A chilly welcome.

Tuesday 5^th Sept.

Very early start this morning, 5.45am. Time to get dressed and pack up our stuff and wait in one of the lounges till our car deck is called. We’re sitting in our car by 6.30 or so and wait a short while until the person who is late to their car (isn’t there always one?) arrives to move and unblock the disembarkation procedure. It’s probably the guy we sat near in the lounge. He said he didn’t remember where he parked his car! The crew were very specific and said to everyone near us, ‘remember, deck 5, blue, port’. Not a lot to remember! Leaving was a much quicker process than boarding, thankfully.

It’s more than a bit chilly outside and as we leave Devonport, we find out why. There’s snow on the nearby mountains and when we get to the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm for breakfast, there’s a heavy frost on the ground. Trevor has seen frosts like this, but I haven’t, probably because he’s up and off to work earlier and goes to places where the frost hangs around all morning.

Breakfast is delicious and we’re glad we waited to eat there. Once we’re done, Trevor heads for the car and I go for a walk around the farm lake and to check out the grounds. There’s a couple of Alpacas near the fence and I’m not sure if they’ve come over for a pat or just to look at the crazy lady walking around in the cold. By the time I get back to the car, I can’t feel my fingers…………   that’s ok, right?

Back on the road, heading for the Tasman Peninsula, I’m a bit concerned about the road conditions vs speed limit signs. There’s no way I would consider travelling at the posted 100km/hr on these single lane roads, and I do my best to get out of the way of those who fancy their driving skills enough to go faster. There’s inconsiderate drivers everywhere I know, but these guys are a special kind of inconsiderate! When there is an overtaking lane, I pull into the left lane and even slow down, even though this bit of the road is better quality and I could go faster. So what happens? They sit on my tail until there’s 500m before we merge again, and then they go for it! I had to hit the brakes on several occasions to let them by before I merged. Happened nearly every time! Made for an even more stressful day!

We stopped in Campbell Town to see the Red Bridge, built by convicts in the 1860’s, and discover some tree stumps in the adjacent park that have been carved into ‘stories’ by one of the locals. Are they still called stumps when they’re 20 feet tall? I knew about the bridge but I didn’t know about the carvings, so that was a nice surprise.  2 ‘wide load’ escort vehicles roll down the road pushing both lanes of traffic onto the verge. Whatever is coming, it must be big! Looking up the road, there’s 2 low-loaders with buildings on them, quite new looking. “Extreme caravanning” I joke to the man next to me who is also taking photos.

Next stop is a little place called Ross, where the convict built bridge is the oldest one left. Very photogenic it is too! And there’s an old church on top of the hill, and also the Australian Wool Centre, which is worth a visit. Lots of gorgeous clothes, from high fashion to kids jumpers and cardigans, all made from Aussie wool. And out in the back room, is a display of the story of wool in Australia, along with a large John Olsen ‘Tree of Life’ tapestry. Basically, I’m stopping in everywhere to avoid being out on the damned road! The Ross Bakery has a rather strange claim to fame. It’s alleged that it was the inspiration for a Japanese anime film called “Kiki’s Home Delivery’. I’ve seen it and it’s basically about a pretty, young witch who does home deliveries on her broomstick from a bakery in a quaint little seaside town. That’s all I remember. How a little town in the middle of Tasmania inspired it, I’ll never know, and guess what? Closed Tuesdays, so we couldn’t go inside! Japanese tourists flock to Ross all year round to visit the bakery, hopefully they know it’s closed on Tuesdays! I’m sceptical about the link, but it’s a great tourist drawcard!

We eventually make our way to Sorell, the town to stock up on groceries before we head over to the Tasman Peninsula. The Sorell Café makes burgers, so that’s lunch, and we’re very impressed with them. We buy enough food for a couple of lunches and dinners, and luckily we’re in the habit of taking our green bags with us to the supermarket because I forgot that here in Tassie, plastic shopping bags are not given freely like at home.

More shit roads and shit drivers with a few showers of rain thrown in, and we eventually arrive at our base for the next 3 nights, Taranna Cottages. Sounded really good when I booked – cosy, rustic, open fire, self contained accommodation, except when we get there, we’re told we can’t leave the fire burning overnight, and the little fan heaters which are the alternative heat source can’t be used overnight either. Ok, we can live with that, the bed looks comfy and there’s an electric blanket and Trevor intends to leave his on all night! It’s just after 4pm when we arrive so we get the fire going straight away. Might as well while we can. Most of the smoke goes up the chimney but the smell doesn’t go with it and it irritates my nose which I really don’t need on top of the cold that I still have. The fireplace is so shallow that you can’t get a really hot fire going to draw the smoke up the chimney efficiently. The owner told Trevor that there’d been a house fire in one of the cottages which is why they ask guests not to burn the fire overnight or while they’re out during the day. If I owned these 3 cottages, I’d suck it up and put in slow combustion burners so there’d be no risk of another fire. And maybe chuck in some column heaters, surely they’d be more efficient than these little buzz box electric heaters.

After a big breakfast and a big lunch, we don’t need much for dinner, so that’s easy. I go for a walk around the front paddock and Marje (host) spots me and explains the extent of the property and suggests I might like to go for a walk up the back, past the neighbour’s dam and potentially spot some wildlife. Keen to stretch my legs after a day of driving, I head up there but soon realise I should have brought the camera, so go back for it, carrying some sticks with me for tomorrow’s fire. Back up at the dam, I see a little black wallaby hopping about, actually thumping about, you hear them before you see them! I wait and wait at the dam, hopeful of seeing a Tassie Devil, but no luck.

Back at the cottage, the place smells like smoke………. Not happy.

First impressions of Tassie? Don’t ask………..