Dave plays banjo & sings in a band. We had enjoyed his playing on previous evenings, and on the morning we were heading off our departure was delayed by band practice in his garage. Preparation for a gig at a local music festival. We wouldn’t be around for the festival, so instead took the opportunity to stick around long enough to hear them play together. We left, driving off down the road with our toes tapping. Our destination Triabunna, a small fishing town less than an hour away, although we took a longer route via the Wielangta forest. A route Dave had described as rough & full of potholes, & a road he wouldn’t take a decent car on. Well, sometimes you gotta try these things out for yourself- eh? The road was just as Dave described it & in hindsight we would have been far better off taking the shorter route up the highway. We bumped our way through the forest, all regrowth, some fenced & saw little of interest. That’ll teach me to be pig headed, but I daresay that sooner or later I’ll make the same mistake again, I seem to have something in me that turns ‘recommendations to avoid’ into magnets that draw me. Can’t win every time eh? 😀
Just one thing had drawn us to Triabunna. Recommendations to eat at the town’s ‘Fish Van’ had come from a number of sources. That we had to pass the town on our way to the east coast was conveniently coincidental. Turned out that the Fish Van is not a van at all but a small building incorporating a serving area, cooking area & cold store, built from two shipping containers, located opposite the wharf where squid boats line up. Their advertising on the front of the ‘van’ tells of the fish they cook (any way you want it) being caught by their own boat.
With fish, freshness is everything & as good as their (& everybody else’s) word, the ‘Van’s offerings were superb. Without any qualm whatsoever I can say they were the best fish & chips I can recall having bought – anywhere.
They were so good we had to stay a second night to get some more!
The town itself didn’t seem to have a huge amount going for it, we wandered & explored, but found little of interest aside from the wharf/marina & a small aboriginal exhibition at the entrance to the town. Nevertheless we enjoyed a relaxing couple of mild days before continuing on. Oh & we got some good, though messy feeds off the large & heavily in fruit Mulberry tree alongside our grassy camp at the rear of the pub.
We had thought to go to the Freycinet Peninsula for our next stop but on a whim turned off the highway a little sooner than planned, ( a little north of Swansea) following the Dolphin Sands road along a long narrow strip of land with water both sides of it, to it’s end, a place known as Bagot Point. In the past this was an apparently popular camping spot, but as a result of misuse it is no longer ‘advertised’ & the number of spaces available are now very much restricted. Two others had already set up camp when we arrived & we scored the last remaining spot, right at the waters edge. In fact to access the spot we had to drive over sand which is covered with water at high tide, knowing that we would be unable to leave when the tide was in. Camping is restricted to two nights & that is how long we stayed. A gorgeous little spot right at the top end of Oyster Bay opposite Swanwick.
Coles Bay the main centre on the Freycinet Peninsula was less than a kilometre away, but by road it was 63kms. Here we had peaceful camping with a knockout view of the Hazards, the iconic granite mountains which form the gateway to the Freycinet National Park. We fished, watched birds & soldier crabs, MrsTea even swam, & I was brave enough to wade out across the sandy bottom until the water reached the ‘goolie line’. Had we had 35 degree+ weather I may have swam too, but alas t’was not to be. 🙂 We even had an internet signal, & learned that on the morning we were to leave that there as a major wind & storm warning. Not good when camped only 12 inches above the usual high tide level!
We were up & packed early, even so it was already very windy & the white caps were visible just a couple of feet from our vehicle. The rain started just as we had finished packing & we retreated to the cab of the Patrol to shelter. Tide was in, & a lot higher than it had been the previous day. Driving out may have been possible but would have been through more than a foot of salt water over sand which to us was an unknown surface to take the Patrol & Tvan over. Driving out before the tide receded was a last resort if things got worse, but in the end two hours of patience saw the water recede enough to give us dry passage. Who else can say they were marooned on an island the size of their camp site!
With the dire weather forecast we felt that going inland may help to shelter us from the worst of the storm, but the storm hit us before we had even got back to the highway. For 30 minutes or so it was quite incredible. The wind was as strong as I’ve ever had to drive in, keeping vehicle & van from being blown off the road took all my concentration. Around us the heavy rain was completely horizontal & mixed into the swirling chaos was bark, leaves & branches. Twice we witnessed trees being blown over. The power lines beween poles which normally hang down in an arc now formed a horizontal arc. As we drove up into the mountains we were sheltered by forest, plus the rain gradually petered out & the worst of the wind was left behind. More was forecast however so we sought a place where we might camp without needing the tent. Prior to packing up we had experienced a few gusts which had worryingly caused the two poles of the Tvan’s tent section to bend, not permanently but noticeably. We thought somewhere with a shelter &/or a camp kitchen might be wise. And so we arrived at Lake Leake, high up in the forest, a man made lake, a flooded valley providing the water supply for Campbelltown lower down on Tasmania’s main highway between Launceston & Hobart. In the grey & blustery weather it was not an attractive lake but there was a shelter of sorts, with power & with an internet signal to keep me happy. The camp ‘kitchen’ consisted of a single electric plate BBQ in need of a good clean, & with torn shadecloth walls surrounding it. These were somewhat less than salubrious surroundings, but at $10.50 per night would have to do, a bonus was 4 minutes in a hot shower for $1 in the meter. We splurged out & had $2 worth each to warm up. If we’d had more dollar coins it could have been longer. At some point we calculated how much it might cost to remain under the hot shower until we packed to leave the following morning!