Month: March 2024

I was up early for some reason this morning. Guilty conscience I expect. At 7:30 the local cafe opened and it was rammed!! Full of walkers filling up before their trek. Most of the tables were full. People getting stuck into bacon and egg butties etc. cup of coffee and a Danish for me.

I set off for Deloraine around 9:30 passing through some beautiful hillside country passing through small hamlets on the way. Deloraine is another one of those small rural towns. A few cafes, a hotel of sorts,a bottle shop and a picnic area. As it was Easter Sunday it was relatively busy with families out enjoying themselves. In all the small towns I’ve been to they seem to be a haven for motor bike enthusiasts, Harley’s in particular. Guys just stopping off for a coffee mostly. There’s a nice river passing through the town with kids out canoeing and swimming.

I decided to stay the night here at the local camp site which was only £15 for the night. I’d been wild camping for the previous two nights so a shower was necessary. After settling in I went for a walk along the river and came across a gin and cider factory which had a small bar. Called the Red Brick co. I dropped in for a pint of medium dry cider at £7:70 a pint. Very nice but I won’t be doing that again!!!

Enough of the coast let’s head inland. Final destination today was Sheffield ( and themybevemn have a river Don). I stopped off at Ulverston by the sea to get a coffee. Yet another sleepy town on the west coast. The road up to Sheffield is through some real beautiful countryside with rolling hills eucalyptus trees along the way.

I had warned never believe everything you read in books and this was another example. You could throw a stone along the length of this town. But with saying that it’s all a very one horse town righ up in the hills. They have a mural painting competition every year and people come from far and wide to see them. Some are dreadful and some are worse than dreadful. But interesting to see. It seems that a lot of people c9me here for a day out and some lunch. I’m stopping behind the only hotel in the town. You can stay FOC if you buy a meal. Good deal I think.

The bar area is right out of crocodile Dundee with all the locals with beards and bellies drinking at 11:00 in the morning. Love it. But the food was not bad at all. Opposite the hotel was the most crazy shop I’ve ever seen blaring out pop misc all day. It’s very difficult to describe but it had signs praising Captain Cook, cats welcome etc. Mad.

So I’ll chill out here form the rest of the day and sort myself out for tomorrow.

You live and learn. Before I started I’d read a bit from my guide book and it suggested that Stanley on the NE tip of Tasmania was the place to be. Don’t believe everything you read!!! It was very disappointing with one shop and that was it. I’d sort of planned to stay the night here but the only campsite was full. Darn.

I set off west stopping at Wynyard about five mills away to stop for a coffee. I could not understand a word the lady in the shop was saying but we eventually managed to deliver a black coffee. Long black they call it here. It’s a bank holiday here so everything was shut apart for the coffee shop. On westwards to Boat Harbour beach which was superb with the breakers coming in. Beautiful turquoise sea and glistening white sand just like Blackpool!!!! On to sisters beach which although was not as picturesque it had mango grooves which were worth a photo.

Stanley is on a peninsula and is overlooked by a large mountain called The Nut. You could climb it or take a cable car to the top. I did neither.. one good thing about Stanley is that it had a very large fish restaurant which did takeaways. Excellent although the gulls did take an interest in my lunch.

I decided to cut my losses and drove back to Burnie for a fresh start tomorrow.

The Spirit of Tasmania was not all that it was cut up to be. The actual boat was quite old but had been refurbished a while back so the facilities on board were okay. The only trouble was they charged £848 return!!! Several restaurants plus two cinemas. We were late taking off due to the loading of cars and vans. It was as if they’d never done it before. Anyway off we went to Van Demons land on an overnight trip. I’d eaten at lunchtime so I did not bother with dinner as the portions did look rather large. Just had a couple of beers before retiring for the night. The boat had been refurbished but the engines had not so we rattled and shook for the whole night. Normally these night crossings get you in around 8:00 but it was 05:30 when we arrived in Devonport. Pitch black!!!so I decided it was too risky to travel out in the dark and waited by the headland until around 10:00. I’d been warned about wild animals on the road after dark.

I headed west along the coast having a hearty breakfast at Turners Beach and on through Penguin( not a one in sight) and stopped for a look see at Burnie. I’d booked a campsite here for the night. I’ve found a wild camping site so I’ll use that in the future. The campsite was only £10 with all facilities so not too bad.

I’ve been busy so no blog yesterday. I loaded up the camper as best I could. Surprisingly there was more storage space than I expected which was a relief. I got most of my clothes in drawers by the sink and tee shirts in little cupboards over the bed. All I need to do is load my small cabin bag and we will be good to go.

