A fair bit of relaxing beach walking today, First at Bridport then at Beechford. We toured back to camp via Low Head. An Old bloke approached us at the lighthouse and he was going to give us some info whether we liked it or not. Apparently, the Queenslander was built by accident when there was a mix-up with the plans, he also showed us a pair of Penguins in their burrow.
Bridport Beach
Bridport Beach
Low Head Lighthouse
Low Head Queenslander
January 19.
We realised we've got two months in Tassie, not two weeks so it's time to slow down. Today we moved from Scottsdale to Bracknell. Scottsdale was a good location except for the logging trucks that start before sunrise and finish after sunset. The campground we were in was right next to the Tasman Hwy. Tonight we have the sound of a bubbling river and the occasional baaaah of a sheep. Oh, the SERENITY.
Bracknell Camp
Cascade Bitter
January 20
A relaxing day. In the morning we did a walk along the river then around the village of Bracknell. It is a lot bigger place than we thought. All the street names have girls names and some have little boards with painted pictures of ladies on them. We initially thought that these were pioneers of the village but it turns out that wasn't the case. The street names were just a quirky naming convention that someone came up with. In the afternoon we went for a drive along the little country roads, out to Poatina a former hydro town, Cressy another nice little village, Longford which is where some formula one races took place back in the 60's then on to Bishopsbourne and back to camp.
Comfy Bus stop
Low level practice.
January 21
We moved about 20mins down the road to a lovely campsite at Liffey falls. No data or phone reception here so we have gone dark for a few days. We did a quick trip into Deloraine and stocked up on supplies.
Liffey Falls Campground.
January 22
This morning we did the return 3 hour walk to Liffey Falls. (In true Hawkey fashion it took us 4 hours). It was a beautiful walk through Myrtle Beech, Sassafras and tree ferns following the Liffey river most of the way. The falls are three upper tier and a lower level of cascades. We continued on to the upper carpark to see the big stringy bark tree that the lady in the campsite told us about. It was then down to the lower cascade to get a few shots. On the way back to camp we stopped along the Liffey river at one of the pools and watched the trout feeding on insect in the sunshine, they were jumping out to catch them. We spent the rest of the afternoon under a shady tree reading a book.
Liffey River
Bent tree ferns
Upper Cascade
Upper Cascades
Lower Cascades
Fungus
Jumping Fish
Liffey Falls Walk
January 23
Before leaving Liffey falls we did the Liffey conservation loop walk. This area of Liffey falls was purchased by Bob Brown back in 1990 and he set up the Bushland Heritage Australia Trust to manage it. Its an area filled with Myrtle Beech, Sassafrass, Tree ferns and some stands of Manna gums. Many of the Manna gums in Tasmania have been logged to clear for farmland.
Someone lived here once.
Mana Gums
After leaving Liffey it was a long climb up the Western Tiers and across to Miena (My-ena) we reached an altitude of 1200 meters. We arrived in Miena which is on the bank of the Great Lake. The lake is part of Tasmanias Hydro scheme and is also very popular with anglers looking to catch trout. We stayed overnight at the Great Lakes Hotel Caravan Park, which was just the carpark out the back of the pub.
Miena Dam (1924)
John Beamont memorial
January 24.
We ummed and ahhed about whether we should drop in to see the Waddamana Hydro Power Station Museum as it was a 70 km dirt road detour winding through the hills. In the end, we decided why wouldn't we and we are glad we did.
Waddamana Power Station was Hydro Tasmania's first power station. It commenced in 1910 and was commissioned in 1916 with two generators powering 300 homes in the Hobart region and the zinc works at Risdon. Due to the location, all the machinery and building materials were brought in by a tramway with horses pulling the trains. And then constructed on-site. The power station was decommissioned in 1965 and everything was left as it was as the site was too remote for it to be easily dismantled.
We ended up spending 3 hours there. We had only planned to stop for a quick look. We are staying tonight in Bothwell a favourite town of ours.
Log Books back to the 1930s
Art Deco light in the entrance hall
Turbine Hall
Control room
One for the Ladies. :P
The Penstocks
January 25
We spent the morning walking the streets of Bothwell. (all ten of them.) All the street signs have tartan backgrounds. Scottish families moved to Bothwell around 1822, It was named after Bothwell in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Bothwell claims to be the home of Golf in Australia. The first golf course was only seven holes and was established around the 1850's at the Ratho property. They also have the Australian Golf museum at the visitors centre.
