Day 43

Monday 13th April

Well the four of us are heading off to catch the ferry to  Bruny Island for four nights, Dons son and his partner are there as well, we have met  up from different directions for this trip. This is our 1st day, we are based at Adventure bay in a van park in a onsite van we are sharing. These photos are pretty much self explanatory, just beach scenes and rocks with amazing colours.

DSCF4829 DSCF4832 DSCF4834 DSCF4843 DSCF4816 DSCF4817 DSCF4828  Stopped for a picnic, so cold we were sitting with Katie’s blankets around us so much fun.DSCF4839

Day 40

Friday 10th April.

We had stayed at the caravan park in Penguin and were on our way back to Launceston, I was not doing to good so only spent a wee bit of time taking some images of the Old Mill house from 1868, the reflections were just lovely. Very picturesque town with all the Autumn colours. This town is on the Meander River, very central to lots of interesting places, we will be back.

IMG_3028 IMG_3059Old Mill House from the 1867 IMG_3048Walking bridge over the Meander River IMG_3019

 

Day 37

Tuesday 7th April

Haven’t done a lot over the last few days but went for a beach drive from Rocky Cape camping spot, out to the National Park, Boat Harbour Beach and to Sisters Beach, then went back to Port Latta to get permission to cut through someones yard to get down to some rocks we wanted to photograph. The winds were very cold today and wasn’t doing me a lot of good, so not to many pics today.

IMG_2968 IMG_2960  Boat Harbour Beach, very pretty place, the sand was so fine and white.IMG_2963  Freedom Camping here as well.IMG_2964  Looking back to the settlement.IMG_2971  No photo’s of Sisters Beach called into this shop but no where for camping if you have anything bigger than a small campervan, nice wee place though.IMG_2986  This area is amazing with a lot of history. This piece of land called Table Cape is an actual plug from a volcano.IMG_2987 IMG_2972TableCapeLightHouse  Light House at Table Cape.IMG_2974  View from the Light House grounds.IMG_2976TableCapeTulipFarm  Looking towards the Tulip Farm, they have all been picked, Ive been told it is a picture to be seen when the tulips are in bloom.IMG_2989  On our way back saw this art work on a rock face, don’t know what it means as there was no plaque.IMG_2990  Someone having a bit of fun with Maggie on the lamp post.IMG_2991  Another daggy letterbox.IMG_2993Latta  Back at Port Latta, the rock formations are just amazing, photo’s don’t really show it, IMG_2992  Straight off the camera, the colours are incredible.IMG_2994 This lot looked like concrete had been just dumped.

Day 35

Saturday 4th April

Not a lot happened today, we packed up as much as we could and what had dried out from the rain overnight. Took some photos of the moon and did some star trails even with a small amount of cloud to see how it would turn out, wont bother again. 🙂

IMG_2788 Startrailswithcloud

 

 

Day 33 & 34

Thursday 2nd April

Got up to a very cloudy morning. Our ranger from Forth arrived, we had a chat. Cooked breakfast and it’s raining hard now but ranger said it will clear by lunch time, he was right. Once it cleared we went for a drive into Penguin, did a few jobs, water in Jerry cans etc..dropped what we needed to off at the camper then headed for Burnie .Big place and busy, a pulp town by the looks of the logs etc.on the docks for export.Went up to the lookout was lovely view. Got back, cold and so we used the time to down load images, had the gene going etc, gas heater on and hotty filled up.

Friday 3rd April Easter

Well I needed to go into Smithton to see a Doctor and after my visit we decided to do the scenic trip back to Rocky Cape where we are now staying. Saw some lovely wee towns on our way back.

IMG_2820  Stanley The Nut.IMG_2823  The old Stanley building still being used today, they are so beautiful.IMG_2824 IMG_2838  The old railway station used now for accommodation.IMG_2840  Bought lunch here, was so fresh the fish and not small pieces either.

IMG_2847  The old lighthouse, it was else where and has been moved.IMG_2852  The wharf.IMG_2869  The Nut from lookout.IMG_2871  Another angle of town.IMG_2887  From up at the area where the old communications building was or something similar.IMG_2899  The Grange, Port Latta, coal I think.IMG_2900 IMG_2908  Rocky Cape National Park. Jetty in the back ground of the cliff face.IMG_2924 Jetty.

