Port Arthur & Hobart

We drove down the east coast today through the mountains as usual some beautiful costal towns as well as rainforests. It is raining a bit and the roads are quite slippery. We stopped off at some of places like the Blowhole, Tasman Arch and Eaglehawk neck. This is truly the most spectacular coast line and the ocean colour has changed again. We arrived at Port Arthur and had a bit of drive around. It is not really a town. We drove down to White beach CP only to find out they do not offer powered sites to people who do not have a van or camper. I will not explain this because we don’t understand it ourselves. Back to the Port Arthur CP where a power site was secured. I drizzly day with some relaxing and fishing. No luck here either but I did see a guy return with a good size parrot fish. We didn’t fish long because of the weather.

Up early and off to Port Arthur historic site. The stories of the convicts are a great read but I must say the actual buildings aren’t really as exciting as I had expected. I think they could have rebuilt the odd room to its original state this would give us a much better insight. However the real scary bit is the memorial for the Port Arthur massacre. After this we drove out to Lime Bay to camp the night. No fish here either.

We drove to Hobart today once again taking the dirt road costal route. The landscape changes in Tassie are amazing and over every mountain range there is anew landscape. Hobart is not what I expected and there are traffic jams in the city. I’m a little amazed that Hobart can 4 & 5 lanes highways with a small population but Adelaide can’t even build one main road through the city. No I take that back I have always thought the government in SA to be the most backward I have ever seen. Saying that however I’m not impressed with Hobart it just doesn’t have a friendly feel about it and it is probably the least liked place I have stayed at (well apart form Swansea but that’s another story.)

We did get down to the wharf to see the Steve Irwin and the damage inflicted by the Japanese whaling boat collision. It has been 4 days now since I caught a fish!!! We finally found a place to stay at a caravan park unpowered sites only left but on the banks of the Derwent.

We are up early and keen to get down to the Salamanca Markets. I’m either getting old and cynical or the fact I don’t have a job and that means I don’t have any money to spend but I have lost a lot of interest in markets once a place of unique items and wonders, they have become very predictable in their content and ever increasing price. Not many bargains at these anymore. Now for some excitement the drive up to the top of Mount Wellington surely this will restore my faith in Hobart. But no bloody clouds everywhere up top, and after a little scary drive mouthing words of abuse under my breath for all the idiots to dumb to turn their lights on their cars. It is narrow windy mountain climb with no visibility not sure why you would leave your lights off. Finally at the top the best view in all of Tassie had visibility down to about 5m in wet cloud, are well these things happen.

Back to the east coast

We drove to Swansea to continue down the east coast.
We drove along nine mile beach to Point Bagot a free campsite. I went down to the outlet for a fish in search of Salmon. There is so much weed coming out of this outlet into the bay Salmon fishing is not easy. I did see plenty of Mullet swimming into the bay so I swapped over to Bait and hooks for a try of this. As seems to be the case in Tassie you need to fight of the little fish to allow bigger fish to get them. A school of some bigger mullet swum past so I cast out into them and bag got a good size one. There were to many small fish here so I moved along the bay. In about an hour I caught 20 odd mullet and Salmon but most had to be returned. I wonder how the fish know how to stop growing just before the reach legal size. This is the first time I have fished where there are other people and I’m the only one catching fish. The young lads were soon pissed off that they couldn’t catch anything and they left. That left me and another guy who even tried to rig up the same way I did but still couldn’t catch anything while I was pulling them in. I hope this means I’m getting better at catching fish. I do feel I’m beginning to understand the conditions better and where the fish are more likely to be. I hope this is so!!

It is quite windy this morning and no chance of canoeing here so we will move on. There is rain coming today or tomorrow so we are off in search of a more sheltered place. There are very few camp sites now along the coast so we have had to back track to Mayfields camp site which is still in Oyster Bay. It is pretty popular. No fish here just weed. We have spent a couple of quite days here relaxing and putting up with some rain and wind.

