Day 330
Pack up and leave beautiful Mount Field National Park and
head towards the capital of Tasmania, Hobart. The drive in is pretty nice and takes you
right along the banks of the Derwent River and into the city.
Davey
Do the now traditional lap of the city and call in at the
visitors to pick up the usual range of brochures and pamphlets before heading
to the ‘Treasure Island’ campsite a few km’s out of the city but right on the
water’s edge.
One of our ‘must see’ attractions is Mona (Museum of Old and
New Art) and as we check in to the campsite we are happy to see that we are
literally a stone’s throw from it. We are less happy when we get a look at some
of the other people with whom we are sharing the campsite. Now I’m not going to
say ‘inbred’ for fear of offending some of our readers but by the looks of some
of this lot I’m guessing they share more than just a bathroom with each other.
We decide to capitalise on our proximity to the museum and walk
straight over there for the afternoon.
The museum is entirely the private collection of Tasmanian
millionaire David Walsh and is housed in a $100 million building designed by
famous Melbourne Architects Nonda Katsalidis so Carmen and I were both looking
forward to this. Added to this and also on the same site is a separate micro-brewery
and winery so we were both really looking forward to this!
The museum building is built in to the side of the rock face
and so (once you have figured out where the entrance is) you enter at the top
level and wind your way the lower galleries first before working your way back
up again. Upon entry you are each given a modified ipod touch to guide you around
and also provide information on the works (there are no little labels on the
walls). Whilst we both thought this was a good thing to start with it turned
out to be a bit of a gimmick and rather than look at the work and then read the
little card next to it you were constantly fiddling with the device, updating
it and pressing two or three buttons before you got any useful information out
of it. Also when you stopped and looked for a minute everyone seemed to be
spending more time looking at the devices than the art works. The building
itself is interesting with beautiful exposed sandstone walls everywhere
(apparently not an original design feature) and some great unexpected vistas
through and over other spaces but the layout was a bit confusing and even with
the map (more looking at the device) you weren’t sure where you had been and as
the works had no discernible order to them you often found yourself walking the
entire length of the building to see a room you had missed.
I think overall we did enjoy ourselves, there were some nice
pieces (and some rubbish) but I don’t think it lived up to the hype at all and
whilst I would recommend going there don’t expect to be blown away.
Walking around the rest of the site we had a look at some of
the other buildings, also designed by Nona Katsalidis including a
micro-brewery, a winery and several accommodation pavilions before returning to
the winery for some tasting.
Being old hands at this now we worked our way expertly through
their range and whilst we weren’t overly impressed we ended up buying a bottle
(if only to get our tasting fee back) before returning to the van and locking
all the doors to keep our fellow campmates at a safe arm’s length.
Day 331
Up with the larks this morning or rather the noisy ducks that
seems to be right outside the van waiting for us to get up.
Morning
Once we had managed to get rid of them we hopped on a bus
into the city for a look around. First stop is the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
and after yesterday’s experience we were both glad to see rooms with pictures
hanging on the walls with little cards next to each telling you about them. We
even had a volunteer walk us around, talking to us about the pictures and the
artists. The museum upstairs was good as well and had a big section devoted to
Antarctic expeditions which we later realised (once we saw the ship in the
harbour) would leave from Hobart due to its close proximity.
Next we strolled around the harbour and through Salamanca,
stopping to have a look in a gallery at some of our good friend Rays (famous)
brothers paintings which were not at all what we were expecting but good all
the same.
We then followed a sculpture trail through the lovely
waterside area of Battery Point with each of the sculptures being a number which
relates in some way to the history of Hobart.
The walk was nice enough and we got to see the finishing
line for the Sydney to Hobart yacht race along the way.
We knew the Cascade brewery was closed tomorrow so after we
had finished the sculpture walk we thought we would jump on the bus and head up
there to do some tastings (for a change) so we strolled up the hill to the bus
stop and whilst we were waiting thought we would just call and check they were
open this afternoon. The good news was that they were open, the bad was that
they were closing in 10 minutes. We cut our losses and got the bus back into
the city where instead we called in to the lark distillery to try some of their
whiskies (we don’t mind a drop). We tried a few and they were all pretty good
but the prices were through the roof and you were looking at over $100 a
bottle! So content with tastings alone we got the bus back to the campsite and
turned in for the night.
Day 332
Time to leave Hobart and head South on a day’s driving tour
of the Huon valley. Straight up and over one of the mountains surrounding
Hobart and into some beautiful driving country again, this is Tasmania’s apple
and cherry country and the roadside is littered with orchards all full of
apples. Fittingly our first stop of the day is at the apple museum filled with
various apple harvesting machinery and a great exhibit of 160 (or so) varieties
of apples all grown on the area.
