We drive through historic Campbell Town famous for the Red Bridge built in late 1800’s by convict labor. This is the dark history of Australia and Tasmania when England sent convicts to these islands for life. They built everything; bridges, roads, buildings and worked in the mines, or cleared forests. Today the convicts are honored for their labor, but of course during those times it was gruesome conditions and many died doing slave labor. Campbell Towns Bridge was built with some 1.2 million hand made bricks. There is with a memorial plaque to remind us. They say 4 out of 5 Tasmanians have convicts in their ancestry! In Campbell Town is a path along main street of memorial bricks with each convicts name, where they came from ( mostly England) the crimes committed and the sentence given….most died as prisoners, but some paid off their debt to society and were given freedom.
I found the crimes interesting and minor and not fitting of the sentences levied, yet England was overcrowded and needed people to colonize their new territories…so went the convicts to Australia and (estimated 70,000) to Tasmania .
We drive trough wide-open spaces…and poppy fields! Tasmania produces 50% of the worldest medicinal opium! Electric fencing protects the fields. And a big “KEEP OUT” sign posted.
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| Blooming poppy fields. Tasmania grows large export of medicinal opium. |
Mining is still a big industry here, too with gold being the first big discovery as well as tin, copper and other minerals. Each new discovery brought new waves of settlers and towns grew up along the route to the shipping ports. Forests are still clear cut, chipped (pine or eucalyptus) and exported for paper.
Once we got off the main tourist route onto interior side roads we discovered the “under pants” the ugly remains of logging and mining that has scarred the countryside.
One place in particular, Queenstown is still a working copper mining town. We were so depressed by the scarred hills, we just drove on through (sorry no photos). I can only describe the vast canyon hole and barren hills left from acid rain surrounding the town was ugly and depressing to see. The King river that runs through town is colored orange from years of copper runoff. There are no fish and the vegetation is sparse. The coppers mine have changed mining practices for the better, but they say it will be years before vegetation comes back to the hills.. We pulled into this town looking like it was struggling to survive with worn out homes and people... we decided to drive on through...
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| The Kroll, a cat-like-raccoon creature raids our camp! |
Anyway, we get cranky if we don’t have a campsite for the night. The Adventure in a camper van.…where will we camp for the night? We don’t mind staying in the rough for one or two nights, but after that, we really would like a shower and proper toilets…and Internet? That would be nice, but we drive on and end up camping next to the boat ramp on a fishing reservoir. Nice. That night we were raided by the curious Kroll, a cat-like creature with spots!
WE LOVE Tasmania for its pristine waters and pristine environment!(excluding the mining towns)
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| Pyengana Dairy ranch...looks a lot like California! |
9-1-14
Pyengana Valley. Stop in for lunch at the Pyengan Dairy Company. Award winning cheddar cheese is made on site with tastings and the cheese making process to watch while enjoying the surrounding green valley and high mountains. Best micro-brew tasted, too…Moo Brew
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| Moo Brew...best ale so far! |
Finally, a warm sunny day! We drive through fields of rolled hay and stop at Weldborough Hotel for a beer…this is an historic roadside hotel in the middle of nowhere, but historic because of the "Tin Rush" that blazed through here in the 1800's. Now its home to travelers like us, passing through. We camp in the sunny field behind the hotel. Perfect. They also host a yearly mountain bike race where 600 riders camp and drink beer!
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| Weldborough Hotel ... with micro- brews on tap! |
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| Ahh...sun and relaxing spot for the night in Weldborough |
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| Another day of hiking...4 hrs looking for the trail leading to the top...wrong turn? |
Down the road again....to Moorina. At one time this bustling town was home to over 1000 people mostly Chinese laborers. An interesting memorial stands in the town of Moorina.
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| Memorial for Chinese mining laborers in Moorina. |
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| Chinese laborers in Tasmania |
The Tin Trail is an historical route winding through the valley mining towns along the route to the coast for shipping out either at Bridport or Strahan. We are following through the mountains… Derby is our next mining town. I take the museum tour and am the only one in a large empty movie room showing a wonderful informational documentary of the “tin era” how it shaped the land, the catastrophe when the Cascade Dam collapsed and washed the town of Derby clean away and why tin was such an important material…especially during the WWs when canned foods was needed, tin roofs for buildings and tin toys before plastic.
