April 25, Day 731 Final entry

Well it's been two years since we started our trip. Although we are not quite home yet, our trip is done. Geoff is enjoying his job, the town is nice, the park is quiet and friendly. Although we are all a little homesick it is important that we do this for Geoff to get experience to be able to work anywhere, especially closer to home.

We've done over 51 000km, spent $9 780 on diesel, $11 264 on accommodation or roughly $15.40 per night. If I exclude the weeks where we were staying in a caravan park for work and only include travelling stays, this figure drops to an average of $3 per night for accommodation, shows how much you can save on accommodation alone if you're planning a holiday. Of the 104 weeks since we left home, Geoff has worked 36 weeks and I have worked about 22, not bad for an extended holiday. We have only needed the credit card once and that was while we were looking for work near Perth. In retrospect, we probably could have found work much faster if we'd used a postal address closer to work prospects instead of closer to our location.

Thankyou for following us and we hope to be reading about your own adventures in the near future.

Bye for now

Shelley, Geoff and Erin

April 20, Day 726 Blayney

Our final week at St Marys was fairly uneventful save for a mouse that decided he wanted my map drawer for a home. There was shredded paper everywhere and little trails of droppings from one end of the car to the other, including the engine bay. Messy little bugger.

I was a little concerned about the ferry crossing as Bass Strait's forecast was for Seas: Up to 3 metres. Swell: Southwesterly 0.5 to 2 metres. 20-30 knot winds. Rain.

It was bucketing down as we lined up at 4.45pm to go onto the ferry and it was still bucketing when we finally made it on board at 6.50pm. This time we were put with the semi trailers on a lower deck and had a bit more space around us. The trip across wasn't as rough as I'd thought but I still felt the boat roll quite a bit. Erin and Geoff slept through it all, but I just couldn't get comfortable. Next time, I think we'll get a cabin, at least we had front row recliners again, so no-one lying in our laps.

The bonus of taking so long to get on board was that we were one of the first off again. We headed straight across the Westgate Bridge for a roadhouse on the Western Ring Road. My cousin Michelle had organised to meet us there as we were in a bit of a hurry to get up to Orange. I hadn't seen Michelle since Erin was 2 yrs old and I hadn't met her kids yet so it was a quite a reunion. We chatted for a couple of ours, took heaps of photos and then hit the road again.

We made it as far as Balmattum, a roadside stop on the Hume Fwy, well back from the road. We caught up on a couple of hours sleep then a fellow traveller set up camp behind us. He had also caught the ferry the night before and visited family that morning.

We still had our furry little friend with us so Geoff set up a peanut butter mouse trap and the following morning we no longer had a stowaway, much to Erin's dismay and horror.

As it was not quite school holidays yet, Erin still had to attend her online lessons while we were trying to hightail it up north. Thankfully some of her lessons had been cancelled while her school was moving locations so that made things a little easier. We also had internet signal most of the way so the lessons were done en route.

Monday night was spent just south of Gundagai at Tumblong rest area and we couldn't not visit the Dog on the Tuckerbox, so we did just that on Tuesday morning, took photos and Erin tossed a coin and made a wish.

I had tried to book into the caravan parks in Orange last month but was told they were busy and call back at the end of the month. I called both of them back but both are fully booked over Easter. I think fate stepped in for me there, I called the caravan park at Blayney, just south of Orange, and he was more than helpful. Even though they were booked out over Easter, he could put us on an unpowered site until the powered sites were cleared. I booked in for the Friday before Geoff was due to start so that we had a bit of time to set up but not too much that it was a waste of money. Thankfully there was a cancellation and we were put straight onto a powered site, the annex is now set up and the TV too, first time since we left Fremantle.

We stayed out at Carcoar Dam, about 10km from Blayney, for 3 nights while Geoff did his medical and we went and checked out Orange and Bathurst. Blayney is lovely, nice quiet town, walking distance from the caravan park. I didn't like Orange and Bathurst at all, too big, too busy, okay for shopping trips every couple of weeks though.

