Driving the Race Track at Mount Panorama, Bathurst

Posted on April 21, 2022 by admin

Where else in the world can you take your personal vehicle onto a professional racetrack circuit? When the Mount Panorama Racetrack Circuit is not being used for motor racing, it forms a public road, one of the suburban streets in the town of Bathurst in New South Wales. It was really thrilling to experience the circuit. Watch your speed! It is very tempting to go a little faster on this well designed, smooth circuit, but it is well policed with speed cameras that will catch you if you exceed 60km/hr.

The most amazing thing about this circuit is the area in the centre. There is farmland with sheep and alpacas lazily grazing and wineries where grapevines are being grown. There are residential houses with their driveways coming directly off the racetrack circuit. Their driveways are cleverly angled away from the direction of the racing to ensure errant racecars can’t accidentally veer off into their homes.

Canberra – the Sterile Capital

Posted on April 20, 2022 by admin

Perhaps it is the wide streets, a result of careful town planning or the expensive and pristine infrastructure or the highly educated population or the mantle as the capital of Australia, the city of Canberra does feel quite sterile and soulless. Nevertheless, a trip to the capital is surely de rigueur for every Australia if only just to see the Parliament house and other national galleries, monuments and museums that their taxes fund.

We visited Canberra, only a few days before the highly publicised anti-vaxxer protests in February. It was amusing to see the people and their vehicles circling the national buildings honking their horns, waving flags and placards and yelling, “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!!”

We cycled all the way to Parliament House but unfortunately, we could not enter on that particular day. We did however see the piles of riot gear at the ready for the protests in the basement carpark.

Right by the National Gallery, is this cool, suspended floating sphere!

View from Parliament House – you can see down Anzac Parade to the Australian War Memorial.

Senate Gardens – I wonder if the Australian senators take a breather from the acrimonious behavior in parliament house to take a stroll in these peaceful gardens with their counterpart to calmly discuss the way forwards and the best policies for the nation?

Underneath Parliament House, the riot police has their riot gear and other supplies at the ready for the big anti-vaxxer protests

Why VanLife is Superior to Other Forms of Travel

Posted on April 19, 2022 by admin

I’ve travelled around the world a lot – by car, plane, train, bicycle, you name it. After 14 months of travelling around Australia in a van, I feel I’m qualified to make a bold claim about Van Life: it’s the best! I consider this mode of travelling to have a lot going for it. I’m comparing it specifically to long term travel with luggage, where you often will be using public transport to get around and then paying for AirBnbs, hotels, hostels etc. I am aware there are other more luxurious ways of travelling if your wallet allows, but even for some of those alternatives, I believe VanLife is superior!

Your own bed every night!

One of the annoying things about travelling is having to get used to new beds and rooms all the time. For those of us who are light sleepers, this can result in broken sleep. In the van, we take our bedroom everywhere with us. We prioritized a high quality mattress in the van so we slept comfortably every night. The van provided us with a safe, familiar sanctuary every night. It’s a real comfort to snuggle into your own bed, with your own bedding and our night things exactly where we like them every night and have a good solid sleep. After a good night of sleep, one is always more cheerful and resilient to take on whatever the new day may bring.

No time and less money wasted looking for accommodation

Accommodation forms a large proportion of the costs when travelling. When travelling in a long term way, a lot of time can be eaten up looking for accommodation which meets all the requirements at a sensible price. Travelling with our van eliminated the constant time consuming search for decent (and appropriately priced) accommodation. The cost of camping or staying in caravan parks is also significantly cheaper than hotels or Airbnbs. Plus, we have the luxury of our own bedroom every night. Win, Win, Win!

So much flexibility

The best thing about VanLife for long term travel is flexibility. Your plans can evolve depending on the circumstances. One example is to design your plans to follow good weather. We did this and entirely avoided the winter of 2021. We enjoyed so many days of stunning, beautiful, Aussie weather. This has the added advantage of seeing all the sights at their best. Another example is avoiding rainy areas. We could see that the areas close to Sydney were experiencing floods and weeks of rain so we avoided the area until the weather improved.

