Monday, 10 November 2014

Tassie Adventure. Day 3

Woke up stiff and sore after spending the night in the Ocean Recliner but at least the Kwells did their job and I didn't get seasick. The crew woke everyone just before 6 am and at 06:30 started sending everyone down to their cars for the first wait of the day, then we were off the ship and into another line before ending up in 8 lines in the car park where we went through "Customs" again. As always happens I was at the end of the line and one of the last to be set free. I had a quick Brekky at a local bakery before finding the Bass Highway and heading for Burnie. 
I ventured off the highway to explore some of the little towns before Ulverston and then continued onto the town of Penguin and continued along the coast until I got to Burnie. There doesn't seem like much to support these towns but I suspect people live there and commute to the bigger towns to work. Burnie was a bit of a disappointment as the parking around the main city centre was all metered and there didn't seem to many places a visitor could park and explore. I found the penguin centre and may come back one night. I didn't find a place to stay so headed onto the next little town of Somerset where I found a reasonable caravan park and booked in for a couple of nights. 


I set up the Oztent this time and had a great hot shower before walking back into town to do some shopping and get some lunch. The Flake and chips was excellent, with crispy chipies and a good sized piece of flake with a very thin coating of batter, not the normal thick fatty stuff. Then it was back to camp where I had parked the car to act as a windbreak for the tent as there was some quite strong gusts. 
I had a look at the map and decided to go for a leisurely drive along the coast. I went through Wynyard and went up to the lighthouse at Table Cape where it was extremely windy and very cold, before I found a beautiful little spot called Boat Harbour. It is a protected little cove with very white sand and is very picturesque and they serve a great cappuccino as well. 


Then it was off to the town of Sisters Beach and the Rocky Cape national park. It wasn't as spectacular as Boat Harbour but I was able to put the Paj into AWD and explore a rough track into the park. It wound along beside the beach but there wasn't a lot to see. My maps suggested there may be a better track on the other side of town but it turned out to be a walking trail. As it was getting on in the afternoon I headed back to camp only to find that my tent fly had torn in the wind, so I took it off the tent and I'll see if I have a problem with condensation tonight. 


I was feeling a little tired as I hadn't slept very well last night, so I had a late afternoon nap, then cooked some dinner before sitting down to write up my blog for the day. The wind has dropped off a bit but it is getting quite chilly so I think it'll be an early night in bed where I'll plan a trip to Cradle Mountain for tomorrow.

1 comment:

rjt said...

The tent (fly) torn by the wind ... the 'journal' entry "The wind has dropped off a bit but it is getting quite chilly " ... reminds me of the old antarctic explorers writing up their journals at night, to the sound of the tent being buffeted by a freezing wind. Wishing you warmer weather :)