6 January and the first time that someone told us that we could not sleep there. There was no sign saying that camping is not allowed. In Wynyard Susan saw a 70 year old set of sterling silver cutlery set in a wooden box. $50 later and we had to find a place for it in the bus and Susan over the moon. Off to Stanley. A very picturesque village with  lot of history. We are spending the night at the beach here. A very interesting place with a lot of spectacular views.

The weather till now was cold with occasional showers. All Tasmanians told us that it was unusual cold but the tourists said this was what they had so far. A lot of strong wind. 7 January and another free camp. This is an official one and there are a lot of surfers. The rain has cleared but the wind is very strong. Probably normal for this part of the world as there is a large wind farm nearby. 8 January The tourist guide did not say much about further west but seen we are we might as well continue to the end of the road. Sealed road that is because there are hundreds of KM of unsealed roads used by the loggers. But they named the place Edge of the World. From here we drove back more inland to Cradle Mountain. The landscape became more hilly and rugged. Cradle Mountain is a must see place. A haven for bushwalkers or recreational walkers like us. First day we walked around Dove lake. We were able to camp on the car park from the visitor centre. There were a few others doing the same thing. Next day we did a walk over the boardwalk. I did another walk by myself to the top of a lookout.

9 January half way the afternoon we left Cradle Mountain and headed west again till we saw a sign "Dam". We went in and decided to set up camp. We camped on top of a dam looking out over the lake with mountains in the background. No caravan park can compete with that. Even a hot shower in the nuddy outside. At night a bit of rain but during the night it was not as cold as it has been.  10 January a bit overcast but during the day it cleared up and got fairly warm. We got to Strahan late in the morning and booked in to a caravan park because Susan needed to do the washing. Strahan is a real holiday destination.  We heard that there were whales on he beach nearby but they were 11KM driving on the beach and we did not want to take the motor home there. So we were on the way again this time heading west. The next stop Queenstown. This is a old mining town (copper). Because it is mined underground there is no timber left on the hills around the place. Old buildings and an interesting museum. We spend a few hours here. More west and in to the hills.

4 January.  This time off to Scamander via the scenic route. Not just scenic, it is constantly up and down and sharp turns. Not a lot of traffic on the road. The reason for being here this time of the trip is because Paul Dingjan turned 50. And we new that there would be a lot of people we new from Townsville. They came from West Australia, Sydney, Tasmania and 5 from Holland. It was a great atmosphere. We were there already a day before. Saturday was party time and Sunday recovery time. We left again on Monday.

17 January. We drove nearly all the way to Hobart taking the coast road which is very scenic. Just past Sorell we found a nice spot at 5 mile beach. Another hot shower in the cold wind. The days are sunny and not too windy. The night was freezing at least to us Queenslanders. Next day finally found an internet cafe and was able to update this and send some Emails. From there we took the coast road to Eaglehawk Neck where there were spectacular rock formations like on the Great Ocean Road. We stayed overnight in the harbour. Great views and the night was not s cold.   19 January and we drove to Port Arthur. This is a famous penal settlement and there are still a lot of buildings standing. First we booked in to a caravan park and Susan did the washing. As soon as that was on the line off to the convict site. There is very little left of the original settlement but the way they have set it up gives you an idea of the way it was. Luckily the ticket is valid for two days because we did not see it all first off. The second day we walked around for another few hours and drove towards Hobart. We spend the night at the same spot at 5 mile beach. Hobart was only 20 KM away and we arrived there early in the morning. It is the smallest capital city of Australia 100 000 people and most live on a hill with great views. First stop the information centre and we booked a bus tour around the city. Also on the bus were Ian and Val who we met at the party in Scamander and also bumped in to in Port Arthur. This gave us an idea of where everything is in Hobart. We spend a few hours in the national museum and decided to go to a lookout on the other side of the Derwent river. Magnificent views of the city and the main bridge. We also found a nice camping spot near the beach. 

Hobart across from the river.