Geoff started his new job on Monday. So far he's enjoying it, he says the guys are great and he likes his boss. It's all good. The mine organises car pooling for their workers that are on similar shifts and living in the same area so that could be an option in the near future, once Geoff gets settled.

I'm a bit nervous about winter, it snows here and there are regular frosts. I was looking at photos of Blayney online and there was quite a snow fall as late in the season as last October. Brrrr.

April 5, Day 711 St Mary's

Well our time in Tasmania is almost up, we are heading back to the mainland this weekend and hoping for a calm crossing. Hope I didn't just jinx us.

For the last few weeks we have done very little as Erin has had end of term exams and assignments due. We did manage to see the carved memorial trees at Legerwood, a very talented chainsaw wielder there. We went cross country from Mathinna to Ringarooma via narrow logging tracks to take a short cut from St Mary's to Scottsdale. Thankfully we didn't take the van with us as we punctured a tyre just short of the bitumen, bugger. We couldn't get the tyre repaired either as the steel belt was damaged, the Sava's we got in Port Hedland just can't handle punctures, we have now upgraded to Yokohama Geolander A/T-S and have already noticed that they are a lot quieter on the road. For obvious reasons, we didn't return via the short cut and returned to camp via St Helens, the long way around. It's all good scenery though.

We had to get out of St Mary's in a bit of a hurry on the 22^nd March as a lot of rain was forecast and possible flooding. We made our way to Conara, south of Launceston and waited the weather out at the free camp there. Nice spot and met a local guy who loves to chat to everyone who stays there while he's out walking his humungous black dog. Nice man, he gave us a big bag of tomatoes fresh from his garden.

We were lucky we left, St Mary's was cut off for about 4 days and where we had been camped had a fair amount of water through it. Even the local high school was closed for a few days. We caught up with the couple who had been camped next to us there and they had decided to tough it out, they had to move to the higher ground near the golf course, still within the campground but that puts you under the gum trees, no thanks.

We spent the following weekend at Myrtle Park, near Targa and day tripped from there to Launceston, Beaconsfield, Georgetown and surrounds. Myrtle Park was really nice, $3 a night and hot showers but absolutely no internet or phone coverage so we had to go out again in search of signal for school. We did manage to stay there 3 nights though. Erin did her online English lesson in the car while we were driving south of Launceston and her teacher thought it was incredible. She asked Erin to take a photo out of the window and put it on the whiteboard during class. Some of the other students thought the landscape looked a little like New Zealand.

While we were in Launceston, we found a book of Dr Harry Cooper's at an op shop, it was even signed by him, and Erin loved it. It also came about from the book that Dr Harry's farm was near our location so we made a detour to drive past it. Erin got a photo of the gate and the sign saying "Visitors strictly by appointment only", the driveway was long and the house was hidden by a hill, still she was pretty chuffed. Geoff got sneaky the following day and put a letter in the mailbox explaining Erin's desire to be a vet and her love of animals. The following day, Geoff got a phone call from a lady who had bought Dr Harry's house and he no longer lives there! She will forward the letter though to where he lives now, somewhere in NSW. Oh dear, so close.

We have thoroughly enjoyed everywhere we've been in Tasmania, though I think 5 months might have been a little too long. We were told a few weeks ago that there are 180 on the waiting list to get a caravan on the ferry before the end of April. Glad we booked ahead but the flexi ticket was a bit pointless if there's no room to bring the departure date forward, easy to extend though. Oh well, at least we had fun.

With our remaining week, we decided to return to St Mary's. Free camp, hot showers, great people, couldn't be better. Oh wait, a little bit of heat instead of 3-5 degree mornings would be better. Our gas heater has been getting a good workout, glad we got that for the trip. Yes, we should be ready for winter in Orange...

