Up early to a misty drizzly morning and Jons pancakes. Time to head to Lake St Clair, where the Rivers Run part of of the state, Jon will be happy he can fish!
Very windy roads to get here, we didn't stop in Queenstown the mining town didn't appeal to the senses at all. It wasn't pretty scenery up in the mountains but we made it to Derwent River and the Lake St Clair National Park, which is very pretty! Noah got another stamp at the Park Rangers office and we were told "be careful on the beach there are two snakes out there today"! As it turned out the misty drizzly morning had turned in to another beautiful sunny day. One thing is for sure, we really can't complain about the weather we have had, lucky I packed shorts and t-shirts for the kids!
And here I am now typing in the Britz with a view of Lake St Clair to my immediate right. We are camping tonight in the National Park camping ground metres away from the lake, tall gums all around us. Noah is sleeping after splashing around in the sun on the rocks at the edge of the Lake, Jazz is playing quietly after falling asleep in the backpack when Jon took her for walk to buy yet another fly fishing lure and Jon has headed off to catch some trout with his new bug lure wearing his trendy fishing boot outfit.
Hopefully we'll get to post this blog and the last 5 days worth very soon!! Internet access has been slack on the West Coast - or maybe we have?!
A few personal mentions:
Congratulations to Bek and Campbell on their engagement!
Hey Aimee we're guessing all is well on the Home Front, haven't heard any horror stories from you - or are you saving them for when we get back?!
Happy Birthday to Russell and Naomi today!
Please people comment on the blogs (or 'blobs' as Nanny Foster calls them!), we'd love to hear from you all!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Day 11 Strahan
We were up and out of Roseberry earlier than any other park! It wasn't too long a drive and we arrived in Strahan, a pretty little sea side town offering Gordon River crusies, scenic sea plane or helicopter flights and the Wilderness Railway. We walked along the Main Street weighing up the options and had breakfast at Banjos. As we missed the daily train ride and tomorrows was booked we decided on an afternoon cruise down the Gordon River aboard the Lady Jane Franklin II. The cruise left at 2.45pm and returned at 8pm. In the meantime we booked in to another Cosy Cabins park (not as good as Hadspen) and I did yet more washing while Jon took the kids fishing.
We packed our coats, toys for the kids, camera etc and headed aboard the catamaran (Jon had to run back for nappies - imagine forgetting them on a 5hr boat ride!) We had booked our seats at the front of the deck right near the kiddies play area - hooray, our kids were the only ones on the boat and they made good use of the colouring in pages and toys. We had one 1hr stop at Sarah Island which was an early convict settlement, and the giuded tour was informative. And we had a second stop on the side of the Gordon River to check out the Huon Pines and the wilderness. Most of the passengers on the cruise were from an AAT Kings Over 50s tour group, most of them told me how 'lovely' Jazz was :) The cruise also included a buffet dinner, including sweets, and free tea and coffee. And we were back in Strahan before we knew it, 5 hrs on a boat with the kids really wasn't that bad!!
We packed our coats, toys for the kids, camera etc and headed aboard the catamaran (Jon had to run back for nappies - imagine forgetting them on a 5hr boat ride!) We had booked our seats at the front of the deck right near the kiddies play area - hooray, our kids were the only ones on the boat and they made good use of the colouring in pages and toys. We had one 1hr stop at Sarah Island which was an early convict settlement, and the giuded tour was informative. And we had a second stop on the side of the Gordon River to check out the Huon Pines and the wilderness. Most of the passengers on the cruise were from an AAT Kings Over 50s tour group, most of them told me how 'lovely' Jazz was :) The cruise also included a buffet dinner, including sweets, and free tea and coffee. And we were back in Strahan before we knew it, 5 hrs on a boat with the kids really wasn't that bad!!
Day 10 Cradle Mountain
We left Stanley, headed back through Burnie and out towards mountain country. Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake, again seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Noah did manage to spot a wombat pottering along through the grasses in the paddock adjacent to the Cradle Mountains Shuttle Bus carpark. Jon even managed to get a photo and Jazz managed to fall in the mud! We were able to get our Collectors map stamped at the National Park office and did a short rainforest walk to see a small waterfall.
We drove to Dove Lake which was a hairy one laned road. Jon would have loved to get the fishing rod out at the Lake but he resisted the urge. We didn't do the 2 hour walk around the lake, I could use the kids as an excuse but my flu had really got to me. The view on the Lake with Cradle Mountain in the background was worth seeing though. And the closest we would get to snow this trip was seeing patches on top of Cradle Mountain, sadly Noah didn't get his chance to throw a snowball at me!
