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| Kayaking on the Huon River |
A few weeks later a pandemic was sweeping the globe. I wasn't seriously worried though. How long could it last? How bad could it really be? This is 2020 and we have science and health experts who will deal with it and we will move on. It soon became apparent that this was not going to blow over quickly. Right up until a few weeks before we were due to leave, I was not sure whether we would be going. State borders in Australia had been closed for much of the year, and brief openings had been squashed again by new outbreaks. Even if Tasmania let us in, would Queensland let us come home? In addition, Virgin Australia had gone into administration earlier that year and the flights were changed a few times leading up to our trip.
9th December dawned with no new outbreaks in Tasmania or Queensland, and we set off. We had to declare our travel to the Tasmanian Police, and they had a heavy presence in the Hobart airport when we arrived. They checked our temperature and asked the usual COVID questions. Were we sick? Had we been overseas or interstate? Had we been in contact with anyone with COVID?
Our rental car was provided by Thrifty. A short detour in the story - Virgin airlines originally cancelled our flight on the 10th and moved us to a flight that went through Sydney. That made me a bit uncomfortable given the changing state of border restrictions, so we moved to a direct flight on the 9th. I then had to add an extra day to the rental car reservation. When I tried to do so online, it wanted to change the total price from about $1500 to over $3000. After a few phone calls and emails they gave me the extra day at the original rate. I later found out why the prices had gone up so much - earlier in the pandemic the car rental companies sold off most of their fleets as they were sitting unused. This meant that there were far fewer cars available. When we were picking up our car, a man came to the counter looking for one and was told they were completely sold out. We had booked using an RACQ code that allowed us a free additional driver, and this turned out to be vitally important for our trip.
9 - 12 December - Port Arthur Area
It was mid afternoon and high tide when we arrived on Wednesday. We stopped in Sorrell for supplies and then made our way to Eaglehawk Neck, where we did some short walks to see the Blowhole and the Tasman Arch. The blowhole was average. We've not had a lot of luck seeing blowholes at their finest on our various trips.
Our accommodation for Port Arthur was at Stewarts Bay Lodge, right next to the Historic site. Here we had a cabin in the woods with a view of the bay. It was quiet and peaceful and the cabins were quite comfortable. Megan and I had serious Virgin River vibes (it's a TV show).
We went for a walk down to the bay, then ventured up to the General Store to get some dinner as it was close, and more importantly, open. All of the baked goods had been pretty much picked clean, so it was a takeaway fish and chip style dinner. I was excited to get a pineapple fritter but the thing was literally dripping oil and I was a bit disappointed. I started the night in bed but Dallas' snoring got pretty bad so I moved to the couch in the living room after pinching the spare blanket off Megan while she slept.
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| Megan on a walk to the bay |
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| View from our cabin |
Dallas had arranged to go diving at Eaglehawk Neck on Thursday with his cousin's daughter's husband, Fai, who works as a diver at one of the salmon farms. I let the kids sleep in and drove him up to the dive center, about 30 minutes away. It was very chilly and he was a bit apprehensive about the cold, but very much looking forward to the dive. His brother had helpfully also told him to watch out for sharks during safety stops! Apparently great whites have been in the area and there is this sighting of a 4m shark.
A pleasant morning of exploration
On my return to the cabin I eventually managed to get the kids out of bed. Megan had worked some crazy hours before we left and was enjoying her sleep in.
After a quick stop at the office to select some DVDs for that evening, we set out for the Remarkable Cave. It was cold, a bit rainy and very windy that day. In the car park I forced Reid to put his jacket on despite him claiming he was not cold. This set the tone for our entire trip, where you will see Reid in a singlet and the rest of us rugged up in warm jackets.
They have recently finished renovating the walkway and stairs to the viewing platform for the cave and they are sturdy and easy to navigate. To get down into the cave itself you have to climb over the railing and down a ladder which is labelled "Emergency Exit". I get the feeling they don't officially condone climbing down there, but provide the ladder to make it safer to do so. The Remarkable Cave is actually a tunnel, and that day it was quite the wind tunnel. My eyes stung despite wearing sunglasses and my ears ached.
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| Very very windy!! |
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| The ladder for emergencies... like wanting to walk inside the cave |
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| It must not have been a full low tide as the water was still in the cave |
Just as we made it back to the car, it started raining again. Our next stop was Port Arthur Lavender. The rain had eased up so we explored the lavender fields (there are a few small fields with different varieties) and had a look at their information room showing how they process the lavender. As the rain hit again, we decided it was time for lunch, and ordered some scones and drinks inside their cafe. We were quite full by the time we finished those, but it was too late, we had already ordered the Lavender Indulgence to share, which turned out to be a ridiculously large dessert containing all things lavender. Megan thought bits of it tasted like soap, not that we eat soap, but I suppose the link to the smell causes the association.
