Our Australia trip

It was a very cold night and when we wake up the thermometer in the bus seems stuck at 6 degrees. Dotti is awake at 6 am and I let her go for a pee and then return under the doona. It’s way too cold.

When we get up I feel sorry for the die hard push bike campers. First they need to pedal their bikes up the hilly roads and then freeze their buts off in a little tent. Brrrrr.

We stock up on fresh water but can’t empty our toilet cassette as they have a sceptic system.

We drive on towards the west and stop at Derby.

Marjo visits the galleries while the dogs and I wait in the bus. After a while and a little while more i decide that I can as well empty the toilet cassette at the public toilets in Derby. That seems like a busy place and I need to wait until the passengers of two cars and a motorbike rider have completed their toilet trip. So when we returned Marjo was relieved to see us. She kinda was a little worried that we had driven off in the sunset. I’m glad that she had already bought me a raspberry muffin before we returned, as she wasn’t impressed by our unplanned detour.

Then we turned off towards the north.

And bravely followed the road, even when the bitumen turned into dirt.

(Yes, I know, we need a window wash).

This is quiet country, where you are left with only animals to turn to for directions.

Then we arrive at Tomahawk and find a nice spot close to the beach, just behind some bushes out of the wind.

The beach is nice but there’s not enough wind to kite.

Nevertheless a great day.

Posted from Tomahawk, Tasmania, Australia.

That night the wind and rain burst loose and we are lucky that we looked online so we were prepared with the awning in and the seats folded up under the bus. In the morning all the white sand has washed away and a lot of people had parts of their camp setup either washed or blown away.

The weather looks quite promising and although still windy, it seems a nice day.

We follow the road till the end along the north east coast and admire the wild ocean.

When the road ends, we leave Dotti at the bus and take a walk.

Then we decide to leave the coast and since we can’t go further north along the east coast without a 4WD, we go west. But not before buying a few oysters for Marjo.
Just before driving off, we see a small group of Taiwanese try to pry open their oysters with a knife. Before they chop off their own hands or lacerate their wrists, I show them how easy it can be with the oyster knife in the back of our bus. They marvel at that.

Twelve oysters later we continue the road east and stop at a bric a brac shop where I capture the surrounding nature and Marjo captures my heart by getting me Huon Pine after shave (or it could be a subtle message to say that I should take a shower soon).

Then we take the winding road along the beautiful hills. This seems to be a more rainforest type route.

We stop at a small waterfall along the route.

And Nossi sees something between the trees.

The surroundings are quite captivating.

And then we follow the road again.

We stop for a little walk along a Mirtle forest.

And then arrive at the Weldborough Historic Hotel where we park the bus behind the pub.

The gardens have a very interesting flower.

After setting up the ladies enjoy their oysters.

That evening we have dinner at the pub, with yummy deserts (Marjo warm sticky ginger pudding with caramel sauce and Axel warm apple crumble with ice cream) and even live music.

A great day.

Posted from Tomahawk, Tasmania, Australia.

We wake up with heavy overcast, a sprinkle and quite a bit of wind. It’s not the best of days and we were lucky that we tied up Dotti while packing up to leave, otherwise we would not have found her.

Still we look around the area and see interesting things on the quiet beach.

It’s amazing what a keen eye can find, although I suspect that this wasn’t completely formed without the help of a pretty feminine foot.

There are enough other nice things to see though.

Then just before we drive off the sun peeks through the clouds.

Alright, alright, when I finally got the camera it looked more like this, but it was really as clear as my doctored result.

We check that Dotti is on board and drive off.

We drive the short route from Diana’s Basin to St Helen’s Point and stop at several spots to check for kiting opportunities and – lacking that – enjoy the vista.

Then we go to St Helen’s where we stop for groceries, fuel and to get a document copy witnessed by a Justice of Peace. Because she worked at LJ Hooker she offered a house with it but, considering we like to be living closer to the children, we politely decline. We do pay with kindness and leave behind some chocolates for the office.

Our final stop for the day is one of the bush campgrounds along the Bay of Fires. The facilities are basic but there’s plenty of space all close to the beach. And a very interesting coast line.

Meanwhile the wind has picked up to quite hard and also the clouds have returned.

Marjo and Nossi take a walk along the beach.

And when they return the camp site is all set up.

And it’s time for nibbles and a drink.
Of course also something nice for the dogs.

That evening the wind picks up to near gale force.

A great day.

Posted from Tomahawk, Tasmania, Australia.

It’s the first dry day after a couple days of rain and we are on the road again.

The coast north of Coles Bay is quite rough and doesn’t have many swimming beaches. It’s nice to see the quickly changing scenery though. We see walnut orchards, vineyards and fruit orchards.

Closer to the water we see the nice rocky coast line, with blow hole.

And nice details.

We stop to fill up with fresh water and meanwhile Marjo checks out the seaweed.

Luckily it looked better than it tasted otherwise I could see us having Salad de la Mer.

We keep following the coast and look for a place to kite and or to stay.

Most places are still soaked from the rainy days so we keep looking down dirt roads till we find a nice spot at Diana’s Basin straight on the water.