Other examples of how flexible VanLife is includes;

Taking a nap when you are feeling tired, regardless of where you are – just pull off the road and roll into bed;
Moving on if a place is disappointing; and
Keeping an eye on the news, pre-empting and outrunning a Covid lockdown.

Self Catering

Food can be a fun part of travel but when travelling long term, it can become very tiresome, time consuming, unhealthy and expensive to constantly eat out and the ability to self cater can be limited. When travelling with luggage, we could go to the supermarket for a cheap meal but we were limited by what cooking facilities were available and the lack of even the most simple of staples e.g. oil, salt, herbs and spices. You tend to end up with stuff you can eat raw or pre-prepared food eaten cold e.g. tuna, sandwiches etc.

With the van, we had room for lots of food including the usual pantry staples like flour, rice, canned food etc. A portable burner sufficed for making hearty, filling and healthy one pot meals. It meant that we could save a lot of money on food and eat the sort of food that we liked and made us feel good. It’s not the same as a real kitchen in a house but the view is often much better and everchanging!

The other upside is the flexibility to eat when we wanted. When travelling with luggage, in a strange new city, you are often wandering around hungry and searching for the most economical place to buy decent food. With the van, we could just pull over and get out whatever we wanted to eat, whenever we wanted to eat it. No more “hangry” related issues!

Free to make your own itinerary

Traveling in the van without a strict schedule, we could design our days to our liking. This meant being able to alter our plans depending on the weather or being flexible with our plans depending on how we felt. If we woke up feeling a little under the weather, we could take an easy day. We were not restricted and tied to plans as you would be if you were part of a tour group for example.

Check out my post covering the tools you can use to help plan and managed your own road trip.

You can have more possessions on your trip vs luggage

It’s sometimes nice to carry some extra things on your trip for those times when they come in useful. Things that come to mind are tennis rackets, snorkeling gear, more clothing and shoes, your own towels and linen etc. These little things can give you more options on your trip, save some money and make a long trip more sustainable as it removes some of the discomforts of being away from home. In a van, despite being a minimalistic way of living, you can carry so much more than in a suitcase and it makes for a more comfortable way of traveling. In addition, because things are organised in cupboards and drawers, it’s much easier to get to things – beats rummaging through your suitcase to find that missing pair of socks!

Different kinds of attractions

One of the big advantages of having a vehicle is the type of attractions that are accessible vs relying on public transport e.g. buses or trains. Public transport is only economical when servicing large population centres. It will not take you to bushwalks or remote attractions. Traveling by public transport is more of a city to city, hopping affair and what you can see is more limited to city type attractions. Whilst these are fantastic, there are also plenty of natural attractions and other things to see outside of major city centres. Getting a good look at the suburbs is also a much better way to understand how the average person lives. This is why having a vehicle is so much more powerful than just using public transport.

Ready for whatever the day brings

When you are in a new place, you have no idea what you might encounter and it’s often hard to plan what you might need during the day. It’s not fun lugging around a giant backpack of stuff to cater for the “what-ifs” of the day. It’s awesome with the van because all our possessions come everywhere with us. If we come upon a lovely beach and want to swim, we have our bathers and snorkeling gear in the van. If we see a free tennis court and feel like a hit, we grab our tennis rackets and balls and off we go! If we feel like lunch, we stop and get some lunch stuff out of the fridge and pantry. We never have to think about what we need to pack for the day. If we feel like a break, we park the van, lounge in bed and chill out till we feel like moving again. I cannot think of any other form of travel that allows you this indulgence; a midday nap!

Your Van can be a Blank Canvas

If you’re handy, or if you’re learning to be handy, your van doesn’t have to be a static space which never changes. During our travels, we made a number of changes and improvements to increase our comfort and personalise our space. Youtube and Instagram are not just tools for people to encourage envy, they can also be a great source of ideas, education and amazing tips on how to get things done. Evolve the van to make it your own. It allows you to be creative and also learn new skills.

With VanLife, you can truly “Make It What you Want”!

Does this make you want to experience VanLife? Are there other advantages that I have not mentioned? If so, leave a comment.

