Life on the TP - the Tasman Peninsula.

Wednesday 6^th Sept, 2017.

I can put up with a lot when it comes to travelling, but when everything seems to go sufficiently wrong to annoy and it all piles up, I crack it! The bed was comfy and I was warm all night, so on that front I’m good. But is it too much to ask for a shower that functions like a shower? You know, with water at a comfortable temperature? Seems like it. The shower here has taken some figuring out. Turn the hot tap on full, then add in a tiny amount of cold to prevent scalding. Too much cold, and it takes over, very tricky and not constant. Also very annoying.

At least there’s a teapot, so I can have a decent cuppa with breakfast. I usually only have one, but a big mug size. Here, there’s little teacups, so I constantly refill from the pot. I’ve read reviews of this accommodation, people rave over how nice it is. I’m not seeing it, and although I’ll be polite, I’d never come back and stay here. It’s just so annoying that I took such pains to find somewhere nice for us to stay. I’m a very practical person, and there’s so much here that’s not practical.

One thing I forgot to check on before I booked was access to laundry facilities. Big mistake, there are none, so we have to locate the laundrette near Port Arthur village. Big chunk of our morning used up doing washing. Again, not terribly happy. The water trickles slowly into the machine, like an old man with a prostate problem…………… So, once we’ve got this sorted, it’ll be back to the shack to drop it off and have some lunch. Hopefully the sun will stay out this arvo so we can do some tourist stuff.

Back out and about, we decide to hit the main tourist spots, starting with the Pirate Bay Lookout, where of course, it started to rain. It didn’t hang around long though, so with a bit of patience, we saw a spectacular view, right down the coastline to Cape Raoul, shrouded slightly by more rain. It was cold and windy, so gloves and beanies were the go, along with warm coats. We watched some Superb Fairy Wrens jumping around on the grass and managed to get some photos, then there was a little red breasted bird, still don’t know what it was. Next attraction south was the Tessellated Pavement, self explanatory and quite a large area, although lots of it was covered with that slimy, slippery green mossy looking weed, so carefully placed steps were needed.

On to the Tasman Arch and Devil’s Kitchen, impressive but not on the scale of the coastline along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. Back through Doo-Town, where many houses have ‘doo’ names, eg Doo-Little, Much Adoo, Doo F**k All (our favourite) you get the idea, to the Blowhole which was underwhelming, we saw a better one later near the Remarkable Cave. After all that, we decided to do a lap around the peninsula which is when we made the fortunate decision to visit the Remarkable Cave. Many steps down to the viewing platform, but well worth the effort. There were rocks down there the size of your head that had been rubbed smooth by the action of the sea. Think river pebbles on steroids.

Back to base and got the fire going, all ahead full tonight, stack the wood up and get it really raging! Much better. Still a bit of smoke around, but not as bad as last night. I guess that’s the difference between the slow combustion heater that we’re used to and an open fire. Early start tomorrow, we booked the Tasman Island cruise yesterday while we were near the office doing our washing.

Fresh Tassie salmon for dinner tonight.