In the afternoon we cruised the backroads through the hills amongst the sheep farms via Ouse and Hamilton. If we were to ever move to Tassie Bothwell would be high on list we are not sure what it is but community here are really friendly.
Tickled Ken's fancy
The Dead Centre of Town
Gets cold in these parts
A few of the buildings in Bothwell
January 26
Today we left Bothwell for Mount Field National Park, its only an hours drive away. We found the perfect campsite on the Tyenna River a lovely peaceful spot. After setting up camp we went for a walk along the river looking for fishing spots on the way back we came across the National Park hotel who were having Australia Day celabrations. We stopped in for a drink and then moved into the beer garden to listen to the live music and had a couple more drinks. It was a lovely afternoon.
After a smooth trip on the Spirit we arrived in Devonport and were on our way by 8AM. We stopped in Deloraine for breakfast and to stock up on fruit and veg. After leaving Deloraine the brake controller on the caravan was giving us an error message, turns out the dual battery isolator had failed and was causing issues. We jerry rigged the backup battery to get us to Oatlands for our first night. After setting up we went for a walk across the Dam wall to the caves on the other side of the lake before stopping in at the RSL for a well-deserved drink. We sat at the Bar and got some good gossip and local knowledge from a couple of locals.
First Camp (Oatlands)
Lake Dulverton
Caves
January 11.
A quick trip to Hobart for a new battery controller and some adapters for the stove. Then back to camp to fit the new controller and a relaxing afternoon.
January 12.
Today we did the walk to Parattah following the old rail line. The sign said 7km each way and would take 3hrs return. In the end it took us 4.5hrs, which is about par for us as we like to stop and check out things we come across, There were lots of water birds on the lake and we saw 3 Euchidnas on the way back. An unexpected find was the Dunny Can cemetery where they were all dumped in the 50s after the Septic systems were installed. After an early tea, we dropped into the RSL again for a nightcap. The campground has a 3 night limit but the local Footy and Cricket club president (Flapper) said since we were supporting the local community we could stay as long as we liked.
Black Swans
Stags
Dunny Can Graveyard
January 13.
After a sleep-in (We might have had more than one nightcap) we spent the morning in the Junk shops and Linda took some video of the town. In the afternoon we drove around the back roads exploring the local area and on the recommendation of Flapper we stopped in at the Colebrook Tavern for a Thursday night Pizza. Reputedly the best in Tasmania but we are not so sure.
January 14.
Back to Hobart today. We were trying to sort out our BBQ issues with connecting to the gas on the Van. The young fella at BCF tried his hardest to help us out but apparently, the rules on this sort of thing have changed recently. Oh well back to the old system. They don't have any painted Silos in Tassie so we checked out the next best thing. Only a couple of Ks from the City.
Mt Stuart water tank.
The main highway has all sorts of silhouettes along the way. We found this one particularly amusing.
When we got back to camp we thought it would be polite to go and say goodbye to our mates at the RSL.
January 15.
Left Oatlands this morning headed to Lake Leake stopping at the little village of Ross on the way. We arrived at Lake Leake around lunchtime. Its a little shanty town of fishing shacks some of them are quite nice. The lake has a good supply of trout in it. There are two tagged trout left and if you can catch one you will get $2000.00.
January 16
We are at Lake Leake and two ladies camped next to us told us of a walk that may take us to the other side of the lake. Its up an old logging track. So off we went, it was a little bit cloudy but not cold. About an hour into the walk the mist rolled in and we were walking in the clouds. We couldn't see anything, it was a real pea souper. We headed back to camp and photographed some of the wild flowers on the way and had just commented that we hadn't seen any wild life when we came across a pair of mating snakes. We thought they were black snakes but the locals at the pub told us they were tiger snakes. It was quite cold when we got back to camp so we decided to shout ourselves a meal at the Lake Leake Inn. The vennison sauages were declicious.
Misty Bush
Tiger Snakes
January 17
Beautiful sunny morning at Lake Leake but we were leaving for Scottsdale. The last half of the drive was through the mountains very skinny, twisty and steep. A good test for the ute towing the van. We wandered around Scottsdale this afternoon and plan to stay for a few days.