We decided not to stay in Cradle Mountain and instead head towards the West Coast deciding to stay at Roseberry, a choice we regretted. Dodgeville carvan park in a dodgy old run down mining town. We would be heading off real quick in the morning we were sure! But not before Jon had a practice at fly fishing in the river behind the caravan park, the river that has water not suitable for drinking or swimming! Luckily he got his line stuck in a tree and no fish were caught :)
We drove to Dove Lake which was a hairy one laned road. Jon would have loved to get the fishing rod out at the Lake but he resisted the urge. We didn't do the 2 hour walk around the lake, I could use the kids as an excuse but my flu had really got to me. The view on the Lake with Cradle Mountain in the background was worth seeing though. And the closest we would get to snow this trip was seeing patches on top of Cradle Mountain, sadly Noah didn't get his chance to throw a snowball at me!
We decided not to stay in Cradle Mountain and instead head towards the West Coast deciding to stay at Roseberry, a choice we regretted. Dodgeville carvan park in a dodgy old run down mining town. We would be heading off real quick in the morning we were sure! But not before Jon had a practice at fly fishing in the river behind the caravan park, the river that has water not suitable for drinking or swimming! Luckily he got his line stuck in a tree and no fish were caught :)
Day 9 - Driving driving driving Dismal Swamp
cos he could catch them in the dam at home!
Well by now I've got a flu and not feeling the best but hey, I soldier on the best I can! The kids enjoyed the playground and we had breakfast in the camp kitchen while Jon was fishing, Hadspen Cosy Cabins the best park we'd been to by far. The kids especially loved watching the birds in the big teddy bear head aviary and Jazz liked terrorising the resident cat. It was sad to leave such a lovely park, and even sadder when 8 hours later I realised I had left 2 of our towels hanging on the clothesline!!! I wonder how much Britz will slug us for them?!
So yeah there really wasn't too much to take our interest on these roads but we headed North West destination Stanley to see The Nut. We went a little further out of our way before getting to Stanley to visit Dismal Swamp - totally in the middle of nowhere! But thankfully we got there with an hour opening time left and we were happy but suprised to see that yes, other tourists do head there too. Main attraction for me was a massive slide, yes a slippery dip, down to the bottom of the swamp. Bad luck kids, you had to be 8 and so high to go down the slide, so it was Mum who put on the crash helmet jumped in the slide sack (a slow granny one) and went flying down the massive slide - it was so fast and I was screaming :) It was such a rush I ran halfway back up the track to get the kids off Jon so he could have a shot, reluctantly he agreed and we waited down the end to see him come flying out the end of the slide and hit the crash mattress (he wasn't on a granny sack!). Then Noah got to have his fun guiding us through the swamp using his map, climbing the troll bridge on the Giants path and going through the giant wood door, finding swamp creatures and crayfish nests. Very fun indeed - but you need the aeroguard, the mossies were gigantic. Oh and we didn't find Shrek and Fiona :(
Off to Stanley an hour later to set up camp for the night, the Nut was impressive but we didn't take the time to climb it or use the chair lift. We stayed in the caravan park which wasn't too bad, located right on the beach. We visited the local Pub for tea and being a Friday night we got to buy some good old local raffle tickets (just like in Wallaroo or Port Vincent!), we didn't win any of the 12 draws, but you should have seen the cream puffs we could have come home with if we did!
Day 8 - North East Trail of nothing.
We get up early at St Helens, kids do the usual thing and wake up the whole park, well at least they know South Australia breeds devils as well. Mel finds she is getting a rash and is worried about it so we drive in to the township and visit a doctor. The doctors prognosis is that she has had a reaction to something and to keep a check on it.
We set off in search of Ralph Falls and it is a little further than I thought, I have failed to fill up the fuel and it looks like it may get tight. A tip for anyone travelling in Tassie, don't assume that just because a major attraction is on the map that the roads are trafficable, we have been on some corkers that would scare the Nutella out of the Leyland brothers, this track proves to be no exception. The falls end up being a bit of a fizzer but hey the walk to them, or for that sake a walk anywhere in Tas, is great.