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| The Lavender Indulgence |
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| Some very filling scones and my lavender hot chocolate on soy |
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| Lavender with wings |
An unexpected diversion
Megan decided to stay back and rest while Reid and I returned to Eaglehawk Neck to pick up Dallas after his dive. I had called first to try to arrive just as the divers made it back, but we still had to wait over an hour as they had some additional delays. We finally left the dive center around 4 to head back to Port Arthur. About 15 minutes down the road, Dallas realised that some odd feelings he was having in his shoulder and arm reminded him of the time he had some decompression illness. We made a quick U-turn and he called the dive center, who had oxygen waiting for him and had already called the ambulance by the time we returned. He had only just started on oxygen when the ambulance arrived. The ambulance officers spoke to a hyperbaric specialist at the Royal Hobart Hospital who strongly suggested that he be transported to the hospital.
So on the second day of our holiday, I returned with Reid to our cabin at Port Arthur while Dallas made his way to Hobart in an ambulance receiving oxygen and fluids in both arms. At least one of the paramedics was a volunteer, and my thanks goes out to this crew who responded so quickly and efficiently.
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| The ambulance takes Dallas away |
The kids and I had our second takeaway dinner in a row from the General Store. I was all greased out from the night before and full from lunch, so I asked them if I could just buy one of the small side salads that they had provided as part of Dallas' meal the night before.
Megan and Reid then had a first hand education in the perils of DVD technology, as each of the DVD's that they tried to watch skipped and jumped and stuttered so much they were unwatchable. They finally got one to work and I hit the phones to try to track down my husband. The nurses and doctors at the Royal Hobart hospital were excellent from my point of view. Once I made contact they made sure I knew exactly what was going on, and the head doctor even called me to give me an update after I had already spoken to the nurse. He had an almost 5 hour session in the hyperbaric chamber that night, with another one possibly scheduled for the morning. There was little I could do besides sleep and hope we could get our trip back on track the next day. At least I had a good sleep without the snoring!
In the morning they wanted him to do another hyperbaric session for about 1.5 hours. The verdict was that he likely had a combination of some decompression issues and some muscular-skeletal issues due to the strain of trying to climb into a boat wearing a thick wetsuit and a lot of extra weights. They told him to stay below 400m elevation for a bit and avoid too much exertion.
We were supposed to do a tour of the Port Arthur historic site just after 10, so I called and moved that to a later tour while driving the almost 1.5 hours to Hobart to pick him up from the hospital. We had a special "Isle of the Dead" tour scheduled for 1pm, and there was only one of those per day, so the plan was to try to make it back in time for that tour.
As I pulled into Hobart at 10:30, Dallas wasn't answering his phone, so I found a park on a meter and headed into the hospital. This turned out to be harder than expected. I again had to have my temperature taken, answer all the questions, and sign in, then had to find the hyperbaric unit. Turns out he was still finishing his treatment, so I waited IMpatiently, watching the time tick away, thinking we would never get back in time for our tour.
Finally he emerged and we started driving back to Port Arthur. I was especially worried because on the way there I had to go through some roadworks and it looked like a significant delay for the return trip with cars backed up all the way across the bridge at Sorrell. Luckily it had nearly cleared by the time we came back through. I sent the kids instructions for clothes etc. to collect for Dallas so that they could walk up and meet us at the General Store and we could go straight to Port Arthur Historic Site where Dallas could get changed in the car.
Our first steps into Tasmanian history
We arrived at Port Arthur Historic Site with about 20 minutes to spare to get on our Isle of the Dead tour. This was excellent. The guide described the lives and stories of a number of the people, men and women, that are buried on the island, as well as one of the main caretakers during convict times. One lady died in childbirth with her thirteenth child. Perhaps she wanted that many but I give thanks for modern birth control and medicine. Learning about the individuals brings history alive for me as I try to imagine what life was like so long ago.
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| Gravestones on Isle of the Dead |
After we finished this tour, we spent some time exploring the buildings at the historic site. I would have liked to have more time, but we saw the highlights, or lowlights, as the case may be. One of the most interesting buildings was the Separate Prison, where inmates were referred to only by numbers, and were prohibited from communicating at all, either with words or with hand signs. The guards also had to use hand signals so as to keep the prison completely silent at all times. The prisoners were in their cold dark cells 23 hours a day, and were hooded during "recreation time" to avoid being able to see anyone else. Recreation hour took place in a small triangular concrete yard. Even in the chapel the inmates were required to stand in separate compartments during sermons.
