We enjoyed a relaxed afternoon in our vans with a walk along Williamstown Rd to stretch. Around 5PM we walked down to the Port area and enjoyed some Gluten Free Fish & Chips from Dlish Fish. They were delicious and very large portions. Rans and I were full after eating ours and the girls ended up with a doggie bag for the next day. We discovered the Queen Mary 2 was docked which explained how busy it was and why the Ferry was likely delayed. We walked back to the caravan after dinner and made our final preparations for our voyage. Transferred all our fridge/freezer contents from our vans to portable Waeco etc. Secured every else before heading off for our final 2KM to the port for loading at 8PM. The boarding process to say the least is a joke! Took us over 2 hours to clear quarantine and load our vehicles. This may have been the exception because of the Queen Mary and the Ferry being late but we suspect it would always be very poorly organized. Really ruined our day and our impression of the Spirit of Tasmania. Both of us let them know our feelings in the customer survey we received after our trip. We checked into our cabins just after 10PM. Carol and Stephen went for a drink but Sandra and I, showered and went straight to bed. The sail was fairly smooth but the beds weren't very comfortable and neither of us slept well. We had a quick cup of coffee/tea in the morning before disembarking. Fortunately the disembarking process went much smoother than the loading had.
We pulled into the Abel Tasman caravan park around 8:30AM Monday morning. We had arranged early access but we ended up waiting till about 10AM to get a site near the Ransleys when other caravans checked out. The sites were nice a wide but short so both our vans stuck into the sites behind us. Luckily they weren't used at all during our stay so we had lots of room. The amenity blocks were old but very clean. 4 Stars! The park is quite large and has a lot of potential. Less than 2KM from the Ferry and right on the water along the back. We got our vans setup and our fridges turned back on before a quick drive into town to restock on fruit and vegetable which we weren't allowed to bring across from Victoria. We were informed as we left the Ferry that they had just instituted a fruit ban around Devonport as well. This meant we had to only buy what we would use in Devonport and even made it tricky for doing our day trips around the area as we were continually going in and out of the exclusion zone. The day was mostly spent organizing and getting our food supplies re setup. We enjoyed a couple of walks along the foreshore/beach area.
Tuesday morning the girls did a bit of laundry and got it hung on the lines before we headed off to explore. First stop was Braddon's Lookout which was just West of Devonport. Great view of the surrounding farm land and the Bass Strait. From there we carried on to Ulverstone where we stopped at the Visitor Centre. There was a nice war memorial in the main street. We did a short walk up the Zig Zag gardens in Ulverstone as well before taking the coastal road towards Penguin. Had a brief stop at Goat Island for morning tea on the way. We had a walk along the waterfront and posed with the Penguin statues before jumping back in the car.
Next stop was South of Penguin at the Gunns Plain Caves. Unfortunately we just missed a tour and the next one wasn't for 90 minutes. We enjoyed our picnic lunch there and decided to keep moving. The country side is so varied with beautiful red fields, green crops, dense bushland, and rainforest like areas. Had a quick stop and walk at Preston Falls. Lovely ferns and moss growing on the trees there and a small but pretty waterfall. Would be quite impressive with the winter rains we think.
From here we continued on through Nietta to Leven Canyon. Here we did a loop walk. Started with a bit of a climb to Cruikshanks Lookout followed by 697 stairs down through lovely ferns and huge cedars. A bit more of a climb led to the second lookout called the Edge. Both lookouts were impressive but we really enjoyed the dense rainforest like growth on the forest stairs and other walkways. Moss and lichen was growing on everything including trees and rocks. Beautiful! Took about an hour all up but parts were fairly steep so we could feel the back of our legs.
We retraced our route briefly before heading off on another series of rural roads through Upper Castro, Kindred, Sprent, and Forth. Beautiful countryside that is continually changing. Not to many wide or straight roads though! Enjoyed a barbecue back at the caravan park that evening.
Wednesday morning saw us back on the road again heading South towards Sheffield. We had a brief stop at Devil's Gate Dam on the way where we walked to a couple of viewing platforms. Quite a tall dam with a good size body of water behind it. We got a few pictures before carrying on to Sheffield. A lovely old town with lots of unique shops and murals gracing the walls of most businesses. Some were very realistic and I 've included a few for you to see. Rans and I bought our first Scallop Pies for our picnic lunch. Very filling! We will need to sample a few more to properly judge.
We took a back route from Sheffield to Mole Creek. Another quaint old town. We did a walk to the Alum Cliffs near there. A bit of a climb again which reminded us that our legs were still sore from yesterday's efforts. Nice view again from the top.
We then set off East along the Meander Valley stopping at a honey farm in Chudleigh. We sampled a few honeys there before buying some honey and ice cream. Quite an interesting little stop as they also showed you quite a bit about how the honey is made.
The last major stop of the day was Deloraine. A lovely town with lots of unique shops. We spent a good hour walking the streets and the parkland near the Meander River. We really liked the town and will probably return here for a few days later in our trip. We took the major Bass Highway from Deloraine back to Devonport. We passed a few interesting stops on the way but will leave those for another day as we were fairly tired from our adventures over the last two days. There is still a bit to see in this area but we have decided to move on tomorrow and take in a bit more on our return to the area later in our trip. The weather so far has been very good with nice sunny days albeit with a bit of a chill in the air. It's supposed to take a turn for the worse over the next day or so. Talk to you all soon!
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