Day 32

Wednesday 1st April

Looks cloudy. Heading off to Penguin. Drove 38 km, lovely drive, nice little seaside town, and then we came on out to Sulphur Creek free camping. Got a real sheltered spot, ocean views. Got here early set up and had lunch. Did the washing, had a hot shower in the sun. Only two other campers here. Did a walk around and found heaps of penguin nests. Got tea early and went to sit out and see what time the penguins come a shore.  Well these ones come in later than in nz. We only had two trains go through. Got windy and cooled down. Rained during the night.

DSCF4812Sulpher CreekPenguin  Local train transporting cargo to Burnie.IMG_2519  View from our camp site, Sulphur Creek, about 8 km north of penguin.IMG_2527  View from the opposite wayIMG_2532  Local race horse being given a warm up by a run down the beach.IMG_2539  Our camp siteIMG_2542  Burnie from the look out, this is the docks where the logs are exported out.IMG_2549  Burnie looking south.IMG_2556  The lovely statue of the Penguin at the approach of town. Taken while driving so not a good shot.IMG_2571  Was walking around looking for nests and there it was a baby looking out so took the shot and left him alone.IMG_2579  Love the rocks when the sea is rough.IMG_2643  The wee penguins come up these rocks to there nests, but I was taken with all the different colours and shapes.IMG_2645 More shapes and colours of rocks.

Day 31

Tuesday 31st March

On the spur of the moment we went to Cradle Mountain, weather was perfect so cant miss out. What an amazing day. Was 77 km from Forth, beautiful country side, rolling farm land, road followed the Forth river.Narrow winding road and the Wilmont Road has a letterbox competition, well we took so many photos where we could could safely stop, only posted a few. Got to Cradle Mountain and had a bite to eat then caught the shuttle bus out to Dove Lake. We took the shots we wanted, then hoped onto the next shuttle and got off at the Rangers Station, got off and did the rainforest walk and saw the Pencil Pine Falls.Jumped back onto the shuttle back to the information center and then headed home via Sheffield. Perfect weather, very warm. Got home at 6.30 pm so decided to go over to the Forth Hotel and had a fabulous meal, good price and real food. We always give back to a town that allows freedom camping, thanks Forth.

IMG_1944IMG_1918  Mt Murchison RangeIMG_1908 IMG_1907 IMG_1905  Darlek Letterbox.IMG_1959 IMG_1958  Landscape heading to Cradle Mountain.IMG_1971PencilPineFalls  Pencil Pine FallsIMG_1979  Dove Lake, Cradle Mountain on left.IMG_2002  The boat shed, Dove LakeIMG_2024

_MG_6800  Took some infrared images Mt Murchison Range_MG_6802 Mt Murchison and the Barrington Dam

Day 30

Monday 30th March

Woke to a cloudy morning but soon cleared to be a lovely sunny day.After cleaning up from breakfast we hit the road and went to Turners Beach, very small and vans very packed in. From here we went on up to Ulverstone and had a good look around town and down the park, really like this place. Got the estuary and the ocean. We came home for lunch, i made some more yoghurt, lots of people in the park tonight, cooling down. We heard the penguins.

IMG_1828 IMG_1833TurnersBeach  Turners beach looking towards Ulverstone.IMG_1889  Forth RiverIMG_1842 IMG_1848Ulverstone Playground  Ulverstone IMG_1856LookingOutToSea IMG_1866 IMG_1884MemorialToAllServicePersons  Memorial to all service persons.IMG_1899ForthHotel Forth Pub, had a great meal and very reasonable.

Day 27 – 28

Friday 27th March

Real lousy day, weather was low cloud and I felt wee needed some R&R, so stayed home

Saturday 28 March

Well woke to such a clear skies thought we cant miss going to Ben Lomond, East Coast could wait, so packed lunch and off, here are some images of the day, soooo awesome. We will go back after some snow.

Bottom of Jacobs Ladder  Bottom of Jacobs LadderJacobs Ladder  Looking down on Jacobs LadderIMG_1257  Another view.IMG_1272  Some of the cottages, and hotel/eating restaurant. IMG_1286  Like a community and lodgings IMG_1287  This is the alpine heath flowerIMG_1305  We climbed up to the ridge and these Paddymelons everywhereIMG_1317  Couldnt make it to the summit, to tired.IMG_1321  One of the views from the ridgeIMG_1328  Swampy everywhere, the colours of the foliage was so pretty.IMG_1355 IMG_1378  The rock formations are incredible, coming down Jacobs Ladder.IMG_1389 IMG_1397 IMG_1434  Gopro cameraIMG_1450 Fields of grapes.

StarStaX_IMG_1476-IMG_1577_gap_fillingNile Later that evening we got an alert that a aurora may occur so off we went, nothing but a lovely evening anyway, comets and debris shooting through the skies.