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| The Tin Can invention sparks the "Tin Rush" in Tasmania |
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| Toys were made of tin before plastic |
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| Gingerbread style bank in mining town of Derby |
13-1-14
A Few Days in Bridport…
Continuing on to Bridport a popular beach resort town filled with a young hip vibe, families on the beach and good restaurants. We secure a campsite on a grassy knoll with an ocean view and enjoy walking along the beach.
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| North coast Bridport Bay and beach |
We treat ourselves to dinner at the Bridport Bay Inn . It seems a few days camping out camping requires a reward of eating in a restaurant!
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| Local fried scallops a specialty and served with the roe...yummm! |
John orders the roasted farm raised Wallaby with potatoes… when is he ever going to try it again?! Tastes just like a good roast beef! I ordered a plate of fresh oysters followed by a Caesar salad then fried local calamari and prawns. It was a great dinner....and pricey. We find is expensive, but we may be comparing to Mexico and Fiji which had great value for the "buck". Australia and Tasmania are similar to America prices for food, if not higher. Beer and alcohol is over the top! Taxes!
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| Camper van trouble... |
The downside of the day was our camper van died…the alternator quit…so we called the rental company who were very quick to pay for a new one replaced by the local mechanic. We only lost one day…but didn’t even notice as we spent the day walking along the beach looking out to the Bass Straits. The weather has calmed and warmed over the last two weeks. Finally, we can say it’s HOT! The bay is shallow sand and the reflecting color is bright turquoise!
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| The colors are unreal! |
The camper van is older with some 3500km on the mileage dial. There was something bound to fail. I as the driver, still had a hard time finding the right gears and crammed the shifter into a wrong gear sometimes.. Ooops! After the new alternator was installed, the engine seems stronger and we never had another problem.
Mole Creek
Day of driving still inland from Bridport through small towns, Westbury, Deloranie and each town claims historic buildings to visit, brick cathedrals and quaint shops many still in use from the 1800s. We quess because there are no earthquakes in Tasmania the buildings remain undisturbed?
We detour to visit the only Salmon and ginseng farm in Tasmania? The company is called 41* South and is a farm deep in a eucalyptus forest. The salmon are farm-raised in large steel tanks. Its one of the biggest exports, farm raised salmon. I question the practice in my mind, but wild salmon IS being depleted and so this may be the sustainable alternative? The company sold other products, like smoked salmon( so delicous) ginseng tea, honey and wines. Yes, there are many wineries in Tasmania…and I didn’t get chance to go to one (I did discover a suburb sauvignon Blanc called Ninth Island even Mike Lee would’ve thumbs up) mainly, because it takes time to “taste wine” and we just didn’t take the time. And besides, I live in the best wine country, Sonoma County!
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| Great Western Tiers Mountain in the background |
Mole Creek Karst National Park
We check into the local information desk and learn about the many limestone caves in the area, Marakoopa and King Solomon. John is not keen on paying $20 for a guided tour with many other tourists in a lighted cave…so local knowledge tells us of the Wet Caves.
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| The Wet Caves were awesome! |
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| Warning! |
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| Kind of creepy... |
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| John loves exploring these caves! |
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| So much to see, so much to hike...so little time! |
16-1-14
Higgs Track
Still camping in Mole Creek...decide on another adventurous hike up the face of the Great Western Tiers. These are the grand rocks that surround this valley. The trail was cut in 1897 by early trappers and it literally goes straight up out of a canyon through rain forest and climbs out over boulders to an alpine meadow. We climbed slowly 200 ft vertical feet in 2 hours to the top.
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| Alpine meadow at 2,500 ft. |
But, it was worth it! The view was grand overlooking the Mole creek Valley below. At the top was a meadow of colorful peat still bogged and damp from snow melt. We felt we were in the High Sierras! We walked lightly on a trail leading to our destination, Lady Lake Hut.
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| Lady Lake Hut |
Every track warns of the changing weather in Tasmania that can catch hikers unprepared. These huts are for hiker to take shelter. The refurbished hut is wooden with a wall lined in bunks, a table and chairs, cooking hot belly stove and water from a rain catchment system. Off in the distance strategically placed above water level is the out house. What a great hiker's destination!