 

March 20, Day 695 St Marys

While it was nice to have power on hand and hot showers, it's nicer to be back on the road and sight seeing. Not long to go now before we are back on the mainland. Geoff has managed to get a job as a crane operator near Orange so we are shooting straight up there as soon as we hit the mainland. We tried to get on an earlier ferry as they wanted him to start straight away but there is a long waiting list to get on before our departure date. Oh well, still more to see here anyway.

After we left Cambridge, we paid yet another visit to Campania for Erin to catch up with her friends before we left the area. Even though she had seen them every weekend while we were at Cambridge, we couldn't deny her another night at the youth group and time with friends.

From Campania we went to Dunalley and camped behind the hotel there for a few nights, to daytrip and watch the bridge swing open and close (boats use the Denison canal as a short cut to avoid going all the way around the Tasman Peninsula). We spent the first day making our way down through the Tessellated Pavement, blowholes, arch and historic sites at Eaglehawk Neck. There's a town called Penzance at Pirates Bay which elicited a chuckle and we expected a bit more of a play on words when we drove through it, but it was just a sleepy seaside town, no Pirates of Penzance.

We found Doo Town funny with most houses having a name to do with Doo. Gunna doo, Doo mee, Doo nix, Doodle doo, Make doo, Doo drop inn, Doo us, Love me doo, Just doo it, Much to doo, Wee doo, the list goes on. Nice little coastal town too.

The following day, we went to the Coal Mines Historic site and walked all over. That was interesting – the buildings were all in ruins but the solitary cells were intact, very dark and eerie, I'd hate to be in there with the doors closed. The views were pretty spectacular too, lovely bay views and everything lush and green.

We headed up to Lime Bay Nature Reserve for a look as we'd been told that was a great camp spot but we were not really impressed. It was a long weekend, the camp ground was very full with tents so close together their ropes were almost crossing and they wanted around $15 a night for rutted roads and toilets, I'm glad we didn't take the van there.

We drove the loop road down to Port Arthur and had a look from the lookout in the carpark. It looked impressive but as it was already 2.30 and a bit late for a look around, not to mention we'd been walking around historic sites all morning as it was, we saved ourselves the $75 and returned to camp, still satisfied with our day.

As school work is becoming more and more involved we are restricted to going only where there is internet as Erin has 11 one hour sessions a week where she has to attend class. I'm glad, in a way, that we will be stopping in Orange for work as it has become too hard to travel and do Year 10.

We have been gradually making our way up the east coast and have been amazed again by the views and landscape. We camped at Triabunna behind the hotel for a few nights, then one night at Lagoons Beach before finding a nice spot at St Marys. It's a free camp, as all of them have been since Cambridge, with hot showers, fresh water, short walk into town and plenty of internet signal. We've been here for 3 nights already and using it as a base for day tripping further north. Yesterday we went to Bay of Fires, St Helens and St Columba Falls. Geoff enjoyed a cheese tasting at Pyengana while Erin and I sat in a comfy couch and enjoyed the view.

The camp sites at Bay of Fires are popular with magnificent views but I'm glad we stayed at St Marys instead, much more room to move, flushing toilets, hot showers, no salt and no sand, what more could you want?

We are heading west again to see around Launceston in a few days and make the most of our last 3 weeks in Tasmania.

Big Happy Birthday to my grandmother for her 87^th, hope you have a great year.

Shelley

February 24, Day 671 Cambridge

As Erin had had such a good time at Campania, we headed back there for Friday and Saturday nights. She attended another youth group meeting, this time at Richmond Maze, and spent the night at Sam's house again. I don't think we saw much of her at all on Saturday.

Geoff and I went to the local orchard again and re-stocked up on apricots, nectarines, peaches, and cherries. All the fruit is so much tastier than Woollies, etc and heaps cheaper too. The nectarines, peaches and cherries were $6 a kilo and Apricots were $1.50kg for seconds or $3kg for good ones (both are yum though). We gorged ourselves on fruit the last time we were up here too.

