Port Sorrell

PORT SORELL

 

We left Stanley 4/3/15 and travelled east to Narawntapu National Park, just east of Devonport, we planned to stay in the national park for the May long weekend. Unfortunately, they were doing some control burning and there was a lot of heavy smoke coming across into the camp grounds.  We ended up leaving and going into Port Sorrell but we could only stay a couple of nights as the campground was booked out for the long weekend.

Port Sorrell seemed to be a quiet seaside town, the boat ramp was interesting. Drive out onto the beach and the boat ramp is there too – very wide and flat….

 

ASHGROVE CHEESE FACTORY

During our stay at Port Sorrell we went for a drive and visited the Ashgrove Cheese Factory. The boys loved seeing all of the cows out front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theo found a small cow inside the front door – just his size!

 

Inside we were able to view the cheese manufacturing process and taste the different cheeses. Yum!!

 

 

 

We passed through Hartford on our drive and the town was apparently celebrating harvest time at the end of the month! I couldn't help myself I had to take some photos of their 'hay' people.

  

 

Northwest Tasmania

 

 STANLEY

We left Waratah and travelled north to Stanley, originally we intended to stay for a couple of nights, but I went back to reception and got a deal for the week. We had a beautiful flat powered site on the water at the base of The Nut, so we wanted to stay longer AND the weather was warmer!  We used Stanley as a base to explore the surrounding area.

On our first day at camp we had a visit from Pete and Deb, they had come to visit Stanley from where they were staying in Devonport, so they stayed for a coffee and a catch up.

 

 

Max was also catching up on schoolwork…

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARTHUR RIVER

The following day we went for a drive through the Tarkine Forest, out to Arthur River and the western most point of Tasmania. It was very windy and cold.

"Edge of the World"

Arthur River in the distance



 



 

 

Couldn't resist this sign in the Tankine Forest!

 

 



Road to Arthur River

After Arthur River we stopped at the Tarkine Forest Adventures where they have a slide that kind of goes straight down!

Needless to say the boys had to have a go! I think Mick needed his back put back in afterwards! It was a bit rough.

 

 

 

Slide

 

 

Prepping for slide

STANLEY

The following couple of days we spent at camp,

Mick got some work as there were a lot of Mokes in the caravan park – apparently on their way to a club event in Hobart. A couple needed some minor repairs...

 

We took a walk around town, searching for Mick's next stubbie cooler and the kids had a great time on their scooters.

 

 

 

 

DIP FALLS AND BIG TREE

On 2/3/15 we headed off on another day trip from Stanley to Dip River Forest Reserve. We visited Dip River Falls and found the Big Tree. Mick had a bit of a quest going looking for BIG trees in Tassie. This one did fit the bill!

 
 

 
 


The 'Big Tree' here was a Eucalypt, 62 metres tall and approx 100 years old. Apparently this is not exceptional as Eucalypts can grow to 90 metres tall and 150 years.  The exceptional fact about this tree is its circumference. It's 16 metres around the base which is unusually large!




 

Dip Falls was very interesting and different to the other falls we had seen in Tassie. It was a very steep descent down to the bottom of the falls and the falls were "surrounded" by these "step" formations.




Mick climbing the 'steps'



 

 

 

 

 

 

Cradle Mountain

WARATAH

We made our way north passing through Zeehan and Roseberry and decided to stay at the council “caravan park’ at Waratah which was $20 a night for a powered site and only 50klms from Cradle Mountain.  Waratah was a lovely little town with their own waterfall in the middle of town!

 

 

 

 

 

CRADLE MOUNTAIN

 

We visited Cradle Mountain on the 25/2/15 and happened to choose a good day weatherwise. Lucky!!  We got an early start and drove to Cradle Mountain car park, caught one of the shuttle buses up to Dove Lake. We walked around to the Granite boulder and back, got some good photos of the mountain and then caught the shuttle back to take the kids on the Enchanted Forest Walk. Sure it was a little magical… we had a really good day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enchanted Forest Walk

 

Travelling West (in Tassie)

Wayatinah

We left Mt Fields National Park and started our journey over to the west side of Tasmania. We found a lovely little caravan park on Wayatinah Lagoon, snagged ourselves a powered site right on the water so we stayed a few days. Relaxing and fishing. Didn’t catch anything unfortunately but had a great time trying.

 

Queenstown and Strahan

We left Wayatinah on 23/2/15 heading west to Queenstown. We stopped at Derwent Bridge to visit The Wall and see the wood wall sculpture. It was amazing, unfortunately no photos allowed inside.

We made a quick stop at Lake St Clair because it was raining, not good weather for a walk.

 

 

 

 

 

From here we travelled through the Franklin Gordon National Park on our way to Queenstown. There was some beautiful scenery on the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at Nelson Falls, it was only a little wet and well worth the short walk to view the falls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theo all zipped up in his hoodie

 

 

 

 

 

The road into Queenstown was so steep and the countryside so barren. Apparently, due to the mining ..."Queenstown was once the world's richest mining town. The copper mining and mass logging in the early 1900s created a surreal and rocky 'moonscape' of bare coloured conglomerate."

Queenstown

 

 
 

Queenstown

 

 

 

 

 

We made it to Strahan where we camped for the night at the golf course. No facilities but only $10 for the night. We had a little look around Strahan but decided to move on. Too cold to stay south!