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| Inside the chapel of the Separate Prison |
We had dinner at the Fox and Hounds Inn, then returned to Port Arthur at 8:30pm for the ghost tour. Being naive Queenslanders, we didn't realise that it would still be fully light at 8:30pm. Even so, it was a fascinating tour that was quite fun. The guide handed out lanterns which added to the atmosphere. As we were finishing around 9:30 it was starting to get dark. If you plan to do the ghost tour, choose the latest possible time if you want it to be dark. Unfortunately our tour included one group with some tween/teen girls that spent most of their time trying to scare each other which was a bit distracting and loud, but it was still enjoyable.
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| Megan was our lantern bearer on the ghost tour |
The next morning it was time to check out of Port Arthur and move on to Hobart. On the way we stopped at the Eaglehawk Neck markets, which took us about ten minutes to walk through, then stopped at the Tessellated Pavements. It was about mid-tide, but we could still walk quite a way and see plenty of the "loaf shaped" segments. We enjoyed just wandering over the rocks, discovering creatures and unusual features.
On the way to Hobart we stopped at Richmond, a beautiful little town with a very famous bakery, and we were sure to partake of some treats there. Salamanca Markets were still running when we arrived in Hobart, so we dropped the kids at the markets and Dallas and I went to check in to our next apartment at St Ives Holiday Apartments. It was a nice clean apartment with a good view of the harbour. The bedrooms were pretty tiny but I think that this is probably to be expected in this location. As it turned out, the snoring factor meant that I used the couch cushions for a bed in the lounge room. I had to pack them up every day so we could still use the couches. We are going to have to start booking 3 bedroom apartments.
Dallas has a cousin that lives in Howden, not far from Hobart, so we spent the evening visiting Sonia and Steve and their family, which was a lovely relaxing evening. After dinner we went for a walk around their property as the sun set. It turns out that one of their sons is training with Par Avion, which is the company we would be flying with on the following day.
A day in the rugged South West
The "splurge" activity that we planned for this trip was a Par Avion Southwest Wilderness Experience. Being a flight, Dallas was not able to go, so he dropped us at the Par Avion terminal and spent the day visiting friends in Hobart. Par Avion did a temperature and sickness check, and then we were set to go. They provide free water bottles if you forget your own. You will need it.
We flew in a six-seater plane across the south coast of Tasmania to Melaleuca Airport in the south west, seeing spectacular beaches and cliffs along the way. We landed on a tiny white airstrip quite literally in the middle of nowhere. If you really want to, you can do a seven day walk out to this area. We saw people doing it from the air! After a quick morning tea we walked to the boat jetty and started the river cruise.
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| Morning tea |
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| The air strip |
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| Showing the difference between the ocean water and the water from the river system. There are tannins in the soil from the button grass that give the water a deep rusty colour. |
The boat trip was peaceful and beautiful. This area is largely untouched and is also rugged and unforgiving. The guide said that the weather was exceptionally good, and we were able to follow the river right out to the Breakseas islands where the river meets the ocean. We saw a blow hole that was slightly better than the one at Eaglehawk neck, and the guide shared a lot of stories about the area.
At lunch time we stopped at an old homestead once used by the family that started the mining operations in the area. It also acts as a small museum of sorts. They provided an excellent vegetarian option for lunch. The facilities were rather basic though and could have used a door.
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| Inside the homestead |
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| The amenities at the homestead |
Behind the homestead was a short walk to a hill which offered spectacular views of the area.
After returning to the boat jetty, we did the Needwonnee walk, which is a boardwalk through the moorland with scenes showing how the Needwonnee people once lived in this area.
The flight back to Hobart was equally spectacular, flying over the mountains including Federation Peak, and the Huon Valley. My father in law has attempted Federation Peak eight times, so I took a large number of photos and videos to show him so he could see it from the air on a nice day. Apparently the weather can change in an instant in this area and there have been many injuries and some deaths in the attempt.
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| Breakseas Islands |
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| Federation Peak |
When we returned to the apartment that evening, the kids received a subtle note from housekeeping letting them know that housekeeping would love to make their beds if only their belongings were not all over them. In fairness the room was VERY small.
Caves, thermal springs, and family in the Huon
On Monday 14th December it was Reid's 16th birthday. We had a couple of small presents for him to open, but the big one was waiting back in Brisbane - a fancy new graphics card for his computer.
Our morning started with a long drive to Hastings Caves, which I will declare well worth the drive. The guides are clearly not only well trained but very enthusiastic about all things caves, and pointed out many interesting features and creatures as well as pertinent history. We loved the tour. The thermal springs turned out to be a swimming pool heated by water from the thermal springs, which was not so exciting but we had a quick dip. It was actually hot today.