We are now in a caravan park and it's not bad. There is a mini-golf course and wood fired pizza shop here and chest-high hedges between the sites giving that illusion of one's own space, I think. The toilets/showers are converted water tanks, there are four at this end of the park and each one is a bathroom. The shower is on a timer allowing a 5 minute shower and then the water shuts off, it's not too bad though because if you're caught out (ie still soapy), you wait 15 seconds and turn it back on for the next 5 minutes. 5 minutes is heaps of time though unless, like Geoff, you come home stinking of fish food. He's working at Skretting where they are dismantling something or other and he comes home smelling like a gold fish's best friend. One of the guys he is working with couldn't get rid of his dog the other day. I'm glad I have the washing machine in the van, but I can't seem to get the smell out of his clothes, I've even tried using the eucalyptus wool wash with the detergent. Still stinky. Yuk.

February 17, Day 664 Franklin

We woke up at Port Huon to thick fog and couldn't see the wharf anymore and the road looked a bit hazardous too. It didn't lift until mid-morning but that was okay as Sid had a broken clasp on his fridge that needed repairing before we were able to move on.

We had planned to go to Cockle Creek and camp for 3 or 4 days but we got down there and weren't very impressed. The road was corrugated and potholed and the camp sites were boggy with no views of the water. There was also lots of other vans and humungous horse-flies. We turned around and made our way back out to Southport where we had stopped on the way in.

Southport was beautiful, we stopped right on the beach, almost stepping out straight onto the white sand. Much nicer than Cockle Creek. We spent two nights there and Geoff tried his hand at fishing again. Sid caught a couple of squid and a couple of fish and Geoff caught a fish but it was too small and he didn't have a clue what it was anyway.

We are spending tonight at Franklin before heading back up towards Cambridge for Geoff to start work. Yes, he got the job. He spent some time at the Wooden Boat Building School today while Erin and I caught up on some school work. We are not too far behind though so it wasn't too bad. Geoff came back with paraphernalia for courses on boat building and a renewed energy for constructing something. Oh dear.

 

February 14, Day 661 Port Huon

We spent 3 nights at Kingston and amazingly didn't get moved on; there is a 'no camping' sign there but it doesn't say penalties apply so we pushed the friendship a little and stayed. It was a nice spot overlooking the beach and Derwent River and it had good internet coverage for Erin to do her on-line lessons. She has 10 one-hour lessons each week for 6 subjects and has to attend, with her headset, and she can communicate with her classmates and teachers. We have found this very difficult in some locations due to limited coverage, sometimes it's okay for email and internet but not strong enough to connect to the school. We have also found Year 10 to be a lot more time consuming than Year 8 and 9 were and we're struggling to get most days finished by 5pm. I know that this would be about the same as mainstream schools if you take into account homework and assignments.

From Kingston we ventured down the coast to Woodbridge for a night then onto Gordon for 4 nights. There is a jetty at Gordon and Geoff managed to catch 5 squid before losing his favourite lure. The locals that were fishing with him went home empty handed so he was pretty chuffed. Sid and Bing collected blackberries from along the road for stewing and bottling.

Today (Monday) is a public holiday in Hobart and we found the Port Huon wharf deserted. We have camped just up the road and made use of their hot showers, lovely, we don't have to heat water up tonight. Mind you, having said that, I should point out that the said showers were in the men's loos and Geoff stood guard while us girls had our showers.

 

February 6, Day 653 Kingston

We've just spent the last 3 nights at Campania and 3 nights at Oatlands before that. We took a day trip up to Campbell Town and saw the Red Bridge and the convict trail as well as some fantastic historic buildings. It is incredible how much history Tasmania has managed to keep, the majority of the towns down here have at least something older than 100 years. Campbell Town has a row of bricks along the side walk with each brick representing a convict, labelled with their name, age, crime, prison term and the ship they came on. Some of the terms were pretty severe for the crime – 7 yrs for stealing linen.

Last Friday, Geoff went for a job interview at Kingston for a 3 week shutdown at Cambridge. He got the job pending a medical which he has to go for on Tuesday in Hobart. The job doesn't start until the 21^st so we still have some time to go sightseeing.

