Living in a hallway

Tuesday, 7 February 2023

Tassie 2023 (Still at Cozy Corner)

27th - 28th Jan - Lilydale

We are camped in Lilydale a pretty little town in 20 mins from Launceston. We stopped off in Launnie on the way here to pick up some supplies and then arrived at our camp Cherry Top Eco Farmstay. The site has a bit of a slope so it took us a bit longer to set up.

Lilydale is in a valley and the scenery is quite pretty with the hills surrounding us.

Abandoned Launceston to Scottsdale line.

After lunch, we drove into Lilydale and walked around the township visiting the Antique shop with some really unusual items. We also visited the little arts and crafts shop which also had some nice quality arts and crafts.

Garden Art.

Would make a good Jigsaw.

Lilydale. Town of painted poles.

Saturday, off to the western side of the Tamar River. Our first stop was Beaconsfield. We visited the Beaconsfield Mine & Museum. It's an excellent museum and there is a part of it dedicated to the rescue of Todd Russell and Brant Webb who were trapped in the mine for 2 weeks after a rock fall.

Beaconsfield Mine

Further north we stopped off at the York Town historic site. There isn't much there as the town has disappeared totally not even a foundation is visible. It is a nice 15-minute walk through the native bush.

Greens beach was our next stop which is right at the top and it's where the Tamar River flows into Bass Strait. Walked along the beach and checked out the caravan park.

Our final stop of the day was at Beauty point before heading back to Lilydale.

29th Jan - 6th Feb Bay of Fires Conservation Park

Woke up to a very wet morning packed up in the rain and headed towards the east coast. It was a long twisty hilly drive across to the Bay of Fires.

We managed to find a beautiful secluded campsite at Cosy Corner North and the weather had improved. A little chilly but it had stopped raining.

In the evening we walked down the beach and onto the rocks which are covered in orange algae.

Sliced Bread.

The next day we walked along the beach from our Campground Cosy Corner North across the rocks and checked out the other campgrounds along the coast. We decided that ours was the best. After lunch, we headed into St Helens to pick up supplies and walk around the township. Then back to camp for a roast chicken dinner that we cooked in the camp oven on the gas stove. Fires are not allowed in National Parks or Conservation areas during the summer.

Our nightly visitor

Just missed us.

Plenty of Bluebottles around.

Beautiful sunny morning and we are off to the Gardens which sits at the beginning of the Bay of Fires. It's called the Bay of Fires not because of the orange algae on the rocks but because when the French explorer Captain Tobias Furneaux passed the bay in 1773 he could see lots of fires burning which had been lit by the local aboriginal people.

We climbed around the rocks checking out the rock pools, some of them are little fish nurseries.

Then we were off to Mt William National Park. We took a shortcut across to the main road our first stop was Ansons Bay. There wasn't much there its mainly fishing shacks. With a small population living there permanently in rather large homes. Ansons Bay didn't have any beaches it was a sheltered body of water with a boat ramp.

The next stop was Eddystone Lighthouse which was built from 1887-1889 from local granite. The grounds have 3 lighthouse keeper's cottages also made of local stone. The lighthouse was manned until 2000 and is now automated. The lands have been handed back to the local aboriginal people and they use the lighthouse cottages as places to stay when they visit.

Eddystone Lighthouse.

We then travelled further around and stopped at Deep Creek Camp Ground which had excellent access to the local beach. We checked out the sites at the campground and saw a large tiger snake slithering off into the bush. Before heading back towards St Helens we walked along the beach.

Deep Creek

Picnic rocks.

One of the Stumpy's

Before we went back to camp we headed down to Binalong Bay and walked along the seafront.

Headed to the wharf at St Helens this morning to ride our bikes along the bike path around St Georges Bay. After the easy cycle around the bay, we went into the forest along the mountain bike trail which starts just outside of St Helens. It was pretty rough lots of rocks and tree roots across the tracks. The climb was up the hill with some tight hairpin bends so we only went about halfway up before turning around and heading back down the hill which was a lot easier than the trip up.

For the last few days, we've just been hanging around camp. Reading, walking on the beach, and climbing over the rocks. We keep saying we'll move on tomorrow and then decide to stay another day.

The Hand of God.

Linda's Insta pose.

Thursday, 26 January 2023

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

Friday, 3 June 2022

Eyre Peninsula Part 3

24th May - 25th May

We left Lock this morning heading for Coffin Bay (Oyster Capital of SA). We stopped for morning tea at Cummins a lovely little town which used to be the railroad hub for produce (mainly grain) heading to Port Lincoln. If you're heading this way highly recommend the bakery and the butcher. We didn't explore the town as much as we had liked as it was really windy.

Arrived in Coffin Bay just after lunch and set up camp in the caravan park. Lots of wildlife roaming around the caravan park and town, mainly emu's and Kangaroos. We did part of the Oyster Walk around the bay and through the fishing shack area even though most of them have been upgraded to "Grand Designs". We got back to camp just as it started to rain. The first time we have had rain on the trip. When cooking our tea we were invaded by huge moths, which we have since learned are called rain moths or bardee's. The larger ones were nearly the size of a sparrow.

Coffin Bay

Today we visited Port Lincoln it was a bigger town than we had expected. It's mainly a fishing area and a large grain port. There was ship in being loaded with Grain. The marina where all the fishing fleet anchor is an unusual mix of commercial fishing boats and homes with moorings and fancy mini oligarch yachts. It reminded us a little bit of the homes on the Gold Coast with the canals and private moorings.