We attempted to find a place to eat lunch on the way to Geeveston but many places were not open, either because it was Monday or because of COVID, or because it was getting a bit late for lunch. We ended up having a delicious lunch at a cute cafe called Bears Went over the Mountain in Geeveston, with a chef from Brisbane who had moved to Tassie.
We went to the visitors centre, hoping to locate the giant Huon Pine tree trunk nearby, but learned that the fires last year sadly destroyed it. The visitors centre is quite large and has some great activities and displays for kids.
We continued on to Huonville to have dinner with another of Dallas' cousins, Louella, and her daughter Amber and her husband and daughter. After dinner they took us down to the Huon river for a bit of kayaking. Megan overturned going through the "rapids" and then Reid fell in trying to rescue her kayak and was stuck under his until he got free. Even so they had a great time and I enjoyed a peaceful break watching the river. I could tell something was going on out there but I didn't hear any frantic screaming so I hoped they had it under control.
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| Louella taking the dog for a ride |
I had earmarked Tuesday to visit the Cascades Female Factory but we were all ready for a break and there was laundry to do. I worked through the laundry while Dallas and Megan had a wander around the shops of Hobart. When they returned in the afternoon, I drove the kids up Mt Wellington. Dallas stayed back as he could not yet travel to altitude. The last time I went up there it was too cold for me to venture outside the viewing platform. My sister in law posted a photo of five years ago in December with the mountain covered in snow. This time it was windy but not too chilly, probably since it was quite a warm day in Hobart.
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| King of the castle |
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| It was a bit cloudy but we could see the city below. It was not warm enough to wear a singlet, but Reid spent most of the trip in one anyway. |
For dinner we tried something different - Kathmandu Cuisine in Battery Point. I was especially impressed that Reid not only ate all of his dinner - a potato and cauliflower curry - he also finished off mine and Megan's. He's not normally that adventurous with food, so I was both surprised and impressed.
16-17 December - Strahan
Strahan is a 4.5 hour drive west of Hobart through mountain ranges. With a bit of googling we figured out that the road reaches over 800m in elevation at least once, and this is right in the middle of absolutely nowhere if something went wrong and we needed an ambulance again. After much deliberation we decided that the kids and I would continue with the itinerary out west and Dallas would go and visit his Uncle Stacey at Cockle Creek (far south) and his cousin Louella, then catch the Redline bus from Hobart to Launceston and meet us there in a few days.
As we drove to Strahan (and on most of our long drives) we saw evidence of the bushfires everywhere. It was sobering to think that this was only one year ago. The other thing that we were seeing everywhere was roadkill. We saw way more dead animals than live ones, which was sad.
There were plenty of rest stops along the way and I made use of them to take quick breaks and stay alert.
In Strahan we stayed at the Driftwood Strahan Villas, which was a well sized, clean unit with plenty of space, and most importantly, two toilets! (There has been a lot of toilet door waiting/knocking on this trip). It was located only a couple of minutes from the Strahan visitor centre.
Strahan is not a very big town. We browsed through the visitor centre and the huon pine mill, then drove out to Ocean Beach for a look out there, then returned in time for the play "The ship that never was". This is so worth seeing, no matter your age or the ages of your kids. I was expecting Reid to sort of tolerate it, but it was hilarious as well as educational. There were only two actors, but they involved the audience to sort of expand the cast. Reid got to be a vomiting sailor and Megan was Fanny the mermaid figurehead. They clearly had parameters that they were working around for COVID to be able to do this, but they cleverly incorporated cleaning the props and distancing without interrupting the flow of the story and did a fabulous job. As part of the play they built a ship on stage, which is also very cleverly done. I highly recommend it.
There was not much open again after the play finished, so it was hot chips takeaway again, which we managed to get to right before it closed. I think that with the lack of tourists in this small towns, there is not a lot of incentive for businesses to stay open outside of a few hours around meal times.
Cruising the Gordon River
The next day we were back to cold and rainy weather again and my sinuses had no idea whether it was winter or summer. My nose was peeling from sunburn while the rest of my face was peeling from the cold dry wind.
The Gordon River Cruise boat was large, warm and comfortable, and very sparsely populated. They are clearly not getting the normal levels of visitors for this time of year. After a few tours like this I commented to the kids that we were privileged to be able to experience many of these places with so few people tagging along.
The cruise started by travelling across the bay to Hells Gates, the entry to the harbour. I think they said the harbour is six times the size of Sydney Harbour. They had actors on a video portraying people from convict times - prisoners, guards, and leaders of the colony. They described what it must have been like for the convicts to be entering this harbour. They were sent here if they misbehaved in the other colonies.