The Demons take on the Hawks in Launceston

The Scoreboard doesn't tell you much

We are staying at a hotel, yes that’s right with beds and showers in the same room and even a TV. Bloody luxury I tell you. Only problem is no parking so we had to park the car near a park in the centre of town. We had a shower lazed around and then headed down stairs for a counter lunch. We walked over to Aurora Stadium got some tickets for the footy and then headed to the nearest pub.
Melbourne were playing Hawthorn in the NAB cup and they were off to great start. It was hard to tell which team came 1st and which team came 16th last year. There are nearly as many umpires as players this year. The game wasn’t a great standard but it is only Feb. At 3 quarter time Melbourne were leading by 33 points and Tina’s hopes were up. But the Premiership team lifted and kicked the winning goal with 5 seconds to spare.
We walked back to the hotel room to drown our sorrows and headed off in search of Pizza for tea. It was nice to sleep in a bed where the roof isn’t 45cm above our heads and be able to get up to the toilet which has a door. The car was left untouched overnight however with wet clothes and bedding not mention some questionable footwear it is becoming a little on the nose.

Heading Down the East Coast

We drove down the coast a little further and stayed at Cuby Campground a beaut little place on the coast where Mel & Glen had stayed.


We moved on again today to Scamander, where some showers were definitely required as well as some washing. The pub here is bloody huge and right on the foreshore and river. Another taste of rain for most of the night and morning which always make for fun cooking breakfast and packing up.
We drove off in the rain in search of the Upper Scamander. A rainy drive through mountains and forests and then down the other side arriving at the river. The picnic area is right on the river so we got the canoes down and went for a paddle. This river has the most amount of fish I have ever seen and with a fly lure onboard we fished but only a couple of hits that we couldn’t get on board. The weather cleared up and the rest of the day was bright & sunny. We are actually camping in the day use area but it was much nicer than the campground. We had a great fire and Pork chops for tea.


We were up early and off to try to catch some fish. These fish although lots of them are all small and not that interested in the lures. We caught one of everything but they were all under size. While we were canoeing there was some loud noises and voices coming from the campsite so I headed back to check out what was going on. As I got around the corner there were Police cars and Policeman everywhere. It seems they were using the area for training but it did look a little strange. This was one of the nicest places we have stayed at but not one where we caught a feed. That arvo we moved onto Evandale a picturesque village outside of Launceston The drive there was one to remember. As usual I took the mountain tracks where possible. This is always difficult and frustrating because no matter what the GPS or Maps say those roads aren’t there. We drove over mountains while it rained and then poured and then well not quite sleet but bloody close. We stayed at the free camping area in town where it didn’t rain again until after tea but then it pissed down again.

We awoke to another beautiful sunny day, lucky because today is the national Penny Farthing races in Evandale and annual event where they close off the town. A guy we met at the pub last night let us in for free, not sure why he just offered. We had a bit of a look at the racing and then were off to Launceston.

They don't just cut them down here they bulldoze everything


Strange signs are everywhere in Tassie, hope the "P" plater coming the other way hasn't got his stereo up to load

The Bream - By Tina

I awoke early to some foul smelling stinking sand, I was looking for a sleep in, but seeing as that has become a bit of a daily routine & knowing fully we were up for a day of fishing & canoeing, I dragged myself out of bed. After a hearty breakfast Andy & I headed toward the water to drop the canoes in & off we went in search of the all too famous Black Bream. We paddled into Anson Bay, well I almost gave up right at the start cause of all the weed getting caught in my lure, but I persisted as I needed to get up my fish count. We came to a spot were the water looked “brackish” this is where the mag I was reading suggests is a good place to start.
My first & second cast ended up with a bit of weed so I pulled into a smallish bay and backed the canoe in towards the sandy bank, and with in seconds of my next cast…… bang off he went……. Let him run I am saying in my mind (the mag also said this was what to do) he stopped running for a moment so I quickly but not too fast wound in my line as the bream do tend to head for cover & seeing the only cover around is the weed I did not want to get5 him all tangled in it. Off he went a again but not quite so fast or hard, making sure the tension was on the line I started to reel him in, and wouldn’t you know it a snag w ell that is what it felt like so I paddled over & started to retrieve my line by hand so as not to loose my lure, & boy to my surprise the fish was still attached so with one quick flick I got him into the bucket wow that was amazing!

