Woke up this morning to a drizzly frozen, slushy vista. With the fire raging and the knitting begging us to stay in, the kids n Gaz hit the rainy lake edge. Ice, rain, sleet, slush – repeat.

The left over soup on the fire n toasties fueled our decision to explore more of the thawing Central Highland Lakes. Nothing cooler than a Volcano! A short drive to the volcanic hexagonal columns, amazing to explore.

Leni was able to tick another item off her bucket list – first snow angel!!

On returning to the cottage she made her first snowman too, making use of the thoughtful nose stash in the freezer.

Our shiny new cabin tucked in among some classic cabins, full of character.

A short drive west, for a stroll around foggy New Norfolk, we stumbled across the most bizarre collection of relics, in what looked like an old hospital site – old vehicles, machinery, rusty fences and stone masonry. Unfortunately it wasn’t open to browse the antiques, maybe next time.

Then headed to the shops, ‘flywheel’ the vintage letterpress, stationery shop was a favourite. Could of spent up big here..

North to Bothwell, takes us through rolling sheep farming hills, the sun is shining and Max quickly spots our first sight of snow – to the west atop Frenchmans Cap.

On leaving Bothwell via the bridge over the Claude River, to our surprise it was frozen! It was so much fun skipping stones, 15-20 bounces to the other side, and the noise was great, reverbing off the underside of the bridge.

Leni found a frozen stream behind us and moved on to throwing sheets of ice to shatter across the river.

Driving north to Breona, we stop off at Steppes Sculptures, with enough snow around for Leni’s first snowball to throw at Max.

A short stroll to the Steppes homestead – stepped with history and more snow!

North along the west side of the Great Lake, we are excited to arrive at ‘Spinners Cottage’ in Breona for the next 2 nights.. to our delight the fire is roaring and a little friend welcomes us outside…

We were all amazed at the lovely cottage, with a fantastic view down to Great Lake. Looking forward to staying here a while.

18 months since our last Summer visit, our long awaited Winter Tassie time was here, we headed off this time to the airport for an easy smooth flight.

Some cute creatures welcomed us at the airport.

After a quick bite, we collected our Pathfinder and headed straight for the Tasmanian Art Gallery Museum, a fav from last time. Here we filled in time before check in and got away from the brisk breeze…

A short drive to New Town, to stock up on supplies and stay the night at familiar Graham Apartments.

Too much civilization, not enough wilderness Par Avion graciously fulfill our craving – and squeeze our family into their tiniest plane with a days notice – off to Melaleuca we fly, and you couldn’t wipe the smiles off all our faces!!

We flew South, down the coast, passing over our favourite campsite – Jetty Beach on Bruny Island. Then a right hand turn at Cockle Creek to follow some amazing Dolarite cliffs along the South Coast to Melaleuca.

The area is so unique and something which has to be felt as well as seen.

Excited to be back to the hut where Gary, Curl & Rooster stayed in March 2012 – We look back through the visitors book to find their entry.

The only access is by boat plane or walking for a week. It’s very isolated and the few individuals who chose to live here must of led a lonely life. The boat ‘cruise’ to Bathurst Harbour was such a great way to see the surrounds, even better when captained by a pilot – weeeeeeeee.

A familiar point for Gary’s walk- Joan Point at the Bathurst Narrows boat crossing.

We pull up to a small beach for our amazing lunch with views to the ‘quartzite’ Breaksea Islands at the Southern entrance to Bathurst Harbour.

We were suprised by our next stop. Claytons Corner jetty to disembark and explore an amazing shack, once owned by a lovely couple Clive & Win Clayton. It had amazing history and is now managed by a volenteer group and Parks & Wildlife.

What an amazing day!!!

Hobart has been beckoning us. This time we decide a visit through the week, thus avoiding the hustle and bustle that Summer Salamanca markets bring – just what we need. We check in to familiar apartments in New Town for 3 nights.

We enjoy plenty of retail, pub lunches, cafes, movies, and a fun visit to the Tasmania Museum & Art Gallery (fantastic hands on school holiday program). We are starting to feel like we know our way around this sleepy city.

The drive south to Cockle Creek meanders its way past the Huon River through farmland and the working forests to the end of the road. The most Southern place you can drive.

A pretty place with a great forecast for the next few days, we find a top little spot on the beach near a dunny – 3 days down here will be easy to take.

Monday 18^th Jan– The 8km (one way) walk to South Cape Bay is the commencement / conclusion to the 84km South Coast trek. Through button grass, tea tree plains, light forests and coastal scrub the view from Coal Bluff was all to the south, with large waves rolling in, the air so refreshing from the bottom of the world – a contrast from the stuffy track heat.

After a couple of hours walking, we make it to the bottom of Australia…

A rocky decent to the beach, which surprisingly had quite a few people on it.

After cooking lunch of noodles and salmon in a shady campsite at South Cape – where we were driven crazy by March Fly’s, shame they couldn’t carry us back to our camp! It was a long hot walk back – finally there – a refreshing swim fixed everything…

Next morning we pack up camp with looming grey clouds, typical South Coast weather, first stop – just in time for lunch was The Southport Hotel – Australia’s most southern hotel. tick!!