The town centre of Port Lincoln has a few old buildings may of which are on the sea front, we walked along the Jetty and through the parklands down to the railway museum. The harvested grain from the early 1900's to around the 1990's was transported from surrounding towns via train. Now it comes in by road train. So the railway is no longer in use. The museum was well worth the visit.

Port Lincoln

That's a scary Crows nest

Port Lincoln fishing fleet

Port Lincoln fancy homes

Port Lincoln Silos

Port Lincoln Railway Museum

26th May - 27th May

We left Coffin Bay this morning and our first stop was the Koppio Smithy Museum its in the middle of nowhere and was established in 1968. It has two original buildings which are the blacksmith’s shop and cottage which were built by Thomas Brennand in 1905. They had some large collections of tractors, stationary engines, barbed wire, farm equipment, vehicles, horse-drawn vehicles, printing presses, and equipment. One family the Jericho family donated all of their memorabilia to the museum which includes photos, letters, greeting cards all sorts of things for those interested in the life of people who lived in these remote communities. Two of the buildings were set up as period homes set up just as they were in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It's been well laid out there is something there for everybody.

Koppio Smithy Museum

We did plan to have a quick stop at Tumby Bay on our way to Cleve, while we were walking around town Linda stopped to read a sign outside an old home which is also a B&B. The owner and his mates spotted us and kidnapped us to see the Blacksmith Museum where were spent the afternoon. The Museum is an old workshop with all the belt-driven equipment still in place. The local group has restored it all to working order. After seeing all the equipment demonstrated old mate opened the secret back door and took us into the stationary engine area. Where once again just about everything was in working order. We are now camped up in the CWA Caravan Park in Tumby directly opposite the beach. We never made it to Cleve.

Tumby Bay Street Art

Silo Art Tumby Bay

Tumby Bay Jetty

Excel Blacksmiths Museum Tumby Bay

We spent a second day in Tumby and walked all the way to Tumby Island, and had a good look around at the back streets of the town. Many of the houses were really big, it must have been an affluent place back in the 1920s and 30s. In the evening we dropped in at the Tumby Hotel and were conned into buying tickets for the meat raffle, we had to stay until it was drawn at 7:00pm. Managed to win a consolation prize of a free drink. We had a great time chatting with the locals in the bar.

Pelicans at Tumby Bay Island

Tumby Bay Island

Tumby Bay

28th May

We Left Tumby Bay this morning and headed for Cowell another lovely coastal town that is having some major refurbishments on the waterfront. From Cowell we headed to Cleve where we had planned to stay but the weather was closing in so we headed for drier territory. Tonight we are staying at Iron Knob again. As it's a Saturday we headed to the bowls club for a drink and catch up with the locals.

Franklin Hotel Cowell

Humpy Holden Cleve

Graves Iron Knob Cemetery

Iron Knob Cemetery

Iron Knob

Iron Knob with the town in the background

Iron Knob Cemetary and Princess Mine

Iron Knob Mine

29th May - 30th May

We did a couple hours more traveling today, the weather has changed so we have moved a little bit further south. Tonight we are staying Orroroo. On the way, we stopped off in Quorn, another sleepy little town and home of the Pitchi Richi railway which we saw on the way there steaming towards Port Augusta. After lunch, we headed to Orroroo with a short stop at Wilmington. Being a Sunday nothing is open so it's very quiet and there is not much to see. While we walking around town we heard some bleating and a little lamb came running out of a backyard and followed us around "he was very cute". It took us about 10 mins to get him to go back home. I think he thought he was a dog.

There is lots of treasure hidden in sheds around Orroroo.

We decided to stay an extra night in Orroroo because it was just too windy to move. We did a scenic loop of the area in the rain and visited the painted silo's Wirrabara and stopped for a coffee and an egg and bacon roll very nice. Then it was off to Peterborough and a visit to the Steamtown railway museum. It was too windy and wet to have look around the town of Peterborough so we headed back to Orroroo. During the night the wind picked up again and it was very cold.

Quorn

Quorn Station

First Class Lounge Car (Steamtown Peterborough)

Round House (Steamtown Peterborough)

Rail Inspection Car (Steamtown Peterborough)

Silo Art Wirrabara

31st May - 1st June

The weather is still terrible, it deteriorated overnight. We saw a few birds flying backward. We decided to move on to Burra with a stop at Peterborough and the Print Museum which was well worth the visit. The print shop had been left as was in 2001 and the Council took it on with the local historical society. All the printing machines are in working order and they found over 25,000 job dockets that have a printed sample of what the job was. These are being recorded electronically and preserved by the historical society. As part of the tour, you get to see the archiving of the job dockets.

Model Railway Peterborough Newsagency

Printing Museum Peterborough

We are now set up in the show grounds at Burra. A place we intend to return to when we have more time and the weather is warmer.

Bridge Burra

Old Building Burra

Paxton Square Cottages Burra

Kooringa Telegraph Office Burra (Now an Art Gallery), St Josephs Catholic Church in the Background

Pearce's Buildings Burra

The day dawned calm and sunny so we decided to stay another night. It's still very cold but pleasant enough without the wind and rain. We purchased the Burra Passport Key which gives you access to 11 historic buildings and sites in the town. It took all day to walk around visiting all the sites.