North East Tassie

We had a bit of a look & shop around town in the morning waiting for the canoe rack to get welded. As expected the work was over priced and not as good as Snowy’s work but MKII canoe rack is a lot stronger but we will see if it lasts the test of time.
We drove to Launceston through all the little towns along the way. We were in need of some bolts so we drove around for a while to find the Nuts & Bolts shop. We cruised pass Aurora Stadium where we are going to watch the footy next week and then cruised through Georgetown where we had a great chat with two ladies at the information centre who had both lived in SA. Then on to Bellingham, after checking out a couple of spots on the way. The landscape has changed again and now but it looks like summer. A great little camping spot at Bellingham with a sign that says “There’s no Facilities, but there’s no charge”. We settled in and headed down to the heads for a fish. We tried for a while up and down with lures but didn’t have any luck.

Had a great sleep in, and were only woken by roasting feet, it was great. Anyway had to fit the MKII canoe rack this morning and it all fitted back on great.
Off again in search of another little piece of paradise and there are plenty of them in Tassie. We found Bridport on the coast, stopped in for a beer and then off to Waterhouse conservation area. Off the track to Black Lagoon and then down to Waterhouse Beach after a low range 4WD sand track drive of about 4km. Tina drove and we did have to stop to let the tyres down.
Lunch on the beach and another fish. There were Salmon here and we got 3 reasonable sized ones, two on the lure & one on bait. So with enough for tea I drove back, it’s a good track but did take a bit of effort. We are camping at Mathers Camp ground nearly on the far north east coast. We met some locals who were by far the friendliest people we have met so far and shared some of their beers and a good chat. We will try to catch up with them later at Beauty Point near the end of our trip.
The BBQ Salmon was great!!

The Weather is really picking up again and blue skies and a hot sun have returned.
We strolled the beach walking around a couple of bays. There was a real big fish head on the beach, must have been big and a dead penguin, this is second one we have seen. We have not mentioned the road kill yet but moist of Tassie has had plenty of road kill but the North East coast is littered with everything lots of possums and pademelons. We have even spotted a Wombat or two about every 50-100m on the roads.
It was a pretty lazy day but we did get some washing done. I headed down the rocks for a fish just as the tide was coming in. It was pretty windy and quite a large chop. I tried luring first but had no luck so I changed to some blue bait. There were plenty of bites with lots of smaller fish stealing my bait. I spotted some Flatheads and fished closer to the rocks. I caught 3 in the end but 2 were undersize, along with a good size mullet. The locals reckon that was bloody good cause not many people catch fish there anymore. The night has cooled but the wind has settled as well so it is a beautiful night.

Mole Creek

Firstly let me say got to love a place that they name Mole Creek (Ha Ha, i'm such a child)

We drove to Lake St Clair and had a look around a nice walk to Nelson falls. It is quite cold again today we found a 4WD track to lake King William but it was also bloody cold there. We found a spot on the outlet between the two lakes and started a fire to keep warm. And hot soup for lunch. It was really cold tonight so even in the car it was a bit chilly.

There are no towns for over 100km that have shops for food supplies so we drove to Deloraine and the hope of fixing the canoe rack. After driving around for a while we found a place that can fix it on Thursday, so we drove to Mole creek to check it out. They have an underground national park, there are caves here. We drove around and found a turnoff into the Mole Creek Krast NP and found a beaut little spot off the road on the side of a river.
Tried some fly fishing and got treated to Tina taking an accidental swim while trying to cross the river. I have not mentioned that the water is ice cold! Lost a shoe but it was retrieved down the river. We are back up in the mountains and the rainforest landscape has returned, but more bush gums etc. than Tropical with ferns etc.
We listened to JJJ & the Aussie win at cricket.

Bloody Big trees!!

A warmer morning greeted us and we had breaky and were off early to Marakoopa Caves for an underground tour


These caves are truly a sight to see with the stalagmites & and tites. We stopped off on the honey factory on the way back to Deloraine and checked into the caravan park. We are not really in need of power but today we have to take off the broken canoe rack and make new brackets. It all went quite well but lets wait and see how well it fits back on after is it welded up.

Lake Burbury

Tina drove the very windy road to Queenstown a mining town nestled amongst some huge mountains.



We are camping at lake Burbury just another huge lake in the mountains where it is very windy and wet this afternoon. We put up the tent which dried out well but we took it down because it is too windy to sleep in.