A nice day.

Posted from St Helens, Tasmania, Australia.

After leaving the camping we drive down various spots along the various peninsula’s here to look for a good kite spot. Unfortunately the combination of wind, location and time (no dogs allowed between 10 am and 6 pm) doesn’t work in our favour when we find a nice beach.

So we decide to cross the peninsula back and take the road north along the east coast and are surprised about how hilly and pretty it is while we follow the winding road up and down.

Then suddenly we see the ocean on our right and sheep on our left. So much ocean, so many sheep.

After a while the ocean turns into a bay and we can see the mountains of Freycinet National park.

Instead of driving all the way around to Coles Bay, we turn off at Nine Mile Beach and follow the road around the bay. Then we can see Coles Bay across the inlet.

It’s a nice spot right on beach sand which sounds idyllic and Dotti loves it. We decide to stay a few days here.

We go to the beach to dig holes…

…to make mandala’s…

…and to kite.

And we enjoy the scenery.

The weather turns quite bad and two days we have nothing but rain, which makes it hard to dry the kite.

It makes for nice pictures though.

When even the dogs find it too wet to lie on the ground we decide to move on.

Despite the weather and sand everywhere, a nice stay.

Posted from Dolphin Sands, Tasmania, Australia.

We wake up with the sun over the water and it’s a beautiful view.

We pack up and say goodbye.

We drive past the stunning landscape towards Hobart.

And stop at the Salamanca place. On Saturdays this has a huge market that we wouldn’t mind visiting but decide against. With no camping nearby and every Saturday 25,000 people visiting, we feel this is no place for a bus and two dogs. So instead we visit the gallery on Salamanca place.

It’s a collection of little galleries around a nice courtyard with cafe’s.

Then we decide to start looking for a place to camp. Hobart is separated by peninsulas from the Tasman sea and we want to try our luck there. The place that is said to be a nice kite spot and camping looked ideal in theory but seems a bit rough and the camping is just a widening of the dirt road. Ok for roughing it but not so good for having a nice wine and our dogs roaming around.

So we just spend some time on the beach.

Nossi and I dig a hole and Dotti makes use of it straight away while I shield her from the sun.

Then we take some close ups from the rocky part of the beach.

After we have enough we drive to South Arm on the peninsula and find a somewhat weird camping. It is quite new and has a nice spot with lots of grass. The amenities are a bit strange though with two washers and dryers, no shower and only one toilet. Apart from two people who stay in a cabin, we are the only campers. We make use of the laundry and run three loads so everything smells and feels fresh again.

The camping owner has had a round of golf and recognizes that he has had a few beers too many and makes himself scarce. We enjoy ourselves and look around the games room where we find an interesting trunk. Is there a Dutch connection or did he buy this at a garage sale. We’ll never know.

At night Marjo went and tried to spot wild life. It’s your turn to find it too.

A nice day.

During the night the temperature dropped from 35 to 19 degrees and with it came a solid downpour. So we packed up with rain and left the caravan park. It was a nice spot and perhaps if the weather would have stayed nice for another day, we would have too.

Instead we decide to continue the tour of the island which didn’t take long. We also stopped at a local chocolate factory which turned out more to be a fudge selling place with a nice garden. They make 600 to 1,000 kg of fudge a week and sell most of it to shops on the mainland. It was not very interesting.

We drove on to a smokery where they smoked anything seafood. We got smoked salmon pate and a picture of a nice wood sculpture.

That was our last stop for the ferry back from Bruny Island to Tasmania proper. On the way back we were enclosed by trucks.

Back on the other side we decided to finish off the last bit south of Hobart that we missed the day before when we took our shortcut.
Without realising it we took another shortcut back and came past an interesting old winery with a name not that dissimilar from where my sister is skiing this week. She’s in Germany though.

They kept the old workers cottages in shape and it was nice to see how small the pickers had to be to fit in the tiny beds. Perhaps it was child labour?

Meanwhile the weather was still not very nice.

Then we saw that the local council organised a fence sitting competition and people got quite creative.

We arrived at Snug as suggested by the Dutch couple and were surprised to see them pull up behind us. They decided that the rain on Bruny wasn’t great and instead of staying another night there, they decided to also go back to Snug. We parked the bus with a nice view and had a look around.

We had a nice drink and chat with Michiel and Belinda. When it turned too cold they left to make dinner. We had dinner inside and watched a tv series.

A nice day.

Posted from Snug, Tasmania, Australia.

It’s our daughter’s birthday today and she turned 25! We text with her as we woke up a little late so she’s at work already. Oh yeah, we should tell you as well that it’s my birthday too.

Marjo woke me with a nice breakfast and gifts!

I got some nice sweets (yeah I love them), a beautiful wooden bowl, made from a myrtle burr, and some black bamboo underpants. You wouldn’t say it’s bamboo as it feels like silk.