While we were at Campania, they had a youth group at the hall we were camped behind and the organiser invited Erin to join them on Friday night. She had a great time, they played Laugh Olympics and she made a few friends her own age. On Saturday night she was invited to stay at one the girl's places and even joined her for her morning newspaper run this morning.

We drove through Hobart today, picking Sunday as the least busy day to drive through the city towing a 23' van. There is no going around Hobart. We drove through last Friday without the 'van and managed to end up in the wrong lane and had to turn left when we didn't want to. That lane didn't get us again today – we were ready. Even the huge logging trucks drive through the city everyday; it's madness.

We are camped tonight at a park just north of Kingston where people walk their dogs. I can't keep Erin away from them, she comments on every dog as it goes past, some she's even asked the owners if she can pat their dog.

January 31, Day 647 Oatlands

Well we've done some km's this last week, nothing like what we'd do on the mainland though. We travelled through the central plateau and couldn't believe how dry it is, compared to the coast and how small Tassie is, it's remarkable how little rain the centre gets.

We spent a few nights at Hamilton and caught up on essentials, like real showers and laundry. Unfortunately not a free camp but at $5 a night plus $1 showers who's complaining, and a power point in the bbq area to charge the laptop and camera batteries, bonus.

We also spent a couple of nights hidden behind the community hall at Maydena and arrived just in time for their Australia Day celebrations and sausage sizzle, another bonus day. From there we did a day trip out to Gordon Dam and saw the 2000 yr old Huon Pine log at Strathgordon, unfortunately some dirty bugger had set up camp around it and had stored his booze in the hollow as well as other rubbish in and around it. There was a fishing tournament nearby so we assume he was with that. Sid cleared the hollow so we could take pickies and wonder in awe at what it represented. The rings are labelled with what took place at some of the tree's life stages, for example "Romans leave Britain 411", "Battle of Hastings 1066", "Joan of Arc burnt at stake 1431" up until the tree was felled in 1975. I think it also had "Birth of Christ" on it but someone stole it.

We've just camped the last three nights at Hobart Showgrounds ($12 a night plus $1 showers) and went by bus into Salamanca Markets on Saturday. That place is huge, it just went on and on, but much of the same thing over and over again – wood stall, hat stall, fruit stall, lolly stall, another wood stall, jewellery stall, etc. We bought ourselves some lollies and a bit of lunch but everything else was really expensive, we still enjoyed the day though.

The Hobart Showgrounds hosts a Sunday market so that was an easy walk from camp – one side of the showgrounds to the other. A good size market but a bit of a garage sale really, lots and lots of junk, probably treasure to some though. Erin bought herself another necklace and I got a small shoulder bag that's ideal for holding my water bottle when we're hiking. We had to laugh, Sid bought an exercise bike for $20 and spent the afternoon disassembling it so he could fit it in his motor home.

School started back for us last week, Tasmania is on school holidays until 16^th Feb as they only have three terms down here so it's a bit hard to get motivated. We are gradually getting back into routine but we have only heard from two of Erin's teachers and it's week two already, I feel for the school as they were surrounded by flood waters so things are a little hectic as they get back on deck.

 

January 22 Day 638 Blackburn Creek

We've finally made it away from the western side of the Apple Isle and into the centre. We are still trying to take the roads less travelled but hit two more road closures and had to back track – 20km yesterday when the road to Mole Creek Karst from Gowrie Park was closed and 6km today when one of the roads between Westbury and Poatina was closed, this back road also scored us another flat tyre, we had a huge piece of glass in one of the van tyres, luckily it wasn't the one we just bought. We are getting lots of comments on our shredded tyre hanging off the back of the van – "Nice tyre", "Wow, which road did you go on so I can take another?"