As we entered the river itself, the boat switched from the diesel engines to the electric engines and we glided quietly up the river.
My favourite part was the stop on Sarah Island. Here we met the same two actors from the play the night before, but this time they were tour guides. Again they brought the history of the island alive by animatedly relating stories of the convict inhabitants and some of the mysteries of the small settlement.
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| Hardly anyone else was on the boat |
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| One of the crew kept asking Reid if he realised he was in Tasmania |
The boat also provided a buffet lunch which had five different salads as well as bread rolls for us vegetarians. Megan loved the coleslaw and went back for seconds. She was disgusted when I told her that growing up we put sultanas in our coleslaw.
As we approached Strahan our mobile connectivity returned and I had a covid survey to fill out for our next accommodation. They again wanted to know if we were well and instructed us to tell them if any of our answers changed.
We bid Strahan farewell and started the two hour drive to Cradle Mountain. After seeing so many dead animals on the roadside, we were excited to see a live echidna crossing the road, and pulled over to observe it for a while.
17-19 December - Cradle Mountain
Our home in Cradle Mountain was a cosy cabin at Cradle Mountain Highlanders. It had a bathroom, kitchen and living room downstairs, a loft with a king bed and a small room upstairs with two sets of bunk beds. I would be lying if I said I did not enjoy having the king bed to myself. They had included small hand made soaps which was a nice touch, and the artwork in the cabin added to the rustic feel.
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| My loft bedroom |
We had stocked up on supplies before leaving Hobart and also had some leftovers from Louella, so we ate soup and leftovers while wearing all of our warm clothing because it was absolutely freezing, the heater wouldn't start, and the office was closed for the night. Luckily there was a small heater in the kids room upstairs that did a decent job of heating the upstairs, but downstairs was icy. No-one was keen to take a shower. There was a small selection of DVDs and a small TV screen so Reid put Harry Potter on while we ate.
Megan's friend reminded her that uni enrolments were now open which triggered some mild panic as it is sometimes a race to get the best schedule. Luckily I had my laptop with me so she used that to figure it out. The hotel provides 1000mb per day and she ripped through about 500 of it just doing her enrolments.
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| Megan working on her uni enrolments |
As I headed up to bed I started to feel a bit yuck but put it down to the extreme variations in the weather and the cold cabin. I had also been battling a bit of hayfever since we arrived.
Sadly I deteriorated overnight and by morning it was clear that I was quite sick. There was no fever or cough, it was just all up in my sinuses and a killer headache was coming on.
We were supposed to be doing our canyoning trip on the 18th. Under normal circumstances I might have been able to take meds, dry up the nose and carry on, but these are not normal times. We had already cancelled Dallas' ticket so I felt terrible but I called Cradle Mountain Canyons and they agreed that it was best that I don't risk getting anyone else sick, and refunded my ticket as well. Luckily as Megan is 18, they said that the kids could still go. I think that they were a bit reluctant to go ahead without me, but I didn't really give them a choice - it was all organised by the time they knew what was happening.
I dropped them at the canyoning office and then it was decision time. For the last few days we had been hearing about the COVID cluster in the Northern Beaches in Sydney. I did not seriously think there was any chance that I had it because I didn't have the fever or cough, and there were no reported cases in Tasmania, but at the back of my mind I knew there was the slightest chance that someone from Sydney could have come to Tasmania and crossed paths with me. On top of that, I had agreed to tell our accommodation provider if we got sick. Lastly, I was not sure what questions I would be asked on my return to Queensland in a week, and if I had to declare that I had been sick, it seemed best that I could prove I didn't have it. I called the Queensland Public Health hotline and talked to them about what would happen when I returned home. They said that as long as I didn't have symptoms I could enter without restrictions. I then called the Tasmanian Public Health hotline, which had a very long wait. They asked a number of questions and said that it was their preference that I be tested, and the closest testing center was in Burnie, about an hour and twenty minutes away.
I messaged Cradle Mountain Highlanders and explained that I was unwell and was heading to Burnie to be tested, and that I would isolate as best I could for the remainder of my stay.
The drive to Burnie started out in fog so thick I could barely see the road, but quickly changed to expansive farmlands and sunshine and I had to start removing layers the further I got. The testing centre was a drive through tent in a car park. First one nurse checked me in by taking my name and medicare details. Then when I reached the front of the line it was time for the dreaded test. The nurse kept apologising because she knew it was uncomfortable. She did a throat swab first, then the nose swabs. It was definitely uncomfortable but not as bad as I was expecting. I mean if you've had a life time of pap smears, a COVID test is not that bad. At least you get to keep your clothes on. Initially they said I would have results in 48 hours and I should stay home. I explained that I had a bit of a situation in that I was supposed to check out of my current accommodation the following morning and they were already full. They said they would fast track the results to 24 hours for me to avoid stress. They were impressed and appreciative that I came all the way down from the mountain to do the test.