After leaving Bruny we tuck up in Snug, below Hobart for a couple of days in a cabin, we dry our washing between intermittent showers, as well as taking advantage of an oven.

Smelling reasonably clean, we decide to head south and take a punt on a campsite at the Tahune Airwalk which is run by forestry Tasmania, should have good firewood supply at least! Perfect for our reverse fire.

The campsite was great and was inclusive with the airwalk admission fee. We chose to do the walk late in the evening – well after the kiosk was closed and the day visitors had left.

A short walk through the forest floor to a sky walk, within the canopy. Pretty cool! Even better to have all this to ourselves with a tinnie!

The next morning we do a couple of walks here at The Tahune. A favourite was the ‘Swing Bridges’. Crossing over 2 rivers.

Driving further south to Cockle Creek, we discover a fabulous old hall in a quaint bay at Police Point, perfect for our lunch stop.

A trip to Tassie is incomplete without a stay or at least a visit to Bruny Island. Cloudy Corner Campsite is an ideal setting for another encounter with friends ‘The Nederlofs’ and their camper. We were hesitant to drive on the sand, but a quick recce ensured we had nothing to worry about. The tide was low and the sand firm. A lovely shady elevated campsite welcomed us at the other end of Cloudy Bay.

Doubling our numbers calls for beach cricket & cocktails…

Too much cricket breaks the bat! Trust 2 joiners to be carrying enough tools and fixings to make running repairs, after a short delay the game is back on!

The mercury rises and the ranger posts a ‘total fire ban’ that means one thing – hit the beach!

The families have a super time in the idyllic surrounds, but its time to leave via Bruny Island Cheese for fresh sour dough, artesian cheese, cider, beer & wine. Then a sneaky whisky sampling – too much perhaps – as the Neds get pulled up behind us, as we’re the last to fit on the ferry… til the next one at least! Doh!!!

Bye Bye Ned’s its been fun

It’s been 16years since we have visited the Tasman Peninsula, during this super busy period we have managed to secure a site in an overflow area in a campground at Stewart’s Bay, 3 minutes from Port Arthur, with nice amenities and great camp kitchen – only problem it’s a bit of a hike from our overflow site.

1st outing we visit Eaglehawk neck, with its Tessellated Pavement as well as the bronze sculpture representing the colonial dog line, which stopped convicts escaping northward. Leni tries to restrain the hound!

Lunch beckons, and we venture to Lime Bay and nearby the world heritage listed Coal Mines. Absolutely fascinating!

Monday at Port Arthur brings a reunion for our family, ‘Thelma & Louise’ aka Nan and Jane meet us and we have a lovely BLT lunch in the gardens.

Port Arthur is a fascinating place with an extraordinary history, it was great to see the projects Rohan worked on during his tenure, something that will be forever etched in the Port’s future.

The Seperate Prison was a place of complete silence – hooded prisoners were allowed in the small open air exercise cells for only 1 hour per day, the chapel below had solitary booths for prisoners – all facing forward – no eye contact with anyone else.

Our boat ride around the harbour took us to Isle of the Dead for a guided walking tour with interesting stories of convicts, grave diggers, and guards.

The girls chicken out on the Ghost tour (wisely) – opting to sleep! As the boys in the family have supernatural experiences.

Our ferry was at 1:30pm to Maria Island, which gave us ample time to pack up, organize ourselves and prepare our pushies with even a little time to visit a small community workshop of retired men who restore old boats and a beautiful stage coach from the area, Very Cool.

The trolleys provided are big enough for all our stuff, and even our bikes, just not enough handles for everyone.

First adventure – fossil cliffs – uphill, into the wind, sun on our backs.

Nearby rocky outcrops Clerk and Bishop were ever visible on the island, we won’t be tackling this one!

Our trip back to camp was almost comical, with a stop every 50metres or so to observe wombats, Echidnas, Forester Kangaroos, Pademelons, Cape Barron Geese and in the creek a shoal of large Galaxians. It had the feeling of an exhibition of Tassie animals.

Then the Devil show started, even before the sun went down a small devil bolted through camp, and found refuge under the picnic table Leni was sitting on. She was SO Excited to have had such a close encounter with her fave Tassie Animal!!

Later that evening a group of teenage boys that were camping next to us, had typical teenage boy hygiene and had left their food waste out – the 2 devil siblings got stuck into their rubbish bag and then each other. It was a vicious display for our own private viewing, they certainly live up to their ‘devil’ name.

The Maria Island township is named Darlington, it has a collection of colonial era buildings, some restored, some used, and some abandoned. I love all they have to offer – colours, textures, untold stories.

Our 2nd day here, we ride south, past the Painted Cliffs for a lunch stop at Four Mile Beach. It’s slow going, up and down hills and getting hot. But we have plenty of water and lolly stops along the way. Then enjoy our private beach views for lunch of Salmon Noodles & collected native Sampfire.

Back to camp for a rest, then an afternoon of exploring the Silo ruins – with resident wombats.

Saturday – early morning pack up allows us to enjoy the last of this piece of paradise before our 10am ferry back to Triabunna.