Derwent and the Franklin-Gordon NP

20/1. The drive to the Derwent River was lovely and we stopped for the night in the Franklin - Gordon Wild Rivers Nat Park. We got up at 7 and needn't have bothered. It was thick fog, like 'pea soup'! We lit the fire to get warm and waited till 10 for the tent to dry out and then we were off to Lake St Clair. We had a 5 km walk and then lunch in the most lovely spot, on the 'beach' by the lake. We wanted to find somewhere to camp in the Central Highlands but it was so grim, as In grey and cold, bleak, we drove back out again. There were lakes and dams everywhere though (we likened it to the number of roundabouts in Milton Keynes - that's one for the Brits) with loads of boats and fishermen (or women, not wanting to be sexiest). We ended up camping by Brady's Lake.

20&21/1. Cold mornings, (and yes Judy, you will need some warm clothes) but the sun came out at 10 again and turned out to be a lovely day with clear blue skies, and to Steve's delight, the solar panel was kicking out over 5 amps! Steve went fishing, (well he threw a line in the lake but we had chicken for dinner). A good stop but we won't miss the GIANT ANTS, leeches and spiky prickles!!!

22/1. Our 4WD book showed us a track out to King William Lake and that's where we had lunch. Steve lost another lure and went wading out in his pants to try and find it and nearly fell in. I have photos to prove it!! Following on from there was a track going out to a place called Jumping Jack Lake and that was a fabulous overnight stop. Steve is now hooked, excuse the pun, to fishing and at every opportunity throws a line in. He has even bought some special 'Tassie Devil' lures!! We had bean hotpot for dinner, and I won't mention that again-:) The water was clear and surprisingly warm and we both went for a dip. I know I have said it before but life doesn't get much better.

23/1. Did a bit of 4WDing. Drove through Mt Field Mat Park, followed the Florintine River.

24/1. The drive to Strathgordon was spectacular. As Brits we likened it to the mountains of Scotland. Lake Pedder was surrounded by mountains. We lunched at Teds Beach and there is a massive dam at the end of this road, MASSIVE. There are some things you just can't capture on camera, and the sheer size of the dam is one of them. Decided to find a bush camp site down the bottom end of Lake Pedder. It's about as far South as you can go before entering the Wilderness of the Southwest National Park.

25/1. Off to civilization to do some chores and we have no idea where we will end up tonight, We're clean, the washing is,we're outta here!! So we got it wrong today. We weren't thinking Australia Day weekend and everyone and their dog is out camping! We are holed up in a campsite with a load of other people and I'm scared at just how full it's going to get. The girl next to us with a van has just dusted it, inside and out, including the wheels. iI's so funny, Steve asked if she would come and do ours. our truck is absolutely covered and we don't think she was too amused. We think it's funny and we've got the giggles

Tassie- the first week

12/1. We left our cabin in plenty of time, so we thought! What we hadn't realised was that no one had told our GPS that you couldn't turn right between the hours of 7 and 9.30. Hence we arrived 30 minutes later than planned but thankfully still in time to catch the ferry. The crossing was good and we were glad we had booked a cabin. It gave us somewhere to have a kip and a good shower.

13/1. The weather forecast was so good we decided to head down the West Coast and our first stop was at a little place called Moina. We set up camp by Lake Gardiner, 32 kms from Cradle Mountain. It was still very windy but dry and sunny.

14/1. My morning was taken up photographing some happy go lucky fairy martins who wanted to set up home in our tent, and Steve tried to catch a fish. He now realises that the moon has an effect on creatures other than Man!!! We headed for Cradle Mtn and had a lovely walk from Dove Lake to Lillian Lake and Wombat Pool. On our way back to get the courtesy bus we saw a Mother Wombat and her baby. They were so cute.

15/1. We had purchased a 4wd book on the Ferry and were off to try our first track in Tassie. Lorinna, West of Deloraine. It was great, the track was so tight to get through in places but every now and then it would open up with lovely views of big escarpments. Steve had the biggest grin!

16/1. We spent the night at Lake Plimsoll. We are eternally grateful to Gordigear for our cosy room. It has not only given us somewhere to get out of the wind, but saved us from the giant mozzies and bitey flies. It was not our best nights stop for sure. We drove towards Zehan and then for a little place called Trial Harbour. It as so lovely there. We had a dip in the ocean. Steve missed timed the incoming tied and his clothes were swept off the 'safe' boulder. Funny, you bet!

17&18/1. It blew a Hooley again last night and we were glad we had a camping spot tucked nicely away. We headed for Queenstown, did some washing, had a coffee and drove out towards The Bird River. The drive there was great and the 10 km walk to the edge of the Kelly Basin was amazing. The rain forest was just beautiful. We had a couple of storms and a downpour overnight so it took a while to dry out.

19/1. Off to the Derwent River then Lake St Claure. Just to mention at this point
my disappointment with the lack of birds. Even the crows look good enough to photograph!!

Tassie trip.

8/1/12.
This is a different sort of trip for us, I'm not sure why it just feels different. We managed to get 40 Kim's past Goondiwindi on our first night, finding a dirt road and following our nose, so to speak! We parked up just of the road and sat down to a cup of tea. We were soon paid a visit by the farmer who's land we were on and who very kindly allowed us to set up camp. Turns out he holidays at Currumbin every year and was happy to chat and exchange pleasantries! It was a very hot, muggy and sticky night.

9/1.
Thanks to our new farmer friend we had a lovely walk down past his farm house to the creek before making tracks. When packing the tent up it's my job to put the beds right. One of the things I do is put the elastic straps on which pull the tent sides in when folding it up. Unfortunately when folding the bed up the elastic strap go caught up and suddenly sprang loose straight into my eyes. I didn't get time to close them it just hit my eye balls with a huge wack. Gee it hurt like hell. I was blinded for a while and they are still painful to touch (after 3 days). Anyway, after another full day driving we got to Goobang Nat Pk. it was a lovely stop with a variety of birds and wildlife.

10/1.
We had a good walk in the morning and the whole forest went berserk. Ghalahs and Cockies squawking so loudly it was amazing. Headed for Albury next. We found a lovely campsite in the Dalbry Nat Park near Wangaratta (about 75kms past Albury). It was a good stop but got wet and windy.

11/1
Little did we know then that it was just the start of a couple of days of very nasty windy wet weather. And now, sat in our cabin in Melbourne, we are quite daunted by the thought of crossing the Tasman in gale force winds!!!