Inland New South Wales

Posted on April 19, 2022 by admin

When road-tripping the state of New South Wales, it is tempting to hug the coastline and ignore the inland areas. This is somewhat justified as there is a lot of stunning things to see along the coast. (My personal opinion is that some of the New South Wales coastline is more beautiful than the much feted Great Ocean Road drive in Victoria!) Nevertheless, take the time to explore the inland areas of the state. There is much to see.

Sawn Rocks near Narrabri -like a giant pipe organ

The Sandstone Caves, just off the Newell Highway between Dubbo and Narrabri was a lucky find. A friendly lady at the Visitor’s Centre gave us instructions on how to get here and we would not found this local gem on our own. This walk made a perfect driving break and these sandstone rock formations are so interesting.

If you are in the area, visiting Hume Dam is awe-inspiring. It had been raining so the volumes of water being released from this dam was staggering.

Hume Dam – Look at the trees in the water downstream and how small they are compared to the sheer volume of water being released.

Summer in the Victorian High Country

Posted on April 18, 2022 by admin

Visiting the high country of Victoria was a delight. The picturesque Ovens River, runs right through the town of Bright. The scenery at Mount Buffalo National Park was spectacular . Visiting the winter ski towns of Mount Hotham and Dinner Plain was surreal and bizarre.

Staying at Bright Riverside Holiday Park is a perfect way to experience this cute town. It is a short walk to the main street, Woolworths and the Canyon Walk. A short distance in the other direction and across the bridge is the Bright Brewery. A buzzy place for a good meal and some drinks.

The Ovens River runs through Bright. This section is near Bright Riverside Holiday Park. Note the rocks arranged in the river to create protected pools for taking a dip.

Whole Trout at Bright Brewery – a delicious way to end a day of hiking. This trout was caught only down the road at Harrietville.

When in the high country, take the time to explore the town of Beechworth as well.

Chinese Burning Towers, Beechworth. The population of Chinese people grew during the gold rush in the 1850s. These towers were for mourners to burn offerings for the afterlife.

Whilst in the high country, the Eldorado Dredge Holes is a must visit. This is one of the largest dredges in the southern hemisphere with its 118 buckets/scoops connected by a conveyor belt. It is a disused gold and tin bucket dredge, left in its last working location near the town of Eldorado. This dredge was used between 1936 and 1954. It used so much power than only the cities of Melbourne and Geelong exceeded its power consumption. It would progress slowly forwards when working, digging up the creek bed as it went along and leaving a scar on the countryside. Supposedly, the sound of this monster in operation could be heard 20kms away.

Hydro Power-ful

Posted on April 17, 2022 by admin

Waddamana Power Station Heritage Site

Everyone knows that Tasmania gets a lot of rain – especially up in the mountainous centre of the island. When we’ve seen a waterfall with the tremendous roar of water racing down, you can imagine that a lot of energy is available do useful work – and that’s where hydro power comes in.

Waddamana power station is an old power station which started up way back in 1915 (that’s over 20 years before the hoover dam in the USA). It was built to provide power for processing minerals like Zinc and Carbide further south in Tasmania. It was the first hydro power plant built in Tasmania, and now there are loads more in the state, which make lots of power without burning any gas or coal (yay!). Tasmania even sends clean power over to mainland Australia via the Basslink power cable that runs on the ocean floor under Bass Strait.

Waddamana is in a remote location in Central Tasmania, and since it’s only accessible via dirt road, doesn’t get as many visitors as it should. Nevertheless, it’s worth the effort and makes a great side trip when going between Launceston and Hobart. In fact it’s thanks to it’s very remoteness that the power station was preserved. It was just too difficult to remove the heavy equipment through the rough terrain in the area, so they just left it all in place, rather than sell it for scrap!

The complex consists of a number of different parts: the turbine hall, the penstocks, the control room and the town built to service those who worked at the plant.

The Penstocks

In a hydro electric power plant, the pipes that connect the water at a dam at the top of a hill to the power plant are called Penstocks. You can see the pipes coming down the hill in the photo below. The weight of the water pushing down the hill is what gives the energy to the power plant, and by the time the water reaches the bottom of the hill, it’s got a lot of pressure ready to do useful work making electricity.

