TASMANIA - Part III

Towards St. Helens

Weather appears to be clearing up as we travel up the coast from Bicheno towards St. Helen’s. Stopped for pancakes at Elephant Pass just because the signs advertising them as the best in the world made them seem too good to pass up. They were excellent, more of a crepe than a pancake, smothered in strawberries and cream.

The place is run by some women, whom we noticed peeking out the kitchen at us. One finally gathered her courage and came over. “The waitress thinks you are American...” she asked like it was a question.

“No, we are Canadian.”

“Oh ...would you know what hard sauce is?”

“Yes, I do.” With that she sat down and showed me a recipe she wanted to make from an American cookbook. It called for a final touch of hard sauce and she had no idea what it was or how to make it. Fortunately I was able to enlighten her. No discount on the crepes though!

From there the road was a real goat track, up, down, around ...narrow one-lane corners. Lovely rainforest terrain however.

Back on the ocean we spent time on some spectacular beaches. They go on and on and on, white sand beaches, turquoise waters. As we walked, however, it got colder and windier ...the skies overhead got blacker and blacker ...opening up in a torrential deluge by the time we reach St. Helen’s.

Decided it was time again for a cabin and found a very nice one at the Big Four ....clean, new fittings, new linens and so on ...all for $72. We are very happy here ...rain is actually backing off but we have decided we need a holiday from the holiday and will stay here tomorrow too. I will get some work done and he can go off and do some exploring. We’ll sleep in a real bed, clean out the van, etc.

In the morning we explored the area called The Bay of Fires. When you look at the rust covered rock outcroppings you think that is why it is called such, but apparently not. The tourist info says the explorer who named the area did so because of all the bush fires in the area. It is beautiful though, an area of unrelenting white sand, turquoise waters, foamy white surf, and huge granite outcroppings. Very lovely day. Sunny, but still fairly cool with a stiff breeze anywhere near the water.

This staying in a cabin for a few days has really been a balm for me. I realize that traveling by campervan through a civilized country like Australia is no hardship ...but between the bugs, the cold wet weather or the alternatively hot sticky weather, and the confinement of a small space ...it can wear you down as the months roll on. But I’m feeling renewed again and eager to see what is around the next corner again.

Towards Launceston

Started off by heading up to St. Columbia Falls. It’s a pleasant walk down to the base of spectacular falls. At the top I had glanced at a notice that said the walk was closed due to instability on the path ...that there had been sliding earth and the under-structure was unstable ...but figured they must be talking about some other walk. But when we came back up we had a look again and realized that this was the ONLY walk to the falls and what is more, someone had torn the hazard tape from in front of the entrance ...that the walk was officially closed.

Along the route Steve had noted places where the earth had given away and looked unstable. Being Steve, he started jumping up and down. I freaked out ....got really mad at him. He had not read the notice I had about the instability of the soil and was going on about “they would close the walkway if there was any danger.” Then we get to the top and discover that in fact they had closed the walkway.

Nice falls anyway ...and lovely walk ...downhill all the way to the base of the falls then up all the way back. Lots of those giant ferns and a babbling brook.

Drove on to Derby where we had a nice lunch. This is a former tin mining town and the old houses and shop lining the narrow main street are still there. We had lunch at the town’s only cafe ...not cheap ...two egg sandwiches, two cappuccinos, and two pieces of cake ...$30. But all very good. Went for a walk through the shops and picked up some interesting gifts.

Steve went down to their tourist attraction, a recreated village ...as it would have looked when the tin mining was in full production. Cottages, blacksmith, shops, etc. And there was a place you could pan for something. The book says there is a charge for going through the village but Steve walked around and never saw a place to pay, so didn’t go looking for it.

From there we carried on up to Bridport on the north coast. There is a nice looking beach there from afar ..but when you get close the water is so brown and dirty and there is a brown foamy scum where the waves wash in at the tideline. Very disgusting looking. Went for a good walk though anyway.

Followed on through to Launceston. This is quite a large city. We parked downtown while I looked for a place to upload my web pages ...there were two internet cafes listed in the LP ...one was gone and the other closed. Must be because of the Tasmanian policy of providing free internet access to locals. They have established 70+ online access locations within Tasmania. I’ve seen them in libraries, schools, and visitor centres. Access is free to locals and a reasonable charge to visitors. Unfortunately, while you can check your email and do all the web surfing you want, you cannot usually hook up your own laptop.

So ....gave up on that. Will upload on the mainland. Set off to find the Cataract Gorge because Steve wanted to go for a walk there. We did find it without too much trouble – it is just at the edge of the city and forms part of a large park. The park is huge, basically exploiting the beauty of a natural gorge by providing walking and hiking trails for every level of ability, as well as picnicking grounds and playing fields on the flat parts. A real asset to the city and someplace you could easily spend a day exploring.

Devonpoart and Ferry to Mainland

Today is the final day in Tassy. We get up slowly ...it is warm but the rain is threatening ...feeling it THAT close. Before I head for the shower I make the bed and put the chairs away inside the van. Sure enough. My instincts were correct. When I come out of the shower it is pouring. We came in with the rain and we’ll leave with the rain. They must be thinking we brought it.

We head up the west side of the river on the A7 towards Exeter. There is a scenic side road that takes us down to the river ...very nice. Lovely properties with beautiful gardens trailing down to the water. Of course it is grey and drizzling, but still very nice.