We venture on with a fuel supply in more trouble than Adelaides water supply, and with a sigh of relief an obscure town on the map turns out to be a significant one by the name of Ringarooma. The strange named town features the street trees being carved in to wood sculptures that are quite brilliant. Now replenished with Bongo juice we venture forth to Launceston, on arrival we head to the Cataract Gorge, the Gorge has a large suspension bridge, outstanding free swimming pool, the worlds biggest single span chairlift and the biggest flock of peacocks you will see, the Gorge is incredibly well looked after and the local school kids seem to make good use of it. (Mel's note - We all went on the chairlift, pretty scary stuff for a 4 year old wouldn't you think - Noah is braver than me!)
On leaving the Gorge we decide to head to a small town called Hadspen, a short drive from Launceston, only problem is we don't have a map of Launceston and end up doing three laps of the city and head past our location (kind of like our Indian cab drivers back home). The funniest thing happens, we start heading to Hadspen and end up behind a familiar looking campervan, you guessed it, its the Fuzz Heads as Mel has named them, I prefer to call them the Fuzzwalds, they end up staying two sites down from us in the park. It turns out that the park here is easily the best we have stayed at and we cook up a BBQ. Mel takes the kids to have a bath so i duck down to the local river, the South Esk to see if I can find some rising trout. I think I'll get up early and finally test my fly fishing gear as I found a local lad who told me they catch Brown and Rainbow trout, and also Atlantic Salmon.
Day 7 - Freycinet Peninusula
Day 7 already! This caravan park was funny - very close together - no privacy - lots of campervans though. Even the Fuzz Heads were there! (sorry not sure if Jon mentioned the Fuzz Heads earlier?! They seem to rock up most places we go!)
Off along the East Coast we went. First stop Freycinet National Park, kids got another stamp on our collectors map and a soft toy - tasmanian devil for Noah, wombat for Jazz. Then we went on the moderate/difficult 1.5hr return 600 step walk to Wine Glass Bay Lookout. All up hill, steep steps at some points, it was difficult for me yet Jon the human elephant managed it with Jazz on his back (in the backpack) aswell as carrying Noah for at least a quarter of the way!! So glad that we made it to the look out though! We ate lunch up there and admired the view, it was a popular spot lots of tourists to greet. Going down was much easier, but slow so as not to lose our footing. Noah was on a race though, refusing to do a pee in the bush, he had to make it back to the toilets! Jon you really need to teach your son to pee like a man!
Next stop Bicheno and the attack of the blow hole! We found another blow hole and had to walk over rocks to get to it - you could basically stand right on it - if you dared. Noah being the little smart arse stood there waiting for a wave to get him, and sure enough it did- when he wasn't expecting it! Hilarious! You should see the photos, too bad it wasn't on the DVD camera! Noah thought it was hilarious too :) Noah spotted a crab on the rocks and Jon spotted some apparent blue ringed octupus in the rock pools! We also saw someone else get hit by the spray of the blow hole, it was funny to watch she got sprayed ran a few steps jumped the gap in the rocks fell forwards and ate some rock - I don't know how the poor old lady managed the jump! I know I shouldn't be laughing, but she was saved by 2 young fellas and came away with a grazed hand. The blow hole is "Awesome" repeated Noah. It was here in Bicheno that we found an internet cafe (for obvious reasons).
Heading up to St Helens we stopped at the Douglas Apsley National Park and took a short walk to a Water Hole - wow what a find! Beautiful clear rock bottom water hole. Noah stripped off to his jocks for a paddle, Jazz half stripped and I dared Jon to take a dip. He was being a wuss about how cold it was but he did bring his bathers along - and I didn't - it would have been great to skinny dip in but we didn't want to scare the other tourists! Jon finally took the icy plunge and it must have been icy cos he was swam straight across and climbed out! Once again Noah described the water hole as "Awesome" and asked me if we could live there?!
We stopped for a cheap meal at a dodgy cheap restaurant/bar and made it here to the caravan park at St Helens. I am peeved that I missed the Elephants Pass at St Marys cos they have a renowned Pancake House! Jon is asleep before me for a change - only cos I am waiting up to do some washing, someone else is hogging the dryer!
Day 6 - Port Arthur
A quick visit to Tasman National Park for our first stamp on our National Park Collectors Map. Noah was impressed with the stamp and got one on his hand too. It would have been nice to camp there if we had time, all amenities and a nice beach.