Waddamana Power Station Heritage Site – note the water pipework that comes down from the adjacent hill (penstocks)

The Turbine Hall

Big Butterfly Valve – Waddamana Power Station. The blue part of the valve swings back and forth when it’s opened and closed to block or open the flow of water. The valve is easily big enough to crawl through!

The real business end of the operation is inside the turbine hall, and this is the most interesting part of the site. This is where the high pressure water from the big pipes is released onto the hydraulic turbines. The great thing about Waddamana is that some of the equipment is opened up so you can see what happens inside these big machines. The yellow and orange buckets in the picture below are what the water is jetted onto which turn the whole machine. The turbine is connected to the generator via a shaft and this makes electricity. You can also see the inside of the generator, with massive windings of copper wire for the different parts (the stator and the rotor).

The inside of an electric generator looks complicated, but there are really two parts – the stator and the rotor. Making electricity is all about movement between a magnetic field and a wire (or lots of wires).

The rotor is the bit that’s rotating (coloured red in the picture below) and is turned by the hydraulic turbine. The rotor has electric windings to set up a magnetic field. The magnetic field is created by electro magnets with a small voltage (called the excitation voltage), which is carefully controlled.

The stator is the bit that’s stationary, so doesn’t spin. This is the outside bit, and consists of lots of wires that have a magnetic field that moves over them and makes electricity. It turns out that the stronger the magnetic field, the higher the voltage that’s created, so controlling the excitation voltage is very important for a power plant.

The inside of the generator. Normally all of this would be covered up since it would be spinning really fast and have dangerous voltages inside, so it’s really cool to be able to see inside

The buckets that the water hit slowly get worn out by the water jetting onto it and so need to be repaired over time. At the plant, they used to fix them up by opening up the turbine, un-bolting them and putting a weld patch on them.

The water flowing onto the buckets is controlled via a valve that opens up when more power is required. The valve consists of a hole with a sort of shaped needle inside it. If the needle is pushed down into the hole, then it blocks the flow, but if it’s pulled back, then the water flows around the needle in a nice smooth shape, then smacks into the bucket and pushes the turbine around and around.

Turbine buckets and the valve that releases the water into them.

Waddamana Power Station Heritage Site – the turbine hall

Control Room

The control room is where the plant used to be operated. The operators could see what was happening on the grid and adjust the amount of power that the plant supplied. They could also turn off one of the generators if it wasn’t required, or bring one on if more power was required. Normally power demand would go up and down at particular times of day as industrial or other consumers would start up or finish for the day. Since it’s very old, there are no computers, but instead loads of nobs and dials. The interesting thing is that making hydroelectric power hasn’t changed that much over the years, it’s still a matter of passing that water through a turbine and spinning a generator. In the control room they can make sure the power plant is providing the right voltage and frequency to the grid. Frequency is the rate at which the current and voltage supplied by the plant cycles up and down, and this needs to be kept at 50 cycles per second (50 Hz). They have a clock which measures this and if the frequency is a little slow, then the clock starts to read a little slow, so then they nudge the frequency up a little bit using one of the many nobs that control the generators. Simple but effective!

Waddamana Power Station Heritage Site – Control Room

electrical Stuff

Once the plant has made power, then it needs to get to the end users. That means lots of wires and transformers and switches.

Outside of the powerplant there are some massive power lines and large transformers. The power lines carry the power and the transformers increase the voltage of the power (higher voltages mean that less of the energy is lost as it goes through the power lines).

The electricity is switched on and off using big switches like in the picture below. They call them breakers because they break the current when they’re open. These really old ones have wooden doors and glass windows so you can see inside. Breakers are not so different to a light switch you use at home, except they’re much bigger! Breakers are important safety features of a power plant, since they open up if something goes wrong and hence prevent things getting very bad (electrical faults cause nasty fires or explosions).

Circuit Breakers on a generator. The read motor on the top winds up a spring so that if required the breaker can open really quickly if something goes wrong

In the 1960’s, the plant was shutdown and replaced with another hydro power plant which was three times as powerful. If you are in Tasmania, this is a really cool, interesting and informative place to visit.

