Discovering Tasmania

We finally got on a plane! More than 12 months after we left Melbourne for Newcastle we jumped at the opportunity to start traveling again, we are really looking forward to seeing our horizons expand again and have booked our first house sit of 2021 in Cairns later this year.

We decided to do another campervan return with Imoova, this time bringing an Apollo hitop camper back from Hobart to Melbourne, this involved driving across the state along the Great Eastern Drive. Roads in Tasmania are mostly single lane highways, even though the recommended speed was 100kms per hour we often drove slower as the roads were very windy with lots of wide vehicles including trucks and other campervans – we always make sure to drive safely to the conditions and depending on what type of vehicle we are traveling in.

Before picking up the camper we spent two nights in Hobart, Ben had to work the first day but after work we were able to explore some local bars, including a funky bar called Preachers and the Salamanca Whisky Bar where we enjoyed some delicious Tasmanian whiskey.

On the road, our first stop was Wineglass Bay, we originally planned to climb Mt Amos but arrived a bit later and didn’t want to get caught out in the dark so we decided to take the 1000 stairs down to the beach and even braved the fresh 17°C water for a swim.

We stopped in Coles Bay for dinner before making our way to the seaside town of Bicheno, visiting the Lobster Shack for some scallops and a glass of sparkling before falling asleep to the sound of the waves. The bed wasn’t the most comfortable but after a long day walking we were happy to bunker down and slept quite well.

The next day we woke early and drove to St Helens, is the largest town on the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia, on Georges Bay. It is known as the game fishing capital of Tasmania and is also renowned for its oysters. Ben enjoyed a curried scallop pie (another Tassie delicacy) before we headed for Binnalong Bay.

We found a great free camp site in the Bay of Fires Conservation Area, just a few metres from the white sandy beaches which we spent the afternoon exploring, along with another cold swim and in the morning we popped up to the day use area to watch the sunrise.

The next day on Good Friday we made our way to Launceston where we popped into the BIG4 Launceston Holiday Park and made use of their facilities, including power and hot showers. A lot of shops were closed so we had a BBQ in the campervan and watched the Super Rugby on Stan before getting an early night and heading out to Charlie’s Dessert House on route to board the Spirit of Tasmania.

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We planned a stop-off at Josef Chromy winery where we had pre-booked a tasting, we both enjoyed the Pinot Noir especially which is their flagship wine and had planned to stay and enjoy lunch here however we were both still very full from breakfast, we relaxed in the beautiful gardens for a while before making our way onto Devonport.

We arrived with lots of time to spare so headed to the water for some Fish and Chips and to soak up the sunshine, we didn’t brave the water here as many of the locals appeared to be swimming in wetsuits!

We then travelled from Devonport to Melbourne overnight on the Spirit of Tasmania, here is Ben the next day after our early morning arrival. We had an inside cabin and slept well, the ”SOT’ was somewhere between a ferry and a cruise ship and we quite enjoyed the experience as a one off. When parking our campervan we were behind a van carrying seven llamas who all stayed the night in the van, there are lots of facilities on-board including a cinema but we opted to download some Netflix shows and watch these in bed. When we arrived into Melbourne we were greeted with a crystal clear morning and hot air balloons making there way across the city skyline.

Here are some photos to show that we were both on the trip 🙂

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This week we have been in Melbourne, Ben working remotely and both of us catching up with friends and getting some kitesurfing in while we are here. It’s been exciting to return to Melbourne and see the city starting to blossom once again with restaurants and bars full and people getting out and about.