children here wear many more layers of bulky clothing than our tots at home. They look like multi-coloured little Eskimos all rugged up in their quilted jackets, beanies and mittens (and it’s only April!).

Mt Field is a very pretty camping ground situated in a National Park just at the bottom of the Central Midlands/Highlands and bordering on the Derwent Valley. The amenities here are quite good and the rates at $20 per night more than comfortable. The bays here are reasonably sized, whilst not large and the whole place is very ‘doable’. The campsite sits on the banks of a pretty little river called the Tyenna. The babbling of this brook keeps us company thru’ the days and the super quiet nights.

Thats Us!

The weather since we arrived here has been generally wet and cold, with just a little respite here and there. Underfoot is a little muddy, but in the main, pretty good. As we are down in the valley here, the winds have left us alone most of the time, although we did have to pull the awning in one evening due to high wind gusts. It is a little un-nerving sitting here looking up at the movement of the trees way above us. This place sports what they call the tallest flowering plant in the world, the Swamp Gum. These trees are incredibly tall and slender – the high winds which seem to catch them but not us, cause them to career around in a most erratic manner. As tree-fall is a big problem here in the forest, I have been just a little concerned at these forest giants and their aerial dancing.

We have not seen a great deal of wild-life here, although there are plenty of pademelons and the possums are active at night. I have to say, we have not really sat outside in the evenings here, so there may very well be more animals here than we have been conscious of. The birds are scarce here as well – something we are getting used to here in Tassie. We are hoping that the East Coast will be a little better for bird life.

There is plenty to do here. Russell Falls, allegedly the prettiest falls in Tasmania are a 10 minute walk from the visitor centre (alongside the campsite). Another couple of falls are a slightly longer distance, but easily reached by someone of reasonable fitness.

Incredible Scenery Along The Way to Gordon Dam

Gordon Dam and Lake Pedder are the ‘must see’ items in the region and involve a longish drive of around one and a half hours through some of the most amazing country we have seen so far in our travels here; heavily forested with tall timber and tree ferns the road winds up and down some steep and mountainous terrain. The road eventually culminates at the Gordon Dam. This enormous body of water is part of the hydro scheme here and is tags into yet another body of water Lake Pedder. The body of water which is now Lake Pedder, was once two smaller alpine lakes, now combined to form part of the hydro system.

We Came Face to Face with This Mountain

Lake Pedder

Even though the weather was not entirely wonderful on the day we drove to Gordon Dam, the scenery was indeed stunning. We stopped and had lunch at Ted’s Beach – a small free camp on part of Lake Pedder. This little spot was quite idyllic and had reasonable facilities including kitchen and toilets but not showers. A couple of days ago a small van came into the bay next door to us here, the couple had been up at Ted’s Beach for a few days and had to pull their ‘pop top’ down on their last evening there due to the high winds that tore through there – bitterly cold too, we were told.

Gordon Dam

Looking Down to The Dam Wall

These mountains we travelled through to get to the Gordon Dam are quite high, the highest point of the road being around 680m and the highest peak we saw around 1200m. We have had some small snow fall on anything above 900 these past couple of nights. We are only at 192m here in the camp. Still cold by our standards here!

We have come to the realisation that the cold does not impact on us in any major way – except perhaps to keep us in bed a little later in the mornings, but the rain is the one thing that can prohibit us from getting out and sightseeing etc. Fortunately, there are a good many fine days or at least mainly fine days tucked in between the wet ones.

Ted's Beach

Thru' the Mountains on the Way Back

We took the little walk up to see Russell Falls – just stunning! Sadly for we budding photographers, the falls were just a bit too big to get into our lenses – we have done our best however. The falls far exceeded anything we saw in Litchfield – perhaps it is just the sheer beauty of the surrounds that makes them seem so special. They are surrounded by huge leafy tree ferns, mossy rocks and towering trees. The whole effect is magical. The walk to the falls is super easy, even for me. We didn’t proceed to the next Horseshoe Falls however as they involved a number of wet slippery rock steps, no handrails, and I didn’t have my trusty stick with me. Perhaps tomorrow, if I am feeling just a tad better. Each and Every Day I Fee................ you know how it goes!