I made it back to the cabin with enough time to spend a couple of hours in bed before the kids were finished canyoning. When I picked them up they had clearly had an amazing time and talked about it for ages. They were of the opinion that Dallas and I would have struggled with the 40 minute hike out of the canyon in wetsuits as they found it very difficult. It was also the coldest day of our trip, measuring a chilly 7 degrees when I picked them up.
The next challenge was dinner. There are not many places to get food on Cradle Mountain, and I was supposed to be isolating. Megan was also not allowed to drive the rental car. Initially I was thinking I would drop them somewhere to eat and I would scrounge up what I could at the cabin. Megan hit the internet and figured out that there was a bistro that would allow you to order on site and take away. I drove us there and the kids took my credit card inside to order the food. It was adequate but overpriced, but I expected that.
We reached out to the office before it closed to ask about the mysteries of making the gas heater work. The lady came over and fiddled with the heater while I sat as far away from her as I could. She initially tried to Macgyver it with kitchen cutlery but gave in and fetched some tools and thankfully got it working. It didn't take long for the cabin to become blessedly warm.
Isolating while travelling alone with children and single night hotel bookings
The next day improved my empathy for those people unfortunate enough to make the news for having unwittingly spread covid around. Sometimes it is not as easy as just staying home. We had to check out of our accommodation at 10am. If my results were to arrive in 24 hours, I should have had them by 11am.
I always travel with spare meds, so I was taking them and they were doing a pretty good job of drying up the nose. I still had no other symptoms. The original plan was to hit a place called Tasmazia on the way to Launceston. It is all outdoors so I was considering whether I might be able to look around and just stay away from people IF I had the negative test by the time we arrived.
By 11:30 we were at Tasmazia and had no results. I called the phone number that they gave me and found out that they were very busy due to the Northern Beaches outbreak in Sydney, and my result was still pending.
I didn't feel great anyway, so I transferred money to Megan for entry fees and sent her and Reid off to explore Tasmazia while I read a book in the car. They had quite a fun time and even came out halfway through to give me one of their scones from lunch. Such lovely kids. When they were finished they brought me an iceblock.
By this time I needed a bathroom but was again conscious of the directive to isolate until I had a result, so I didn't want to use the one at Tasmazia. I had seen a sign next to the entrance to the Lake Barrington recreation area 1.6 km away that indicated that it had toilets, so we headed down that road, thinking it would be a small toilet block in a remote park. Turns out Lake Barrington is home to a serious canoe racing venue. It was a beautiful spot and we wished there were some races on to watch. I did my best to touch as little as possible and wipe down the taps where I touched them.
I really wanted to have a negative result in hand before checking into the next hotel, in case they also asked health questions, so we procrastinated our way towards Launceston.
Next "stop" was Sheffield, which is a pretty little town known for the amazing murals painted on many of the buildings. We did a covid-safe driving tour of Sheffield, driving up the main street one way, then turning around and going back the other way to look at the other side of the buildings.
Just outside Launceston we stopped at Cataract Gorge, where I again sat in the car while the kids went to have a look.
My negative covid result finally came in and we celebrated. I still didn't want to get anyone else sick, but at least I could prove I didn't have the plague if necessary.
It was about this time that we also found out that we had likely lost all of the food in our fridge and freezer at home. Some water had gotten into a power board near the BBQ out the back, tripping the switch. A few people very nicely offered to do the fun job of cleaning them out, but I said to just turn it all back on and let it refreeze until I got home to take care of it. I felt sick thinking about the waste.
Dallas spent the afternoon on the Redline bus from Hobart to Launceston and I picked him up at the Launceston Transit Centre, which coincidentally is right across the road from the Police Station where there is an apartment that Dallas lived in with his parents when he was in his late teens.
Our accommodation for the night in Launceston was the Comfort Hotel Olde Tudor. This was comfortable but the wi-fi was useless. We decided that Dallas and Megan would go out to dinner and Reid and I would do Uber-eats to keep me away from people for a bit longer. I found a local place that did a vegetable pancake concoction that was quite delicious. While we were waiting we went to have a look at the indoor pool and spa to see if the kids might like to take a dip after dinner. It sounds much more glamorous than it actually is. It looked like it had not been painted since 1980. Megan insisted on taking the couch so I could get a good sleep in her bed.
