10 March 2016 - Around Nowra

Today we decided to spend another night at Nowra, which meant we were able to visit the area between Nowra, St Georges Basin to the south and the coast.  We did 207 km in all visiting many, but not all, of the coastal beaches and some on Jervis Bay and St Georges Basin.   Places included Terara (dairy country), Greenwell Point, Orient Point, Crookhaven Heads, Culburra Beach, Penguin Point, Currarong, Callala Bay, Huskisson, Vincentia and St Geoges Basin.

We were most impressed with the dairy country around Terara.  The paddocks were irrigated, the grass was lush and the cows were contented.

100316 Improved pasture at Terara - first phase - grass

100316 Improved pasture at Terara - second phase - water

100316 The third phase at Terara - cattle**

**Cattle—colloquially cows—are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos taurus. Now you know.

100316 the fourth and final stage

Huskisson was probably the biggest town outside Nowra.  Each of the villages has its own launching ramp and there were boat trailers at every one.  The fishing must be good because there were plenty of pelicans around. 

100316 Boat ramp at Greenwell Point

100316 Crookhaven Heads from Orient Point 

100316 Commercial centre (part of) at Huskisson

100316 Huskisson Harbour

100316 One of the locals at Orient Point

100316 Warrain Beach and Lake Wallumboola from Penguin Point

100316 Warrain Beach from Penguin Point

100316 Through the sea mist, Point Perpendicular taken across Jervis Bay from Vincentia

100316 Properties with water access at St Georges Basin from the boat ramp

100316 Mum, Dad and the kids at St Georges Basin

We found a wildflower (domestic maybe) on the boundary of The Department of Defence's Beecroft Weapons Range (BWR) near Currarong.  We ducked while we photographed.

100316  Wildflower (?) near Currarong

It was heavily overcast today, maybe heralding a change in the weather, but we got through the day without any precipitation.

8-9 March 2016 - Family Visits, Port Kembla and overnight in Nowra

8 March we visited relatives at Wollongong and followed this up with breakfast at "Diggies" Restaurant at the Wollongong Surf Club.  There were hundreds of people on the beach, mostly young women doing exercises.  Other people were riding bikes or taking dogs and babies for walks.

Points south beckoned after breakfast and we headed slowly south.  We spent some considerable time trying to find a panoramic view of the Port Kembla Steel Mill and Bluescope Steel's facilities.  We eventually found one from Hill 60 at the southern end of Port Kembla. The trouble is, it is such a huge site and photographing it was darn near impossible and pesky trees kept blocking the views. 

090316 Some of Bluescope Steel at Port Kembla

090316 Port Kembla Steel Mill with Outer Harbour on RHS

090316 Port Kembla Steel Mill - maybe coking ovens

090316 Port Kembla Steel Mill up close

090316 Port Kembla Steel Mill - middle distance

090316 Port Kembla Steel Mill - far distance

Port Kembla done, we headed south again, admiring some of the beaches from a distance. We called in at Kiama but its blowhole was not blowing.  It was a beautiful day however, and the rock pool was busy with swimmers and lazy waves were rolling up onto the beaches. 

090316 Small headland at Kiama 

090316 Island off Kiama

090613 Entrance to Kiama's Blowhole 

090316 Kiama's Blowhole which wouldn't blow

090316 Swimming Pool at Kiama

090316 Boat Harbour at  Kiama

090316 Beach at Gerrigong, one of the many beaches on the way

Nowra was a lazy 35km away so we moseyed on down there via the Seven Mile Beach National Park.  In all we only did 137km today but that was sufficient to justify an overnight stop at Nowra on the Shoalhaven River.

Canberra & The Australian Alps March - April 2016

Our trip to Canberra and the Australian Alps started on a showery 1 March 2016.  We passed through frequent showers as we hurtled down the Pacific Highway until we reached Grafton.  We had decided to cut across to the New England Highway to Armidale.  The “truck” (read the Landcruiser), the “anchor” (read caravan) and we two aspiring travellers had not ventured on this strip of road before.  The road was poor in parts as we wound our way across the coastal plain and then up a winding and undulating roadway into and through the mountains.  The road was bad enough not to take time out to see the occasional views as they flashed by.  However, there were upsides.  The rain had stopped and the road improved greatly as we neared the beautiful Armidale, with its deciduous trees showing off their autumn colours.  For information, Armidale lays claim to being the highest city in Australia.

Cooling towers at the Bayswater Power Station
in the Hunter Valley

It was a pleasant drive from Armidale down the New England Highway until we reached the Sydney outskirts, oh gracious me, at 3.30pm and approaching peak hour.  Mind you, it seems to be peak hour all day in Sydney.  It took us a couple of hours to reach Grose Wold, west of Sydney at the foot of the Blue Mountains, where we met up with our daughter Jodie.  We set up the van there for a four day stop to enjoy Jodie’s and her partner’s (Jason) company.  Jason owns a property on the Grose River, which has its headwaters in the Blue Mountains.  It is peaceful there, miles from the urbanity of Sydney.  Its isolation is reinforced by the songs of whip and bell birds emanating from the forest on the property.  The songs were a constant all day. 