So Pretty The Falls

Evidence of a Fallen Giant

What else? Hmm, we took a drive into New Norfolk to do a spot of shopping and to check out our next CP – all good, a very pretty town it appeared. We went for a hot-chocolate this morning with a couple of mates – at the very sweet little Possum Cafe in Westerway, just down the road. We took a drive yesterday up to the snow fields and Lake Dobson – no snow yet but boy was that wind cold up there. It was all very desolate and beautiful. You do realise that everything here in Tassie is beautiful – I cannot possibly hope to do justice to the beauty here, and have long since run out of superlatives – please bear with me as I simply tell you – it’s beautiful, again and again.

Well, we are away from here come Wednesday, heading marginally southwards to New Norfolk, a pretty and historic town situated on the banks of the Derwent. Until then, be kind to each other and exude your own special kind of beauty. Stephanie

His Own Special Beauty

LAUGHTER AT ST CLAIR

The Bloke!

From the rugged and maimed mountains of Queenstown we took the torturous and treacherous road to Lake St Clair, just a short drive in a south easterly direction. This is what is known at the Central Highlands and reputed to be very cold country. We can vouch for that. They had seen just a little snow a few days before we arrived and the area was still wet and chilly. Minimums were down to around 2 and max up to around 14 degrees.

The road out of Queenstown was hairy but we just took our time, pulling over to allow faster traffic to overtake when possible. One of the wonderful things about travelling with a van around Tassie is that nowhere is usually more than say one to one and a half hours further on. This means packing up and pulling out around 9ish and arriving and setting up by lunch time – very pleasant indeed.

The Lake

Lake St Clair is part of the lake and dam system that supports the hydro system here in Tasmania. I know there has been a great deal of furore about damming and the pros and cons here, and I as much as anyone would hate to see the wilderness and its creatures gobbled up by the inundation of water, BUT.....this is a clean and virtually carbon free method of producing electricity and I read at one of the dams that the rivers which feed the system, ultimately all end up in the Derwent and after going thru’ no less than 6 hydro systems to produce power, they ends up as perfectly fine drinking water when it reaches Hobart. It seems a pretty good system to me. The wilderness here is amazing and beautiful and also plentiful. It seems that with good management, research and planning, there can be both. But what do I know – probably nothing.

The Hydro

The Lake itself was quite pretty but we didn’t avail ourselves of the ferry ride around the lake as we were a little ‘boated out’ in the short term and couldn’t really see the point, although I’m sure it would have been a pretty little cruise. The weather didn’t really help as the drizzle and mist followed us from Queenstown and stayed with us for most of the three days we were in Late St Clair.

Picturesque Church at Bothwell

Stunning Scenery Along the Road

We took a very long looping drive out to The Great Lake where the water levels were quite low, then down to Bothwell where they have a Golf Museum, across to Hamilton and then back up to the Lake. This drive was around 200ks and took us a good few hours stopping to check out the museum and the hydro system along the way – the country-side was stunning however and the drive well worth the effort. The museum left our old golfer a bit bemused as he claims he has owned much of the stuff they had there at some time or another. The old buildings in Bothwell and the other little towns we passed through were quite special.

