Thurs 23rd march
It has rained most of the night. My Meniere’s seems to have taken a rest and
the IBS is also silent π
Washing and drying day today…… Thank goodness
for clothes dryers.
We were going to go out towards Hastings caves
and the Thermal Springs but after the past few days I didn’t like the idea of
standing in a meter of 28 degree water with cold rain falling on my head. Yes a chicken :C
Fri 24th March
Happy Birthday Aunty Helen Menz.
Off to Geeveston today with the van and camped
at the RSL club. Opportune as they are
doing meals at the club tonight.
Darryl and I went for a walk up into the town
and went to the Visitor info Centre. This
USED to be the Heritage and Forestry Centre but not anymore.
Darryl and I went across to Dinner at the club
which was quite enjoyable.
Sat 25th March.
We were told that there were markets on this
morning in Geeveston but when we got there – no stall holders had shown by
9.45am – so the organisers told us it was off :C
We then went for a drive up to Huonville,
Willie Smiths Apple Museum and the Visitor Centre. The Apple Museum has got about 300 different
varieties of Apples and the display is replaced every year. ALL the varieties are grown on a farm nearby.
We then went for a drive out through Ranelagh
(pronounced Ran-e- luh) and on to Judbury.
Here there is a great little park with climbing buildings made using
hole tree trunks with ladders inside.
The children were having a wonderful time.
Back to Huonville and down to Frank’s Cidery
and CafΓ© in Franklin for lunch. There is
a beautiful old Church here – from 1830’s – that the community are trying to
buy and keep in the community. We made a
donation to their cause.
Sunday
26th March
Today we went to the markets at Franklin and I
met a lovely lady by the name of Louisa who is a WEAVER from Hobart. She would like to meet up again when we pass
through Hobart. Looking forward to that.
We then drove up through Huonville and around
the coast road to Cygnet. What a great
little place. There was a lovely butcher
who was open – even though it was Sunday – and we got some great meat specials.
We had a good day out and returned to
the van and a cloudy but dry day.
Monday 27th March
It is cloudy today so we are heading off to
Gordon over on the coast, past Cygnet, after topping up with water at the
Heritage park in Geeveston. We arrived
and set up in the Gordon Recreational Reserve for $5 per night and we have
access to good toilets. About an hour
after we arrived we were hit by a monster of a storm with heavy rain and very
strong winds. The van was rocking quite
a bit.
Tues 28th March
Today we drove up to MIDDLETON (Darryl’s
3xgreat grandfather ran a pub here in the 1850’s called the Middleton
Inn). There is no evidence of the pub
now though. We then drove up to
Kettering and found the Post Office (in the service station) where we are
hoping our mail will be when we return from Bruny Island, and called into the
marina and Ferry Terminal and had a coffee whilst watching the Ferry arrive and
unload its cargo and reloading and heading off to Bruny again. On our way back to Gordon, we stopped for a
look see at Woodbridge and the lovely lady in the post office suggested that we
go to the ‘Channel History Centre’ at Margate.
They may have some info about the Pub’s location.
We then stopped at the GrandvEwe Cheese Factory
and distillery. Some interesting cheeses
and Mutton sausages which Chris and Darryl tried. My tummy was not behaving so I didn’t try
them.
On arrival back at the camp site it was to find
some people that we first met at Zeehan.
Margaret makes shortbread biscuits and sells them as she goes around.
The wind has picked up again and is very
blustery and here comes the rain π
Wed 29th March
Happy Birthday to Aunty Margaret Mason, Gail
Blanksby, Robert Davis and Nathan Menz.
A beautiful Sunny day today with minimal
breeze. Today we drove up past Kettering
to Oyster Cove, then down the C626 towards Nicholls Rivulet and Cygnet, south
to the C627 and back to Woodbridge and back up to Oyster Cove to the shop with
lovely farm fresh veggies and all sorts of goodies including some lovely Gluten
Free goodies.
We then drove back to Peppermint Bay CafΓ© at
Woodbridge for a coffee. This is the
first place that we have encountered a tall coffee served in a handle-less
glass. When we asked for something to
cover the glass so that we could hold it, the waitress glared at us and then
pushed a serviette across the counter to us.
Hmmmm…..