The road from Poatina to Great Lakes has a stretch that resembles a heart beat monitor, quite a few hairpin turns going steeply up hill. We had to stop part way up to let an echidna cross and then try and get our momentum up again. Fantastic views from the top and finally a clear day to enjoy them.

We camped last night at Deloraine and enjoyed a walk through town yesterday and their many op shops. We were good though, Geoff and I bought a book each and Erin found a small leather backpack that she had to have.

We are still managing to free camp everywhere and haven't been charged since Riana. We haven't hit a bad spot yet, though Deloraine was a little noisy being next to the train tracks.

 

January 20, Day 636 Gowrie Park

We've spent the last 4 nights camped behind the Wee Georgie Wood Steam Railway at Tullah and day tripping to Queenstown, etc from there. It's still raining on and off so any hope of getting a good view from the lookouts was pretty slim.

Queenstown was very much the mining town I expected, I thought a little depressing too. Lots of for-sale signs and closed shops, the rain probably didn't help boost its spirits either.

Strahan, Zeehan and Rosebery also had empty shops and for-sale notices around. We tried to do our bit and supported the bakery economy at Queenstown and Rosebery, both had good vanilla slices but their pies weren't that great.

January 15, Day 631 Hellyer Gorge

It continued to rain while we were at Dip Falls and many roads were flooded when we made our way out to the coast again. We had planned to go to Hellyer Gorge via Yolla but the bridge was underwater so we had to stay at Wynyard overnight and hoped that the water would recede by the following day.

We made use of our waiting time by going to Somerset to get a few tyres repaired (one on the van had a slow leak and the one we punctured near Julius River) and a new tyre for the van to replace one of the spares as it had no tread left. We were very lucky as it was Friday afternoon and they fitted us in straight away. It probably helped that the road to Burnie was also cut so no customers were coming from that direction. 2 repairs and a new tyre for $130, pretty good I think, it would've cost a lot more at home.

Finally made it to Hellyer Gorge today and it was worth it. Absolutely beautiful. Different to Julius River though, not as much moss and lichen. Erin and I saw a few pademelons around sunset and heard more thumping through the undergrowth. We are staying here tonight and continuing further south tomorrow.

January 13, Day 629 Dip Falls Big Tree

We ended up spending three nights at Julius River because it was just so nice. The ranger, Warren, came around everyday for a chat and brought the newspaper for us to keep up with news of the floods in Queensland. There was also quite a storm through here last night which brought down lots of trees and blocked some of the roads. He was out with his chain saw making sure we could get out today. Lovely guy, loves his job and doesn't look like retiring anytime soon, he's 66 now.

We tried to take a back road to Mawbanna from South Forest to enjoy a different route but got within 12km and had to turn back due to the road being flooded at Black River, a tight area to turn around in when you're towing 23 feet and being followed by a motor home.

We finally made it to Dip Falls at about 4 this afternoon and were greeted by huge roaring falls. We got Erin to stand near the bottom for a photo and she was nearly drenched from the spray. I'll have to buy a postcard to see what the falls normally look like because you're supposed to be able to see volcanic rock formations and at the moment we can't see anything for the massive waterfall.

We have been free camping in the picnic areas of the reserves with no problems and have actually been joined by others camped in "swish bangs" (for those who don't know what a swish bang is, they are the campers with the sliding side doors that go swish…bang in the wee hours of the morning, also known as wiz bangs).

I hope this finds all those who are near the floods, or may have family affected, safe and well and out of harms way, our thoughts are with you.

January 11, Day 627 Julius River Forest Reserve

We went on the 1 hour walk to the sinkholes this morning and managed to stay reasonably dry. It was like walking through the forests of Lord of the Rings, everything was mossy and green and so peaceful. We saw lots of burrows and hidey-holes but no animals, I imagine it would be thriving at night with Tassie devils and quolls, it was too rainy last night to go spotlighting. Besides, it's still light at nearly 10pm. The sun goes down just before 9 due to Daylight Saving then there's ages of twilight.

