Our long awaited journey to Tasmania has finally arrived. We decided on this trip to Tassie, when we decided to stop camping at the Rye Foreshore and venture further afield during our summers. 

Our journey started on Friday 23rd February 2024, were we boarded the SeaRoad Ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff at 2pm.

 A short drive to Geelong where we stayed the night at the Geelong Showgrounds.

On arrival to the Spirit of Tasmania terminal, the following morning, we collected our boarding passes, along with a ‘lift ticket’. This was to ensure that during the boarding process DABUS would be situated near a lift, as we had changed our booking from recliner seats to a cabin and stated that Alan had mobility issues. During the loading of the Spirit, DABUS was situated at the back on the ship and hence we disembarked pretty quickly.

Sailing across Bass Strait was fairly pleasant and wasn’t too rough. The time of departure was an hour later and therefore we arrived in Devonport at 10pm. 

A short drive to Horsehead Creek camp ground were we snuck in under lights and had a good nights sleep. Horsehead Creek is a permit area and $10 per night. The following morning we drove down to the quaint little town of Don and went to the market, to stock up on fresh local produce, then off to buy some firewood at Spreyton and back to Horsehead for another night.

The purpose of staying in Devonport for two nights was to purchase a new walking stick, as the previous one went awol just before we left Rye.

Monday morning after getting a few more essentials, plus the new walking stick, in Devonport, we ventured onto the House of Anvers Chocolate Factory, where we observed the making of Easter Chocolates through the viewing windows, samples were had and then purchases were made. It was a trip down memory lane for me, as I had once worked at a Belgium chocolate factory many years ago, in Kinglake, stories of making the truffles and waffles were relied to Alan.

The next town, just down the road was Latrobe. Here Lorelle ventured into a shop, Reliquaire, which is a wonderland of amazing toys, games, stuffed and animated creatures from all different childhood stories. It was a shop full of wonder and delight on every turn. Highly recommend checking out this amazing shop if in Latrobe.

That afternoon we arrived at Sherwood River camp, right beside the Mersey River and only 7 km’s from Latrobe. Such a peaceful setting, listening to the river flowing over the river rocks. We ventured through a neighbouring gate, into an area that is designated for Mountain Trail Bikes, here we walked along the track to a suspension bridge. We enjoyed chatting to other fellow campers before heading over the bridge, once over we decided to head back to camp. This trek was a great effort on Alans behalf, as it was undulation and narrow but he tackled it extremely well, as it would have taken a lot of concretion on his behalf.  We enjoyed having campfires for the two nights that we stayed here, one night we enjoyed a camp oven cook up and then were invited to join our neighbours. It was an interesting night, sitting around their campfire, exchanges stories about how each couple had got together. 

After leaving Sherwood River camp and this being our fourth day we have still only travelled a grand total of 11kms from the ship in Devonport. We went back to the Bass Highway via Latrobe and our next stop was to  Ashgrove Cheese, here there is a cafe with viewing of cheese making. A nice ham and cheese toasties and a cheese platter was our lunch, then some purchases were made. We finished off our lunch, with an ice cream from Van Diemen’s Land Creamery. 

Continuing on down the Bass Highway we turned off at Westbury, here the owners of the local IGA provide a large paddock which is available free to campers. We went for a walk around the town admiring the heritage buildings, before setting up camp for the night.

The weather was sunny, so the awing was pulled out but hence only for a short time, as the wind picked up pretty quickly and a storm was brewing behind DABUS. The awing was quickly put in and as everything was getting put into DABUS, due to the rain now coming down fast, Alan had an altercation with the second step in the bus and head butted the shower door, which broke off the hinges. With the door now up the front of the bus and raining outside, the rest of the afternoon was spent inside DABUS contemplating repairs. The rain didn’t drop the temperate, so the fan was bought out to help with the hot and steamy conditions inside DABUS.

Launceston was a town we weren’t going to visit but we were now in need of parts to recitfy the issue with the door, so off to a caravan parts place but to no avail, then off to Bunnings. Here, bits and pieces were purchased and our morning consisted of doing running repairs and by lunchtime we had our shower door back were it should be.

We took the backroad down to Evandale, here we took in the sights of this historical town, where the circa of the buildings date back to 1830’s. We booked into the pub for dinner before venturing off to explore the local shops. Then back to the pub, where we backed DABUS into a corner of the parking lot and camped here free for the night. Our dinner of scallops and a parma were enjoyed at the pub and then it was only a short walk back to our accommodation.

From Evandale, again we are on backroads, it was enjoyable driving through the tiny town of Nile and the countryside and not rushing down the Bass Highway, except for the 7.5km of rough corrugated gravel road. A hop, skip and jump onto the Bass Highway and a left hand turn, now saw us heading toward the east coast and after our longest drive for our trip, so far, 81km we arrived at Fingal. 

Fingal RV Park offers power, water, hot showers and both either asphalt and grassy areas to camp up, so after setting up beside the kiln that was once used for burning the sawdust for the old sawmill. The sawdust was pumped into the kiln and a cage originally was at the top to stop ash floating out. The opening of the furnace has now been bricked over. A short walk for both of us down the main street, which only now consist of a small supermarket, two coffee vans, the Neighbourhood house and the Aladdin’s Cove, which was a building that was stuffed from floor to ceiling, with small narrow passageways full of stuff, old and new. Alan went back to DABUS whilst I venture further around town, taking in the stunning old buildings, church and the old Primary School, which now not in operation.

Saturday morning we drove the 20km’s onto St Mary’s were we parked up to explore the towns market, then onto the St Mary’s camp ground for the night. 

After some windy roads we descended into Scamander and onto St Helens and the east coast of Tasmania, where we enjoyed our fish n chip lunch out the front of Skippers, chatting to a lovely solo lady traveller who shared our table.

Sunday afternoon we arrived at the stunning Bay of Fires and we were lucky enough to get a beachfront campsite at Swimcart Beach, with a beautiful visa overlooking the aquamarine waters of the Bay of Fires. Here we have spent the last four days, relaxing, taking daily walks and just enjoying life. What a stunning place to reflect on life. The weather so far during our travels has been warm and we have been in shorts and light tops to date and with only two nights of putting on long pants and jumpers.

On leaving the Bay of Fires we drove into Binalong Bay to check out this stunning seaside town, we stopped to take in the view of the stunning pristine blue water with the backdrop of the blue sky and the stunning orange rocks.

Next stop was Lease 65, an oyster farm, here we picked up a dozen oysters for $12. They will make a nice dish of creamy kilpatrick oysters. Into St Helens for supplies, to the bakery for a curried scallop pie and a plain pie too.

Just south of St Helens a new business has just opened, The Bay of Fires Lobsters, we had called in here last week and they were only selling live lobsters. After speaking with the owner about her plans to open either on the Tuesday or Wednesday to sell cooked trays. We said we would be back, so on Thursday we arrived and Connie was saying that she had just opened her doors this morning selling cooked lobsters, $80kg along with 1/2 lobsters and salad or you could buy the lobster rolls. So after wishing he luck with this new venture and our purchase we set off to travel only 10km and set up camp at Dianas Basin. This is a free camp where you can stay up to 4 weeks,  it is a stunning inlet of water and gorgeous watching the black swans.

Our dinner here, was our lobster which we dine on, under the awning, taking in the stunning scenery.

With the long weekend on us, we have decided to camp at the White Sands Estate and Iron House Brewery. Here they offer free camping for 48 hours. We went to sample some of their wares and have a pizza for dinner but on arriving at the Brewery everything was closed up, back to DABUS for leftovers. We’ll check it out further and update in the next post.