Part 8 – Time to head home…

The day started with a sunrise – one of the very few that we have had for the tour of Tassie! I even captured it with a pic!

We left Ulverstone and headed east and found our way toYork Town – the site of the first Tasmanian settlement, and unfortunately not much left. Next stop was Greens Beach – a nice spot except for the wind!  By this time it was lunchtime so out with the sandwich toaster to reheat the leftover pizza – very effective that was too! Keeping the pizza on the plate in the wind did make eating it interesting! From Greens Beach it’s a short hop to Beauty Point with its attractions and harbour – the main attraction for us was the Seahorse Sanctuary with its close-up and personal look at its Seahorses from birth through to release or distribution to other aquariums around the world. Jo even held a seahorse and said that it was like me…slimy and yukky!

A short drive later and we were at Beaconsfield and the mine heritage display and museum. You might remember that it was in May 2006 when the mine collapsed on 3 men, one who didn’t survive and it took a couple of weeks to get the others out. The mine closed in 2012 (no longer profitable) however much of the mine and machinery has been left intact and you can get very close to much of it. The whole precinct was very worthwhile with the exhibits and displays being interactive as well. Don’t miss this one…Camp tonight was in the Port Sorell caravan park – with a great heater in the camp kitchen.

Our second last full day started with a frost and sun again! Having 2 sunny days in a row was difficult to cope with, so we went underground at Mole Creek into one of their caves. We lucked it in for this one as we were the only people on the 45-minute tour. The guide was terrific and our 45 minutes became longer than an hour. The caves were found in the early 1900s and have been toured by visitors since 1911. Next stop for the day was the Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary where we had another very good tour – this time Jo managed to pat a Tasmanian Devil. The Sanctuary is running a government-sponsored program to make sure the Devils don’t become extinct. Interestingly despite all that you hear about them they can be handled and they don’t mind it so much, just don’t get your hands in between them and food. Another interesting fact is when the deed is done with a male, the female wants a different male to go again with, “she”, who often weighs in at 6kg will beat up the last male (weighing 10kg) on the list to get to the next one. 

Our last full day was another sunny one, we could get used to this! Off to Deloraine to get to the town and the markets – on once a month and a reasonable size, you could buy the usual food, trinkets and crafts and there was even a VW Beetle convertible there – I wasn’t allowed to ask the price. We did buy some fresh oysters and a jar of Lemon Spread. From the markets, we rolled through the countryside’s back roads to Launceston, or Lonnie or Launnie as the locals call it…

We found Cataract Gorge almost in the centre of town and discovered that it is a nice spot – first used in the late 1800s and developed over the years to something worth going to for the walks, the swims (when warmer) and the chairlift over the gorge – apparently the longest gap between the supports in the world. You can ride over, over and back, or just back. We paid the extra for there and back and once over, had a chat about if we could cope with “back” as well, we did and we survived! It is a really nice spot and we had the best of the weather for it, not to be missed if you are here. Back into Port Sorell to drive past a person heading to the beach in bathers and a towel, we went past him again 10 minutes later heading in the other direction!

Boat day –  I opened the door and was another great sunrise, took a pic – clear skies do happen on Tassie! 

A quiet pack up morning and off to have lunch with Lindsay and Marg at a local winery with local tucker, a nice farewell. Lunch done then a quick stop at a chocolate factory, we escaped that one with minimal wallet damage before saying farewell and heading off to the boat. We were there in plenty of time before check-in, but it still took 2 hours after that from check-in to inside the boat. It might seem funny, but don’t arrive early – cars pulling in at 5.30 get in before those who have been waiting for a could do with a bit of work on the process of boarding.

On the boat now and this is the last update for this holiday, thanks for reading these if you stuck with reading them we hope you enjoyed following our story.

Next trip is August, do a follow on the blogs or just follow on Facebook if you want see the next one.

Cheers and thanks again

The J’s