The historic site of Port Arthur - fully worth the $55 family fee. Before we went in we had cheese and vegemite sandwiches in the Britz - how family budget is that?! We all got given a playing card which indicated which convict we were to be, and then we had to find our convict and learn about them. Noah enjoyed it as much as we did! We also got to go on a cruise around the bay on a big catamaran, listening to convict tales as we went along - it was very tempting to pay the fare to stop at the Isle of the Dead to hear more stories but we had the kids.... A ghost tour would have been up my alley too but once again it would have been too scary for the littlies! We toured the rest of the grounds of Port Arthur, very interesting history indeed! Jon made a purchase at the Gift Shop, a book telling all the stories of the convicts that were on the playing cards.
After a lengthy discussion we decided to move on up the coast and not stay in Port Arthur for the night. After stopping for petrol where we finally got a friendly Tasmanian who gave us travel advice, take the 'Forest Road' to Triabunna. So we did. So much for sticking to sealed roads in the Britz! And it was dusk so there were wallabys galore heading our way! It was not a relaxing drive, I was so tense the whole way and I was just a passenger! We made it to a caravan park after dark and I was straight to sleep - buggered!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Day 5 - The Convict Trail
Wake up, eat up, clean up, pack up. Head off to Kingston, pick up the Baby Back Pack (finally!) only $22 for the rest of the trip - bargain. Heading to Port Arthur through Hobart Jon decides to announce that he needs to stop at Spot On - a fishing gear shop, oh yes he needs to buy himself a fly fishing rod, and a reel and line and feathers and poo goo, not to mention the rubber boots attached to pants set up! So when are you ever going to use this stuff outside of this state? When I go fishing at the dam, if you wear those pants/boots down the dam you will look like a tool! Anyway, I'm just the wife. He adds his fishing purchases to the already filled to the brim van - don't forget the backpack we just added too! And off to Port Arthur we go....
We soon decided that we will take our time and cruise the Convict Trail on the way to Port Arthur. We stopped at Richmond, checked out the oldest bridge in Australia and met more ducks :) Walked down the quaint Main Street in Richmond, had lunch at the Tea Rooms that also hosted 2 mazes that we took the kids through. Stopped for a sweet treat in the old sweets shop. Visited the old Gaol and had a good look around, very interesting history. Had to mention the 'Ikey Solomon' newspaper clippings on the wall inside the gaol, old Bryce Courtenay must have done research in the area I'm thinking!
Next stop Eagle Hawk Neck, checked out some amazing wonders along the coastline. First the Tessellated Pavement, Tasman Blowhole, Tasman Arch & Devils Kitchen (Noah was disappointed there was no food there!). The blow hole was cool, Noah loved watching the water splash up big over the rocks.
We finally made it to Port Arthur, booked in to the Caravan Park, drove to Nubeen for some pizza for tea. Found internet access at a dodgy joint at the entrance to Port Arthur, Hire at Denis, that is where we finally posted our first 2 days of blogs.
So here I am ready for bed, kids asleep - and Jon threading line through his new rod!!!
Stay tuned for tomorrows Port Arthur Historic Site adventure....
We soon decided that we will take our time and cruise the Convict Trail on the way to Port Arthur. We stopped at Richmond, checked out the oldest bridge in Australia and met more ducks :) Walked down the quaint Main Street in Richmond, had lunch at the Tea Rooms that also hosted 2 mazes that we took the kids through. Stopped for a sweet treat in the old sweets shop. Visited the old Gaol and had a good look around, very interesting history. Had to mention the 'Ikey Solomon' newspaper clippings on the wall inside the gaol, old Bryce Courtenay must have done research in the area I'm thinking!
Next stop Eagle Hawk Neck, checked out some amazing wonders along the coastline. First the Tessellated Pavement, Tasman Blowhole, Tasman Arch & Devils Kitchen (Noah was disappointed there was no food there!). The blow hole was cool, Noah loved watching the water splash up big over the rocks.
We finally made it to Port Arthur, booked in to the Caravan Park, drove to Nubeen for some pizza for tea. Found internet access at a dodgy joint at the entrance to Port Arthur, Hire at Denis, that is where we finally posted our first 2 days of blogs.
So here I am ready for bed, kids asleep - and Jon threading line through his new rod!!!
Stay tuned for tomorrows Port Arthur Historic Site adventure....
Day 4 Fly Fishing, Fun for Some
7.25am the alarm goes off for Jon to get up and ready for his big Fly Fishing expedition with Bob McKinley from Fish Wild Tasmania! 8am Bob arrives and Jon is off, we don't see or hear from him again until 5.30pm that night.
