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 22nd 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...
