Before we get into this blog we have some good news! We got a call from Sue, the Gladstone local wildlife carer, and following our report, she managed to find, catch and treat the wombat we saw with mange. That message made our day as we left Gladstone for the last leg of our Tassie adventure.
We’re saving Tassie, one wombat at a time!
Our last region to explore, as is abundantly evident by the blog title, is the mid-north of Tassie. We had intended to spend a few days about 30kms east of Launceston, before spending our last couple of days just west of Launceston. However, after setting up camp at our east side campsite, Myrtle Park Camp and Recreation Ground, we immediately fell in love with the place and have extended our stay here for our remaining nights in Tassie. We’ll use Myrtle Park as our base to explore the mid-north, before heading back to the mainland via the Spirit of Tasmania on Saturday night, the 16th May.
Leaving the Gladstone Pub on Sunday the 10th of May, we followed the longer route via the seaside town of Bridport, then taking the forestry logging back roads through to Nabowla, looping back up to Scottsdale and then up and over the mountain into Myrtle Park.
The Myrtle Park camp ground sits in a bend of the lovely St Patricks (St Pats to the locals) River and the grounds are v-e-r-y spacious, with large grassed areas and stands of huge, autumn coloured deciduous trees, many of which are Tasmanian Myrtle, hence the parks name.
We were taken aback by the beautiful surrounds as we drove into the camp and down to our site, which is based right on St Pats River. So, after quickly setting up, we had a wander around, enjoying the autumn colours and sounds of the running river.
There are wild Brown Trout and Platypus in the river, however we didn’t manage to spot either of these on our first evening, and so we soon settled down by our little campfire and had a lovely lamb roast and veggies for dinner.
Monday dawned brisk, with a very heavy dew, but otherwise sunny with no wind. After brekky, we headed east towards Launceston, then followed the east bank of the River Tamar all the way down to Low Head, stopping to do a quick walk around the Low Head Lighthouse. Both of us agreed that the scenery and towns along the west side of the Tamar, including the larger town of Georgetown where my old man used to work at the Comalco smelter, are not very inspiring. It seemed this side of the river is mainly semi-industrial and lower socio-economic, as most things seemed a bit run down, old and uncared for. There were obviously some exceptions to this, in particular the beautifully restored historic houses between Georgetown and Low Head, but from what we saw, these were in the minority and filled in gaps between the ‘meh’.
Leaving Low Head, we crossed the River Tamar via the Batman Bridge and headed south along the west side of the Tamar, through the little towns of Deviot and Gravelly Beach, stopping for a quick photo at Bradys Lookout, before arriving at our next destination, Tamar Ridge Winery. Which fortuitously is right next door to the Turners Stillhouse Distillery.
As one does when one arrives at a winery and/or distillery, one partakes in sampling of the wares. And, as it was midday on a Monday in the off-season, we had both the winery and distillery to ourselves, receiving the sole and full attention of our hosts.
The Tamar Ridge wines were great, particularly their reserve ranges. So after sampling their list we left carrying a carton of wine for the wine-fridge back home. Depositing the carton of wine in the car, we then walked a mere 5m to the distillery where Jules tried the gins and I sampled the whiskeys. This was followed by a nice little cheese platter whilst we enjoyed the lovely view from the distillery, out over the River Tamar. Note, I was the designated driver and sampled consciously within my limits.
Following our tastings and lunch, we headed further south, up the Tamar towards Launceston and as we were driving right past it we decided to drop in to visit Cataract Gorge as I have vague, but fond recollections of it from my childhood, when growing up in Tassie.
Unfortunately, Jules rolled her ankle negotiating one of the stone steps, so we didn’t do a full exploration of Cataract Gorge, but she did manage to limp around with me, so we walked around the main lawn area, over the old suspension bridge and back around, across the little causeway, to the Inclinator lift. We got to see the famous Peacocks, but we ran out of time to do the chairlift.
Having decided to extend our stay at Myrtle Park, we had a lazy rest day today, being Tuesday 12th May. A late start to the day, followed by some odd jobs and then we wandered around, again enjoying the colours, sounds and wildlife of the park, this time spotting wild Platypus in the river outside our campsite.
I did a couple of walks around the park with the camera during the day and took a bunch more pics, including some shots of a small Brown Trout sipping flies from the surface as they floated by.
Before wrapping up today we have another observation / experience to share. As we were sitting around the campfire, just after dark, we heard and then saw a pair of Pademelons come down out of the bush, opposite our camp. One of them then jumped, whilst the other slipped and fell into the St Patricks River and they then swum across the river, about 3m in distance, drifting a little downstream in the current, to our side of the river. Reaching the bank on our side of the river, they then hopped up and onto the flat grassy area of the campground. This was obviously their nightly routine, emerging from the bush and swimming across the river to feed at night as we observed them doing this twice, on consecutive nights. And, whilst we could appreciate that the grass is literally and metaphorically greener on this side of the St Pats River; having to swim across it twice each day, often when the temperature is just a couple of degrees above 0C, just seems like an ordeal. We hoped that they have very good insulation as feeding whilst wet in the cold air doesn’t sound like any fun at all…
Our plan today was to pop up to Scottsdale to visit the Little Rivers Brewery for a late lunch pizza and beer paddle, but also to do some washing and a little shopping beforehand. With the plan locked in, it was up and back over the mountain. First stop, the laundromat. Ninety minutes later that was done, so we did our quick shop and with some excitement headed to the Brewery. But, the Brewery was closed – bugger – despite being advertised as open and even the opening hours on the door stated that they should be open. A quick google when we got home revealed that they had to remain closed today due to unplanned staff illness..