After breakfast and showers I soon realise that I am not going to last all day in this van with these 2 kids in this crummy caravan park in this rain here and there weather! So I unplug the electricity, turn off the gas bottle, pack up the TV, belt up the kids and take off driving the van!!! Very big of me - even Noah was telling me I was too scared to drive it. I wasn't just scared off the van but scared of the roads too! I managed to get to the next main town along, Glenorchy, and even though it was a Sunday I found a shopping centre with shops that were open! I had heard that Tasmania was old school, so I was impressed the shops were open. I treated the kids to KFC for lunch, looked through a couple of shops and headed to the one other place open on a Sunday to kill time - the movies! We went to the only PG movie on, it stars The Rock, can't remember the name of the movie, but it was entertaining enough even Noah got in to it and cried at the sad ending :) So that was it, time to head back to the caravan park and wait for Jon and all his fish.
No fish. He did catch a few, but wasn't allowed to bring them home, no photos either - funny that!! He had a few little stories to tell and they keep coming here and there. He enjoyed his BBQ sausages for lunch and 2 beers - all inclusive - all up he reckons the learning experience was worth the $380 he paid!
The kids were happy to see Dad home and he got to spend the rest of the evening with them while I finally had MY shower and did some clothes washing.
After breakfast and showers I soon realise that I am not going to last all day in this van with these 2 kids in this crummy caravan park in this rain here and there weather! So I unplug the electricity, turn off the gas bottle, pack up the TV, belt up the kids and take off driving the van!!! Very big of me - even Noah was telling me I was too scared to drive it. I wasn't just scared off the van but scared of the roads too! I managed to get to the next main town along, Glenorchy, and even though it was a Sunday I found a shopping centre with shops that were open! I had heard that Tasmania was old school, so I was impressed the shops were open. I treated the kids to KFC for lunch, looked through a couple of shops and headed to the one other place open on a Sunday to kill time - the movies! We went to the only PG movie on, it stars The Rock, can't remember the name of the movie, but it was entertaining enough even Noah got in to it and cried at the sad ending :) So that was it, time to head back to the caravan park and wait for Jon and all his fish.
No fish. He did catch a few, but wasn't allowed to bring them home, no photos either - funny that!! He had a few little stories to tell and they keep coming here and there. He enjoyed his BBQ sausages for lunch and 2 beers - all inclusive - all up he reckons the learning experience was worth the $380 he paid!
The kids were happy to see Dad home and he got to spend the rest of the evening with them while I finally had MY shower and did some clothes washing.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Day 3 - Captain Caveman
Day 3 - Captain Caveman
The kids are awake early and we all get up set up for breakfast and eat. We pack up shortly after breakfast and head off for the Hastings Caves and Thermal Springs. A picturesque half hour drive and we arrive at the thermal springs, we pay admission of $44 for the thermal springs and cave tour. The Thermal springs are on a short walk and are a little uninspiring although the warmth of the water is somewhat incredible. It turns out that the thermal bath is more like a conventional swimming pool that has the warm water from the springs continually flowing through it, they didn't advertise that anywhere.
We promise the kids a swim in the pool after the cave tour, and head off down the road to the caves. *Mel takes over here - Jon got tired last night and now he is too busy studying how to Fly Fish, like when he leaves this state when is he ever going to Fly Fish anyway?!* We were worried we might struggle in the Caves with 2 kids but I was relieved to see a few families with little kids there when we arrived at the entrance awaiting our Tour Guide. Noah was very excited about the Caves and made it through the tour stating that it ended too soon! Please note Noah often complains about walking most times complains about walking two streets a way to the playground from our place, so that is why long walks on this trip has been a concern to me, but after the Air Walk I was impressed! The caves were amazing as far as stalagmites and stalagtites go, Jon had the camera out ofcourse. He amazingly kept tabs on Jazz too, having to carry her through the tour up and down steep steps and all - pity we didn't have the Baby Back Pack! It was starting to rain at the end of the tour, most fitting as the caves were in a rainforest :) That gave us an excuse not to go back to the Springs for a swim - ofcourse Noah cried - but the real reason was we needed to get to Hobart it was Saturday, which meant Salamanca Markets!