We move from the not so nice camping and make our way to the ferry to Bruny island. We know a short cut that would allow us to get there with 10 minutes to spare. Little did we realise that this road was across the hills and we arrived late at the ferry terminal. Lucky for us the ferry must have had struggles itself as it was even later than we were. So we still could get on and didn’t have to wait another 1.5 hour for the next ferry. When measuring the length of the bus we all held our breath which allowed us to go on for a less than 6 meters vehicle. We weren’t game to also try for the less than 3.5 ton option for the top deck as we were afraid that the bridge wouldn’t carry our 4.5 ton bus.

While waiting to drive onto the ferry I have my birthday cake.

And eat it too (I left a little for Niki but then decided to eat that too).

It is quite warm today but the hard wind makes the 35 degrees just nice during the 15 minute trip over.

We drive from the ferry down the only bitumen road on the island and stop to take some pictures.

We look for a place to kite, but the only place facing the wind is a national park with plenty of signs “No dogs allowed”. So we decide to continue on and drive slowly along the winding roads.

The only camp ground that takes dogs on Bruny island is on adventure bay. We don’t mind staying there and enjoy the nice weather, the beach and the cool water.

I take Dotti for a swim and although initially not so certain, later she enjoys being cooled down.

And after a little rolling in the sand she feels very comfortable.

Marjo celebrated our birthdays by enjoying a dozen fresh caught oysters (not by us but by a local fisherman). Dotti loved cleaning the shells.

At the camping we met a nice Dutch couple traveling 3 weeks through Australia. They recently arrived in Hobart and are planning to loop Tasmania in the reverse direction we are and do it twice as fast. To ensure they will make it in time they pre-selected and booked all the camping sites. The next will be Snug where they have been before coming to Bruny and they suggested it to us too.

During the day family calls and friends leave nice Facebook messages and sms’s, which makes it really feel like a social birthday. Thanks!

A great day.

We have set our eyes on Bruny island next and, knowing that it is a 200 km drive, don’t want to rush. There are not many any bush camps between Cockle Creek and Bruny so we aim for the one in Cygnet.

On the way back from Cockle Creek we pass most of the things we have seen before. This time we stop for berries and fruit from the several honesty stalls along the road. We buy their cherries, prunes, apples and tomatoes.

Then Marjo didn’t forget about the stone and gem shop. Apparently this area is rich in nice stones and stuff and Marjo has a great time. We end up buying a present for Niki’s birthday there.

Driving further towards the ferry we pass Huonville which holds the annual regatta.

Along the road we stop and see some nice views.

Tasmania has a nice combination of hills and water.

And also some nice details. This is what you see as a cross cut of a dead tree fern.

Then we arrive at the Cygnet caravan park. It’s not much but will do. The guests are mainly people that don’t fit anywhere else. Not so much physically but more the way they behave. It is more like a back packers type place and we have not a very quiet night and decide to stay for one night only.
The town itself is nice though, with interesting alternative stores and very friendly shopkeepers everywhere. Even the fish and chips proprietor was very nice and when his schnitzel was out he offered all kinds of off the menu alternatives. Marjo chose snapper and chips and I had the calamari and chips.

A nice day.

Posted from Cygnet, Tasmania, Australia.

It is hard to say goodbye to such a nice spot but we’ve heard there’s more to see in Tasmania. So we pack up and drive along the Esperance river back to the main road. We want to see how much south we can go and decide to go to Cockle Creek. First we stop at Southport to stock up at the IGA. In reality there was no IGA at all and so we decide to buy the remaining stock of the local petrol station annex caravan park annex pub. It seems they haven’t had deliveries in a while because the eggs were out of date. The local egg farmer was sick and hadn’t delivered lately.
Ah well, the beach there was nice and Marjo and Nossi did a special dance.

Then we stopped at the Hastings Thermal Springs. Not that we were cold and wanted hot springs, but because there is a nice walk and we love water.

Then we endure a 30 km (!) long dirt road to come to the end of the world or the southern most point of Australia as we know it. The spot is actually a free camping and quite nice. Perhaps not as special as other travelers have made it out to be, but not bad (alright, we’re spoiled).

So we set up camp. It is already quite busy and because it’s Friday and nice weather (which seems quite rare for Tasmania) everyone seems to camp here.

On a walk with Nossi, Marjo finds a stream that seems perfect.

But, but….I hear you think….didn’t you leave the kayak behind on the main land when you left the trailer in the good care of Pierre?
Of course, we have to backtrack a little.

Remember this?

We got it at BCF before we went on the ferry.

Up close, this is what was in the box.

And this is what enfolded.

Someone got excited….

And some waited patiently.

But then we were ready to christen our new sea craft. In true Dutch spirit Marjo was sailing orange.

Nossi loved that he could follow Marjo wherever she went.

Even though he didn’t like getting wet.

Dotti tried too.

But decided quickly that it was smarter to wait for Marjo to return to her instead.

And Nossi followed suit.

And then couldn’t help himself.

So when it was my turn….

…I was all honoured to see Nossi even swim for me….

…until it became clear that it wasn’t me he was eager to see…

…and once he sniffed her out, he was out of there…

I tried the kayak on open water and we were quite impressed with the little inflatable.

A great stay.