Hello Tasmania

Before we left Melbourne Rhonda and Gary drove us along the route to the port, on a 'dummy run', so that we knew where to go and where we could park up and wait if the terminal wasn't open. Michael thought this trip rather a waste, he spent the trip thinking, " what are we doing, I know where we're going, I know how to drive," but once we left the house on Monday afternoon he was very grateful for their help, especially when we got stuck behind a tram.

There wasn't a queue at the terminal, we drove straight up to security and joined the long, long queues through there and on to check in. The organisation of the whole affair was to say the least, and to be kind, amateurish!  The ship was well run and the cabin very comfortable. 

We took advantage of the on board Tasmanian tourist office and bought a National Parks pass as well as pre purchasing a couple of tours. (we just have to phone a couple of days in advance to confirm a seat).

As expected the crossing got a bit rough after a couple of hours as we crossed through the Rip out into Bass Strait.

Tuesday morning it was "Hello Tasmania", there was a delay before we could get off the ship while the people in the van in front of us wandered around all the decks before finding their vehicle!

Then more queues, 2 lanes off the ship spanned out into 6 lanes across a carpark and then back into 2 lanes to go through quarantine! The little doggy jumped inside the van for a quick sniff and then we were free to go. 

We had a quick stop in Devonport for breakfast in the van in the information centre's carpark. Armed with a load of maps and leaflets we then hit the road, following the coast through Ulverston to our first  stop, Penguin.

The coastal approach road runs parallel to the railway and it's like driving through a garden, flowers, lawns and beautifully trimmed hedges.

Our overnight stop was the Lions Park in Penguin, and this too was next to the railway line, the sound of an approaching train had us scurrying for the camera.

See what we mean about the gardens?!

The town of Penguin itself, is really sweet and has lots of very large penguins around town.

The bakery does a really good rye bread too, when we left we bought a couple of loaves for the freezer.

After our hectic schedule in Melbourne we were taking it easy for a while so the next day it was a short drive to Burnie.

Burnie is the main administrative hub for the North West and apparently all those public servants used to clog the city by parking there all day. The council's solution has been to install parking meters! This means that there is no welcoming feel to the town, we had a quick walk down the main street, found out where the information centre was - where we had to get a camping permit. We drove to the information centre, on the edge of the town centre and got the permit (free, but necessary for the ranger). There is free parking for 2 hours at the centre but it is a little hike into town. We had lunch there and then bought 3 ovals of local camembert for $1.80 each.

The permit allowed us to camp just west of town, at Cooee Point. There were quite a few other vans there when we arrived but we were lucky in that the Jayco Conquest was just leaving and we took their spot right on the seafront.

We tried not to look over to the left too often - the abbatoir was there.

Think I'm joking?

The weather was good though, we both got sunburnt - sitting reading for too long.

After 2 days we decided to move on and do some sightseeing, continuing along the coast.

Tomorrow more of the north coast.