When we arrived in Hobart we were surprised by just how cold it was we hadn't quite imagined that it would be so much colder than Sydney. It was 3 celsius when we landed at
4pm one of the hotter times of day. We were then so glad that we had decided to rent a 4x4 from the airport. This would be the first time I had driven a car in over half a
year and it was going to be a type of car I'd never driven before. It was a CVT which means it's a manual automatic, so there is no clutch but you still have to tell it when
to change gear by pushing a stick up and down. Originally I didn't like this, but in the end it proved to be so much better than a full automatic and much more comfortable to
drive long distances than a manual. I guess you could say that I grew to like it.
Strangely enough Tasmania almost seems like its own country rather than a state within Australia. Stuff is done differently down here. The people are much friendlier, the
climate much colder and it is yet to be seen but I imagine the scenery much more beautiful. They also have species of animals unique to the state. Up until 10,000 years ago
Tasmania was joined to mainland Australia until rising sea levels flooded the land bridge.
We were surprised by the amount of roadkill we saw in Tasmania. Literally everyday we saw between 10-20 dead animals either in or at the side of the road. All had clearly been
killed by traffic. These ranged from forester kangaroo's to Tasmanian Devils to Wallabies and Possums. The Tasmanian devils are a cute looking daft creature which can be
incredibly aggressive when provoked. Almost 95% of the devils have been wiped out now due to them being susceptible to a rare contagious facial tumour known as DFTD (Devil face
tumour disease) which has spread due to massive inbreeding in the devil population meaning almost all devils have a gene defect which allows the disease to take hold.
Stop number one of our Tasmanian road trip was simply 20 minutes down the road from the airport and was the state capital of Tasmania, Hobart. We stayed here both after our flight in and before our flight out. During our time here we visited the restaurants district and Mount Wellington. Mount Wellington provides an awesome view over the city and its surrounds. To get to the top of mount wellington involved a very steep ascent on a path partly covered with snow and ice. Thankfully the 4x4 came into force again here to help us.
The next morning we left Hobart on route to Strahan. Although today was to be our first day it was also to be our longest drive in one stint in Tasmania calling in at
440 km on windy roads all the way from Hobart to the west coast. This combined with us needing to stock up on supplies which in turn led to us departing later meant
we were still on the road in to Strahan as the sun was setting. This led to what can only be described as the most beautiful sunset we have seen all year and for anyone
who has been keeping track you would know that this is really saying something. It is such a shame that there was no where suitable to pull up where we could get a good
photo from.
During the rest of our drive the weather was so so with it mainly being cloudy and spitting with rain. Nonetheless we didn't let this diter us from stopping at and enjoying
Brundy Lake and Lake St Clair where the mist made for a very nice setting and we saw a Platypus playing in the water. We eventually arrived into Strahan shortly after 6pm.
Upon arriving in Strahan we were surprised by just how little there was in the town with only a two places open to get diner. This began a trend which followed throughout our Tasmanian road trip since we were in the low and cold season. Nonetheless we managed to find vegetarian food for Kat and had a great meal. The next morning we headed out to a place known as Macquire's Head. This is a peninsula looking back into the bay at Strahan. This was our first taste of the beaches Tasmania had to offer and we liked it very much. In order to get to Macquires head we had to take a gravel track and perform a 3 point turn in wet mud. This began our assault of mud and dust onto the rental car. Something which would eventually result in the lower half of the car being unrecognisable later on during our trip. This was also where we first noticed that a lot of the lake / cove water seemed to have a red tinge to it.
On the drive to Cradle Mountain we stopped at several sites the first being Murchison Dam, the second a viewpoint over ocean beach and the forest, the third being some Falls and the last being a viewpoint of Cradle Mountain and the surrounding area. The third stop led us down a proper rock road and there was no way that our rental agreement allowed this. Not being one to adhere to terms and conditions and having rented a suitably capable vehicle we proceeded down only to eventually find that it still involved a 3 hour walk, something we definitely didn't have time for as we wanted to see Dove Lake upon arrival.
We arrived in Cradle Mountain in the early afternoon and after quickly checking in to our cabin in the woods we headed up to dove lake where we took a 2 hour
circuit trek around the lake as the sun began to set. We managed to complete the circuit in under 90 minutes due to taking a fast pace. That evening we had
our own cooking facilities and were able to cook our own meal for the first time since leaving the UK over 6 months ago. This combined with a bottle of Australian
wine led to an enjoyable evening around the cabins wood heater. From our cabin we managed to see many Possums and Wallabies. The Possums tried desperately to get
into the cabins and were extremely fat and spent most of the evening on our, or others balconies.
The next morning we headed to the Devils at Cradle Tasmanian Devil sanctuary where we got to see the conservation attempts being made to try and regenerate the
populations which have massively deteriorated from DFTD (Devils facial tumour disease). It was very cold since we were up in the mountains and so the devils didn't
really wake up until 10:00am when the sun began to rise. They are mainly nocturnal creatures but prefer to sun bath during the day in order to save the energy
required to keep warm in this climate otherwise. We were also given a presentation on the effects of DFTD and given the opportunity to stroke one. If you were ever
to go somewhere to see the devils this is definitely the best place to see them. You might also notice that some of them appear to have scaring this is because the
males fight in order to determine who will mate with each female devil. They are also carnivores who like to scavenge rather than hunt themselves, where possible.