The exhibits are real apples as well brought in by the
regions growers and we even get to taste a few although the ones for tasting
are your standard Golden Delicious and Granny Smiths.
After the excitement of the Apple museum we continue on into
the Huon valley and through some of the regions pine forests, the drive is
excellent again as we pass through Huonville and continue further South until
at Southport we reach the end of the sealed road and have reached the southernmost
point in Australia.
Well almost the southernmost point, you can continue down a
dirt track a further 30km’s but Polly doesn’t want to go down there and so we
are at OUR southernmost point. A celebratory lunch looking out over the ocean and
you can almost see Antarctica on the horizon (2000 nautical miles away) and we
figure that we are closer to there than we are to Brisbane.
Head back North and our way stop just outside Geevestone at
a roadside fruit stall to pick up some apples, not just any old apples either,
Geevestone Fannies (cue the crude jokes)! Continue back to Huonville and decide
to take a detour through Kettering and Margate before heading back past Hobart
and across the Tasman Bridge, Eastwards to a small and not very well kept
campsite at Richmond for the night.
Day 333
Head into historic (and pretty) Richmond for a look at
Australia’s oldest bridge (1823) and the quaint high street before continuing east
and then heading south again down onto the Tasman peninsular.
Pull up at a lookout overlooking Pirates bay (Arrrrr) and
stop just down the road to look at the ‘Tessellated pavement’, a natural
phenomenon where the rocks have weathered in a rectilinear way to look exactly
like paving stones.
Continue to the bottom of the peninsular and come to famous Port
Arthur, a penal settlement first established in the 1830’s as a timber getting
camp for government projects but more famously used as a giant punishment station
for repeat offenders from the Australian territories. Basically if you were a
prisoner from England sent to Australia and you continued to offend you were sent
here so I should imagine it was pretty rough. In its heyday there were more
than 2000 prisoners, soldiers and civil staff here and there are the remains of
30 odd buildings from the time.
Walking around on a warm sunny afternoon it is hard to
imagine the hardships the men had to go through but the site is pretty well
preserved and you can see the division from the well-manicured government
gardens and relative comfort of the commandants house to the austerity of the
penitentiary, the separate prison (modelled on Pentonville prison) and across
the water the Point Puer boys prison.
We spend the afternoon taking in as much as we can and retire
a short drive away to the Nubeena RSL car park to camp up for the night. The
car park is OK and you get to use the RSL facilities for $10 so we settle in
for a good night’s kip.
Day 334
Awoken at some ungodly hour this morning by road works
seemingly in the back of the van but actually just down the road a bit. Pack up
and head back to Port Arthur (your tickets are valid for 2 days) to see what we
missed yesterday. Not such a nice day today and as we are on our guided
introductory tour of the grounds the drizzle turns to rain and the rain gets
heavier. Call in at some more of the buildings and have a look at the separate
prison (for those that are not paying attention modelled on Pentonville prison
in London).
The cells don’t look too bad but it was all about sensory
deprivation here and so the inmates lived in complete silence, locked up for 23
hours a day and even during their 1 hour outside they were in separate exercise
yards so they couldn’t communicate. If this sounds a bit harsh you’ll be happy
to learn that this system is now in use worldwide including Sydney’s Long bay
Jail and Guantanamo bay.
By the time our tour is complete it’s raining cats and dogs
and so we opt not to drive down a 12km dirt track to Tasman National Park and
instead head north, along the highway to an almost free ($2) camp at Mayfield
Bay Conservation Area. This is definitely the heaviest rain we have had in
almost a year and the going is pretty slow but we make it without any problems and
set up quickly in the rain. Of course as darkness descends the rain eases and
then stops and we fall asleep to the soothing sounds of the waves lapping the
shore.
Day 335
Wake in the morning to a beautiful clear and sunny day and
all thoughts of yesterday’s torrential downpour are gone from our minds. Enjoy
breakfast and coffee and pack the van for our onward journey, just up the road
to Coles bay and Freycinet National Park. Stop for some petrol along the way
and have arrived by lunchtime so check in and set up in our National Park
beachside campsite before strolling down to the beach for a look.
Pity it’s not warmer as the beach looks lovely and the water
is crystal clear and normally I would be straight in for a swim but make do
with a walk along the golden sands before returning to the van and planning a
walk across over the hills to the famous wineglass bay tomorrow. The afternoon
is spent mainly relaxing and drying the van (and contents) out after yesterday’s
rain and a visit from a possum or two in the evening rounds out the day.
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