Tasmania: Turners Beach (Devonport)

Tuesday  10^th January: Happy Birthday Patrick

So late to bed, that it was a hurried morning, packing what was needed for the few days, not that we needed much – stuff for a cool day and possibly Cradle Mountain and stuff for a warm day. . .  more of that anon. Dear Marg was taking us halfway to Campbell Town where Phil was to meet us. A swift coffee all together, then on we went northwards, skirting Launceston and stopping at a Fish and Ginseng Farm for tastes and smoked salmon, at a Raspberry Farm for guess what, and finally a Cheese Making Farm for more tastes and purchases. A brief glimpse of the Bass Strait, and up a gum-tree-lined hill to another amazing home.
Phil and Heather bought this hectare of land twenty years ago and built their home in an area of cleared bush with views over the trees to the sea. They have chooks, a productive veg’e patch, and a garden where possums, and potaroos (smaller, rounder versions of wallabies) come intermittently and mostly at night. After lunch we went for a drive around the locality and saw the house where the Glares lived when they were here, and went down to the beach where the River Forth enters the bay. Heather, in short pants was shivery, but as we turned onto the main beach the wind was really bone-chilling and we turned back. Though we are nearer the equator here (as opposed to Hobart) we have hit a cool spell. Though I’ve bought my warmest things, I’ve been chilly and am beginning to wonder whether I have enough warm clothes for South Island, New Zealand where we will be this time next week!  That sounds daunting!! A wonderful supper was had with Liz and Sam, fresh back home from their world travels. Have made contact with Son No 1, Patrick Spencer, whose birthday is today/tomorrow and made plans to speak tomorrow morning, his birthday evening.

Wednesday

A great start to the day with a Skype with Patrick, and even better an arrangement to do it again in 24 hours with Elanor. Great to hear Matt and Eileen are up there for coming weekend. Then down for a fresh boiled egg marked 10/1 (it was laid yesterday) …. so I celebrated Patrick’s birthday with an egg, laid on his birthday, thousands of miles away, on the other side of the world!!

We set off for our day out, travelling westerly along the beautiful coast, stopping once or twice for photo shots and once for coffee at one of Phil and Heather’s favourite  stops,  The Groovy Penguin in the village of Penguin, until we reached the ultimate viewing point at Table Cape with views easterly over land and sea and westerly, over poppy seed heads to the Wynyard Lighthouse. Then we travelled back away to Burnie where we enjoyed one of Tasmania’s lauded fish and chip shops, sharing two Fish Frenzies and a few extra calamari rings, with a bottle of wine. We then turned inland to make our way to see an ex-colleague of Heather, who has taken up goat farming (dairy). We began to understand why she and her husband love these creatures – they were really engaging and affectionate (well, some were!) Witness my attempts to fit the machine on the teats!! Finally we turned for home, stopping to shop in P&H’s local town before returning for a cup of tea and taking George down to the beach. After the cold, wet morning (zero degrees up on Cradle Mountain!) the walk on the beach was truly magic – a vast stretch of sand with barely a soul, hills in the distance, with a warm, fresh breeze providing optimum oxygen. And best of all a lithe, bouncing dog, chasing a ball with huge enthusiasm and joie de vivre.

Thursday

Phil had earmarked today as the only possible day to ‘do’ Cradle Mountain. While the UK is experiencing a mildish winter , Southern Australia is experiencing record-breakingly low temperatures for this time of year. Heather had prepared our bed with a summer douna (duvet) but we have had a winter one over the top for the last two nights!! Just as in the UK, where we  have weather rather than climate, here is just the same! Melbourne may experience three seasons in a day but here, it is said, ‘if you don’t like the weather, just wait for an hour’ (it is milder tho’ – P&H grow lemons, limes and kumquats ). So, this morning, after breakfast, a picnic was packed and off we set, the weather dull tho’ the odd bit of blue was available. We travelled first thro’ the rich, rolling, productive agricultural area around Devonport. Here we saw fields of white poppies, used for medicinal purposes. Another crop is pyrethrum – an excellent anti-mozzie product. Also fields of potatoes, carrots, brassicas, all on the rich red soil. As we travelled inland, the land is used for for livestock and further still, the hills start to erupt and the splendid  Mount  Roland was well worth a view.

