Trip Report – Tasmania 2021

Lee and I along with Karen S, Suzie, John L and Barb, and Andy K have recently returned from an amazing and epic adventure in Tasmania! Now I don’t want to turn this into a novel, or a picture book so here goes my attempt at a summary!

We all took different paths to get to and from Tasmania. Lee and I drove Brisbane to Canberra and then Canberra to Melbourne over two days. For those who haven’t driven the Pacific Motorway for a while, with the exception of Coffs Harbour, it is dual carriage way from Brisbane to Newcastle! The Northconnex Tunnel has also been completed and is operational. This is a fantastic (albeit pricey) road that means once you have left Newcastle, there are no traffic lights until Canberra!

We met up with Suzie and Karen at the Southside Village in Canberra. This is an older van park and was chosen because of its proximity to the Canberra Costco for refuelling. Amenities were clean with a good shower and we would consider staying there again for overnights. We then did a leisurely drive from Canberra to Port Melbourne with a long lunch at Albury. The heart was racing the entire trip because this was the weekend when Victoria had gone into snap lockdown and everyone was nervous that we wouldn’t be allowed into Tasmania! Fortunately all the states seem to have a ‘transit’ exception when it comes to border lockdowns due to COVID-19.

Two cars became three at Port Melbourne – Spirit of Tasmania Terminal where we joined John and Barb. The ferry was brilliant and this was the first indication that the EPIC 4wd trip was going to become a “Gin Tour” when at the bar they were serving a selected Tasmania Gin which just begged to be sampled! The crossing of the Bass Strait was relatively calm, not too much rocking and rolling and the disembarking process was very efficient. Lee and I whizzed through the COVID health screen and were not selected for quarantine dogs to sniff out any fresh fruit and veggies. Once the three cars had been allowed into Tasmania we did a quick shop and fuel up in Devonport before driving down to Cradle Mountain. This drive was also the first indication that Tasmania was going to be all about the beautiful scenery.

We stayed at the Discovery Park Cradle Mountain for two nights. This was the most expensive of the accommodation at $81 per night for a powered site. The sites were uniquely shaped and did require some thought about how we would be setting up camper trailers with awnings however once set up you could be fooled in thinking you were the only ones there! We were visited by wildlife (John and Barb have a story to tell!) and were very close to the National Parks Visitors Centre where we bought our national park permits. We were able to spend one day exploring Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake and the weather was beautiful! We saw Wombats in the wild and this is definitely a location to revisit!

After two nights we packed up and then while John, Barb, Karen and Suzie set off for Arthur River, Lee and I journeyed to Launceston to pick up Andy who flew in early afternoon. We took the opportunity to do the ‘cockatoo track’ on the way and saw the dam at Cethuna. After picking up Andy, we travelled to Arthur River and the Prickly Wattle Campground in the Arthur Pieman Conservation area. This campsite is sand based and the west coast is VERY windy so we needed the big sand pegs! This campsite also had a very clean and well maintained drop toilet with quality toilet paper that was quite a surprise! The camping here was only $6 per night for two adults but unfortunately there were fire restrictions ☹

The following day we went to the Arthur Pieman Ranger station and bought our driver permits. These are $33 per driver for a one year period and come with a really good information booklet. We then visited “Edge of the World” and drove the Temma Road to all the different beaches before driving the Sandy Cape. Beautiful scenery, crazy wind, crazy sand but a good day! In the evening we watched the sunset at Edge of the World and marvelled at the ‘driftwood’ which is really whole trees that have floated down the river and then been washed up from the waves on the beach!

The next morning we packed up and then intended to drive to some free camping at Trial Harbour. What happened was that once we crossed the Pieman River on the ‘Fatman’ barge we arrived at Trial Harbour to find that the camping spots were all gone. As we had the 4wd capable campers we drove further south to some spots that are on the river, however didn’t make it due to not knowing what was actually down there, the time of day and the incoming tide! So we drove back to Zeehan, where there was no room at the local van park but did find spots at Rosebery Caravan Park which was about a 40 minute drive. This van park was older but clean and had one of the better shower setups where you stepped down into the shower and they had the wood / bamboo racks to stand on when you were drying off! Dinner was at the  Rosebery RSL which was very welcoming.

Day 6 in Tasmania saw us conquer the Climies Track! It was perfect 4wding weather, overcast, not too hot and no rain! Asides from a significant deviation due to the driver not following the Navigator it was a great, if long day and definitely something to do again. Dinner was at the hotel where we were introduced to McHenry’s Butterfly Gin!