Road-tripping the Beautiful Island of Tasmania

Posted on April 17, 2022 by admin

Tasmania is a wonderful place to do a road trip as the distances between places are not too large, there is a diversity of landscapes, the roads are decent and there are caravan parks in every small town. You can take your own vehicle from the mainland of Australia on the ferry, Spirit of Tasmania or you can hire a vehicle or campervan in Tasmania. Itineraries of various lengths are available online. We took a duration of 24 days to explore the state. As we have been to Tasmania before, we skipped a lot of the East Coast. Nevertheless, as you can see from this map, we saw a lot of the state.

Following is a day by day breakdown of our trip and the highlights of what we saw.

Day 1 – Melbourne to Devonport

The only way to get your personal vehicle over to Tasmania from the mainland is on the Spirit of Tasmania. The price for tickets however is eye-watering so before you go, consider the economics of your holiday to justify the price. For short trips, it may be cheaper to fly and hire a car or campervan than to take your own vehicle. We chose to take our van because it doubles as accommodation thereby reducing our travelling costs.

Money can be saved on the Spirit of Tasmania by timing your trip to avoid peak periods like the summer school holidays. This has the added advantage of avoiding crowds and reducing the chances of accommodation being booked out. Book your ferry ticket without the extra costs of a bedroom or a recliner. The hot tip is that if you head up to Level 9, there are couches! Make a bee-line for these when you get on the ferry and commandeer these so you can have a comfy snooze during the long 9 to 11 hour journey.

Food and drink is available for purchase on the long ferry ride but to save money, BYO your own food and drink. You can bring a flask of hot water or there was free hot water available at the coffee maker at The Pantry onboard. Quarantine restrictions on fruit and vegetables is strict on the way over to Tasmania but bringing our own food added only very minimal extra time and hassle to the trip.

Check the weather before you go and be prepared with seasickness prevention strategies. On both legs of our journey, we were lucky with reasonable weather. The sea was not too choppy.

The ferry ride to and from Tasmania takes a long! time It goes for about 9 to 11 hours and for most of the trip, there is no mobile data signal. There is a paid cinema onboard but you should be prepared with your own ways to pass the time e.g. a novel, movies, knitting, snacks etc.

The queue to get onto the Spirit of Tasmania

When you get to Tasmania, consider if you need to buy a National Park pass. Visiting National Parks in Australia is usually an economical way to see some sights. The costs for most states and territories is about $15/vehicle/day. Most national parks in NSW and Victoria are actually free to visit. By contrast, the National Parks in Tasmania charge $40/vehicle/day. If you intend to visit a few, the cost will add up. We purchased a 2 month pass for $80. This was a worthwhile purchase as a significant proportion of Tasmania is considered National Parks and if you have made your way over for visit, it would be disappointing not to see all the natural sights.

Day 2 – Devonport

The Spirit of Tasmania docks in Devonport. Before heading straight off for your trip, take some time to explore this area. It’s hilly with dark, fertile soils. This productive farmland is perfect for growing vegetables, potatoes and poppies. These poppy fields are easy to identify when driving past as they are surrounded by barbed wire fences and stern signs. Tasmania is one of the world’s largest legal producers of poppies for pharmaceuticals. The vegetation and farm land gives this area a feel reminiscent of the UK.

Tasmania is a global leader in poppy growing to supply the pharmaceutical industry for medications like morphine and codeine. These poppy fields were plentiful especially in the rich soils of the north of Tasmania. They are always surrounded by a barbed wire fence and serious warning signs.

Wollemi Pines at The Tasmanian Arboretum in Devonport. These are some of the oldest plants dating back to the time of the dinosaurs!

Day 3 – Burnie

Burnie is an industrial town. It is not a pretty touristy town, but rather a practical town with a port focused on forestry and farming. Check out the Upper Burnie Lookout for an overview of the town or do the Fern Glade Walk in the hopes of spotting a platypus. No luck on the drizzly day that we went, but a lush, fern filled walk nevertheless.

Day 4 – Stanley

My favourite place in Tasmania was Stanley. This touristy town boasts some beautiful beaches, super cute little penguins and of course The Nut. The Nut is an ancient volcanic plug and it forms an imposing landmark to guide you into the town of Stanley. The town itself is located at the base of The Nut. It is super tidy and well kept with many charming and heritage style vacation rentals.

