Spirited away to Melbourne town

With little time to spare, we packed up and hotfooted it along the top of Tasmania to Devenport.We stopped in Stanley for lunch and to climb 'the nut'- a big, nut-shaped rock behind the town. Bill and the kids took the chairlift up while Kate nearly died climbing up an insanely steep path. The view from the top was spectacular and before Kate could catch her breath we trotted off to walk around the top. We started to kick ourselves for not allowing more time in Stanley because it was pretty cool.

But it was time to rush on to Devenport for dinner with Coles Bay friends, Tony, Dana, Tia and Will - and to meet Tony's wife, Karri. We had a lovely evening of pizza, wine, conversation and a (long but funny) play performed by the 5 kids. Wierdly we discivered that we know Karri's cousin, Andy, in Melbourne! Tony and Karri were kind enough to let us stay in their shed/bar/musicroom/artspace/cinema/wrestling room... We had an early start next to catch the boat back to Melbs so when we arrived bleary eyed in their kitchen we were astounded to find a spread of pancakes, stewed fruit, muffins and more! Our lovely new friends were even kind enough to come and wave us off on the ferry!

So after a great day trip on the Spirit of Tasmania (including movies, face painting, badge making and more...), we arrived back in Melbs. It was lovely to see family again and to meet 2 beautiful new babies, Freya and Henry. Bill and Big Sasha made lots of electrical improvements to our set-up, and we sorted all our stuff, managing to offload a good amount of things we had decided we didn't need.

Bit of excitement when a film crew for the upcoming movie about Julian Assange came to suss out Jane and Sasha's house to use as a set. Despite our best efforts to swan around looking glamorous, none of us were offered a part...

We had decided to have our rebuilt engine looked at while it was still under warranty because it had been burning up oil while we trekked around Tassie, but we didn't want to stay in Melbourne for more than a couple of nights (going backwards instead of forwards...) so we arranged to camp in the beautiful Grampians while we waited.

Melbourne, we love you, but we were pleased to be off again!

Great western wilderness and devils in the wild...

Although Kate was desperate to sand-surf on Henty Dunes, north of Strahan, she took a deep breath and agreed to sacrifice her dreams in order to head to Arthur River and have a shot at seeing some Tassie Devils in the wild. We'd been told of a local character, Geoff King, who collects roadkill and then lays it out in front of a hut on his property in order to attract devils and allow visitors to view them in the wild. It sounded like our kinda thing, so we took the Great Western Wilderness road up through Corinna through the buttongrass plains to wild and windy place called Arthur River. We rang Geoff King who wasn't sure whether he could show us the devils (hadn't seen any for a while) but he said he would call back to confirm. It was a good thing we had decided to stay there for a few nights because Zara spent that night vomiting all over the tent - poor thing (and poor the rest of us...). Z seemed fine by the morning but we spent the day scrubbing down sleeping bags etc, catching up on schoolwork and playing cards. It was actually quite nice to spend a day chilling out. Late in the afternoon we drove down the beach to collect driftwood for the fire, then drove to a fabulous wild place called 'the end of the world' to try and nab a squid. Unbeknownst to us it was a long weekend in Tasmania AND a big surf competition was about to take place at Arthur River - so while we were poking around, our campsite was filling up with massive and noisy groups - a host of new friends for our kids, but a host of new noise and Jimmy Barnes for our once-peaceful nights. Zara made us laugh when she came back from playing her her new buddies and asked us in all innocence why they said 'Mundee' instead of 'Monday'? Sash had his first play with toy guns and came back wanting to 'shoot us dead' - yikes back to puzzle for our little gentle fella.

