Since leaving Wynyard, Tasmania Wednesday we decided to explore the paper milling town of Burnie before motoring south. At retirementLIFE.net.au we've found that as with most parts of this region it is still transitioning to tourism with some good things to see like the Makers Centre but unfortunately there were no active demonstrations by craftsmen while we were there which was disappointing! From Burnie we motored south through dairy country and stayed overnight in the sleepy village of Waratah - very pretty... with a small element of history on display although it's museum was closed despite a caravan park full of tourists like us. Our neighbouring caravanners were from UK who had already travelled 50,000kms of our country! On Thursday we set off for Cradle Mountain where we parked the Sunliner and took the shuttle to Dove Lake at the foot of the mountain. We couldn't believe how many overseas tourists were there in this world heritage park, so pristinely maintained! Even saw a lively tiger snake and we could not be enticed to go walking after that!!! But such a pretty place and well worth seeing!! Pushing further south we passed through more sleepy hamlets Rosebery and Zeehan with their history in mining (tin,silver) before reaching beautiful Strahan on expansive Macquarie Harbour. Our caravan park is about a kilometre from town and over the past two days we've walked it several times. Seemingly not much to do and certainly not a lot of choice for eating out! But on Friday after a long day of driving we and a number of other grey nomads all congregated outside the local pub waiting for its bistro to open for dinner - it finally did and we are alfresco looking across the water...very peaceful. Friday was a lazy day - walked to town for groceries etc and booked ourselves on a Gordon River cruise for Saturday. This has proved a highlight in our trip so far...what a first class excursion with World Heritage Cruises it was. We were on a $7mill 1 yr old catamaran..very comfortable indeed. The day was a real adventure, with a guided walking tour of infamous convict settlement Sarah Island (which ironically was the beginning of the Huon Pine logging and shipbuilding industries in Tassie), a walk in the Huon pine forest on the Gordon River (a world heritage site), up close to huge in-River salmon and trout farms, a buffet lunch onboard to die for and a Huon Pine sawmilling demonstration to finish a truly memorable day! Today we will prepare our home on wheels for the next leg of our journey as we head east toward Hobart tomorrow and week 2 of our Tassie odyssey!EndFragment
...and remember...have a fabulous retirementLIFE....