We had a nice sleep in today and had to cook breakfast on the BBQ at the campsite as we had run out of gas in both bottles. We have had to drive all the way back to Strahan as Queenstown do not refill Gas bottles. We are staying at Lake Burbury again tonight and have moved to a spot amongst the trees to try to block out some of the wind.It was quite cold today and went spent most of the huddled around the car with some showers on and off. No fishing or canoeing in this weather there is a swell on the lake.

Strahan Yacht Cruise

We went back to Strahan at the Caravan park for the usual, battery charge, water, showers and laundry. Man it is good to have a shower again with hot water and stuff. In the afternoon we walked into town to have a couple of beers at the pub and a some cricket on the TV. I’m not sure why I put myself through this pain cause there is not much excitement to watch the Aussies play at the moment. While we were at the pub a Biker group lobbed up with some 50 Harleys arriving. OK if you like Harleys but I suppose there were some nice bikes there. We walked back to the caravan park it has cooled down a fair bit. We feasted on Salmon fillets that night before the rain set in. First time we used the tent and of course it rains.


We awoke to persistent rain which we were quite worried about. We packed up after breakfast and headed to the town centre to check if our yacht cruise was still on. We headed off on the Yacht “Stormbreaker” and sailed down the harbour. The rain had stopped and it was quite warm again. We sailed out to an island and had a beautiful crayfish lunch. We tried some fishing using some old fashioned hand lines. No luck so we moved spots. The Harbour is so calm and mist is coming out of the Gordon river into the harbour. Tina caught a cod which she was very pleased about and that was about the only fish landed. It was a pleasant afternoon spent talking to new people and discussing the worlds woe’s.

Macquarie Head Salmon fest.

We are camping overnight at Macquarie heads which is the outlet to the bay the Gordon runs into. $ 5 per site is good with toilets. We tried a fish but it was way to windy so set up camp.
Later we headed back to the beach for another go and on the first cast I thought what a bloody snag but it was Salmon as soon as the lure hit the water a strike. For 5 minutes there got 10 hits and landed 4 on shore it was full on. About bloody time this is fishing the way it should be, well at least every now and then. It quietened off for a little while but we fished for about 45 minutes with 10 salmon (3 of which I gave to a couple who walked past) and lost as many if not more. So many in ½ a foot of water they get off the hook and swim to safety. We both caught fish today and that is nice although I still think that Tina is up plenty since we started fishing together but I’m catching up.

Fly Fishing

Once again the weather is blessing us no wind sunny morning 22 degrees. We finally rigged up a toaster that works this has been giving us both the shits for some time now. It is a short drive to Tullah a very old mining town revitalised in the 70’s & 80’s by several hydro schemes. The local tavern come coffee shop has one of the best free displays of the history of the town including the mining the famous Georgie Wood tram line and the hydro building. We drove to Mackintosh dam and set up camp on the edge of the dam again. I went for a bit of a canoe it’s a bit windy and there is quite a chop on the dam. We sat around enjoying the great weather and then I
headed out with a fly on the rod in search of trout.

The fly rig doesn’t cast very far so the wind needs to be behind you. No luck so back in the canoe to troll this time. I headed for a nice shady spot on the banks where trees had fallen. I spotted a trout bobbing up and down ahead so I tried to quietly canoe past. Then bang he hit and with the drag set real low he was off. Canoeing and fishing don’t really combine well but I finally managed to get him in the canoe what a beauty 40cm my first trout!! I followed the bank around and soon spotted another one same thing, once I got past he hit and they like to fight. Got him into the canoe and then lost him trying to get him in the hole. Slippery little suckers.

Wilderness country

While packing up in the morning we found that one bracket on the canoe rack has broken and the other side was severely bent. We had a bit of a ask around town but no luck some 500m/hr tape and we were off.


We drove down the western explorer route a beautiful hilly drive through winding dirt road littered with the remains of a recent savage bushfire which had this road closed for nearly two years. We stopped to marvel at the huge stumps of trees that had fallen over the road. We passed some beautiful rivers including the Savage river which are completely littered with fallen trees. We arrived at Corina and old timer/gold town from the mid 1800’s which is on the Piemann river .


