Yesterday we drove 60km to the bottom tip of our great southland - to Cockle Creek. They say when you are in Cockle Creek you are closer to the Antarctic than you are to Cairns! The wind was so cold, it felt like the Antarctic too! !t was an isolated and somewhat desolate spot, although we did get a picture with a baby humpback whale! So much of Tasmania seems ruggedly beautiful and remotely wild. WA has dry red outback, Tasmania has rugged green mountainous wilderness. It is a land of contrasts that is for sure!
We travelled north 20km to Ida Bay and enjoyed our lunch at the Ida Bay Railway Station, the southern most railway in Australia! There is a little diesel train that takes a 7km trip into the bush and along some of the coastline. Although we didn't take the trip Jerome enjoyed the tour of the works shed and a chat with the maintenance man, as we had lunch in a little carriage just for us! You can see Jerome enjoying the controls there!
We continued on to the Thermal Springs a naturally occuring warm spring that runs side by side with the cold mountain spring. They have captured some of the mineral water into a pool and after going for a walk in the forest we had a swim in the pool. It wasn't like a bath, but it was a comfortable 28 degrees or so and enjoyable for a dip and some laps in the cool Tasmanian weather. Afterwards we enjoyed our afternoon tea in a shelter that housed a log fire, that was great.
Today we returned to Huon (great apples) and then travelled on to Cygnet - a huge 20km down the road! It is a small town and we've enjoyed a sunny day of 25, great for getting the washing done - yes some of those jobs follow us everywhere! We had our afternoon tea at Eggs and Bacon Bay (not sure why it has that name!) Darren kindly took the drink orders for all of us, the girls collected shells and Jerome and I enjoyed reading for a little while in the warm sun. Weather continues to be great, with a little rain forecast on the weekend. It is amazing to see the wood piles outside the houses as we travel, so much wood all ready for the oncoming winter, brrr.
We look forward to travelling to Warren and Sarah Wieske's tomorrow, it will be nice to see some familiar faces and to enjoy the company for friends for some time, as we stop with them and spend some time exploring Hobart.
Hello Birch family, soooo great to see all your photos and read about your adventures. What a great time you are having. We were camping in Busselton for the WA long weekend and it was in the low 40's - was dreaming of your cooler weather! Thanks so much for keeping us up to date with your travels - love reading every word. Lots of love from us all The Porters XXXX
ReplyDelete