June 20, 2016
Early morning up and at ‘em. Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I was waiting for my plane, and who should come up and sit down? None other than Andrew Johns! For those of you who don’t’ know, he is considered one of the “Immortals” in Rugby in Australia. He is now a sports caster for Rugby. I introduced myself and we chatted for a bit. He was VERY nice. I also met a man from Racine Wisconsin, who was on his way to Sydney to see his son. What a small world.
The plane trip was easy enough. Air New Zealand is really a nice airline. Good food and good entertainment. I sat next to a young Aussie girl who was coming back from being in South American for 4 months studying. She had spent the last bit of her time at the Galapagos. Now that is a trip I would love to take!
Once I got to Sydney, I had to make a change over to a domestic flight to Tasmania. The actual process was fairly seamless. I just walked my bags over to Virgin Australia. They then gave me a ride to the Domestic airport, and all was good. One interesting thing is that they have this new thing called an epassport. Apparently I have one. Instead of going through a customs official, you just put the passport in a machine that scans it, and all is good. Kinda weird.
The flight to Tasmania was a little more rudimental. I had to pay 3 bucks for a Diet Coke, but that was ok. Once I got here, I took a bus ride into town and spent the night at the Edinburgh Gallery B and B. What an amazing place. It is over 100 years old. It used to be known as the Edinburgh aHospital, and the owner, John, told me thae since he bought it, he had met a lot of people who were born there.
When I got to the Edinburgh, John was out. He had left a sign on his door that I was in room 8, and the key was in the lock. What a beautiful room. Downstairs. It was very large. Cold, oh my yes. He had an electric pad under the bottom sheet. That actually heated up too much, but at least I didn’t freeze. I went out and got some Beef Curry, and tucked in for the night.
June 21, 2016
Today was another day I swore I wasn’t going to do. I got up and met the owner of the Edinburgh. Yes, I spent the night without actually seeing him! How unusual was that. Well, I had brekkie with him. We talked a long time, and that was very pleasant. He called me a taxi, and I headed out for the campervan rental place.
Now I must say, this van is not nearly as nice as the once I had in New Zealand. In fact, it’s a bit shabby. One good thing is that is does drive better. It doesn’t have the high roof, so the center of gravity is better for the curvy roads. Yes, I said I did what I wasn’t going to do, but I drove all day to get to Strahan.
One the way, I stopped at a most interesting place called the Wall. The forests here are all Huon trees. They are protected and can’t be cut down. If a woodworker wants to use it, he must go into the forst and find dead pieces laying around. This place called the Wall is an exhibit of incredible Huon carving that one many is still doing. The work is larger than life size, and dedicated to the history of Tasmania. I was so very impressed. They also had a nice little café, so I had to have tea and a bikkie!
I arrive almost too late here in Strahan. It’s pronounced “Straw-n”. I got here a little after 5, and the park office closes at 5. Luckily the owner was just tidying up, and she let me in. I will stay here for two nights. No sense in driving all this way just to leave at dawn’s early light! I cooked dinner in the little camp kitchen, and now I am getting ready to settle in for the night. Tomorrow I hope to go exploring! No driving tomorrow!
June 22, 2016
Interesting night and cold day. It rained so hard, I thought the roof of L’il Beast was going to cave in! I am sure there was hail. It was about 1 Celsius this morning. To those from the US, that equates to… FREAKING COLD! I got up and decided to do the “Foreroad Track” walk. This walk, about 5 miles, took me downtown Strahan, along the waterfront, and over to the historic railroad. It was really an easy and nice walk. I was very cold and dodging the rain and wind, but it was very fun. The little harbor was beautiful. I stopped for a coffee and meat pie for breakfast, and then headed back to the camp ground.
Along the way, I passed by the primary school. It was wonderful to see the children. There were so many bright faces. Children in Australia all wear uniformed, whether they are in public or private school. They additionally wear a “bush hat” when they go outdoors. Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world, so they are really proactive. The kids were working in cooperative grouping. I don’t know what the lesson was, but it was great to see the engagement.
I stayed in the van for most of the day. It’s amazing how tired I am. I know that the rain and the cold are awful, and did I mention there is no heater in the van? Thank goodness I am parked right next to the loo! I cooked dinner in the camp kitchen, which is really just a small shack, fully open on one side, with a microwave, coffee pot, and working sink. Thin steak and fried potatoes with asparagus for me! This is the life!
June 23, 2016
After a hard, hard night, I took off early today. I needed to try to beat the storm. They were predicting hurricane force winds and snow. Thank goodness for GPS. I headed for Launceston, and the road I was supposed to take, over Cradle Mountain, was blocked with snow. Luckily, I was able to go around. I think I’ve seen every single cow and sheep in Tassie!
Pulled into Launceston fairly late. I traveled over 400k, and in the heavy rain and wind, well, it was challenging. This particular caravan park wasn’t the nicest, but it was close to a Woolies (Woolworth’s), and a chain called Banjo’s. It is a bakery and coffee shop. A large flat white and a “party pie”, please. I bought a little more fresh vegetables, and all is well.