20-22 December - Bicheno
When we checked out of our hotel on Sunday morning I was feeling pretty good. By this time Megan was a pro at checking out - as we travelled without Dallas she took on the job of being the other adult and helped me a lot, especially in Cradle Mountain when I wasn't feeling great.
Dallas showed us a few places that he and/or he parents had lived in Launceston and the university that he attended. Megan and I had a brief stroll around the Launceston art gallery and met the boys for some lunch before starting on the next long drive to Bicheno, on the east coast of Tasmania.
In Bicheno we had booked a house - Suntrap Cove - and the moment we walked in we loved it. Not only was it stocked with everything we could conceivably need, it had a view to die for AND had three bedrooms. Hooray for snoreless nights!
We immediately went for a walk along the rocks in front of the home and came upon the Bicheno Blowhole. Finally a blowhole worth talking about! It was quite impressive and we spent some time watching it and exploring the rock pools.
It was still light when we returned to our house, and we got the binoculars out and convinced ourselves that some birds we were seeing on a rock island out in the water were penguins. They were black and white and were definitely waddling. We learned later that they were mostly likely cormorants.
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| The boys trying to see what the birds on the island are |
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| Sunset from the balcony |
On Monday I let everyone sleep in and started the laundry. It is a bit of a drag having to keep doing laundry on holiday but done in small doses it is not so bad.
We decided that we would give the glass bottom boat a go but called them only to find out that they were closed due to bad weather, which we found puzzling as it was a glorious day. Instead Dallas and Megan went to do a walk in the Douglas Aspey National Park while Reid and I had a rest afternoon.
Finally seeing some LIVE wildlife
We got smarter this day and made an earlier booking at the Beachfront Bistro for dinner, then made our way to the Bicheno Penguin Tours office.
After the usual covid checkins they took us on a bus back to the Diamond Island resort, where there is a large penguin rookery. They split us into small groups, each with a guide. Our guide was so full of information about the penguins and I immediately realised this tour was going to be way better than I expected. I did not realise we would be getting so close.
She first took us to a couple of the nesting boxes, which she opened for us to see the penguins inside. She had a red light torch and explained that the penguins can't see the red light so it just looked dark to them. We saw an adult in one box and some chicks in another. She then led us down to a viewing area where we could see the edge of the ocean. It didn't take long before we saw groups of penguins popping up out of the ocean and waddling up through the rocks in fits and spurts. None of them want to be the leader of the group, so they sort of streak from one rocky outcrop to another in little groups.
After watching this for a little bit, we walked towards the next "penguin highway", but we could see them all around us in the bushes and walking on the paths. The noises they made were phenomenal - I had no idea that is what they sounded like. Our guide described it as a bit like a donkey.
The noise! |
This tour was one of the highlights of the trip for me. On our drive back to the house, we came across more groups of penguins on the side of the road. Dallas has a red light dive torch, so he got that out and we went for a little wander around where we were staying. It turns out that there were a few on our front lawn, with burrows under the rocks, and at least one set of chicks living in the pipe under the driveway. They would have been in there all day and we had no idea. Now that we knew what we were listening for, we could hear them all around that night.
22 August - A tour that got better by going south
We were originally going to do a hike to Wineglass Bay, but the weather was looking a bit dubious. Dallas had broached the idea of doing a boat tour to the bay. My initially reaction was that we had done so many things already, but then I realised that we had done several of these fun tours without him. We booked it, and on Tuesday morning checked out of our beach house and headed to Coles Bay, where the Pennicott Wilderness Journeys jetty was located.
It was cold and pouring when we arrived, so I was not sure what the day would bring. The guy at the check in explained that if the seas were too rough to get around to Wineglass bay, we would do the alternative route to Schouten Island and would go to a granite island which is home to a large seal colony. After he was done describing it, I was hoping that the seas would be awful and that we would do the alternate option.
We were in luck, the seas were high and we turned south to head towards the seal colony. It was magical. I loved it. I could have sat there for ages watching them and listening to them. It sounded like a colony of ducks and sheep. There were tiny pups and large adult seals. They were sliding, climbing, swimming, and leaping out of the water.
We also saw a flying fish, a Tasmanian sea eagle, and a massive sea eagle's nest (over 1 tonne in weight).
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| The Sea Eagle |
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| Nest of a Tasmanian Sea Eagle - in the dead tree on the right between the main fork in the branches. |
We anchored back in a quiet cove to eat another delicious lunch and the captain made sure to come and chat to each family group. If they even put on the Schouten Island cruise as their primary cruise, I can recommend it without hesitation.
