Tasmania - Retirement Life, Australian-style
November 16-21, #6
Mt. Dial, Mt. Duncan, Mt. Riana - the Trifecta Traverse
After an early afternoon and overnight stay to relax and recharge at Pioneer Park, our plan was to head back to the coast the next morning in the direction of Burnie. Our minds and bodies now resigned to the fact that no matter which route we followed, hills would be around every corner, at least now they would be bitumen (asphalt) tracks. The coastal winds that seemed to follow us everywhere had slowed to a breeze, cooling us on our ascents, and with the passing clouds, chilling us on the descents.
Wildlife Found
Not very far along, we happened upon another camp spot that looked too pleasant to pass up, and decided to take a rest day instead. Hearing Kookaburras for the first time, we spent the afternoon watching them dart amongst the trees, sounding off at each other into the twilight hours.
The next day we headed in the direction of the Fern Glade Platypus Reserve just outside Burnie hoping to see our first Platypus. Unsure what to expect, or how to find them in the rusty brown-tinted water of the Emu River, we searched up and down the river bank seeing signs of slides but nothing moving. It was a subtle trail of ripples, and then a flash of blue, as their bills skimmed the surface, that gave their outline away. Tiny little fellas - so amazed and thankful we got to see them!
The long descent through the reserve followed along the river all the way to the coastline to reconnect with the bike path leading into Burnie. We were nearing the point on the coast where the rail-to-trail bike path was still under construction and according to the local bike packers, high-vis wear was a necessity, when forced to brave the main highway. Conveniently, a Bunnings hardware store was just at the edge of town, where we could pick up our high-vis vests, and to our surprise, a grilled sausage or two, at the fundraiser booth just outside the entrance.
On our way through town, we resupplied at the local grocery store and continued on past the end of the coastal bike path to our next tent-friendly caravan park, Ocean View Holiday Park. Situated between the hillside and the highway, just across from the beach, where according to our host, we had another opportunity to see the Fairy Penguins. These little penguins still manage to live along the coastline literally at the edge of civilization, burrowing in wherever they can along the seawall just below the highway. Burnie has a Penguin viewing center with makeshift concrete burrows setup amongst the bushes that line the boulder sea wall, where visitors can peer through slats in walls of plywood to watch activity at the burrows. During summer they are raising their chicks, and the parents take turns going out to fish during the day, returning at dusk.
Instead of a beach front location, this time we were offered the only, mostly level, tent spot at the very back of the park. It was perfect - tucked up under the trees, just a few steps from the last strip of dense, marshy bush remaining on the hillside and below the neighboring farm at the top of the hill.
To our amazement, just before dusk, a few rustles in the thick foliage behind us, and within minutes, the open field next to us, and all the surrounding grass around our tent-site, became a feeding ground for the most adorable, Pademelon. Pronounced “Pa-dem-elons” but I liked calling them Paddy-melons at first. Their body shape, when their head is tucked down, resembles a good sized melon, although I don’t think that has anything to do with their name. They are a different genus than Kangaroos and Wallabies, but every bit as cute, with soft eyes and fuzzy little ears. But really, anything that hops and is furry is just destined for cuteness. About that same hour, a bird about the size of a robin, appeared to join them in hopping about the grass, making for an eye-catching display of hops big and small.
After the evening’s furry and feathery parade, just as we were about to settle into our tent - screaming of the like that is undeniably devil-ish began just a few feet away, but out of sight. We sat giggling inside the tent, as it continued, surmising it must be a pair of Tasmanian Devils either having a good-night spat, or attempting to let us know we were most definitely not welcome in their patch.
We fell asleep that night, simply awe-struck. In this little Caravan park next to the highway, we were now sleeping with more wildlife than we had seen since arriving in Australia. How lucky were we to find this little niche to hang with the true locals? (Believe me, after seeing more dead wildlife along the roadsides than alive, it makes these moments even more special).
Life’s Conveniences can be So Inconvenient
We intended to spend the next morning on our routine chores of laundry and recharging batteries, loading photos and blogging, and then head to town later to do a bit of exploring and of course check out the local brewery. We had the benefit of wifi but for some reason, the day wore on fraught with technical frustrations of photos not synching, photos not uploading, realizing photos were in the wrong format and had to be exported and reloaded. Everything was taking more time than it should. After taking a reprieve in town at the brewery for an afternoon snack, the day ended with another failed attempt to load photos into a blog from inside the tent, in the dark. Only to find the next morning, upon opening my laptop, a fateful crack in the lower edge of the frame around the screen. It somehow had been seriously damaged.
Nivaun found the closest Apple Store was of course, not in Tasmania, but there was instead a MacShop that also does repairs, located back where we started in Devonport. Fortunately we had just another month of warranty left on the laptop, and after confirming details, Nivaun was on a bus to Devonport with my laptop.
It seemed in just this first month of living abroad, we were meant to deal with unanticipated repairs. Nivaun had a full repair shop packed away on his bike to get us through any mechanical breakdown. So of course, it’s the necessities of our life, off the bike, that decide to break. First it was Nivaun’s eyeglass frames that broke on the way to Geelong, after we had repeatedly forgotten to replace his left behind eyeglass case. Amazingly, he was able to find a repair shop there that had one pair left of his exact frames, with a complimentary eyeglass case.
And, to our surprise, just a day after dropping off my laptop, for which they said a screen would need to be ordered and possibly take a week, it was ready for pickup!
Our intended two-night stay at the wildlife Holiday park had turned into five, but it was probably one of the best places for it to have happened. Our couple extra days were well spent searching for little penguins on the beach at dusk, taking in the sunset, visiting the local brewery, hanging with our nightly visitors, getting ourselves and the bikes prepped for the next set of hills, and just simply enjoying our surroundings.
Caravan parks and their welcoming hosts were becoming a part of our lives. In their varied forms, each one provides more than we would have expected for a campground. More often they are hybrid Mobile home/RV/hotel/motel parks that in some locations also leave a patch of grass for unpowered sites and tents. This gives us the added benefits of showers, a laundry room with clothes line, and a kitchen which is often fully equipped with a fridge (eskee), a stove, a hot water pot, utensils, cookware, and of course a BBQ which is actually a large outdoor hot plate instead of a grill. All of this at an average cost of 30 AUD a night more or less.
That about sums up what life on the road has been like these first few weeks. We seem to be adjusting and going with the flow which is the best that we could have ever dreamed of. Life is too short to not enjoy every minute whatever it brings.