At Exeter we head west towards Devonport. Lovely rural road. Rolling lush green hills, lots of sheep ...as someone said, more sheep than people in Tasmania. Don’t think there is much lie to that.

Get into Devonport in early afternoon. Seems it is a public holiday in Devonport today. When I ask, “What public holiday?” The response is, “Show day, of course.”

So off we go to the Show. Cost us $12 each, but parking was free, lucked into a spot on the street right at the front door.

First up were the cattle ....huge stud bulls of every species and colour. Milking cows and calves. Lots of young people sitting around, minding their cattle, socializing. Lots of guys walking around looking important ...sizing up the cattle. Love the warm barn smells. Once a farm girl, always a farm girl.

Then the sheep barn ...you know my feelings about the smell of too many sheep in one place but these must have been cleaned up because didn’t notice it at all. Quite the variation in sheep, white, tan, brown, grey ...some with black kohled eyes, some with completely black faces. Don’t like to be touched though. The kids are very proud of the animals they’ve entered in the competition. Even the littlest ones get into the pens with their sheep to groom them.

There was a children’s petting area ..with lambs, little goats, baby piglets. Lots of tiny little chicks and ducklings. They were all together under lights and sure enough, the ducklings were swimming around in the water dish. Funny how genes win out every time. Not a single chick near the water dish, but there was Daffy paddling happily about ..all of 6 or 7 hours old.

There were pups and kittens and guinea pigs. Llamas and alpacas and birds of all descriptions. Chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons ...some looking pretty weird. There was a chart on the wall of all the different breeds of pigeons ...amazing numbers and all looking very different. Had no idea.

So then on to the sales pavilion and booths selling, Mary Kay, Tupperware, Avon, vegetable dicers, Bible tracts, life insurance, politics of several flavours, and real estate. Home Arts building had lots of crochet and embroidery and quilting and baking. The Lapidary building was all about rocks ...funny, I thought lapidary was about butterflies. Shows you what I know ..and don’t!

Had an interesting talk with a fellow about “Bushwatch.” This is a program, primarily run by volunteers who work cooperatively with the police. They have posted signs throughout parks and wilderness areas of Tasmania – big yellow signs that encourage people to report inappropriate activities in the bush – people dumping garbage, abusing animals, vandalism, etc. So far, this is a Tassy only program but it certainly seems like a good idea.

Under the category of “men with too much time on their hands” there was a display of historical engines ...fully restored and chugging away by the Historical Engines Club of Tasmania. Then there was the historical motorcycle club with all their antique motorcycles in various states of restoration. My favourite though, had to be a couple fellows with a huge display of toy construction equipment. This was all set out on a large platform ...like a toy train set up, with hills and dirt and rocks and buildings. There was a complete rock crushing mill ...and the fellow operated all this construction equipment by remote control. So he drove a dump truck up to a pile of rocks. Then a big backhoe excavator picked up rocks and put them in the dump truck. Then he drove the dump truck over to the rock crushing mill where he dumped them in. The rock crushing equipment started up ...pulleys and belts and trays ...all very complicated. The fellow said, “I started small but got kind of carried away.”

In the middle of the show grounds there were horses in dressage competition and fashion shows. There was also a pavilion devoted to the arts and the quality of the work here just blew us away. My all-time favorite piece was a full-scale sculputre of two old fellows playing checkers in papier mache.

Then, of course, the midway ...all the typical carny games and hustles. Our favourite was a rope ladder ...if you climbed all the way to the top and rang the bell you won $50. The grizzled old carny demonstrated. It wasn’t easy, but he did it. We then watched all the kids fall off trying to best him. At another attraction there was a fellow sitting on the roof of the game with a mike, hustling rubes from the crowd, while pretty young ladies circulated below selling chances. We snapped a photo of him up there ...he noticed and started saying rude-funny things about us.

Lots of carny food of course ...cotton candy, mini-donuts, corn dogs, kebabs, ice cream, etc. My favourite was a fellow selling fries who had and entertaining rap ...the last bit of which was ...”everyone’s trying, everyone’s buying.” I kept finishing it off for him, “everybody’s dying.”

We headed over to Molly Malone’s pub, for dinner. Had a good glass of Wolf Blass white, some braised beef (fish and chips for Steve). Excellent meal.

Headed for the ferry at 7 and boarded immediately. The trip back to the mainland was not as bad as the trip over ...a few lessons learned. For one thing, we were prepared with our gear. Steve took over his favourite pillow – the one he inherited from Elspeth. I took my laptop and notes and a complete change of clothes as well as washing up toweling etc.

So when we checked in we asked for seats at the front ...and got them. Then when we boarded we checked out our seats, left some gear there and went to the lounge area where we found a powerpoint next to a table and I settled down to do about three hours work while Steve read. It was very pleasant.

Checked out the “cruise” seats. These are the seats down a grade from the business class. They are exceedingly narrow ...no armrests to speak of. A narrow metal armrest akin to an aluminum beach chair is all that separates neighbours, so who puts their arm there has to be negotiated.

About 11:30 we went back to our seats and settled in to sleep. Very few people in the seats so we moved into a back row. There was no one there to recline into us or trap us in our rows. I stuffed my pack under my feet so my knees were not hyperextended.Did quite well ....slept fitfully of course, but before I knew it, the lights were on and the announcer was saying it was 45 minutes till arrival. So I washed up and completely changed my clothes.

Refreshed and ready to take on the east coast of Australia.

NEXT: Melbourne to Canberra to Sydney