Following the Fire service recommendation, I 1st travelled on an”A” road and then a “B” road to depart from Bradys Lake. This B road was pretty rough & corrugated, but the scenery was best described at rugged beauty.

Open space again… and a free camp!

… and then I noticed a bush fire

Late afternoon I saw smoke on the other side of the lake. I’m so pleased to have solid internet/phone comms now (Starlink). This location is particularly remote ie no phone coverage. After coming up to speed with information from the rather good Tasmanian fire/flood/disaster website, I ended up calling their fire service info line to confirm my understanding of the situation and risk. This included what direction should I take if matters worsened. Fortunately even though the winds were strong & gusting, the direction was not towards me. The bush fire area grew. At about 5pm there were ground crews and 3 helicopters with buckets trying to contain the fire. I decided to stay but packed up so could move with short notice. The night was uneventful but instead of staying another day I departed first thing in the morning to a farm stay 30kms west of Launceston. Just as well as this fire’s severity (I was surrounded by 3 fires) had been upgraded.

If there was a choice I certainly would not camp under similar circumstances again… being packed in like sardines. Arriving late and rather tired (early start for auto electrician; dropping Jennifer off at the airport (a little difficult navigating car/caravan through the drop off zone); 2hr drive to Mt Field etc) I had only 1 space available to choose from. It was tight to get in and 2 days later, tighter to get out due to other campers’ car and gear being in the way.

Gordon Dam

Stunning, spectacular drive through mountainous landscape in a World Heritage site on route to Gordon Dam

Needed to sort out an electrical charging issue which presented as a van problem but in fact turned out to be with the car. The auto electrician very kindly fitted us in 1st thing Monday morning. Their location was within 2km of Hobart airport making it easy to drop Jennifer off at the airport to catch a Sydney bound flight. The van was parked in the adjacent lane and as I had little to contribute, took a couple of pictures to demonstrate how dirty & dusty our Tasmanian travel has been so far (very little rain).

About 10km north of Huonville. Beautiful, peaceful campsite. After a little research we decided to attend the local Anglican Church. Great worship with a mixture of all ages.

Cockle Creek has been on our to do’s list for some time. The camp site is the most southern in Australia, swimming in cold ocean water and walking to see the most southern Australian point. The weather could not have been better.

Day #1

After a quick 20 minute ferry trip we were travelling down the northern section of the island and driving onto our National Park camp on The Neck.

Had lunch at Hotel Bruny, Alonnah followed by a lighthouse tour on the southern point of the island

Lighthouse Tour…

Day #2

Early beach walk, patiently looking for birds to photograph, coffee at Adventure Bay, another walk in a rainforest, lunch at Australia’s most southern vineyard, obligatory chocolate store visit and then finished up sitting on the beach on a sunny but cool late afternoon AND cooking freshly picked cherries

Perfect morning for a walk along the city harbour and Constitution Bay

Traveled in search for fresh apples and berries in and around Huonville. Alas, we had missed the season. Lunch at a restaurant adjacent to the Huon river was excellent.

One of my cousins (Steve) and his wife (Lynne) moved to Tasmania 34 yeas ago. They are now living close to Hobart. After visiting them at their home we went out for lunch at the historic township of Richmond.

We had both but separately visited Port Arthur more than 25 years ago and had mixed feelings about visiting again due to the 1996 massacre.

Not far from our farm stay were some amazing coastal land features…