Oh well, a Scottsdale Bakery pie, which were pretty average, sorted out the lunch craving and we headed home, as usual taking as many back roads and detours as we reasonably could, stopping for the occasional photo when the moment called for it and the roads allowed me to pull over safely. I’ve had to keep driving past many photo opportunities due to there being no safe spot to stop.
On arriving back at camp, I headed back along the river with the camera and once again spotted the local wild platypus in the river, our fourth sighting, and proceeded to invest a bunch of pixels on it. As usual however, the low light made getting a got shot really challenging and I was shooting at my camera’s max of 6400 ISO and still struggling to get enough light with the telephoto lens.
Today we drove back in time to where I grew up as a baby through to my first few years of schooling. For those not in the know, here comes a revelation….. I was born in Tasmania, in Launceston in fact, but we lived in the historic gold mining town of Beaconsfield. So, today’s jaunt started with a trip through Perth, the small Tasmanian town just north of Launceston, where we visited and spent a bunch of dollars at the great butchers we’d been told about. Then we drove down through Launnie, as the locals call it, and along the west side of the River Tamar, down to Beaconsfield.
Pulling up in Beaconsfield, we grabbed a coffee and cake at the bakery before visiting the very good Mine and Heritage Centre. This self guided tour explains the history of Beaconsfield, the gold mine and the mine collapse that occurred, just over 20years ago, unfortunately killing one miner and resulting in two miners being trapped in a small, confined space of about 1.5m3 for 14 days before they were able to be rescued.
Following our mine tour we headed past my old house on Weld St, it looking much like I remembered it. What we used to call the ‘snake pit’, out the back of the house, being a thin strip of farmland between the back fence of our house and the houses and hospital a bit further behind us, remained as it was.
Having left Beaconsfield, and Tasmania, when I was about 7, my memories of the town are vague at best, but I did recognise the the A frame shaped tower that sits atop the mine shaft and houses the pulley system for the car down into the mine. I also recognised the house I lived in as toddler.
Whilst it was nice to revisit Beaconsfield again, I didn’t feel any attachment to the town, or desire to return to my roots. In fact, Beaconsfield, like most of the small towns along the River Tamar just felt a bit old and tired, and if I’m being honest, a bit yocal. Perth, W.A. is certainly “home” for me now.
Following our trip down memory lane, we drove north, out to Greens Beach which is on the opposite head of the River Tamer mouth, across from Low Head which we visited the other day. The little town of Greens Beach feels a lot nicer than Low Head, and has more of a seaside, holiday village vibe going on. From there, we then continued out to Badgers Beach for a look.
It was now getting onto mid-afternoon, so we took the back roads back to camp, back over the Batman Bridge, through to Pipers River, down through Lilydale and back to camp, a lovely drive through the hilly farmland.
It’s our penultimate day in Tassie, but we’re satisfied with what we’ve explored and experienced. Waking up to a wet morning with light showers passing through, we decided to have an easy day today, before our drive out to the ferry tomorrow.
After a late breakfast, the drizzle seemed to be letting up so I decided to pop out for one last jaunt, this time a drive up to the summit of Mt Barrow, despite expecting the views to be obscured by fog or clouds. Having done some pre-reading about Mt Barrow, we already knew the drive up (and down) was amazing, very scenic (if the view isn’t obscured), but also a very steep, windy, one-lane gravel track that can be very dangerous. I even found the road listed on a website of the most scenic, but most dangerous roads in the world – check out that post at this link.
The summit of Mt Barrow sits at 1413m above sea level, a rise of just over 1000m from our camp at Myrtle Park. The turn off to Mt Barrow was just a few kms down the road from our camp and I was soon driving up the hill, initially through farmland, but then quickly replaced by thick forest, ranging from bush, temperate rainforest to alpine. The first 8km up the track were lovely, but nothing too harrowing. But the last couple of kilometres suddenly open up, driving across “felsenmeer” – a new word for me and I expect many people, so here we go:
German for “sea of rock”, a “felsenmeer” is a geological term for a vast, exposed surface covered by large, angular boulders. These blockfields are formed over thousands of years in periglacial climates through intense frost wedging—where water freezes and thaws in rock crevices, shattering the bedrock into fragmented fields of rubble.
Driving very slowly, in 4wd high all the way, I made it through to the summit of Mt Barrow, a spectacular drive indeed, but as expected totally in ‘white out’ as it was sitting in the clouds. I really enjoyed the drive anyway, and still managed to grab some photos of the experience.
Making the most of our last day in Tassie, we packed up and sadly said goodbye to our beautiful camping spot at Myrtle Creek. We then followed the smaller roads, through the country towns, back through Deloraine, to Sheffield, one of the first country towns we visited when we arrived.
Whilst we’ve already had a look at Sheffield, we only spent an hour or so here and we’ve wanted to come back through for another look, and to visit the eclectic Doktor Mojo Emporium when it was open.
Having taken us a casual couple of hours to get to Sheffield from Myrtle Creek, the first order of the morning was mornos/early lunch, before we wandered around the shops for a bit.
It was then a quick 30min drive down into Devonport where we prepped for our boarding of the ferry back to the mainland.
Thank you Tassie, you soothed our souls and reignited our wonderment at the beauty of nature.
Great trip. Thanks for sharing it with us
You’re welcome 🙂 We loved our trip and Tassie.