I got in the back of the van with Jazz and Noah went up front - bad move on my behalf! You can feel every bloody bump in the back, bloody terrible! Noah says he likes the bumps - lucky that! Somehow I managed to fall asleep with Jazz and woke to the sight of the Markets - so exciting but only an hour to look through them! we managed to walk all the way through, up and down, lots to see. Didn't manage to buy anything except for licorice and 'ollie bollin' for Jon. Then some german sausages in bread for late lunch. If I lived in around Hobart I could see myself frequenting the markets most Saturdays.
Next stop - somewhere to park the van for the night - Treasure Island Caravan Park, surely it would have to be a top park like the ones in Qld? It turned out not! It was in Berriedale and so close to Claremont the home of Cadburys which is closed on weekends, such as tease! The park was ordinary, but at least the showers and toilets were clean. And once again we were greeted by ducks :)
Day 2 - Get on the bus.
So the kids are up early, we have no cash on us, need a taxi and have no phone number for one....yes the journey begins. We recalled seeing a cab on our walk around Seven Mile Beach the night before so I walked back and retrieve the number. Call the cab number and get no answer, try again, and again, finally get an answer. The bloke on the phone sounded half asleep, said
he would see what he could do, called back and said he had no cabs in the area. After getting the number of another cab company from the previously unhelpful company, we had booked a cab. Jabba 'cab driver' the Hut arrives and is about as pleasant as the cabbie from the previous day. Ask the driver to drop us of at the Britz car hire, drops us at the main taxi point across from
the rental point, turns out Britz are not in this building, no signage to Britz hire and after asking another hire company we finally locate the point of our hire.
Do the usual paper work thing, decide.....eventually to hire a TV as well. Get the usual rental run down and were off, we are heading to Hobart when Mel reminds me that we still have all our gear at Seven Mile Beach, oops. One U turn later, a pick up and once again were off. The first thing that strikes us is the variety of architecture, from old weatherboard homes to ultra
modern cantilever steel and glass homes. We stop in at the Hobart wharfs and cop a hard sell for a ferry cruise, or a ride on a double decker bus, we decline both offers and head to the Hobart tourist information centre. We purchase our National Parks pass and Mel and Noah pick out some postcards.
We board the Bongo van and head off on the Huon trail, destination, the Tahune Airwalk. Water, trees, water, trees, magnificent. We stop for a quick bite to eat at Huonville and venture forth to the Airwalk. We stop of at Geeveston and purchase tickets for the airwalk at a cost of $22 per adult, under 5 free. Half an hour later we are at the airwalk and start of down the stairs to the Tannin stained Huon river, it becomes obvious that I won't make this walk carrying Jazz (we realised halfway to the airwalk that we had not collected the baby carrier yet, it turned out they were closed on Fridays anyway). So I return to the Bongo collect the pram and return. The first thing i am greeted with is a massive flight of stairs that the pram could not traverse, so now we are carrying both Jazz and a pram. Turns out that once we hit the airwalk we can use the pram, half an hour later that is. The Airwalk offers amazing views up the Huon River and the cantilever is outstanding. To our surprise Noah is the first up the Airwalk as he steams ahead of us, this is out of character for him but not so for his crazy sister.
Following the Airwalk we decide to take the challenge of the suspension bridges, with a pram. This kind of stupidity is expected from me but for my wife to agree, odd. Away we go in an up down up down boggy here and there trail we finally reach the first of the suspension bridges, it seemed like an hour. Again Noah was of on his own across a raging river, Mum was closed behind and take took up the rear with the pram, it just squeezed in the gap of the bridge. We cross the second bridge and return to the Airwalk Kiosk, Noah had just completed over 4.5km of steep terrain unassisted, and apart from the last 600m or so had not complained of being tired at all.
The kids have a chocalate, Mum has an icecream and Dad has a Wizard Ale (Boags) from the kiosk. We head off in search of a park to stay in for the night. In Franklin we find a park on the river that states camping by permit only, fees collected daily. We venture back into Huonville and purchase some food (Snacks) at Chicken Feed (Tassies equivalent to The Reject Shop or GoLo only cheaper, they sell bread and milk....and 1 litre Farmers Union Iced Coffee). We get dinner from a chicken shop and after finding that Huonville has no caravan park we return to Franklin and setup for the night. After a short play in the playground the kids are made ready for bed, and Noah is more than keen to get into his new bed up the top of the van. We all settle of to bed early its been a long day.
he would see what he could do, called back and said he had no cabs in the area. After getting the number of another cab company from the previously unhelpful company, we had booked a cab. Jabba 'cab driver' the Hut arrives and is about as pleasant as the cabbie from the previous day. Ask the driver to drop us of at the Britz car hire, drops us at the main taxi point across from
the rental point, turns out Britz are not in this building, no signage to Britz hire and after asking another hire company we finally locate the point of our hire.
