A break for a week by a lake

Two years on from our extended-family holiday at Swansea, The four of us and Imp, Ed, Karri and Miah did it again, this time a week at Sisters Beach on the NW coast. Our house was actually at Lake Llewellyn 2km back from Sisters, but very handy to that beach and to Boat Harbour as well – Australia’s Most Beautiful Drive-Up Beach (Wineglass Bay probably has the overall top spot sewn up but you need to walk or sail there).

This was an important family get-together as Marcus’ departure for Hong Kong gets closer, currently booked for March 10. The cousins all get on well, and they spent the week sharing a small bunk room. For various reasons we had four cars between the eight of us, so that meant we could go in a few different directions at once although we did spend most of the week all together. The house is called Platypus Chalet, it’s on Airbnb and we recommend it.

Disclaimer: we understand short term rental operations play a part in the Tasmanian housing crisis. Our host only has one house not ten, and it's a purpose-built holiday house, so I feel like it's kosher.

Our place was one of about 25 at the lake, I think the only one without water frontage. A neighbour suggested to us a good way to get down to the water (but that information is classified). The lake was man-made in the 60s or 70s, it seems mostly for watersports enthusiasts. We swam in it and paddled our wave ski on it every day. One day Elf was paddling while Imp swam alongside and they encountered two platypus! Imp was a bit concerned about the famous poison spur but everyone kept their distance and played nice. I was on the bank as they came back in. Imp had run out of swimming energy so she had hung from the back of the wave ski for a while. Then Elf got a bad cramp so Imp propelled them back to shore. What a pair.

A paddle around Lake Llewellyn

The high side of the lake bank (3rd pic above) looks at first glance like impenetrable virgin bush, but the road to Sisters Beach is right there. So occasionally the Castaway vibe is shattered by very mundane vehicles cruising through on the sealed road. This road has no footpath, and a 100kmh speed limit, but there are ‘Shared Road’ in a few places. If I was in charge of a road and I wanted drivers to share it with pedestrians and horse riders I'd probably make it 60, not 100. Imp and Ed have been here before and walked down this road, so they were happy to do so again. But it scares the pants off me as a pedestrian. One day the rest of us drove to Boat Harbour and Imp and Ed walked this road to Sisters Beach then walked along the coast to meet us. They are quite outward bound compared to us.

Mum and Dad used to own a block on the beachfront at Sisters, with plans to build on it. It was a very fast growing area in the early 00s and then there was a moratorium on new building for a while – they ended up selling the block and moving east to Turners Beach, and then later to Hobart. The house that has been built on the old block is … disappointing.

Around the Sisters Beach township. Middle pic is an amazing place next to Mum & Dad's old block built by a boatbuilder. The pic above is just a classic old shack, before people started proper real solid houses here.

We had a day trip to Stanley to climb The Nut. In a shed at the top there was an interpretative panel with various loose theories about how The Nut got its name. Then it mentions in passing that the palawa name for it is moo-nut-re-ker which seems to me like probably the source. I had never heard this name before. 

The amazing views from The Nut. 

Michael's 19th birthday fell on day 3 of 7, so we took his gifts up with us. We gave him a fairly good metal detector; more news on that once he has taken it for a spin. We had lunch for his birthday in Wynyard at The Vault, a great spot overlooking the river operating in an old bank.

We had heaps of trips to the various beaches. We flopped about the house and did a lot of reading. We got in and out of the lake and the spa tub. We watched old movies and TV shows in the extensive DVD collection. The kids had a Friday night out in Wynyard which was uneventful. I had a day prowling around my old home town of Burnie, and a walk on my own down to Boat Harbour, but I'll do seperate posts for those.

Above is Sisters Beach. A lovely place to swim, I had forgotten the water was so clear.
It’s surrounded by Rocky Cape National Park.
The pics below are Boat Harbour. It was a very calm day so Elf joined us.
I had not forgotten the clear water here; the sand is pure white and
it's just a joy to behold. There were white fish swimming around in the shallows.

At Ed's suggestion we also did a trip to Dip Falls, a spectacular spot 40 mins south of Stanley. It's the middle of nowhere but we all enjoyed it.

The four kids spent most of their time together and had a ball. [As I write a couple of weeks later write the same crew have just come back from a 5 hour walk on Mt Wellington]. They shared a bunk room and they were in the hot tub together every day. They decided to have a night out in Wynyard on our last night at the house. They rang to be picked up fairly early; as there was not all that much happening and they themselves were the main attraction in town.

On our last day we did a big clean up then set off in dribs and drabs in the four cars. The kids had two cars but wanted to travel down all together to enjoy the Hottest 100 on the radio, which is cute. So I took our car and Elf drove Marcus's. She was keen to just get home while I had some diversions planned.

I had another swim at Burnie; this time the beach was pretty grotty, as it as was the day after Australia Day. I did a walk around the CBD and pondered what used to be in various locations back in 1982 or whatever. The closeness of the beach to the town centre is something I mention every time Burnie comes up - but there can't be many places where you could buy a boogie board at K-mart then walk two blocks to the surf club and paddle out.