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| Backpacker accommodations inside Lady Lake hut |
We notice it is occupied with backpacker's gear and sleeping bags... and so just leave a note that we were there for a rest, water and snack. This is one of seven back country shelter huts being restored by conservationists for present-day hikers.
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| King of the Mountain! |
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| QUEEN OF THE MOUNTAIN! |
Next we stop at the waterfalls at the bottom of the trail...a little "skinny dipping" and we call it a full day! We are exhausted, but happy to have spent the day on the trail and visited the hiker's hut.
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| Mercer Falls is refreshingly cold! |
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| Our first platypus sighting! |
Back at the camp, our host tells where we can see a platypus...so down the road we go to the specific bridge and there they are... a family swimming and diving for food. Our first ever platypus sighting!
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| Tasmanian Tiger Bar |
More Mole Creek…
Another claim to fame for the Mole Creek Township is the last sighting of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger was seen here in 1987. Seems the early settlers killed all the tigers (they look like scrawny dogs) because one or two little sheep were missing…Anyway, the town has adopted this theme to market and so we stopped in to meet the locals at the Tasmanian Tiger Bar. I tell you it’s the best way to learn about the town and its history by hanging out with the locals.
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| Sheffield is famous for painted murals on buildings |
17-1-14
On the road again… to the town of Sheffield, a quirky eccentric-kind of town with antiques, tourists and ex-hippies. We stop for coffee and a picture with a pet llama. “That'll be two dollars,” says the pet owner who is trying to make a living from the tourists. I gladly pay and get a wet llama kiss!
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| The Kiss! |
This town is the turn-off towards Cradle Mountain National Park, a popular park much like our Yosemite in California. Many hikers undertake the difficult 5-day Overland Track through undisturbed nature (Sarah Miller are you reading this?) We plan to drive through and the high plateau and camp on the south entrance at Lake St Claire, thus missing the tourist crowds, again.
Lake St Claire is Tasmania and Australia’s largest natural lake formed by glaciers. The setting is beautiful and reminds me of our Lake Tahoe. Even though we are only at 2,500 ft elevation it gets snow!
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| Watch for Wombats! |
The Ranger Center is also an informative museum and we learn about the animals and how this area was carved by glaciations and that 30% of Tasmania had been declared World Heritage Designated, a title that sounds impressive, but in reality, only protects land from development until maybe its needed.. When reading the World Heritage criteria, a country only has to meet 1 out of 10 criterias ( learn more:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/faq ) to be nominated as a World Heritage site…Tasmania meets 7 of these! This island is pretty special. And this is where two sides of Tasmania conflict: the Conservationists (tree-huggers, not my words) and the Conservatives (industry& jobs) are vying for power.
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| In the middle of the Tasmania! |
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| Crossing the Franklin River on a suspension cable bridge. |
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| Always a wooden track over a fragile watershed... |
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| Man ferns on track to St Columba Falls |
After touring this beautiful country, we think Tasmania will eventually become a “Boutique Island” saved and preserved for tourism in the future. The lumber, mining and ranching industries are struggling to stay alive as young families move off the island to make a living. It’s a hard call when a mine closes and a family is out of work. But, I do hope tourism and conservation will be the stewards of the future. Tasmania is such a special place and needs preservation!
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| Lake St Claire National Park |
From Lake St Claire we drove straight through to Hobart to drop off our camper van and catch a plane out on Jan 21 to Tonga! We ran out of time!
We easily could’ve spent another three weeks touring Tasmania. There is so much to see…We passed on ferrying to the off islands, Flinders, Bruny and Maria due to time constraints and stayed away from the big cities, Hobart and Launceton. We purposely avoided the high tourists spots choosing a quieter path far from the madding crowds.. That was our choice. Another visitor might choose a different path. We enjoyed the 19 days that we had and filled each day.
Thanks for the memories, Tasmania!
Ok..that's all for now...Whew! It's hard work keeping up with this blog...and this is OLD NEWS now, 'cause we're ba-aack in Tonga! I have internet 24/7...so no excuses for not posting!
Malo!
I really love your write-ups guys continue the good work. belly
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