Another Quaint Old Church - Hamilton

The CP at the lake was something else – it is in the National Park and run by the people who also run the little restaurant. None of them has a very good grasp on English and obviously none of them have any understanding of caravans or caravanners. We did book our site but when we arrived, firstly the signage was non-existent and we along with many other caravanners were wandering along looking bewildered. Finally in desperation we headed into the big Information Centre there and found our way to the reception desk for the CP. The next obstacle was actually finding our booking, the problem was exacerbated by lack of English and lack of Computer Knowledge but finally we managed to give them some money and establish which site we were supposed to go to. We were told that if someone was in our site, we should just pick another and let the office know in due course. OK! So, off we went to our reserved site – the one we asked for as we have a reasonably long van – hmmmm, no 7 – not so very big at all and not so very easy to get in and out of – hmmmm, well after much deliberation we elected to squeeze ourselves into site no 2 – a little larger and a little easier to access etc . After quite a bit of backing and filling we managed to get into our site and DD went off to advise the office of the change. Not long after he returned, another happy camper came along to park in, you guessed it, site no 2 – and no, that wasn’t the last one, no less than 3 lots of campers were assigned that site that day. The whole time we were there, nobody went to site no 7 as it remained ‘reserved’. The final insult came when I went to return the key on departure – “Do you have your receipt?” I was asked by the gentle girl who manned the till – “Ummm, well, no..............” I responded, not wanting to give her the paperwork we had as they had put the wrong departure date on it, and I didn’t wish to go there! It turned out when she finally found our details that the offending receipt was still neatly attached to their copy – mm, no wonder I didn’t have it! Oh well, finally I was re-united with our $20 key deposit. The key was for the ablution block, and would you believe it, on top of the $30 per night they charged, they also charged $1 to have a shower. A bit over the top I thought.

Our First Visitor

And The Second!

The saving grace of the camp, for us, was the animals. The place was alive with critters of all shapes and sizes. We braved the wet and cold conditions and sat outside after tea in the evening and waited to see who or what would come around. First we had a small and very tame little Pademelon visit – he moseyed around for quite a while. While he grazed we were visited by what we think were a group of little Thornbills and then a large and very cheeky Currawong came along to see what was going. As the darkness descended, we heard small rustlings and there before our eyes was the most beautiful little Eastern Quoll – what a delightful and pretty little creature. Soon we had up to five of these beautiful little animals cavorting around us. They were a little like red squirrels – pretty reddish fur and slightly bushy tails. They are spotted like their western cousins, but are much smaller and I think, sweeter. Before long, we were joined by a huge grey brush tail possum who just casually wandered around our feet. The quolls were not particularly impressed with his company and gradually left. The possum was then joined by a much smaller black brush tailed possum who was even cheekier. At one stage he just appeared next to me on the awning support and proceeded to climb to the top and onto the awning. Now we are not too keen on having them on the awning, as their claws are long and sharp. Mr Black Possum made a terrible mistake – he sat on the awning and allowed his big brush tail to hang down in a very decorative manner. DD crept quietly moved across and gave that hairy appendage a good sharp tug – well, I can tell you, that possum could really move! He took off like the proverbial race horse goanna – belted across the awning and off the other side. He wasn’t discouraged for long however and was soon back sniffing around. During the night, he and his hairy mates kept us entertained by dancing all over the roof of the van. I could see the little monsters running across in front of the skylight as I lay in bed. We did actually get one fine night whilst in Lake St Clair and the stars were enormous – looking up thru’ the skylight through the alpine gums to the stars above was a special treat.

And Then Along Came.....

And His Mates!

The only downside to our recent adventures is some weird bug I have picked up which involves feeling slightly unwell, slightly snuffly, slight sore throat and major itches! This is like having a severe case of measles or some such – I have exhausted all immediate means of reducing itching, including, Calamine Lotion, Cornflour, Bio Oil and copious quantities of anti-histamines. Hopefully it will quickly take its course and leave the building so to speak. My only other hope is that the bloke doesn’t catch it whatever it is – my patience is limited at the moment and an itchy scratchy bloke would just be too too much right now I think.

Next - Our Very Large Mate

And His Little Friend - Whose Tail Was Tugged

He Thought It Was Funny At Least

From Lake St Clair we head further south (albeit ever so slightly) to Mt Field, another national park – we will catch up with you there – until next time, hone that sense of humour, you never know when you will need it. Steph

Beautiful Surrounds

The Thinker

QUARRIED QUEENSTOWN

Just about everyone we met who had been to Queenstown told us how dreadful it was! Not much to look forward to it seemed. I had even seen a documentary once that declared Queenstown to be the ugliest town in Australia....Hmmmmm........not good! So what can we deduce by the fact that we both actually liked Queenstown. Probably says something weird about us!