Then as we slowly climbed towards the Cradle Mountain Country Park, through the bush, the clouds sank and a fine drizzle started to become heavier tho’ it eased partially for a splendid picnic and we were thrilled to see a couple of wombats wandering aimlessly, disregarding the few humans around. The younger one was a delight, not unlike a badger, but no stripe or pointy nose … and out and about in daylight! Then a short walk, up through an amazing area of bush, dripping with lichen. P&H tell us that this profuse growth only occurs where the air is especially pure! Then onwards through the damp towards the iconic mountain which cradles the Lake beneath it. The two hour walk around the lake was abandoned because of the weather but we did part of it, clambering up to Glacier (aka  Suicide) Rock and the beach below. But, for the most part, the mountain top was swathed in cloud. We travelled on down thro’ the park a-way for a hot coffee, then turned back as the weather was lifting and some of the summit was visible (just!) but finally came away. As we travelled down, guess what, the skies lifted and very shortly we were enjoying beautiful weather, Mount Roland looking great!
We stopped in Sheffield, a small town that was dying until somebody painted a mural on their wall; it became a cult, there now being murals on many walls – and an annual event when artists come from all over to add their contribution – and consequently, the town has been revitalised: it was well worth a stopover. We finally arrived back at six-ish and are about to share our final evening meal, this time round, together.
I can barely believe that in two days from now we’ll have had a taste of Sydney and be winging our way to New Zealand and a new experience in our amazing journey – travelling freely, with no friends to support us, and no set agenda!

Friday

And now it was time to say goodbye (for now) to Phil and Heather: again, as before on several occasions and in several countries, we have been treated to wonderful hospitality. The day started with a trip back to Turners Beach – a long walk, the four of us giving George an opportunity to run and tire himself out for the day.
We returned home for breakfast, this time poached eggs on toast, before setting of for Campbell Town where Marg’ was to meet us for the return to Hobart. We took a final look at the north coast, going via the foreshore at Devonport, before taking the road south.
Marg’ was waiting patiently,- we were twenty minutes later than the appointed time (can’t you tell that it’s Nick writing this!)- before final hugs and goodbyes to P&H, reminding them that Gloriana is at their disposal in the Spring of 2014.

An aside: on several occasions Heather has remarked how much Jackie’s accent and phraseology reminds her of Nigella Lawson, so if I refer to my partner as anything other than “Jackie”, you’ll know why.

On our way south from Campbell Town, we stopped off at Ross, the most charming of villages we’ve seen in Tas. Here Jackie/Nigella finally achieved one of her wishes; she had an scallop pie, for which Ross is apparently famous. Not far onward, we diverted off the main highway to drive through Oatlands (Jim/Katie: very nice, but Ross is nicer), and an hour or so later arrived back in Hobart to find that India was already 74-for-4 (or 4-for-74 as they say here  – it must be because we’re upside-down) and they were all out by teatime.
A relatively relaxed evening (after the packing was done); a good night’s sleep; and the morning meant yet more farewells, this time to Derk and Marg’ who, despite considerable demands on their time over this period, have been so helpful in making our stay in this southernmost province of Australia so memorable. Our flight from Hobart  took off on time, and shortly after eleven we landed in Sydney. We had planned to spend the day in the city but, by the time we had lodged our big bags in the left-luggage facility and bought our train tickets, we would have been $100 down. So, as we are due to be back here in March, we felt the money could be better used, though our planned meeting with David will now be at the airport rather than at the boat club. It will be good to see him , however, wherever we are.

As this is being done on the public internet facility at the airport pictures will be added later