A Sampler Tour of Tasmania. Day 15

The day started out nice and fine although some clouds came over while I was cooking Brekky. I headed off for a drive to explore the forests inland from Bicheno, so I went south and took the turn off to Campbell Town. Along the way I stopped off at Lake Leake which had a nice camping ground and seemed to be oriented to boating and fishing. The water level in the lake seemed to be lower than normal as there was quite a few exposed trees. I continued on to Campbell Town which looked quite a nice little historic village, there were quite a few antique stores in the Main Street and as it was morning tea time I found a coffe shop and had a excellent cappuccino and vanilla slice. I wandered around the local park for awhile taking photos of the local carvings. 

Then I headed north and realised that Launceston wasn't all that far away, but I turned off towards Avoca and saw my first evidence of Tasmanian police on the open roads, with an Audi (who had overtaken me earlier) pulled over. I then headed towards the strangely named town of Royal George before heading on into the forestry reserves looking for Hardings Falls. After the occasional wrong turn I eventually found the falls and wandered out to the lookout. Unfortunately you couldn't see much of the falls so I headed back to the day use area and had some leftover pizza from dinner last night for lunch. Then I followed the "4WD Only" sign to explore more of the forestry and the back of the Apsley national park. The road was fairly easy although narrow and I kept expecting there to be a major blockage somewhere to stop me going any further (e.g. Tree across the road, impossible hill climb, vast sea of mud, etc.). 

When it came the blockage (on a side track I thought would head for a camping area) it was pretty mundane and was simply the bush growing back over the road. At this point I had to do some creative reversing before getting to a point where I could turn around, thankfully the shortie doesn't need much turning room. 

Then it was back to the main track and following it for a few more kms until I was back on the main Tasman Highway and heading back into Bicheno. 

I returned to the tent and noticed that the wind was getting much stronger so tightened all the ropes up and walked into town to the food and wine festival. I tried some of the wines but most were Chardies or Pinot Noirs neither of which I really like, so I had some quite nice food as an early dinner. 

The wind kept getting stronger so I headed back to the tent only to find that a strong gust had ripped the awning off the front of the Oztent, leaving the rest of the tent still standing. 

I tied the tent down with a few more ropes and moved the car to try and block a bit of the wind and then settled in for a lazy afternoon reading and watching the tent shake. As night falls the wind is dropping off in intensity, so hopefully it will be fine for a walk in the Frecinet national park tomorrow.