It was a beaut day for driving. After the swim and walk I drove to Launceston and caught up with Joe who is just back from a soccer camp with William in the UK, which was a big success. William is on course to be soccer professional. 

Lovely old deco Gospel Hall in Launceston next to Du Cane Brewery

Then I went across town and saw Lynn and Scott and heard all their news - they are both teaching at country schools now - Lynn is principal at Westbury and Scott is at Hagley.

Then the drive home from Launceston was mostly uneventful.

Bicheno area beach blog

We just spent 3 days in and around Bicheno, returning to the site of our Spontaneous Spring Jaunt. It was Michael's birthday on Thursday, and we spent it at beautiful Lagoons Beach. The weather was not great, cool and windy, vut we had a good time anyway. The birthday boy likes nothing better than simply hopping around rocks and poking rockpools with a stick, so we did a lot of that. Also a bit of paddling in the lagoon, and the boys thrilled themselves by frolicking at the edge of the incredibly powerful surf.

Now he is nine! But still not sure how to put on a jumper.

This one is still ten, for now.

A couple of pickles.

Michael at 45°, 41°52′S 148°17′E, and 22°C - Bicheno Blowhole.

Paddlin'

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I have been getting the wave ski out a bit. I am in a pre-christmas fallow period with freelance work, and I feel that on a warm day I might as well be out on the water if there's nothing to do at my desk. (In fact there is always something to do at my desk, but if there is not going to be an invoice at the end of it my motivation is somewhat lower).

The other day I did my first fairly serious Derwent River paddle - from this spot at Marieville Esplanade, right around Battery Point to the CSIRO corner. I went out far enough into Sullivans Cove to see the GPO clock in town. Then I got a bit nervous about being on the water equivalent of a major road, piloting the water equivalent of one roller skate.

On the way back I hugged the coast and had a good and envious look at the homes of the Hobart super-rich that back onto the water, with starfish at the bottom of the garden. Private jetties, boathouses and so on. Saw an actual watergate. I had a little rest in the sun on a boat ramp on the way back, and ate a banana. I'm no Sir Francis Chichester, but it was good exercise and very good fun.

A couple of days later I set off from the same spot and went the other way, heading for the little beach beyond Wrest Point Casino. But it was pretty choppy and quite hard work, so I satisfied myself with getting to within sight of it, then turned around and had an easy ride back with the swell. (Note how I am talking all boaty now.)

I had an excuse to go down towards Dodges Ferry on Thursday, as Marcus was at a school camp there and parents were invited to a midday beach frolic. So I took the wave ski, and on the way found a lovely little ramp just where Lewisham peters out into the start of Dodges Ferry. Across the channel there is a long sandspit with big sandhills on it, which is the "back" of Seven Mile Beach. I paddled across and back very easily. I had the sandspit to myself for a time and went through the usual desert island fantasies, spoiled somewhat by people coming over the hill and saying "how are you going?" and the like.

I have been going barefoot, but have found that a lot of places where I would like to make landfall are not so foot-friendly. So today I snapped up some boat-bootees for fifteen bucks.(I did continue on down to the surf beach and see my first-born son but that's not what this blog is about now. Me. Me and my bootees.)

Spontaneous Spring Jaunt - Day 1

We have just had a little 3-day trip up to the East Coast and Launceston. Elf decided we needed a holiday, and we gave the boys a couple of days off school so it wouldn’t have to be done in a big rush.

We set off on Thursday, stopping at Raspins Beach, Triabunna, Mayfield  Beach and arriving at Bicheno, where we stayed at the Silver Sands Motel. I would describe it as “agreeably shabby”. It’s got a great location, right on the headland at one end of the main beach. But the main sign fell down a while ago and hasn’t been replaced, and reception is actually in the White Dog Café which is hidden when you drive up. All that could do with some tidying up. Our room had a feeble plywood door to the outside world - fortunately we are not super security-conscious. All around one side of the motel is a labyrinth of blackberry, heavily populated with rabbits. One the plus side the beds were really comfortable, it was clean, and we were able to stroll from our room onto the beach in two minutes.

We were all keen to see some penguins come ashore in the evening, and the rest of the family thought we might see some before dinner. We found a likely spot, but it was still much too bright, so we went off to look for food instead.

We had an OK seafood dinner at the pub, but Elf’s caesar salad was pretty forgettable, and the “Bad Boy Fries” were just bad. 

We returned to the search for fairy penguins. They are officially called “little penguins” these days but I am stuck on the old name for now. It was still too early for them so we walked the length of the beach. Diamond Island is joined to the mainland at low tide, and we were able to scurry out to it, touch dry land and then get back to the main beach before we got our feet wet. By the time we got back to the car it was quite dim, but still no sign of Eudyptula minors. 

We agreed to sit in the car for another ten minutes, but saw nothing until I started the engine and began to leave - there they were in the headlights. So out we got and enjoyed the company of 6 or 8 or so for the next 20 minutes. I have lived in Tasmania nearly all my life but had never bothered to hang around burrow sites at dusk, so I had never seen them before. They are pretty cute.