Naked Hills Stripped Bare of all Vegetation

Sure the town is surrounded by mines, sure the mines have absolutely stripped the surrounding hills and mountains of all vegetation, sure they have absolutely killed the poor Queen River, sure they have poisoned the earth with sulphuric acid and other toxic waste, but you know what, you just can’t beat the wilderness. Alongside those naked hills tower fully clad mountains of tall trees, tree ferns, thick undergrowth, trickling brooks and streams and bountiful life. These fern and tree clad mountains in fact, form the back yard of many of the ramshackle houses that make up part of Queenstown.

Add to the absolute verdant growth on the untouched mountains, the incredible colours exposed by the years of copper mining and the very visible bare bones of the earth and you have an amazing orgy of colours and impressions for the eyes. The town itself is quite presentable and contains all the shops and conveniences necessary for a comfortable life. Certainly you would have to travel some distance to find ‘real’ shops, but one could live with what is provided there. The houses themselves, I must admit, were something else. They ranged from the odd fairly new and respectable dwelling, through re-furbished quaint old homes to just plain dumps – and every possible sort of thing in between.

Houses Were an Eclectic Mix 

The price of real estate is to say the least, modest and probably to a few retirees, tempting. One could purchase there and still retain a goodly amount of capital on which to live very comfortably. The weather might be a bit of a problem tho’ – the entire time we were there, all three days that is, it was wet, wet, wet. The sky rained on us and the air was just moisture laden. It seemed that like at Stanley, we were simply inside the clouds and the clouds never really left. Just days before, they had been super hot and dry. The CP was very ordinary indeed and very poorly organised. I don’t think there was much choice however and we didn’t see any plausible free camping – not that we really looked! The rain that persisted in falling on top of us, sat in moody puddles around the van and we found our own small stream just outside the door of the van. Lovely! By the time we left Queenstown everything was pretty sodden, including all our mats – nice!

Oh well, we really don’t mind a bit of rain and that is probably just as well as it looks like the dry in Tasmania has well and truly broken and since then we have had far more wet days than fine. They very much need the rain at the moment, so really, it’s all good.

While we were in Queenstown we took a couple of drives out to some of the surrounding lakes and dams and were surprised to see just how low the water levels were. The surrounding countryside is quite spectacular – the little town is completely surrounded by high mountains. We took a drive out to the lookout overlooking the town and the mines. This particular lookout is on the road out of town heading to Hobart – the very road we were to take when we departed from Queenstown. We had heard some drivers talking of the horrors of that drive, and I must say, when we ventured out to the lookout it did look somewhat scary. Doubtless the roads there are no more windy or hilly than any previously travelled, I think it is the fact that as they are bare of trees and any bush at all, one can actually see the degree of the drops off the sides of the road – more clenching in store by the look of things!

Please Tell Me That is Not the Road Out of Here (Up There!)

Thought I Asked You Not To Tell Me That!

We should have gone to the museum while we were there, as being a mining town I’m sure it would have been very interesting. The pouring rain however put a bit of a damper on our enthusiasm and we stayed indoors and stayed dry instead. Queenstown was (and to a small degree still is) a copper mining town. The 1800s saw two major companies vying for supremacy and competing for the copper. It seems that the rivalry between these two companies was extreme until finally common sense prevailed and one took over the other. Somewhere along the line too, the ultimate company learned to be more careful of the environment and started to look after the area much better.

It Is There - Right Behind All The Big Clouds

These Clouds!

I do feel for those folk who were involved in the early mining settlement there – it must have been fairly horrendous – the wilderness would have been a constant pressure as the bush fought its own battle for survival, the weather would have been for the most part unpleasant and bitterly cold in the winter. There would have been no services to speak of and life would have been tough indeed. Speaking of cold in winter, one of the more striking things to a couple of Sandgropers, is the amount of wood each home has stacked and stashed – obviously in store for anticipated freezing weather to come.

Ah well, we liked Queenstown despite all popular opinion and were rather sorry not to have explored it in greater depth – until next time – march to your own beat! Steph.

Low Water Levels in the Dams

It's Own Special Beauty