Finally had a call from Geoff who arranged to pick us up the next evening. After spending the afternoon checking out the surfing talent trying to do cool stuff despite a distinct lack of waves, we rugged up and set out to see some devils. Geoff had been very careful to warn us that it was very likely that we wouldn't see any devils because it was the end of the mating season so they were busy elsewhere. While it was still light, Geoff took us to some aboriginal sites on his property. He had previously run cattle on the property but having developed an awareness about the environmental and cultural significance of sites/plants/animals on his land he took the animals off and has let the land revive. He has also spent years lobbying local government to implement a permit system for the 4WD tracks that run along the foreshore of his property (over shell middens and holes where aboriginal women used to hide in wait for seals to club). He is NOT popular with many people (including out neighbours at the campsite!). As it got dark, we went into Geoff's shack where he gave us plenty of info to read, then cracked open some BBQ shapes for the kids (heaven!) and tasmanian wine and cheese for us adults. There was a big curtained window outside of which was a carcass of a wallaby pinned to the ground. A baby monitor allowed Geoff to listen to any signs of devils approaching the carcass. A couple from Launceston were also there to see the devils and Barb was fabulous at helping the kids do some painting while we were waiting. Then at 9.20pm Geoff poured himself a pinot and pulled back the curtain to reveal a beautoful big devil attaching himself to the carcass. The rest of the night was fabulous - we watched 2 devils feeding for ages. It was amazing to be so close and to watch the whole feeding process. Geoff was very knowledgeable and good company. The kids, while thrilled for about 20 minutes then got restless and so curled up on a bed and Zara read The Lion King to Sasha. At 11pm we tore ourselves away from the window and jumped up on the back of Geoff's ute for a wild ride through his property where we saw wallabies and wombats galore. Fabulous!

 

Queenstown - trees on trains, and birthday cruises...

In usual Kenojus (Kennedy/Trikojus) style, we missed the ferry from Bruny Island, got caught in the rain and the dark and so first time gave in and splashed out to spend the night in a fancy pants cabin at Derwent River (West of Hobart). The cabin came complete with washing machine into which we started shoveling great mounds of filthy clothes and towels in a frenzy of anticipation of cleanliness. Sadly the power went out one hour into our luxury and we were forced to flush the toilet with a bucket, stop our clothes washing and feel our way around by torchlight. Bit like camping really... A nice spot, but Kate and Bill left peeved by notice from owners warning us that if we didn't wash the dishes, dry them and put them away, we would incur an extra cleaning fee. Well really...

On to Queenstown, where we had been warned not to stop... But stop we did - well just out of Queenstown next to Lake Burbury. And then came the rain. A record even for this wet area (rains 300 days a year...). One local confided in Kate her conspiracy theories involving cloud seeding and money-hungry hydro-electric damn magnates... hmmm... It rained all night and when we got up in the morning the ground underneath the camper felt like a swamp and our second room had leaked. But we rallied and jumped in the car and drove the insanely windy road down into Queenstown - the copper mining town with a moonscape of decimated hillsides. In Queenstown we hopped aboard the main tourist attraction - the Western Wilderness Railway - on which we learned way more than we could ever want to know about the Apt System which allowed them to get the copper up over the steep hills to be exported for big bucks (yep fair enough, no more about that). Someone had told Sash about this railway on our second day in Tasmania and he had been asking when we were going on it every day since. So we were all a bit relieved that we had finally made it. It was a bit of kitchy fun - did a bit of unsuccessful gold panning at one stop then back on the train to watch the beautiful big celery tops and huon pines pass by. Got to the lunch stop where we were to meet the folk coming from the other direction, eat the provided lunch, then swap trains for the rest of the journey into Strahan. We were waiting hungrily on the platform when we heard the massive boom of an enormous tree falling onto the kitchen carriage of the other train. We have all admitted since that our first thoughts were for our lunch, but we were pleased to learn that no-one was hurt - although there was serious damage to the train and many traumatised passengers who described the train lurching from side to side over a steep drop into the (clinically dead) Queen River. We couldn't continue the journey and were forced to retrace our tracks back to Queenstown. Sash was disappointed because the promised journey had included a bus back to Queenstown from Strahan. But we celebrated when they amazing staff opened the cafe to us to pillage free of charge AND refunded our money in full. Seriously, the customer service was mind-blowingly impressive! But really bad for them as we heard nearly a week later that the trains still weren't going. A bit of excitment which we have enjoyed re-telling at every opportunity...