They have restored the old buildings into cabins and the only store is the hotel.
We picked a bush campsite by the river and ventured off on a canoe to the Whyte river. We passed it and carried on when we got to a large bend I cruised into the bank where I spotted tow huge trout which didn’t seem interested in my lure. We cooked on a campfire that night and we shared the spot with lots of native animals including two very cheeky Possums.
During the night Tina had to get up to rescue of Fishing tackle bag which was being dragged off into the forest by some creature unknown. Another spectacular morning has greeted us in Tassie. While packing up we noticed that some stuff was missing my canoe shoes & gloves. Well how silly am I they have a sign on the cabins we saw that says not to leave your shoes out overnight cause the Devils will take them. Bloody smelly shoes good luck to them shame about the gloves though. We did a bush walk to the Savage river which is a 3 hour return moderate to hard. Well it didn’t take long to find it was a mountain climb not a river walk. We arrived there after about and hour and bumped into a couple who had just canoed there and were walking back so they offered us their canoe to take back. We jumped at the offer and canoed back.


Across the tiny ,little punt which cist $20 and we off in search of Pieman HeadsThe GPS cannot even find the main road to Corina let alone the bush tracks we are looking for. We drove down a track which was about where the road should be and eventually were greeted by a logger who advised us we were on private property.These loggers fairly just cut down bloody everything. We had a look a t Reece dam one of the many Hydro schemes in Tassie, it is so strange that in the middle of summer there is water everywhere. This time we were looking for a costal road which should take us to Zeean. This time the GPS has come through but not more than a Km up the road it turned into well a difficult 4WD track with big hills, massive rocks, washouts and dangerous peat mud. We crossed a broken bridge and carried on passing a sign saying the bridge further up was closed and a section where the entire hill was washed away. This was well a bit to difficult for us and as we are travelling alone we must be more careful. It’s a shame they don’t ever tell you these roads are closed at the start of the road. Once again I’m impressed with the Tojo’s ability to take on these tracks.






We drove for most of the afternoon and decide to head inland to a place called Tullah where there are many lakes. We pulled up along side Rosebery dam a picturesque place nestled in trees and large mountains.

The Rugged North West

We packed up and drove across to Green Point beach which is the furthest North West we can go without a permit, boy did we notice the change in temperature as we drove, the scenery went from cow farming through beautiful rainforests, then again back to cow farming, but most of the paddocks have a nice piece of bush in them and the paddocks are even green. What a nice site in the middle of summer and a heat wave! It is a Surfing beach with views of Crayfish boats and huge Wind farm off to the north.
Quite a few Surfies here and they look like they are having a bit of party tonight. It is quite a popular spot and another beautiful night in Tassie it is still 22 went we went to bed. The windiest place has been very kind to us.



Awake early so I went down to the beach for a fish. I was the first one on the beach but no luck.

After breakfast we drove the short drive down to Arthur River. We picked up an off Road permit which is free and headed down the Arthur beach track. Tina drove and after not making up a sand hill we tried out the new deflating valves which work great. We did some 4WD on the sand tracks and again marvelled at the amount of trees on the beach. The camping spots tell you to get your firewood from the beach now I know why. I just keep saying it but these places are so beautiful it is unbelievable. The surf, the clear water the beaches wow and the bush.

Down to the boat ramp and now for some canoeing. As soon as we get in the water the winds pushes against us but luckily the current isn’t to strong. We keep close to the banks for some cover. After a while we stopped for a rest up a little cove where the water seemed to flow both ways?? There are steep slopes each side with rugged bush. We turned around in the hope the river flow would give us a free ride back, but the tide had turned and water was flowing into the river.

Back at the ramp we met a local cleaning his catch of salmon and some advice on where to catch them so we were off. The rocks at the “Edge of the World” well that’s what the plaque says anyway. We tried luring for a while and then moved closer to the where the river meets the ocean. The big shiny silver lure worked and soon we got our first salmon, well nearly he made it to the first rock above the water before swimming off. Shit!! Not to worry back in again and another hit this time I got him onto a rock safely. We were both exited by this and keen for more action. Back in the water again and another fish caught another lost and then. Bang goes the lure cast far into the sea. Then Tina joins the action, well losing lures at least. We learned a valuable lesson correct rods too light line. So we caught a feed of Salmon and lost 5 lures so what we came out in front.
So instead of the planned chicken we feasted on fresh Salmon. The weather is great again sunny a bit cloudy in the afternoon but little wind. Maybe we are being blessed, fish and good weather, boy we love Tassie so far.