When in Stanley, getting to the top of The Nut is a “must do”. This can be done by chair lift or on foot. The view of the town and adjacent beaches is lovely from the top of The Nut. The beaches in Stanley are gorgeous but too cold for the usual beach activities for most of the year.

Our absolute highlight in Stanley and potentially the highlight of our entire trip to Tasmania was seeing the Little Penguins at night. These little cuties are called interchangeably Little Penguins, Fairy Penguins or Blue Penguins. In Stanley, there is a well set-up viewing area at Godfrey’s Beach where you can see these penguins come home at night from a day out at sea. The penguin viewing area is well set-up with boardwalks, informative signage and clear instructions.

It was surprising to see how many people were out to see the penguins as darkness fell. Be sure to rug up as the cold coastal winds were biting. Amazingly, despite the large number of people, everyone was compliant in using only red light to illuminate the area to spot for penguins. White light distresses them. There are similar penguin viewing set-ups in many of the coastal areas around Tasmania. They are definitely worth braving the cold to see as they are totally adorable! They also make a wide range of the most unexpected and bizarre noises. Our camping in Stanley was accompanied by the strangest variety of noises in the night due to these little creatures.

Seeing the Little Penguins were such a highlight of our stay at Stanley. This is at Godfrey’s Beach Penguin Viewing Platform. The set-up is really well done with an elevated boardwalk and informative signs. Everyone abided by the requirement to use only red light to avoid disturbing the penguins. They are super cute and such little characters! They also make a huge range of very strange and unexpected noises. There are lots of penguin viewing areas dotted around the coast of Tasmania. Rug up, brave the cold because the experience was so worth it despite being too dark to take a decent photo.

View of the town of Stanley from the Nut

On the drive to Stanley, stop near the Table Cape to check out the views and stretch your legs on a hike to Dip Falls.

Day 5 – Tarkine Drive

From Stanley, reserve a day to do the Tarkine Drive. It’s manageable for a day trip and is a sealed road through diverse landscapes like dairy country, rainforests and wild coastal areas.

The crown jewel of the Tarkine Drive is the Trowutta Arch. The reason is obvious when looking at the photos below.

The lush ferns at Trowutta Arch State Reserve

Breathe in the sea air as you are buffeted by winds at Couta Rocks, Tarkine Drive

Edge of the World Lookout, near Arthur River, on the Tarkine Drive. See where the tannin stained river water reaches the ocean.

Day 6 – Waratah

Waratah is a sweet little town with a population of only 245. It was once a mining boom town but no longer. It has a friendly main strip. The picturesque Waratah River runs through it and claims to have platypus in it. There is also the spectacular Waratah Falls right in the centre of town. Due to it’s proximity to Cradle Mountain, the Tarkine Drive and Burnie, this little town is worth a visit.

Day 7 – Cradle Mountain National Park

Before dashing out of Waratah to head to Cradle Mountain, it is worth a small detour to see Philosopher Falls. It’s a multi tiered waterfall with a well maintained, lush, rainforest walking track.

No trip to Tasmania is complete without visiting the Cradle Mountain National Park. As it is the most popular national park in Tasmania, it has excellent signage and infrastructure throughout. It is probably experiencing a lull during the pandemic without busloads of tourists. Our visit was only for about 5 hours as camping in this national park books out early during school holidays and is very expensive. We drove in, tried to squeeze in as many hikes as possible and headed out afterwards to Tullah for the night.

Wombat at Cradle Mountain National Park – this guy was really brazen and busy doing it’s thing and ignoring all of us! Check out the cubic scats (poops) just beside it. Wombats produce cubic scats! How amazing!

Cradle Mountain National Park – super pricey to get in but excellent infrastructure. This national park must be one of the most visited places in Tasmania.

Tullah Lakeside Lodge – An unexpectedly wonderful end to a day of hiking. We camped overlooking this gorgeous lake and had a great meal at the lodge.