This afternoon we went for a drive around without the 'van to see further up the road at Lake Chisholm and Milkshake Hills. Lake Chisholm was lovely, it's a large sink hole that is permanently filled with water. It had more of the same sort of forest – massive trees, tree ferns covered with maidenhair ferns and ground covered in moss. The bridge to Milkshake Hills looked a little dubious to cross as a few large logs had hit it during previous flooding and it was sitting at an odd angle. There was a track next to it through the riverbed that looked like it was being used as an alternative crossing but it was a little deep and water was flowing very quickly so we decided to give it a miss and turned back.

I think Geoff thought he was a rally driver on the way back to camp, he had Bing rather concerned in the back seat with Erin and I and Sid reading the road turns off the GPS screen, lots of turns and some decent size pot holes. It wasn't until about an hour after we got back to camp that we found we had scored ourselves yet another flat tyre. This was the same tyre we punctured on the way into Mum's driveway when we got home in October. Geoff removed the offending piece of blue metal and hopefully we'll be able to get it repaired again as it's not really that old.

 

January 10, Day 626 Julius River Forest Reserve

So far I am very impressed with Tasmania, there is so much to see and, to date, it's all been beautiful and rewarding. We stopped for lunch at Table Cape and admired the views. We camped at Sisters Beach, just past Wynyard, and the view from the beach reminded me of the crystal clear waters of the Whitsundays, white beaches and a little island off shore. Some of the new houses in the area were a little on the nose, boxy, flat roofed, eyesores.

We camped at another beach the following night, not as protected or pretty but still good. Godfreys Beach at Stanley looks straight up at the Nut, a big round hill on the point, they've even built a chairlift up there if you can't walk up it, we did neither the walk nor the lift, too windy. It was so windy there we had to stop at Smithton to wash the salt off the car and caravan, it was caked on all the windows.

We camped two nights at Green Point near Marrawah. It's a popular surf spot and was quite crowded while we were there, unfortunately for the surfers, it was pretty calm and there were a lot of disappointed guys standing around. Most only camped for a night then moved on to try the next best spot. We could see the wind farm at Cape Grim until this morning when the surf picked up and the seaspray made it hard to see that far.

Today we drove through Arthur River and stood at "The Edge of the World". A plaque there reads:

 

I cast my pebble onto the shore of Eternity.

To be washed by the Ocean of Time.

It has shape, form and substance.

It is me

One day I will be no more.

But my pebble will remain here

On the shore of Eternity.

Mute witness for the aeons.

That today I came and stood

At the edge of the World.

 

The rocks and beaches are stacked with logs in piles washed ashore, I could imagine great bonfires out on the rocky points looking awesome.

Tonight we are camped at Julius River Forest Reserve, and the rain has caught up with us, this was to be expected, we are after all, camped in a rainforest. I am hoping the weather will clear enough for us to do some of the walks, the mossy myrtles, moss covered ground and fallen logs look very inviting.

 

January 4, Day 620 Cooee Point

Happy and prosperous new year to all.

We are now making our way into the north-west corner of Tassie for a look around.

Last Friday, new year's eve, we went up to Cradle Mountain and had crystal clear skies and a rather warm day, this was surprising as it had snowed up there 5 days before. Knowing it had been that cold, I was prepared – beanie, jacket, jumper, yep, carried them all day while the sun shone and the day was a lovely 20 degrees, oh well, better warm than frozen. We had left the car at the visitor centre and used the buses so no dumping off our extra load.

While visiting Waldheim Lodge, a wombat made his way across a little footbridge and ambled past us before retiring under the house. He was replaced by a few pademelons hopping around and being cute.

For the last two nights we have been camped on the foreshore at Cooee Point, near Burnie, and watching the little penguins waiting for their parents to come in for the night. The first night, Erin laid down on her stomach among the rookeries and a curious young penguin came face to face with her. Talk about being connected with the animals. She has a new determination with her schooling this year, she wants to get excellent grades and study to be a vet. Her grades last year were pretty good and we are very proud of her.