Tassie 2023

 Tuesday 17th - 19th Jan Forth

After a smooth passage across Bass Strait, we arrived safely in Devonport at around 9:45pm.

Drove to the Forth Recreation Reserve. The campground was busy, but we found a spot for the night.

On Wednesday we took the bikes to Don and rode along the Don River Rail Trail into Devonport.

The ride was partly along the Don River and then along the coast.  We spent a short time in Devonport getting some supplies from the supermarket and then headed back to camp.  The trip was around 30 K's in total.

We had a relaxing day on Thursday Ken completed a few little jobs (why do the electrics always seem to fail in Tassie?) that needed doing and we did a little walk around Forth before heading to the pub for a drink.

Friday 20th - 22nd Railton

We are camped behind the pub at Railton.

As we had only moved 30 mins down the road we were there nice and early so we took the bikes for a ride from Railton to Sheffield the trail is part of the Great Tasmanian Trail and heads through native forest and pine plantations. 

It was a pretty rough old ride in some parts with large stones and slippery gravel and uphill all the way to Sheffield. During the ride, we stopped at Sykes Sanctuary which is a conservation area that was left to the community by Norman Sykes who was an eccentric conservationist who gave up city life to live close to nature at Railton. He lived in a small shack on 40 acres travelling around only by foot or bicycle.

The ride back to Railton was a piece of cake as it was downhill all the way.  The round trip was over 35 K's.

When we arrived back in Railton it was off to the Seven Sheds Brewery for a well-earned drink before settling in for the night. We had a meal at the Railton Pub.

Sykes Sanctuary. 

Westbury Town of Murals

Railton Main St, Town of Topiary

Saturday we headed into Deloraine to pick up a new inverter and do a bit of shopping.

Back in Railton we went for a walk around town and headed to the Clydesdale carriage event which unfortunately had finished by the time we got there.

Then we spent a relaxing afternoon and evening back at camp.

Sunday morning we drove into Latrobe and visited the Sunday market, we walked the Sheehan memorial walk which is a dedication to the men and women who have served in the armed forces for all wars.  It commemorates many of the battles and missions with information plaques.  The walk is lined with Australian Native Plants.

We had a bbq lunch in Bells Parade park along the Mersey River.  After lunch, we walked around Pig Island. This is the site of the first port in North West Tasmania and was a key trading point from 1826 to the early 1900s.

The walk around Pig Island has a natural wetland and is an easy flat walk part of which are Boardwalks.

We returned to our Camp at Railton late in the afternoon had a drink at the pub then relaxed around camp.

Latrobe Main St

Fairies on Pig Island

Latrobe Wharf

Monday 23rd - 26th Bracknell Reserve.

At Bracknell, we set up camp in Bracknell Reserve which is along the Liffey River. We did a bike ride into town to pay our fees at the little shop and then did a cycle around the town.

Camp on the Liffey River

Tuesday morning we headed out to Liffey Falls.  Unfortunately, they were closed due to landslips in the area.  We met some hikers that were going to do the hike in there anyway but we decided to head back to Liffy and take a look at the Liffey school which is now a community hall and you camp here as well.  The School was built in 1885 and closed in 1943.  The community restored the school in the 1990s and now uses it as a community hall.  A memorial has been established there with different varieties of pine trees being planted to remember the men of Liffey who served in WW1.

We then went to Westbury which has a lot of Historic Buildings and a huge Village Green which they claim is the only Village Green in Australia.  Around the town, there is a  steel silhouette trail commemorating the town's treasured characters.  Westbury was a garrison village.  The Village Green was part of the convict barracks. 

Liffey School

Croquet on the Village Green

Wednesday we did the short drive into Launceston and wandered around town. Now that we have visited Launnie a few times we starting to get familiar with the lay of the land we had a Yum Cha for lunch at the Ding Sing restaurant finishing off at the Saint John Craft Beer Cafe before heading back to Bracknell.

On the way back to Bracknell we stopped in the small town of Carrick which has some old Victorian buildings.  We did a short walk around town and then headed back to camp.  Before tea, we stopped in for a drink at the Bracknell Hotel.

Thursday is washing day in Cressy and then on to Longford for lunch at the Mill Bakery and a visit to one of our favourite pubs the Country Hotel (it has a lot of motorsport history, you could spend all day reading the walls) a short walk around town and back to camp for an Australia Day BBQ.

Longford Main St