Do the usual paper work thing, decide.....eventually to hire a TV as well. Get the usual rental run down and were off, we are heading to Hobart when Mel reminds me that we still have all our gear at Seven Mile Beach, oops. One U turn later, a pick up and once again were off. The first thing that strikes us is the variety of architecture, from old weatherboard homes to ultra
modern cantilever steel and glass homes. We stop in at the Hobart wharfs and cop a hard sell for a ferry cruise, or a ride on a double decker bus, we decline both offers and head to the Hobart tourist information centre. We purchase our National Parks pass and Mel and Noah pick out some postcards.
We board the Bongo van and head off on the Huon trail, destination, the Tahune Airwalk. Water, trees, water, trees, magnificent. We stop for a quick bite to eat at Huonville and venture forth to the Airwalk. We stop of at Geeveston and purchase tickets for the airwalk at a cost of $22 per adult, under 5 free. Half an hour later we are at the airwalk and start of down the stairs to the Tannin stained Huon river, it becomes obvious that I won't make this walk carrying Jazz (we realised halfway to the airwalk that we had not collected the baby carrier yet, it turned out they were closed on Fridays anyway). So I return to the Bongo collect the pram and return. The first thing i am greeted with is a massive flight of stairs that the pram could not traverse, so now we are carrying both Jazz and a pram. Turns out that once we hit the airwalk we can use the pram, half an hour later that is. The Airwalk offers amazing views up the Huon River and the cantilever is outstanding. To our surprise Noah is the first up the Airwalk as he steams ahead of us, this is out of character for him but not so for his crazy sister.
Following the Airwalk we decide to take the challenge of the suspension bridges, with a pram. This kind of stupidity is expected from me but for my wife to agree, odd. Away we go in an up down up down boggy here and there trail we finally reach the first of the suspension bridges, it seemed like an hour. Again Noah was of on his own across a raging river, Mum was closed behind and take took up the rear with the pram, it just squeezed in the gap of the bridge. We cross the second bridge and return to the Airwalk Kiosk, Noah had just completed over 4.5km of steep terrain unassisted, and apart from the last 600m or so had not complained of being tired at all.
The kids have a chocalate, Mum has an icecream and Dad has a Wizard Ale (Boags) from the kiosk. We head off in search of a park to stay in for the night. In Franklin we find a park on the river that states camping by permit only, fees collected daily. We venture back into Huonville and purchase some food (Snacks) at Chicken Feed (Tassies equivalent to The Reject Shop or GoLo only cheaper, they sell bread and milk....and 1 litre Farmers Union Iced Coffee). We get dinner from a chicken shop and after finding that Huonville has no caravan park we return to Franklin and setup for the night. After a short play in the playground the kids are made ready for bed, and Noah is more than keen to get into his new bed up the top of the van. We all settle of to bed early its been a long day.
Day 1 - The Departure.
Well it came as no surprise to me that Mel handled her excitement the usual way, absolute panic. Have you rang your Mum to check when she's picking us up, how are we going to carry all this luggage, we need a pusher, Jazz doesn't have a raincoat......yadayadayada. The kids were excited and after a trip into Mt Barker to buy some cross trainers and trackydaks, Mum picked us up. We are cutting it fine, they won't let us check in if were late.....yadayadayada. Checked in waited to board, the kids stuck their faces on the glass panes, blowfish style, to get a peak at the plane they were about to board. Jazz was restless on the flight, Noah was more interested in the Foxtel on the screens in the seats. The airline warnings regarding kids having trouble on flight descents wasn't present in our rug rats and we landed in the tiny Hobart airport. When I say tiny I mean tiny, Jenny Craig couldn't make it any smaller. A grumpy cabby ride later and we arrived at our first stopover, Seven Mile Beach cabin park.