Day 7 and we drove to Strahan where we spent the next three nights at the Strahan Beach Tourist Park. This caravan park was brilliant. Nice grassy sites, and we were positioned right next to the toilets and showers! This was an opportunity for more Gin drinking, laundry and fixing up tyres and the cruisers exhaust pipe! On Day 8 Andy, Karen and I spent an afternoon driving the Henty Dunes as well as Macquarie Heads and Ocean Beach. Spoiler Alert – more beautiful scenery! On Day 9, we drove to Queenstown and found the Mount Huxley Track on a cold rainy day! This was a medium track with rocky base that got slippery in the wet!

Day 8 and we left Strahan for Strathgordon. It was a hard slog driving the extreme number of hairpin corners on the Lyell Highway between Strahan and Derwent Bridge. The Tasmanian’s take a minimalist approach to road signs and it was much better to follow the GPS to know what bends were coming up! We found a delightful free camp called Ted’s Beach which lived up to all expectations. It is on a lake with white gravel as ‘sand’. Just beautiful. Unfortunately it rained that night and continued to rain in the morning when we were packing up. Everyone who had canvas did not fair so well in the packing up and unpacking stakes due to the amount of water that was on the canvas. This was where the Modcon was a star! Nothing was wet inside and when we packed up nothing got wet! On Day 9 we drove and saw Gordon Dam in the pouring cold rain before travelling back to Westaway Roadhouse for warm drinks and egg and bacon rolls! We then drove down to Cockle Creek, passing a Gin distillery on the way which was made note of!

Cockle Creek is the southern most camping area in Australia. There were no camping sites available for the camper trailers in the National Park section, however in the Recherche Bay Nature Recreation Area near Catamaran there was a delightful campsite with the beach right there! This was another free camp with another brilliant drop toilet with decent toilet paper and clean! We could have a fire at this campsite and even though it had been raining on and off, Lee and Andy, found enough wood and we were able to coax a fire that made the rainy evening a bit special (and yes more Gin was drunk!). Fortunately the morning after was dry and we could pack up the Modcon damp not sopping wet! Again those with canvas found that there was some seepage during pack up.

Day 10 and Karen and Suzie headed into Hobart to drop Suzie at the airport for her flight that afternoon. The rest of us had a brilliant lunch at DS Café in Huonville although I almost choked to death on a 20cm piece of bacon rind. We all met up at the Hobart Showgrounds in Glenorchy which was an interesting place to stay. The toilets and shower block were about a 300 metre walk from our sites which were on grass and with a beautiful view of Mt Wellington, however the sites also backed onto the local Bunnings car park! The showers were good pressure and the new block was decent. I didn’t venture into the old block but those that did only did so once. We chose to stay in Hobart for three nights and during that time the showgrounds were also used for a local Gridiron competition final and the weekly flea markets! The entertainment came to us!

Friday night was Andy’s last night with us and we made it up to the Cascade Brewery for dinner and the Mercury Draft Cider on Tap! This was a brilliant evening even if it was a bit weird to be dressed up for dinner! Lee, Andy me and Karen were at Salamanca Markets for opening time. All the Gin ppl had stalls there!! When we arrived back at the car for 10am, Andy had news that his flight was delayed and now not until the afternoon which left us with a spare three hours to visit the Gin Distillery that we had glimpsed a couple of days ago, Lawrenny. This was a beautiful garden and estate with a newish Distillery set up. We were treated to a tour of the Bond Store by the owner who was keen to talk with us! We managed to get Andy back to the airport in time for his flight before heading back to the Showgrounds. This was also time for us to catch up on all the chores and once again, Karen went out and had another tyre fixed.

On the Sunday, Karen and I, made the trip to the Shene Distillery for some Poltergeist Gin. This distillery is owned and operated by a friend’s family that I used to work with and is on a beautiful sandstone convict built property. The Gin was really good as well! That evening we went to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary for a night time feeding tour where we could feed animals and get one on one with the keeper. (We touched a Wombat’s butt!)

On the Monday, John and Barb went to do a tour of Bruny Island while we packed up and headed to Coles Bay via the McHenry Gin Distillery in Port Arthur. We travelled through quite a storm but the Hazards of Freycinet were still magnificent when they came into view. We stayed at the Discovery Park Iluka at Coles Bay and again lucked out by being right next to the amenities block! The sites we had were interesting to drive the campers in and out of but we managed! On the Tuesday, John and Barb re-joined us for their last night in Tasmania. Karen and I did some winery tastings as well as finding scones at Kates Berry’s and some Ginger Icecream at the Pondering Frog café!