Day 8 – Strahan

Onwards to picturesque Strahan, which is pronounced in a way that rhymes with lawn. On the way, stop off at one of the highest waterfalls in Tasmania. At 104m, Montezuma falls is quite a spectacle. When in Strahan, the Gordon River Cruises were highly recommended but were totally booked out. Visit the Morrison’s Huon Pine Sawmill for a free tour at 3pm for an interesting look at saw milling, the old fashioned way.

Suspension Bridge – Montezuma Falls Walk

Day 9 – Queenstown

After so much natural beauty thus far on our journey around Tasmania, the areas around Queenstown provided a stark contrast. Queenstown was once a mining boom town. Unfortunately, these areas have been denuded by over-mining and copper smelting. The trees were cut down to fuel the mine’s furnaces and the sulphur fumes from the copper smelters caused plants to die. As a result, the area looks like a “moonscape” and the tops of the hills are sad and barren as a reminder of what can happen when mining is performed without care for the impact on the environment. These pictures don’t show how shocking the landscape looks. With time, the land will heal and signs of the nature creeping back is evident.

Day 10 – Mount Field National Park

Onwards to the most unexpected find of the trip, Mount Field National Park. On the way to this national park, stop off at Nelson Falls and Donaghy Hill Nature Trail for a stretch break.

Mount Field National Park is very close to the city of Hobart yet it feels like different planet. The highlight is the walk that boasts three impressive waterfalls, Russell Falls, Horseshoe Falls and Lady Barron Falls.

Russell Falls, Mount Field National Park

Horseshoe Falls, Mount Field National Park

The camping at this national park is excellent. Serene riverside camping is available as well as hot showers! The whole area is lovely and picturesque.

Riverfront Camping at Mount Field National Park

Mount Field National Park – very close to Hobart. A wonderful place to camp with great waterfalls and walking trails.

Day 11, 12, 13, 14 – Hobart

Hobart is a very pretty albeit hilly city. The Tasman Bridge and the surrounding view looks magnificent on a fine day. The area around Constitution Dock is lovely. Their botanic garden is very orderly and well labelled. No visit to Hobart is complete without visiting the weekly Salamanca markets and the MONA art gallery. The markets are quite big and crowded but there are lots of interesting things to see and eat including local cherries which are super sweet.

The most spectacular way to approach MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, is to approach by ferry. It is located in a beautiful coastal location with grape vines growing on the property. It’s a beautiful spot to sit out on the grass in the sun with a picnic listening to the live music.

This museum is privately funded and houses many bizarre works. It is definitely not safe to bring the kids! One of the highlights is Cloaca Professional, an art installation which replicates the human digestive system thereby turning food into faeces. Unfortunately, on the day we visited, we missed pooping time. Beware, the entire room smells……!!

Art at MONA – many of the art works at MONA are confronting, depraved and disturbing. Not a place to bring the family!

MONA – this part of the exhibit had interactive sound effects as you walk through the tunnel.

Day 15 – Bruny Island

Bruny Island is a lovely daytrip if you are in Hobart with a car. Take the ferry across and go for a drive. The Neck is stunning and there are some beautiful views from the Fluted Cape Walk.

Day 16, 17 – Port Arthur and Eaglehawk Neck

Tickets into the Port Arthur Historic Site includes a boat tour of the bay. There are a bunch of historic buildings as well to explore at this convict site. We went there on a stunningly beautiful, blue sky day. The place looked lovely for a visit but it would not have been so nice to be imprisoned here.

Port Arthur Historic Site – sculpture at the historic boat building area. The boats built by the prisoners here was of good quality and so cheap that it had the commercial boatbuilders complaining.

On the way to or from Port Arthur, take the time to visit the sites around the Eaglehawk Neck area. There is lots to see.

Tessellated Pavement at Eaglehawk Neck. It’s unbelievable but this happened naturally!

Day 18 – Waddamana Power Station Heritage Site

An often overlooked and underappreciated attraction in the centre of Tasmania is the historic Waddamana Power Station Heritage Site. This old power station was too remote to be pulled apart during decommissioning so it was left. This means that this well preserved site exists for us to visit today. There is, unfortunately, a long unsealed road to get here but it was worth it.

Day 19 – Ben Lomond National Park

For some alpine scenery, we spent some time hiking and camping in Ben Lomond National Park.

