White Sands Resort

Arrived at Four Mile Creek which is on the NE coast to a beautiful but extremely windy day. An easy set up as we stayed hooked up. The free camp site had quite a slope hence the use of ramps on the cars rear wheels. Also our 1st swim in the ocean. Temperature was OK at around 18 degrees.

Our 1st swim in Tassie was exhilatating ( read cold)

Ross

Could this be the town that sells the best vanilla slice? Also more interesting history to take in. Had to buy beanies and gloves with the temperatures lower than we had expected.

Launceston

So much to see and do in just under 3 days. The weather was perfect with “one” exception. After setting up we booked a James Boag’s brewery tour which included beer tasting! As the tour was conducted in an operating factory we were not able to take photos. The tour was informative (historical & brewing facts) & interesting.

Day 2 we decided to walk to the Ben Lomond summit (from the summit village) after driving the most scenic drive from our camp site. Unfortunately, conditions were MUCH windier than forecast making the temperature around 2-3 degrees (wind chill effect) and reduced visibility due to being in the “clouds”. It was exhilarating and challenging!

Before we celebrated our wedding anniversary we walked the Cataract Gorge in the morning

Definitely a big moment… celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary at Josef Chromy Restaurant!

Tamar Valley (west side)

Beautiful, peaceful, spacious off grid camp site. This was our 1st base in Tasmania. Visited many interesting locations including Tamar river, Marion winery, York Town historical site, Notley Fern gorge, Beaconsfield gold mine, Sculptured gallery …

Marion Winery (lunch)

Sculpture gallery

Notley Fern gorge

Devonport

Disembarking on schedule at 5.30am, our 1st task was to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables at Coles (supermarket that opened 1st). Next was to make a coffee and then take time to plan our day. As the weather was cool and wet we decided to head to our camp site at York Town (NW side of the Tamar river)

Spirit of Tasmania

Very excited to board the Spirit of Tasmania. The overnight 11hr journey was reasonably smooth, although Jennifer did need to take some sea sickness pills. The boarding procedure was well organized. The greatest challenge was to drive through a very narrow lane to park at the front of the ship

Benalla

Continuing our journey south, the township of Benalla VIC was a very pleasant 2 night visit. Morning walks around the lake, viewing street art, lunch and a walk at the Wetlands and driving through a couple of close proximity locations to look at some amazing silo art.

Street art

The Wetlands

Silo art

Breaden Sportsground & Camping

Decided not to travel much further after weighing the car & caravan (1.5hrs) so pulled up in Tarcutta at the Beaden Sportsground & Camping. It’s quite hot and humid with heavy cloud cover. Love being able to operate the air conditioning even when we are off-grid.

Car/Caravan Weigh

Essential to be under on all your legal limits. So while we had weights checked soon after taking delivery of the van it didn’t take into consideration the changes or additions subsequently made to the van. Hence the preference to have the car and van professionally weighed again. We were fully loaded for a typical summer adventure… all water tanks full plus an additional 20L water container, full fuel tank, etc. All legal requirements were under (car and caravan) except for the car’s rear axle. Fortunately the rear axle was exceeded by a small amount so by repositioning some items in the caravan and disposing of some of the water in the 20L container we were able to be “legal” on all specs.

Canberra

Wonderfull time catching up with lifelong, dear friends, Peter & Sue. Dinner at home and on the next day a walk in the Lindsay Prior National Arboretum followed by a long lunch at the Royal Canberra Golf Club.

Disappointingly our off grid site was not one we could recommend. Difficult to find a level position in an uncut, weedy area, road traffic noise throughout the night on a site that might only fit 3-4 vans.