From here we headed via mountain passes towards the north coast and the town of Stanley. Amazingly the A roads we took were less major than the B and C roads we had
taken previously and we ended up often having to dodge black ice and take extremely windy mountain passes.
Upon arriving on the northern coast we were blessed by glorious warm winter sun. This was a pleasant surprise having come from the ice plagued central western mountains. We also stumbled upon some very nice beaches and enjoyed long coastal views and the first well maintained roads we had found in Tasmania. We had been planning to go up the nut (a section of raised land mass overlooking Stanley and the surrounding area) but in the end we decided against this upon arrival since the chair lift was non-operational and the beach and town at the base of "The Nut" offered plenty more than we believed we would gain from trekking up the top. This on top of a scenic drive up another hill provided us with plenty enough for our short time in the seaside town of Stanley.
The next morning we left on a long and one of our most boring drives in Tasmania. It was mainly the most boring because we simply took the coastal highway relatively straight all the way. On route we stopped off in the morning at some of the fantastic beaches that we had seen on our way into Stanley. After this we headed towards the Mole Creek National park in the hope of being able to go into one or both of the caves here. Unfortunately we had just missed a guided tour (something we had hoped to avoid having to do anyway) and decided not to wait around for the next one since the caves didn't appeal to us and the cost was unexpectedly high. From here we continued on to Tasmania's second largest city of Launceston and back into civilisation.
Upon arriving in Launceston we were surprised by the sudden temperature drop again after having come from Stanley. We however determined this change to be winter truly starting in Tasmania. During our time in Launceston we visited the Cataract Gorge which was an amazing attraction given that it was located in the centre of city area. I guess it is comparable to your Hyde park in London or Central park in New York, but yet it is so much more beautiful and somehow natural. We also managed to find a really good and cheap discount booze outlet selling some great Australian wines which we picked up for later in our travels.
We left Launceston on route to the Seaside town of Bicheno. On route we decided to head off the beaten track and onto gravel un-maintained roads. We started off the day heading towards a seaside village called Anisons Bay. From here we headed down a dodgy gravel, dust and mud path towards St. Helens stopping at several Bay's of Fires sites on route. The Bays of Fires are rated as one of the Top destinations in the world; we certainly found them to be so even in winter. They were also peacefully quiet due to it being winter. We saw next to no cars all day on these roads until we emerged in St Helens. From here we headed on to Bicheno stopping at Shelly point and Denison Beach on the way.
That evening we were briskly welcomed back to the cold as we had truly reached the eastern coast of Tasmania. That evening we managed to just get a seat in the local Italian restaurant. The next morning we headed to Redbill beach and onto the Bicheno Blowhole before we headed onto the Freycinet National Park and eventually Swansea.
The weather had shifted back to drizzle and rain shortly after leaving Bicheno, but we didn't let this ruin our plans. We started the day by heading to the Freycinet National Park. The first site we stopped at was the friendly beaches. These had to be accessed by more dodgy gravel roads. We also saw our first Forester Kangaroos in the car park here. Next we headed on to Coles Bay, Richardson's Beach and Honey- moon Bay. From here we headed onto Wine Glass Bay where we saw many more larger Forester Kangaroos in the car park. During our time here we hiked up the mountain in order to reach the wine glass bay lookout. We decided not to trek down to the base of the Bay since the weather was not great and the time / distance was great. Instead we decided to head on towards other sites such as Cape Tourville, Cressy Beach and Spikey Beach before stopping in Swansea for the night.
The next morning we left Swansea on route to Port Arthur. Again we had two options for a route. Option A - required us to take the main highway on a loop close to Hobart. Option B - would require us to pass on dodgy roads through state forests but would be both more direct and more scenic. Our first stop was at Spring Beach which wasn't even listed as a site to stop at and turned out to be a nice site. Followed shortly by a stop at Rheban beach, another local beach which required driving off road in order to access it. From here we headed into the Tasman national park stopping at Pirate's Bay Lookout, the Tessellated pavement (a natural rock formation formed over millions of years), the Tasman blowhole, Tasman's arch and devils kitchen. After this we decided to head down to another unmarked site known as fortescue bay. This was supposed to take by our hotel, but didn't we ended up heading down some steep rock, mud and pot hole ridden paths in the 4x4 before we reached what must've been the most beautiful beach that we saw in the whole of Tasmania. The beach was isolated, had clear waters and had an area where penguins came ashore at sunset in order for shelter. This site really made our day. From here we had to head up to our hotel and in order to find it we took another path which ended up narrowing too much and required us to make a 3 point turn in heavily sodden mud in an extremely narrow space. Thankfully we managed to make the turn unhindered and eventually reached our hotel just as the sun was setting. That evening we had the facilities to cook for ourselves again and we enjoyed a nice home cooked meal and a bottle of wine.
From Port Arthur we headed further along the convicts trail before heading back to the state capital of Hobart. We started the day by stopping at Safety Cove Beach followed by remarkable cave and finally White Beach. From here it was a straight drive back to Hobart simply stopping in the town of Sorell for fuel on route.
Next we headed back to mainland Australia and on to the city of Melbourne.
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