Returned to the van after having collected some
Cumbungi from the channel and – wouldn’t you know it – the rain and wind have
picked up again. π
Thurs 30th March
Off to Bruny Island this morning. It is lovely and sunny and hardly a
breeze. We arrived at the Ferry at
9.40am and on board by 9.55am. Arriving
at North Bruny Island at 10.15am and then at Adventure Bay on the south Island
at 11am.
The sites in the Caravan park are quite tight
for some of them and in the end we got Chris to drive around the park and do a
drive-through into her site.
The rain is squally now but we are determined
to go for a look-see. So we drove to the
SE to Cook’s Landing site. There are a
couple of memorials her to Captain Cook and Captain Bligh and a memorial to
where the site of the tree that Captain Cook tied the Endeavour to clean her
hull.
We also called in to the Bligh Museum which
gives you a lot of history of all the different explorers and navigators that
came through these waters.
We then travelled back towards the NECK
(Isthmus) and stopped in at what is signed as Bruny Chocolate Co. It is more Fudge and Truffles which we found
to be a tad expensive, BUT go a packet to have at Happy Hour.
Darryl and I went for a walk behind the van
park, along the Captain Cook Rivulet [also known as a creek] and then down to
the bridge across the Creek and out to its opening into the sea. We then walked back up along the beach of
Adventure Bay to the van park.
Back to the van and a blustery afternoon with
occasional squalls.
Fri 31st March
Awoke very cold. The temperature overnight dropped to
3-degrees. Brrrr.
Today we drove across the South Island to
Alonnah and then down to Lunawanna and out to the Cape Bruny Lighthouse. A steep walk up the concrete pathway and then
I was the ONLY person (out of about 20) that did the tour of the
Lighthouse. The steps were not too bad
and my vertigo didn’t start as I came down the mesh stairs – so I felt
brilliant π
After leaving the Lighthouse we drove to Jetty
Beach where camping is permitted. A very
narrow, sandy road for 2km in and some good spots in which to park the
van. National Park and $10 per night for
2 people with drop-toilets. Drove down to have a look at the boat ramp – which happens
to be the sandy beach π
Drove back through Lunawanna to Alonnah and the
Bruny Hotel where we have been told they do a seafood basket that is NOT deep
fried. It is actually pan-seared! I
ended up having the Seafood mixed grill (which was again NOT deep-fried) and
was lovely. Darryl had a salt and pepper
Squid meal which he thoroughly enjoyed [including the Salmon from my lunch].
After lunch we drove north of Alonnah and met
up with a lady by the name of Lis Brown (who Chris knows from a Facebook group)
and she is in Tassie for a year. Her project
is to photograph EVERY TOWN IN TASSIE.
So far she has photographed 500 towns.
Lis also travels in a little campervan with 3 Westies. [West Highland
Terriers]. We spent about an hour
chatting with Lis before heading back to the van.
The flooding in Queensland has affected so many
of our family and friends. Hopefully the
rain stops soon and the rivers start to go down with minimal damage to homes
and property. We are really feeling for
you all.
Sat 1st April
Another wet and blustery day π π
We headed out this morning to check out North
Bruny Island, stopping at the Neck Rookery and the stairs up to the Truganini
Memorial. The wind was blowing that hard
that (if the rail wasn’t there) we would have ended up in the sea on the
Eastern side. We then travelled up to
Dennes Point. [My friend Sue Roberts’
mother grew up in Dennes Point.] We called
into the Community Hall/Coffee Shop (No mugs here for coffee – only small
cups)/ grocery store/ and a Gallery.
Talking with the manager of the Gallery she was very interested in my
weaving and said that when we “move to Bruny, I have an outlet for your work”. What a great thing to be told!!!
We then drove down past the jetty and met up
with a couple that we met at Geeveston – Lorraine and Cec Wollstein from
Queensland. Had a lovely chat with them
whilst the wind was blowing and the squalls came through? We then followed them along the round around
the point and we called in to the Old Quarantine Station. I had a lovely 45min walk around the station
looking at all the displays. I didn’t
mind the occasional light squall that came through as it cooled me down π.
We then called in to Get Shucked and had some
lovely oysters and fish for lunch. After
that we went to the Bruny Cheese and Beer and had ---- a coffee π and
tasted two cheeses.
Back in the car and back to the van. We invited our neighbours to Happy Hour in
the ‘Green Shed’ and no sooner there and the rain was lashing the shed and the
wind blowing. It was a very enjoyable
couple of hours with a lovely fire blazing.
No comments:
Post a Comment