The Vans Maiden Voyage

 January 10, 2022.

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. 

Stay Tuned.