Another excitement for us during our time in this area was our first birthday on the road. It was Bill's birthday and so Kate, Zara and Sasha planned a day of great excitment with seaplane rides over the Franklin River, pancakes for breakfast and a fancy-pants dinner out on the town. But Bill just wanted to go on the Gordon Rover cruise (which we had originally ruled out due to cost but could now justify due to refunded train trip). So a very early start (no pancakes, just bleary 'happy birthdays'), then a lovely cruise down the river and a visit to Sarah Island (for more morbid tales of convict life) and a short wander through the amazing old huon pines in the rainforest. It was a beautiful warm sunny day which was lovely but sucked for the famous reflections of the Gordon River cos there weren't any. Dinner at the pub. Next day, Bill was showered with precious gifts chosen by the kids including a 'Bill' keyring, a magic 'best dad' handtowel (expands when it is wet), and a pair of funky 'Western Wilderness Railway' socks! The birthday cake was a Mars Bar Slice (no bake)... Clown party hats topped off the wild celebrations.

We went to the theatre in Strahan to see the oldest running play in Australia (18 years!) which was another convict tale called, The Ship that Never Was. Was really funny but none of us could follow the story and had to Google it afterwards to fill in the details. Zara was chosen (because she ALWAYS gets on stage) to be a cat. Bill had to sing (!), Kate was Fanny (dubious scone-making female character) and Sash, was was wrapped in a blanket for warmth and snuggled up next to Bill, was (mistakenly?) chosen for a key role - a 95 year old scoundral called Billy Nichols, who had to hit someone on the head with an axe and then kick someone else 'where it hurts'. I think they were a bit surprised when he got to the stage because they hadn't realised he was so little! He did well though and brought the house down with a few bold moves.

Kate bought an $9 copy of For the Term if His Natural Life and began reliving the trials and tragedy of Rufus Dawes at Sarah Island, Port Arthur and Norfolk Island. Uplifting stuff!

Then we realised that time was running out! Yikes - how could we take 5 weeks to get down the East Coast! And what about the rest? Tried to extend our time by a week but no spots on the Spirit of Tasmania... Oh well, time to hot foot it up the wild wild west coast.

Oysters, strawberries and stinky cheese - god bless Bruny Island!

Just as Hobart cooled down, we hopped onto the boat to much-raved-about Bruny Island. Massive thanks to Jill for letting us stay on her fabulous property at the tip of the North island, just near Dennes Point. While it has been lovely meeting people at campsites, it was high-time for a period of isolation where the kids can practice their kookaburra calls without disturbing the grey nomads and European couples in Juicy vans. Here we kicked back and appreciated sleeping in the relative luxury of a caravan and shipping container - whilst soaking up the incredible view and watching the light change on the hillside. It was a short stroll down to a wild beach where we collected shells and made excellent cubby houses out of driftwood and fallen trees.

We had been warned that Bruny was an orgy of eating - and so it was. From the cheese factory, to the oysters (god, so good with wasabi - Bill and Kate kept going back but the kids agreed it was like eating snot from a shell...), to the berry farm where we stuffed ourselves with icecream and Sash and Kate picked a bucketload of strawberries (finished before we were back to Dennes Point). We also discovered totem tennis at the Berry Farm cafe - where Bill and Zara squared off and Bill decided that in the name of 'developing the kids hand-eye coordination' we MUST purchase a totem tennis set (duly done despite Kate's protests of 'no more stuff please' - and Kate is almost grudgingly agreeing that it was a good idea - she has even been known to get up an hour before the others to smack the ball around by herself for a while!).

Some beautiful walks on Bruny - Cape Queen Elizabeth was the highlight. The kids were taken with the perfect sand dunes and wild isolated beaches. And so began a tradition of naming places - The Dune of Perfection (Zara) and Slippy Beach (Sash) and so on... Another highlight was the lighthouse on the South island - bunnies galore! (but weirdly the Tasmanians don't seem to have the Victorian hatred of rabbits - perhaps the fear of a fox invasion keeps the rabbit-paranoia at bay?)

Bill went from strength to strength with the squid fishing - with squid in various guises for almost every meal.

Ahhhh Bruny Island. A magnificent week in a magnificent place.