Our last home away from home was the Spring Beach Garden Retreat. This is essentially the guest wing of a home in Spring Beach with a view of the bay and Maria Island. It is peaceful and beautiful with many birds in residence. There were crumpets, bread and bacon in the freezer and fresh eggs from the owner's chickens waiting in the apartment, so we decided to combine those with the food we were already carrying around from place to place and eat in and have a quiet night.
23 December - a final adventure - Maria Island
We were up early to board the 8:30 ferry to Maria Island. The covid preparations were next level - they have a dedicated hand washing station before boarding the ferry and before coming back. There was a sign saying you could not board if you had been interstate in the last two weeks. We just snuck into that time frame but no-one was enforcing it.
On the island there is a shed where they hire out mountain bikes. I had pre-booked them, which was fortunate because I heard the attendant tell someone else that they were booked out for the day. We were fitted for a bike and given a helmet and instructed to do a short practice ride in front of the shed, then we were off.
Our first destination was the Painted Cliffs. Along the way we saw a wombat and stopped at a historical cottage which once housed the island's radio operator. Dallas' chain kept falling off so he returned to the shed to replace his bike. Not being the fastest bike rider, I kept going with the kids and arranged to meet him at the first stop. The painted cliffs are stunning. If you do go there, make sure you walk to the first corner and crawl around it to see the cliffs beyond.
From the painted cliffs we headed inland to complete the Painted Cliffs circuit. There were more ruins to see along the way. Much of the path was forested. The uphill parts were killer but the flat and downhill parts were a bit magical, coasting along on the bikes.
The second circuit was the Fossil Cliffs circuit. I'm glad we did this one second. I thought the hills in the first circuit were bad. The Fossil Cliffs were tall. Really tall.
At the top of the Fossil Cliffs circuit we stopped at a convenient bench for the lunch that we had packed. There are no shops on Maria Island - you have to bring everything you need for the day with you.
From here you coast downhill until you reach the stairs to walk down to search for fossils. There is an information sign that shows you what to look for and describes the process that led to 290 million year old fossils being scattered across the cliff face.
On our way past the airstrip at the end of this circuit we encountered some Cape Barren Geese, just hanging out on the path.
By this point my butt was seriously sore. It might have been several years since I've ridden a bike. I think on a flat surface I might have been OK, but the path was pretty bumpy and rocky most of the way around, and a few hours of this was taking it's toll. It was actually almost too painful to continue as we neared the end of the second circuit.
We had all had enough of the bikes after the two main circuits, so we returned those and spent our remaining time exploring the buildings at Darlington, most of which date back to the convict era. There is a lot of great information in there and had I not been exhausted, I might have spent longer.
Our last adventure in Tasmania was great fun and the weather was amazing. So amazing that even now, 5 days later, I still have an awkward strip of sunburn around my ankles where my leggings did not quite meet my shoes.
24 December - Homeward Bound
From Spring Beach we returned to Hobart. Megan needed to do some last minute Christmas shopping, so we dropped her in the central mall and headed to Sandy Bay to pick up some Lady Hester sourdough donuts. Scrumptious.
As we flew home I was a bit anxious about the security/border controls we might meet at the other end. The last time I flew into Queensland the airport was full of defence force personnel and police, questioning everyone as they arrived. This time there was nothing. No questions, no police, no checks.
Knowing we had lost everything in the fridge and freezer, we headed straight for the supermarket and arrived at 4:45. It was Christmas Eve and the shops would shut at six. One last team effort and we managed to get everything we needed AND fit it into the car on top of our luggage. Dallas' brother had two trays of leftover food from a work function, and left them out in an esky for us to pick up on the way home. That went on the kid's laps.
Six hours after touching down, the fridge and freezer were cleaned out, we were unpacked, and the laundry was running, and I collapsed into bed, ready for Christmas the next day. The freezer cleanout was much worse than I imagined. It had been out long enough that a bag of berries had fermented and exploded, leaving the interior looking like a crime scene. It was long overdue a clean, it's just not something I imagined doing on Christmas Eve.
Reflections
Even before 2020 I felt like we were privileged to be able to travel as much as we do. With the state of much of the year due to covid this year, I feel very lucky that we were able to continue with our travel plans when so many others are confined to home.
Even so, it was stressful knowing that at any moment, rules could change, borders could close, and our plans could all fall apart. Getting a cold in the middle of the trip right as NSW announced a new cluster and Dallas was on the opposite end of the island was not ideal. Trying to isolate was challenging. I don't think I will be doing any more interstate holidays until the pandemic is over.
Christmas this year was different for so many people and I also feel privileged that I was able to spend it in person with my family. My heart goes out to those in isolation or grieving the loss of a family member or friend. Here's hoping that this time next year things will be different.
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