June 24, 2016
Out of Dodge early. The wind and rain caught up with me with a vengeance. -5 Celsius this morning. I took off and headed for Port Arthur. It is election season here in Australia as well, and listening to the radio and all the national and regional ads and discussion was extremely interesting.
One of the things that John, the owner of the B & B in Hobart, told me about was the energy crisis in Tasmania. Apparently, most of their electricity is hydro powered. And island, go figure. Anyways, their dams fell below the 12% mark due to a terrible drought. They weren’t able to produce enough electricity. There is also a huge cable, called Basslink, that runs from Melbourne on the mainland to Devanport, in the north part of the island. This cable broke about the same time the water level in the dams became so perilously low. The government spent 9 billion to bring in generators, just in time for the Basslink to be fixed. So, of course, the whole topic of energy resources is key in Tassie. Now, with all the rain, they are experiencing flooding. Feast or famine. The politicians are just as “political” as they are in the US, but there are a ton of different parties. The two main parties are Liberal, who are the conservatives, and Labor, who are the liberals. Then there’s the Greens, the people for farming, etc. It’s really interesting.
Anyways, finally made it to Port Arthur. I checked into a really nice campground. This place, called the Big4 of Port Arthur, is like a park. Yes, it’s winter, and there aren’t too many silly people out, but this park is amazing. It is really like a park. I know that there are other people, but I don’t see them anywhere around. The loo is so clean, and the “camp kitchen” in just like an industrial kitchen. Lots of room, fully enclosed, two fridges, a huge 8 burner stove, and all the utensils you could want. It is shiny clean.
As the sun set, the animals come out. There are lots of ravens, wallabys, and pademelons. In the distance I can hear the kookaburra. Just like being out in the jungle. The rain is gone, and while it’s still cold, it’s certainly not like the last couple of days.
June 25, 2016
Today was just the funnest day. It started out with me driving around seeing some of the sites. The cliffs and coast line are beautiful.
Let me tell you a little about Port Arthur. In recent history, it is the scene of a horrible massacre. A single gunman went into the Port Arthur Historical site, and killed 35 people, and injured 23 others. He had several guns. Because of this horrendous event, Australia has incredibly strict gun laws.
Port Arthur is also the site of a horrendous convict prison site. There is only about 10 percent of the buildings still around., and most are in ruin, but it is an incredible place. During the day, I went to the Tasmanian Devil UnZoo. It is a zoo without walls. It’s main goal is to preserve and help buildup the Tasmanian Devil population. You may now know this, but the devils were nearly wiped out due to a cancerous facial disease. Today, they are working hard on conservation, and breeding a healthy population. This place was awesome. I had booked a paranormal investigation for this night months ago. I ate dinner, and then headed out to the site for the evening.
I had so much fun doing this. There was a group of 14 of us. It was hilarious. We were given cameras and K2 meters to use, and taken to four places that are supposedly totally haunted. I loved watching some of the women scare themselves. It was very silly. I met the most delightful woman from Hobart, Julie, who goes on this investigate every month. She was totally into it. Now I will answer the question. No, I didn’t see anything. I did, however, feel my hair tousled up. In another place, I felt my bum grabbed. There was no one around me, so I’ll leave that to anyone’s interpretation.
I got back to the campsite very late. Driving at night is always a hazard, because of the wild life. It was very scary, because there are no street lights at all. Combine the total darkness with the animals, and the spooky experience I just had, well, it made for an interesting evening.
June 26, 2016
I decided last night to stay the rest of my time here in this campground. I want to go and see Port Arthur in the daylight. I did decide, however to take it easy today. I drove around the loop here at the end of the Tasman Peninsula, and found the coal mines. This was another place where they sent the prisoners. It was just horrific to see what was done to these convicts. There isn’t a lot of surviving ruins here, but what there is is just awful.
I went back to the campground and took a nap. How wonderful to be so relaxed. Spent the rest of the day there. Did laundry, took a shower, and just enjoyed myself. I’m reading a book called “For the Term of His Natural Life” about a man sentenced to Port Arthur and the other convict settlements. I haven’t read for pleasure for so long. This book is basically written in Victorian English, but it I so interesting to read a fictionalized account of places that I am at. Very good.
June 27, 2016
Today, as soon as I got up, I headed for Port Arthur Historical site. Once there, I took an introductory tour. It is so interesting to see the places in the daylight. It is truly an amazing place. Anyone who likes history would be so fascinated here.
There are two other places that I took a tour of. The first was the Isle of the Dead. This was a very small island where they would bury those who died at Port Arthur. It was very solemn. One side of the island has a lot of headstones. This was for the civilians and free soldiers. The other side is barren of headstones, and was for the convicts. It a very sobering.
The other place of importance was Point Puer. This was the site of the boys prison. Yes, the BOYS Prison. They housed boys ages 9 to 19 there. Yes, there was some stab at education and job training, but it still was a barren site where punishment was harsh. I wanted to cry when I left there. To think that some of these children were guilty of nothing more than stealing a loaf of bread to eat because they were starving, and wound up out there. How terrible.
My Grieving Widow's Tour 