It doesn't take long to realise what Tasmania is about, we are not more than 10km from the airport and it is like being in the wild. The native vegetation is abundant and judging by the Rocky Balboa style roadkill count, so is the wildlife. We ventured down the beach which was outstanding as expected. The local tavern provided our meal for the evening, and it was a very good meal at that. Tracked down a servo and bought some supplies for breakfast. Tomorrow i will pick the van up at 8am and return to collect the family, then off to Cadbury's for Mel and Noah. Jazz and I will go to the baby hire store to collect a baby carrier for Jazz, just $25 to hire for the two weeks, thought that was pretty reasonable. We will probably have a look around the city while we wait for the tour to finish.
It doesn't take long to realise what Tasmania is about, we are not more than 10km from the airport and it is like being in the wild. The native vegetation is abundant and judging by the Rocky Balboa style roadkill count, so is the wildlife. We ventured down the beach which was outstanding as expected. The local tavern provided our meal for the evening, and it was a very good meal at that. Tracked down a servo and bought some supplies for breakfast. Tomorrow i will pick the van up at 8am and return to collect the family, then off to Cadbury's for Mel and Noah. Jazz and I will go to the baby hire store to collect a baby carrier for Jazz, just $25 to hire for the two weeks, thought that was pretty reasonable. We will probably have a look around the city while we wait for the tour to finish.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
One more sleep !
Aaaaaaaaaaah danger Will Robinson, danger !
What do we pack ? Will it be cold ? Where will we stay ?
Too late to panic, so lets not. The flights are booked, the van is booked and our first nights accomadation is confirmed, thats all we need. What fun would it be if it was all planned out !
The camera is working well, unfortunately the operator is broken. Damn simple
machine, just set the correct shutter speed, aperture size, iso setting, hold it damn still , lower the landing gear, reduce speed and ease it down. All that aside it takes good photos on the auto setting, some conditions though require a little more thought. The photo of Noah was taken on it.
We need to organise new joggers for myself and Mel when we arrive. We also need to hire a baby carrier for hiking with Jazz, that's correct, i will be a human elephant on this trip. Noah is looking forward to seeing snow, i laughed, then some friends who recently returned from Tas told us there is still some at the top of Mt Wellington.
We fly out at about 1pm tomorrow and arrive at 3:55pm in Tassie. I should be loading up the MP3 player, installing software on the laptop, or perhaps even packing some clothes (Although a trip around Taz, naked Monty Burns style would be interesting.), instead i'm blogging. Must go.
What do we pack ? Will it be cold ? Where will we stay ?
Too late to panic, so lets not. The flights are booked, the van is booked and our first nights accomadation is confirmed, thats all we need. What fun would it be if it was all planned out !
The camera is working well, unfortunately the operator is broken. Damn simple
machine, just set the correct shutter speed, aperture size, iso setting, hold it damn still , lower the landing gear, reduce speed and ease it down. All that aside it takes good photos on the auto setting, some conditions though require a little more thought. The photo of Noah was taken on it.
We need to organise new joggers for myself and Mel when we arrive. We also need to hire a baby carrier for hiking with Jazz, that's correct, i will be a human elephant on this trip. Noah is looking forward to seeing snow, i laughed, then some friends who recently returned from Tas told us there is still some at the top of Mt Wellington.
We fly out at about 1pm tomorrow and arrive at 3:55pm in Tassie. I should be loading up the MP3 player, installing software on the laptop, or perhaps even packing some clothes (Although a trip around Taz, naked Monty Burns style would be interesting.), instead i'm blogging. Must go.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
A prelude to the journey.
The trip we had to have.
Our trip to Tassie had been booked for several months now, and our planning is non existent. We managed to grab return flights for the four of us for the bargain price of $489.12, Jazz being under 2 gets her a free seat. The campervan chews up the bucks coming in at just under the $2k mark. The campervan will allows us to stay in parks 
with powered sites for around $25-$30 bucks a night, so in effect it should pay for itself. The van is the only one i could find that would allow two kids seats to be fitted, you can view it here The Bongo !
The only preparation carried out is the booking of a cabin at Seven Mile Beach for the first evening, the collection of our hire van at 8am the next morning and of course the booking of my day of Trout fishing. We think the lack of planning should add some spice to the trip, we'll wait and see.
Prepurchases include a Canon EOS 400D digital SLR and two woolen beanies. The camera has not arrived yet and we only have three days remaining.
Noah has been counting down the days for about three weeks and is very excited. Works
been hectic for me with much on the go. Mel seems fairly relaxed although i expectthe panic to set in very soon, she already mentioned today that she is not sure what to pack. As for Jazz, well she's just crazy Jazz, without a care in the world.
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