Just to be prepared for the first few days in Tasmania I’d nipped to the supermarket to get soup tea and coffee. All set.
Today I’ve travelled down to Geelong where the ferry departs via Williamson . I just pottered about on the beach before making the last stop to the ferry. It took for ages to load up the ferry but I’m sure they must have done it before!!! It’s an overnight trip so that should be fun. At least I’ve booked a campsite for my first day in Tasmania west of Davenport half way to Stanley. Let the adventure begin!!!!!!

Melbourne is famous for its street art so I decided to go see. The area is around Brunswick St so I caught the tram down to the central library and walked from there. The library is an impressive building and dates back to the 1880s. It has a domed top located at the top of a four story building. Not as grand as Manchester library but it will do. To get to Brunswick you have to walk passed the flower show grounds and then take a left. It’s quite a long road so you have to walk some distance before you hid the art at Cross Street. Some of it is quite good but most of it is just graffiti!!! I stopped off at a roof top bar called Naked for Satan which has a prominent roof top bar with views over the city sky line.
From there I walked along Gertrude St and back to Brunswick stopping at a corner Chinese cafe for some sweet and sour pork. Tasty.

Louise and I went to pick up the new van after I got back. A converted Ford Transit which is a lot better than our first attempt. I’ll be happier with this although at a far more expensive cost. I’ll start trying to book the ferry to Tasmania in the morning and get it loaded up.

Yet another busy day in Melbourne. Rich got up really early to head down to St Kilda for the start of the triathlon which started at 8:30. Louise’s Sprint was not until 9:30. We tried to park for Louise so I could watch the start but not a chance. So I dropped her off and headed back home with Girty. Straight to the park for her morning walk.

I got the pick up call so went back down to pick them up at 12:00. They both did really well with Rich doing the race in 2 hours 42 minutes. From here we went back to base and then to the local pub The Flying Duck to watch the GP. Good win for the Ferraris!!!

We keep going. No rest for the wicked. Every year after the GP all the Ferraris meet up in the Italian quarter called Lygon Street. It’s about 30 minutes from base but it was worth the effort. There must have been 40+ Ferraris eventually parked up on both sides of the street which was closed by the police. The place was completely rammed with the public all dressed in their Ferrari tee shirts etc. it was quite a spectacle but not everyone’s cup of tea I would expect.

We eventually got into an Italian restaurant for dinner. Calamari salad for me!!!

We had decided to go to the Melbourne flower and garden show at the exhibition grounds near the city centre. Last minute decision but very well worth it in the end. There were lots of display gardens on show but also smaller ones as well. Inside the main exhibition hall were flower arrangements in all shapes and sizes. Inside we even saw carrot man who is famous around here. Believe it or not he walks about Melbourne carrying a large carrot. Odd!!!!! Around the outside of the show grounds were various exhibitors selling their wares to help in the garden. Lots of plants for sale.

After the show Louise and I headed over to the Victoria Market to buy some fish for dinner. They had invited two friends round. We went with an open mind and finally decided on Sishi so bought Tuna and King fish plus 2Kg of mussels.
Straight back home and out to watch Rich play his first game of hockey of the new season. It was only against a local rival for a warm up but interesting to see

I had a walk down to Prahran market which is about 30 minutes away. It’s a general market with fruit,veg ,meat and deli. The plan was to buy some ravioli plus tomato sauce for dinner. They were selling several types so I bought a kilo. $32.

In the afternoon Louise and I had a walk over to melvern rd to have a coffee plus have a look around. The houses on the way were typical Melbourne Victorian.

Late afternoon we went for walk along the beach at St Kilda. All the kite surfers were out as it was extremely windy. Getty the dog enjoyed the run around.

A quiet day today with nothing much excitement planned. I’d promised to pick up Girty the dog from one of Louise’s friends in Brunswick which is about forty minutes drive through the city centre. She’s some sort of collie and very placid.
Id been invited over to the Myers house for lunch which was nice. They live in the Albert Park area where the F1 GP is being held. Surprisingly I got there easy enough although some of the roads were closed. Carolyn’s brother and wife were there. They said they had been to my house in Bolton but honestly I could not remember that at all. Anyway a nice lunch was had by all. You could hear the Porsche races going on in the background and helicopters going over head following the racing. It’s going to get even noisier tomorrow when the F1 cars are practicing.