Huonville

Monday March 26th saw us packing up in light rain at Franklin Foreshore for our short trip North to Huonville. The trip was only about 10KM so we certainly didn't need to stop for morning tea or a break along the way. We checked into the Huonville Caravan Park as we needed to recharge our batteries and do some laundry before heading off to Bruny Island later this week. The caravan park was one of the nicer ones we have stayed with large grassy sites and a newish amenity block. The amenity block was part of a larger kitchen complex and very clean/modern. 4 Stars! Unfortunately it was also very expensive at $39/night and you needed to pay for your showers on top. Not that the shower charge bothered us as we use our own but still not very attractive on top of an already expensive site.

We got set up and the girls got the washing machines going. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating so we had to use the dryers to get things dry. Expensive again at $5 a load and we needed several cycles to dry our towels/sheets. $20 later Sandra gave up on the dryers and started hanging other clothes in caravan. With both heaters going most of the day we got almost everything dry!

Went for a shop at Woolworths in the afternoon. Carol and Stephen had ran into someone that Rans worked with in the Police force staying at the same park. We enjoyed drinks with them and another couple and had a late dinner.

Tuesday the weather seemed slightly better so we headed South towards the Southern Tip of Tasmania. We retraced the scenic route along the Huon River and got a few nice photos at Big Roaring Beach. The water was a lovely green and the noise made by the crashing waves certainly lived up to it's name! You can see some of the many salmon farms in the distance. We stopped at the Huon Salmon farm at Hideaway Bay where we purchased a package of smoked salmon before carrying on through Dover. Near Southport we turned onto a gravel road South to Cockle Creek. The road was reasonably good for gravel as are most of the gravel roads in Tasmania we have encountered to date.

We travelled to the end of the road where we parked the car and did a two hour walk to the Southern tip of Tasmania. The path was mostly along the beach but had several rocky section to climb through and some narrow overgrown areas through the bush. Highlights were the whale sculpture and the remnants of an early brick building. Rans encountered a black snake (Tiger probably) on one of our narrow paths which forced us to retrace our steps and follow the beach. The destination offered good views of the ocean and a bit of a rock monument. We retraced our steps to the car and had lunch at a picnic area near a campground. One final note is the walk needs to be done when the tide is low or much of the beach area would be under water. We managed to arrive at close to low tide which was more good luck than good planning!

The return trip saw us stop at Geeveston for the girls to pick up a knitting pattern before returning to the caravan park. We arrived just in time to take in the 4PM animal feeding put on my the caravan park. We saw a cow get milked and feed it's twin calves and the girls got to hold a couple of week old ducklings. The highlight of the show was the feeding of the two Tasmanian Devils that live at the farm. They are truly an ugly little creature and quite vicious (sorry Tasmania). The female was nicer than the male and much quieter. Even though they had been at the farm quite a while the keepers needed rakes to keep them away from themselves. My recommendation would be to not approach them in the wild!

A quick trip into Woolworths before we started packing up for our trip to Bruny Island in the morning. Got everything outside put away in the semi dry which was a bonus. We enjoyed a quiet night and a salmon dinner on the BBQ.