Still in Tasmania

It is 1 year today since we drove our Winny out of the dealership in Melbourne!!! Happy roaming anniversary to us!

We should have booked our ferry return to the mainland at the same time we booked to come over here. As it turns out, the ship is heavily booked, so we can't get back to the Big Island until 10th June. Not a problem though, this is a beautiful place to linger; we have camped beside rivers, the ocean, lagoons, in the mountains, in nice small towns. We have had good weather most of the time, a few days of rain here and there, and a couple of VERY windy days.
The roads scare me a bit as most of them are narrow and winding, up and down the mountains. I won't drive Winny here, but when we get back to the mainland I will drive a bit. 
At the moment we are camped beside the ocean on the north east coast at Lagoons Beach, around 45kms south of St Helens.

I have lots of photos, so I hope this page doesn't take too long to load. Click on photos for a larger view.

This is a view of some of the 950 motorhomes at the rally.

Parked beside the sea on the north coast at Sulphur Creek.

Big penguin at Penguin, north coast.

Sisters Beach, north coast.

The road from the top of Table Cape down towards Wynyard, north coast.

Two views over Stanley from the top of The Nut, north coast.

Marrawah, north west coast.

Edge of the World, Arthur River, north west coast.

Leven Canyon, northern Tassie.

 There were several hundred steps down the mountainside at Leven Canyon; then a steep path back up to the parking area. A beautiful place.

Parking area, Leven Canyon.

Alpaca man at Sheffield, town of murals, northern midlands.

Signpost at Sheffield. Yes, those a real names of nearby places.  :)

Low cloud shrouds Mount Roland, Sheffield.

Tazmazia and the village of Lower Crackpot. This is a fun place.

Pied Piper Rick with his following of ducks at Richmond, south east Tassie.

St Helens waterfront, north east coast.

Near Binalong Bay, Bay of Fires area, north east coast.

Great Oyster Bay, near Swansea, east coast.

Somewhere, under the rainbow............ near Swansea.

Near Coles Bay, east coast.

To Tassie, a cruise across the creek.

Our 2 week course on Milkwood Farm has ended, we say goodbye to our hosts and depart at 9.30am Sunday 7th March, hoping to get back to bitumen roads before the rain sets in.
We need to get to Melbourne to catch the early morning ferry, Spirit of Tasmania, on Thursday 11th March.
It rained all day, heavily at times, as we drove first north, then west to Wellington from where we headed south through Canowindra and Cowra. We found a rest stop beside the Olympic Highway to camp the night, and the rain kept falling.

Monday morning, and everthing around is very wet. We stopped in Young for supplies; should have been through here early summer as this is the cherry capital of Australia.
Through Cootamundra to Junee, where we stopped at the licorice factory. Yum! As well as organic licorice, they make chocolate coated cherries, ginger, almonds, coffee beans and other goodies. The free samples were most welcome, and we left there with several bags of treats we purchased.

We located the rest stop in Wagga Wagga, by the Murrumbidgee River, which was flowing much higher than we saw it 10 months ago at Narrandera.
Speaking to a local, rains such as recently haven't been seen in these parts for 30 years!

Tuesday 9th March we headed off at 10am, planning to follow the Olympic Highway to Albury. The Highway was closed, perhaps due to flooding, and traffic was diverted to Holbrook, which was a nice drive.
We were now on the Hume Highway, the main route between Sydney and Melbourne, heading south west. The highway bypassed the towns enroute to Melbourne, which made the drive quicker.
We did stop at one small town however; Glenrowan is famous for Ned Kelly, an Aussie bushranger.

Next stop Seymour, where we stayed the night at the same caravan park we stopped at 10 months ago after leaving Melbourne in our brand new Winny.

Wednesday 10th March, cold and cloudy this morning for the 90km drive to Melbourne. As there are no rest stops or freedom camping areas in the city area, we decided to stop at a caravan park in suburban Coburg so we could make a very early start to the port. The ferry leaves at 9am, all travellers are asked to be dockside by 8.15am.

Thursday 11th March we woke at 5am, quick coffee, then off just after 5.30am to navigate our way through the city to Station Pier at Port Melbourne. Fortunately the traffic was light at that early hour, and we found our way relatively easily.
Then we wait, and wait............
I was amazed at the amount of vehicles they squeeze onto Spirit Of Tasmania!

We pulled away from the wharf half an hour late; docked in Devonport, Tasmania at 7pm. Bass Strait was calm; it was sunny but cold out on deck. It wasn't like a normal cruise ship; there was one deck dedicated to passenger services with bars, restaurants, shop, small cinema. Another 2 decks had cabins, the rest of the decks take vehicles.

Halfway across "The Creek" we passed the other ferry.

As we slowed down into Devonport, we were told to go to our vehicles, so we missed seeing the docking procedure. This photo is just as we entered the river.

So, here we are, across the creek in Tassie. We are camped behind a shopping centre in a small town, Latrobe. There are quite a few travellers parked here; some are attending the large Motorhome Rally next week, as we are.

When the rally is over, Rick and I plan to tour around Tasmania for a few weeks.

Cheers.  :D