Before to travel in New Zealand in 2017, I never thought about Tasmania like an island in Australia. Little, I always believed it was an imaginary country where come from the Tasmanian Devil “Taz”, the Looney Tunes character who devastate everything on its path. Tasmania sounds like a distant country. And it’s far from France. But only one hour from Melbourne. After a week on the roads, we leave Melbourne to Tasmania. We land to Launceston, the second biggest city in Tasmania after Hobart, the capital. We also could take the ferry but it’s longer (nine hours) and more expensive.
The father of Dean, Bruce (from New Zealand) came here forty years ago. I heard that Tasmania look like New Zealand. I think it is mostly for the weather because it is less hot than everywhere else in Australia. While here we turn on the fire and we have warm clothe, in Brisbane or Perth, it is more than 20°C during winter… We stay three weeks. His father leaves in the north of Launceston, at Hillwood. The main inconvenient it is that I don’t have car to have a look around when Dean helps his father. And it is not question to drive the 4×4 of Bruce. I already damaged when I cleaned it… because he lent it to us for another road trip of five days!
Hillwood / Arthur River (West Coast) – 300 km
Five days to go around Tasmania is (too) short. The island is 68 401km². But we don’t have more time (Dean has to fix a bulldozer), it is already a nice overview. We start on the North-West. We drive on the “Batman Bridge”, famous because it is the first cable-stayed bridge in Australia. We go to Devonport to find the sea. Like our habit, we try to stay on the coast as much as possible. It is a beautiful day, country music in the car with beautiful sea view. We go through Penguin – pity we are not staying here for the night, I dream to see blue penguins. After that Burnie and Wynyard, two port cities. We drive around fields with view from the top of the cliffs before to go down on the beach of white sand at Boat Harbour Beach. It is already 4.30pm when we arrive at Smithton. A young guy from there we do not recommend to go to the end of the North-West because it is just gravel road on private properties. We give up and go to the West coast good timing for the sunset. We find an accommodation at the last minute, without seeing the owners (everything is online now…). We go to the pub in the next city. And on the way back, we can see some walibis jumping on the road, and just in front of us, the Tasmanian devil! It was fast but I can see it! It is nothing to see with the Looney Tunes… a little black ball short on legs, not very cute.
Arthur River / Strahan – 200 km
Sadly, it would be the only one. I will see a lot the next day, draw on the signs “Tassie Devils endangered” – they live during the night. This morning we take the road, a little too sure about ourselves. We finally drive in the middle of the Tasmanian countryside, on 80km of gravel road. Lucky we have the 4×4 of Bruce and Dean is a good driver. After one hour and half well shaken, we arrive at Corinna. An old town from the end of the 19th century, with about 700 people, mainly gold miners, then abandoned in the middle of the 20th century. Today, this town is desert but the vintage houses are still there. We walk a little bit in the forest along the river (we didn’t find gold, they looted everything!). We have to take a barge to rejoin the right bank. We drive through Zeehan, a sad mining town, which is desert on this Sunday. Not even a bakery because we are starving. It is at Strahan, our drop point for tonight, where we have a lunch close to the port. It is a little seaside town we lot of charm. Along the river, close to the ocean, we enjoy the sunset on the water. Our motel for the night is front of the river and an old train station. Our bedroom is near to the pub where we have a good evening. There are people tonight! And for the first time, we play at the slot machines. Like in New Zealand, there are the slot machines in a lot of bars. In France, we can play money only in the casino. And I think it is dangerous the slot machines in a pub, when we think about the people who are dependent on gambling. But for us, it is the occasion to have a good night (we didn’t lose money, but didn’t win as well…).
Strahan / Orford (East Coast) – 376 km
In this third day on the road, the weather is not good and the temperatures go down. We have lot of to drive because we cross Tasmania from the West to the East. And there are a lot of turns. At the beginning, we arrive in Queenstown, a mining city where the nature around suffered a lot by the abuse of the humans (between mining and chemical staff, nothing grow up!). Along the 301km (Strahan/Hobart), there are lots of lakes. We see them by far, between the bad weather and the short timing, we don’t stop. We arrive at Hobart in the afternoon and we are again on the big roads, with traffic and people. The East coast is more populated than the West coast. We stop in the centre Hobart an hour, mainly to see the port. We leave the city easily to go to the North. We stay in Orford tonight, in the shabbiest hotel (and the cheaper) that we did.
Orford / St Helens – 250 km
The next day, we go up along the coast. Dryer than the West coast, the fields are brown. But it is here that we saw a lot of farms and vineries. We drive 115km until the Coles Bay in the Freycinet National Park. Coles Bay is the only town in this park. This place is beautiful with view on the summits in the middle of the sea (Mount Graham 579m, Mount Freycinet 620m). With rocks beaches, blue sky and sun, it is the ideal place to have a good fish & chips (I recommend the shop!). We take energies because we are walking to the viewpoint of the Wineglass Bay, one of the ten more beautiful beaches of the world. This is subjective but it’s true, it’s an amazing view, the beach is preserved of the tourists, and the contrast with the white sand, the green vegetation, the sea and the pink granite give to the place something special. It is not so steep climb to the viewpoint; we arrive quickly on the top. We are in the low season and there are already few people with us. It is an inescapable in Tasmania. But it is quite expensive, $12/person for the entry in the park… There is not guardian today; we pay only $12, just to say we pay. There are a lot to do and to see in this park, we can easily stay for the night. But we have to keep going; we just stop to the lighthouse in the Cape Tourville where there is a wonderful view on the Freycinet National Park from the coast. We should to come back tonight at Bruce home, but we decide to take one more day. We go up, to St Helens where we stay for the night.
St Helens / Bay of Fires / Hillwood – 250 km
Before to go back, we take a side trip to Bay of Fires. No, this name doesn’t mean the bay is on fire, neither for the famous red rocks (like I was thinking). It was after the Captain Tobias Furneaux in 1773 arrived from the sea and saw fires from the aboriginals. The bay extends from the Binalong Bay in the South to Eddystone Point at the North, around 50km. There are different viewpoints, all beautiful even if raining and winding. We discover the orange/red rocks, beaches with white sand, the sea. We see a little wombat in a field (my first!). We come back to St Helens to go on the West, to the North of Launceston. We stop at a waterfall on the way – which looks like New-Zealand – and a cheese bakery but sadly doesn’t sell French cheese but cheddar (sell at the gold price!!). And “violà”, we arrive to Bruce home. The fire is on, we stay warm.
Hillwood
We stay another ten days in his home. It is the occasion for me to run every day. I know that I’m in Australia, between kangaroos/wallabies died in the road or jumping in the garden. Exotic. There is some agricultural exploitation around his district, orchard, vineries, and strawberries production. I take the time to visit Launceston, the city centre has nice shops, whose a library, no choice, I have to read in English now. I walk in the Cataract Gorge, 15 minutes from the centre with an old chair lift. And after three weeks, the bulldozer is fixed, I can had a nice first preview (Dean already stayed a year here). It is maybe good to do it again during summer to enjoy the sea and the lakes. And to see more (like Cradle Mountain, the centre lakes or the Tasman Peninsula…). But us we stop here for this time, we leave the cold weather behind us to take the plane to … Brisbane!!
