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.