Day 20, 21 – St Helens

For the locals of Tasmania, in the height of summer, they would head to St Helens for a beach vacation. Its a gorgeous little beach holiday town on a hill and it was busy during the recent summer school holidays despite the lack of interstate travelers. It was filled with domestic tourists who chose to holiday locally instead of heading interstate.

Nearby is St Columba Falls and the famous Bay of Fires, with its strikingly orange coloured lichen.

Day 22, 23 – Launceston

Ahh, the hilly Launceston! A city with a gorge located less than 4kms from the centre of town! It’s a great location for a walk or for those prepared to brave the chilly waters, a swim.

Alexandra Suspension Bridge – Cataract Gorge

Day 24 – Devonport to Melbourne

Leaving Tasmania for Melbourne on the Spirit of Tasmania was mostly uneventful except when they insisted on confiscating our butane stove cannisters. It made no sense as they allowed us to have them on the way into Tasmania by ferry.

Conclusion

Tasmania is a great place to visit during summer when the rest of Australia is absolutely blisteringly hot. The weather in southerly Tassie at this time is perfect for walking in the day while cooling off at the night to allow a good sleep. The weather is more variable than other parts of Australia as not every day will be sunny. Most days will be good.

A large proportion of the land in Tasmania is considered national park or nature reserve so there is much natural beauty in this small island. It’s hilly topography and fresh water sources make it suitable in places for hydroelectricity.

The north of the island is farmland and dairy country. The west is mainly national parks and lush, fern filled rainforests. The south bears a striking resemblance to the South West of Western Australia as it is drier and the rolling grassland is less densely vegetated. Be prepared for some hilly, windy driving when in Tasmania. The usual 100km per hour rule of thumb for travelling in Australia (except for cities) does not apply in Tasmania due to the more hilly terrain.

Tasmania is perfect place for exploring by road and a “must do” for the holiday maker who wants to escape the fast city pace and enjoy some natural beauty.

Melbourne – Always an enjoyable visit!

Posted on January 6, 2022 by admin

Melbourne is a glorious city. Usually, a visit to Melbourne would include a visit to the theatre, lots of restaurants, rooftop and laneway secret bars, market visits, galleries and all kinds of the usual city fun! Unfortunately, this visit over Christmas and New Years was overshadowed by escalating Covid Omicron cases, long testing queues, masks, avoidance of crowds and indoor spaces. Therefore, you will notice this in this post that this visit took on a distantly open air flavour (for Covid safety). Actually, there are plenty of things to do in the open in Melbourne and there are a surprisingly number of lush gardens in the CBD and surrounds which are perfect for a picnic.

Melbourne CBD – the Yarra River is beautiful to cycle along and the city is gorgeous in the evening light.

Melbourne Town Hall – despite how cheery this heritage building looks, all dressed up for Christmas, this is a covid testing site and there was a socially distance queue snaking around the block!

Cycling to Saint Kilda from Melbourne CBD is not too difficult especially as it is mostly downhill. You can cheat by jumping on the train to get back! Once you get to Saint Kilda, you can ride along the coast down to the colourful Brighton Beach Boxes.

Riding Along the Beach from Saint Kilda to Brighton – see the view of the city and the lovely bike lane!

Only a 30 minute drive from Melbourne CBD is the historic town of Williamstown. From here you can get a view of the Melbourne skyline from across the water and spend a lovely day at the beach or looking at the other sites.

View of Melbourne Skyline from Gem Pier – Williamstown

Newport Lakes – not far from Williamstown

The Blue Lotus Water Garden is only open for a few months of the year when the lotus and lilies are blooming. It costs $22 for an adult to enter but you will be faced with a number of lakes and a lot of lilies and lotuses. There are so many varieties. You will yourself taking too many photos! They are quite elegant and beautiful flowers and this location which is 1 hour and 10 minutes out of Melbourne makes for a lovely day out. Drive back via Olinda and Sassafras and take a stroll through the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden (formerly known as the National Rhododendron Garden) before heading home. The drive is through some beautiful countryside with lush ferns and rolling hills. It is quite a special part of Australia.