On the Wednesday after we farewelled John and Barb, we travelled a couple of 4wd tracks to the Friendly Beach and Bluestone Bay. Both magnificent views, spectacular beach and super clear water. We then packed up on Thursday and headed to Pub in a Paddock at Pyengana in North West Tasmania. This is another free camp in a beautiful flat paddock attached to the pub. There is a beer drinking pig as well as friendly dogs and horses. No amenities, however when the sun went down there were stars for miles and all you could hear was the mooing of the milk cows … all night.

Thursday we set out for another day of 4wding. We found the Emu Track after some deliberations about the instructions to turn left at the gate and then find a gap in vegetation to rejoin the track 100 metres on so as not to encounter the broken bridge. This track is not regularly driven on and so the 200 series did a great job of manicuring the overhanging branches. This was a solid medium track which was a lot of fun. We then went into the town of Derby for lunch and found that this is the mountain bike mecca of Tasmania if not Australia! Simply put, it’s like a ski resort for mountain bikers! We also found that the blue signs we had been seeing along the Emu Track that said ‘big chook’ were for the mountain bike track that weaves in and out of the 4wd track! After lunch we explored Cascade Dam track along with the Derby Jeep Track which are easy forestry roads but with pretty scenery! Afternoon tea found us at the Pyengana Dairy with Cheese Tasting platters which was delicious!

Our final day in Tasmania saw us pack up and then have a beautiful brunch back at the dairy before driving up to Gladstone, turning left and having lunch at Bridport. More beautiful views and incredible landscape changes. We drove up to the Low Head lighthouse and saw some penguins on rocks before driving over the ‘batman’ bridge and up to the other side! After all the photos were taken we drove to Devonport to sit in line for the Ferry. There was time for one final Tasmania Gin before heading to bed. The crossing was really calm and the disembarking in Melbourne was super efficient. We refuelled at Costco in Melbourne, said Goodbye to Karen and then drove home stopping at the 12 mile creek rest area just north of Newcastle for the night.

Total KM’s = 7087
Total days = 24 (23 nights accommodation)
A lot of Gin.

Lessons learnt

• Remember to do washing at designated washing stops or you have to do emergency handwashing for clean undies
• West Coast Tasmanian Sand is brutal
• Check tide times when you have service when you are going to be driving along beach
• Trial Harbour free camping is not worth it if you have a camper trailer
• Rosebery is a good town. Zeehan is like the town of a horror movie.
• Rosebery dining establishments have interesting definition of what a side salad is
• Try and get to Free Camps in Tasmania early otherwise all the good spots go.
• As much as possible prebook caravan parks to avoid disappointment
• When you find a good local Gin that is small batch distilled, don’t assume you will be able to purchase it ever again!
• Intend to use the Weber more than twice in the trip or don’t take it.
• Karen’s rissoles are awesome
• John’s beef stroganoff was really good
• Andy was MVP on the trip. Always take an Andy with you!

Lucy Besnard (the imaginary wife)

Track Notes

Temma Road / Sandy Cape, Tasmania 

I have to say right from the outset that we did not quite make it to the lighthouse. We ended up about 5km short, however time – and tide – as well as one of the most challenging and difficult beaches I have ever driven on made the decision to turn back an easy one. However, before we get to the end, lets go back to the actually getting you onto the beach. After getting your permit from the rangers you drop onto the beach about ½ way along the “Edge of the World” road.

You have to go to the ranger station to purchase your permit. This is so they can advise you on the latest conditions.

Don’t waste your time with tyre pressures. Go straight down to 15. You then have to dodge and weave around the tons of driftwood to even make it on to the beach.

Buy a HEMA. It’s a rabbit warren of tracks between the dunes. Be prepared to have to backtrack and do a lot of reversing.

There was some absolutely stunning little bays and protected beaches that we discovered. And in literally every case, we had them to ourselves.

The day we were there, the wind was blowing 30 – 40 knots onshore and the sand felt like you were getting grit blasted. This had the added disadvantage of erasing our tyre tracks to make it harder to for the return journey.

The ranger told us that west coast sand is totally different to anything we get on Fraser / Straddie / Bribie and I 100% agree with her. It’s a reddish / yellow colour that is super coarse and extremely soft. We ended up down to 10psi on the cruiser.

The wind made it almost impossible to see where the washouts and micro dunes were until you were right on top of them. It was a constant balancing act between momentum and not ploughing into a back or off a wash-out.

Lee Hunt