In the late Thursday afternoon we headed off to the Paramatta stadium to see the Brisbane Broncos NRL team play the Paramatta Eels.  Jason’s sons play for Paramatta, so there was interfamily rivalry at play.  The outcome was a win for the Broncos.

Our visit to Grose Wold ended with a family dinner at Barrel 58 on Saturday evening.

Wollongong, 136 km from Grose Wold, was our next destination for a visit to family members, prior to starting down the beautiful NSW south coast.  On the afternoon of our arrival we headed back up the Mt Ousley Pass to the Mt Kiera Lookout and on to Sublime Point and the Bulli Lookouts.  Our return took us down the famous Bulli Pass.  From these lookouts there are fantastic views over the coast, Wollongong and Port Kembla.

Port Kembla from Mt Keira Lookout

Wollongong from Mt Keira Lookout

Looking north from Mt Keira Lookout

Lake Illawarra from Mt Keira Lookout

Looking towards Wollongong from Sublime Point

Looking south from the first Bulli Lookout

Looking south from the second Bulli Lookout

The coast from the second Bulli Lookout 

Day 64 - Launceston to Devonport and some reminiscing

We had a white out this morning and could barely see 100m in front of us.  The fog diminished somewhat as we said goodbye to Hadspen and Launceston and headed for Devonport, our port of embarkation for our return voyage to the mainland.

It was a fairly quick 88km journey, crossing roads that we had previously visited on our second day in Tasmania.  We had now completed our tour of Tasmania.

In some respects sadly, we arrived in Devonport in rain and heavily overcast skies, which ironically were not too dissimilar to our first few days in Tasmania.  Later in the day the wind arrived.  We must add that for the last two and a half weeks, the weather has been terrific, with cold mornings and lovely sunny days, so we are choosing to ignore todays weather event.

020515 Devenport on our penultimate day in Tasmania, cold and wet

Here are some details to give you some idea about the distances we have travelled over the last nine weeks.

Distances                                                                             km

Brisbane to Melbourne to catch the ferry:                        1761

Devonport to Devonport, caravan km:                             1620

Distance travelled in Tasmania by car:                            5974

Distance travelled by car alone (sightseeing):                 4354

In summary

• It took us a greater distance to get to the ferry than to drive around Tasmania with the caravan.  As remarked previously, it is a long way to travel to catch a boat.   
• The distance to travel around Tasmania is not that great
• There are plenty of things to see in Tasmania, which require you to head off the main roads
• The highways are quite good but some of the lesser roads leave something to be desired.  We can forgive some of the mountain roads as they are not maintained for public use, rather for forestry use.
• Signposting left something to be desired at times but we only got lost in the mountains once, so we are not really complaining.  The fact the distances are small, means one never gets lost for long.

Tasmania is an island of mountains, rivers, lakes and varying coastlines.  It is also a place where photographs are demanded, in our case 2251 of them, not all of which were included in the blogs.

Mountains: For simple beauty, Cradle Mountain was the pick.  For the view, Mount Wellington behind Hobart was wonderful, but one should not forget the South Sisters, Ben Lomond and Mount Barrow.  For the thrill of the chase, Ben Lomond and Mount Barrow will not be forgotten.

Rivers: Mountains beget rivers and the wild rivers of the west were beautiful and the Gordon River lived up to its reputation.  While hydro electricity generation is inevitable in a place like Tasmania, we did not think the presence of the power stations was overwhelming and they are indeed clean.  The Derwent River was memorable for its meandering passage through its valley, with poplars and other deciduous trees lining its banks and showing off their autumn colours.  The South Esk River too, demonstrated similar qualities.  The Tamar River was different.  Tidal and sluggish, it provided such a contrast to the faster flowing rivers, yet was beautiful in its own way.

Lakes: Mountains also beget lakes and there are plenty of these.  They are impressive.  Lake Gordon and Lake Pedder were outstanding and the Gordon Dam itself was memorable, not only for its size and beauty, but also the 230 steps down to the top of the dam wall and the 230 steps back.  The Great Lake in the centre of Tasmania was not misnamed either.

Coastlines: The southern coast of Tasmania is not accessible by car but we understand it is wild and rugged.  What we did see of the east coast could equally be described as wild and rugged, including Bruny Island, Tasman Peninsula and the Freycinet Peninsula. The wildness of the west coast and its temperate rain forests is to be marvelled at. We can understand why people go to extraordinary lengths to protect it.

Conclusion

Tasmania has such a lot to offer.  We have seen much, but not all of Tasmania in the eight weeks we have been here.  The weather has been at best, mixed, and we have rationalized that when the clouds are about, the rain is falling and the wind is blowing, we have seen Tasmania in a different light.  We have loved every minute of it and can recommend a visit to Tasmania.  It will, in many respects, transport you back to earlier times with its small cities, little villages beside babbling brooks and a quieter and more relaxed lifestyle.  Weather wise, it will also amply demonstrate “four seasons in one day”. Tomorrow we head back to what the Tasmanians refer to as “their big island to the north.”

Dino’s Travels’ will cease as of this blog.  We trust those who have followed our travels will have enjoyed Tasmania as much as we have.