Hot, hot, hot in old Hobart town

Our first glance of Hobart (the City almost all our Melbourne friends want to move to...) was when we drove through, over the impressive bridge, and down South to a bush camp next to the town of Dover. We camped there for a few nights and visited Hastings thermal pools (nice but not hot enough!) and Hastings caves (totally cool). We also drove up to the Tahune Forest Reserve and Airwalk - where Bill scared Kate silly by jumping up and down on the swing bridge over a raging river. Beautiful forest walks. Sad moment for Zara when she dropped her much-loved mood ring through the airwalk and watched it fall deep into the forest below. She was comforted by the promise of buying a new one at the Salamanca markets in Hobart (but of course when we asked around, the stallholders laughed at us and told us they hadn't set eyes on a mood ring since the early nineties - fair point, but about time for a comeback, we reckon!).

Then finally, to Hobart! We camped at a caravan park about 20 minutes from the city (or 40 minutes if we followed our GPS which doesn't seem to have yet noted the building of the Tasman Bridge in ) where we felt embraced by many fellow campers (particularly in the kitchen) who regaled us with advice and tips while we ate our chickpea soup in the camp kitchen. And then it got hot! 39 degrees would you believe it. We spent the saturday walking around the Salamanca markets (highlight: ginger beer with added chilli!) then stumbled across the Hobart World Party - a celebration of Hobart's multicultural community. The Sudanese and Bhutanese dancing and singing was totally cool, but the 5 Aussie chicks doing endless Zumba dances left us all cold. Tapas for dinner and then icecreams on the grass at Salamanca Place. Not bad.

Next day we were excited to catch up with friends, Julia, Michael, Aja, Mimi and Lexi, who we fished and dined with in Coles Bay. Coffee and cake at their beautiful South Hobart home, then an afternoon at the beach, before heading back to their place for a BBQ. We had such a lovely day. Great company, great food, lovely setting. Feels like we've been friends for ages. We stayed at their place until past 11pm (sorry guys, hope the next morning was ok!) and were sad to say goodbye. One of the highlights of the trip so far.

Next day, Mona (or the poo museum as the kids have been calling it). Pretty cool. Kids definitely spent more time fiddling at their modified Ipod interactive information thingys than looking at the Art. But I guess that's ok.

Hobart was pretty cool, but we were ready to get back to the bush!

The beautiful Tasman Penninsular, dolphins and shenanigans at Port Arthur...

Next we followed in the esteemed footsteps of dear friends and Tasmania afficienados, Nick and Anna, to camp at Fortescue Bay on the Tasman Penninsular. We were unable to get a spot in the beachfront area but found one a bit further up the track near the jetty (squid-catchin' territory). Our neighbors were a couple of friendly blokes who were having a couple of days away between the end of the school holidays and the start of work. They disappeared fishing while we set-up (getting quicker but still an epic task!). But at sundown to our horror they cranked up the country and western - loud! Not obnoxious guys at all - just a very different approach to camping... We settled the kids down for the night and as the music was still blaring, Bill bravely volunteered to go and have a beer with them and ask them to turn the music off/down. Which he did... maybe... can't quite remember... Just remember cooking squid with two new mates at 3am. Listening to great music. Kate to go next time.

We started living on fresh squid at Fortescue bay. Nightly jetty runs for Bill and the kids. Wildlife galore - pademelons, wallabies, birds. Got to the point where even the kids didn't get excited to see them. Little blue wrens all over Tassie. So sweet.

Did an amazing boat trip around to Tasman island (thanks nick and Anna). Was too amazing to describe here. Blew the budget, but also blew out minds. Seals, dolphins, albatross and more. Spectacular cliff faces, driving into caves. Wow.

Also visited Port Arthur, complete with evening ghost tour (was great to see the old buildings at, but Zara is the only believer amongst us and Sash was more interested in the Velcro on his sneakers - ruined the mood a bit). But we spent a full day roaming the grounds and learning the gruesome facts about life as a convict. The highlight for us was when the newly outgoing sash pulled down his shorts and lightened the somber mood by wiggling his buzz lightyear undies and singing 'I like to move it, move it' LOUD, while Zara screeched 'Sasha pull your pants up!' over and over. Bill and Kate just stood 50 meters away pretending to be childless and looking on with amusement/horror with the rest of the crowd.

Back to the campsite for another dinner of squid.