Stone houses in Charles St, Triabunna

Marcus wearing Maria Island as a hat.

To take a photo of Michael I have to pretend I am doing no such thing.

View from Room 22,  Silver Sands,  Bicheno. 

Shabby Chic

Startles me how much that looks like my dad on the left. It's me.

¿Donde estas los pinguinos? Where are the penguins?  

Little penguins at Bicheno - a mum and her chick

Happy 1st birthday to the 2nd largest dog in South Hobart

Winston turns 1 today.  He is a lovely fella, extremely gentle and good-humoured. He has mostly stopped eating shoes. We have met only one larger dog in South Hobart, in that time. We were told Winston was the offspring of a labrador-retriever cross and a labrador-boxer cross. So we were a little shocked when he didn't stop growing. I think he's got some Newfoundland or St Bernard going on there somewhere.

We took him, the kids and the wave ski to Kingston Beach yesterday, to have a paddle in the lazy Browns River estuary. Last time we took him there, he was very keen to follow the boys, but got a bit panicky when the water was too deep for him.

Yesterday was his first experience of the wave ski. Suddenly Elf and Michael were on this orange thing, moving away, faster and faster. Winston followed, and suddenly he was swimming. He had a look on his floppy face of combined worry, astonishment and pride. His jowls floated along either side of his massive nose, like he might be part manta ray.

Marcus took the wave ski off on his own, and looked right at home on it. He paddled up to the footbridge and back, with me trying to keep up (doing a nanna breaststroke to keep my head out of the water). I could not.

Winston makes friends with every dog and child he possibly can. People are always pleased to meet him - he lollops towards them, radiating good intentions. One lady called to us "He must be a Newfoundland! They're so intelligent!". Which is not something we have noticed, yet.

Hound in the sky! Hound in the sky!

Dog heaven, nightmarish forklifts

Thursday was the Royal Hobart Show public holiday, so we decided to skip Friday, call it a 4 day weekend, and drive 5 hours north to Mum and Dad's. For added companionship, laughs and dribble, we decided to take the largest labrador with us.

We made our first stop at Brighton, just 20km from home, to give Winston a run around and some fresh air. We don't have a trailer or one of those roof-pods, so our luggage was squashed in on one side of the boot, leaving the rest for him. We were pretty keen that he not get any bodily fluids on the bags.

In fact he was a terrific traveler. Apart from chewing through two leads, he was an angel back there. We didn't need to stop nearly as often as we had imagined. We did get a better idea of the good places to stop with a dog. News Flash - these are not necessarily places that will also do a good macchiato. Think "empty football ground with a tap".

Mum and Dad were glad to see us all. It's been a while since we were up there. After a cuppa we headed for the beach with Winston. He just loved it to bits. He has only been to Dog Beaches, where the primary activity is walking dogs - there are too many dogs, too many people, and he's not allowed off his lead. On Turners Beach the tide always seemed to be out, so there was acres of flat sand, a nice warm tidal lagoon to splash in, our boys to romp with and occasionally other free range dogs to be doggy with. He was very happy.

Despite this, he was also pathetically keen to go home. He has never in his enormous life jumped up into the back of the car before. After we had been away about a day, he saw someone open the boot, and in a flash he was in it, and ready to go home. We had to drag him out.

On Friday we all went along to Ulverstone where Mum had lined up hiring some pedal cars. We had a four seater which was really fun, and a one-seater which the boys both had a go on. Then we all went into Burnie, walked Winston up and down the boardwalk there, and ate chips for lunch. I had thought at one point there would be fish, but the chips were so good I didn't mind. Nightmarish giant forklifts heaved shipping containers about on the wharf. I thought of the "Stevedores Advice" that used to be read out on the radio - a long string of numbers to tell the dockers who had a day's work. The workforce would be down 90% now on those times.

Dad took Winston for another walk while Mum showed us around the Makers Workshop, of which she is a bit of a star. Her life-size Paper People are featured exhibits, and she was hugged by half the (real) people in the place.

Burnie has outlived its manufacturing past, and now its major industry is tourism. There is a valiant attempt to use the relics and legacy of the paper industry as an attraction. As manufacturing dies out across the country, its novely value grows, I guess. The Makers Workshop is terrific, inside.

I grew up in Burnie and can get very nostalgic there. I was tempted to arrange a half day off on my own nostalgicising around town, but wistfulness is fairly unproductive. The Makers Workshop opened in the refurbished building that was once my kindergarten. That burned down almost immediately after, and has now been replaced by a blank-faced piece of work, that actually compares unfavourably to the 1960s orange brick highrise flats opposite. My old primary school was knocked down and replaced by a Harvey Norman. Since then the hospital where I was born has been knocked down and Harvey Norman has opened there.

We scurried back out to Dad and Winston before the chewed-through-and-knotted-back-together lead came apart.

On Saturday we left Winston with his grandparents, and drove west to visit our secretve friends X and Y and their girls, at their new home in the tiny country townlet of F. The 4 kids just swung into things as if they see each other all the time. X and Y have a back yard the size of a footy field, with a cow paddock over the distant back fence. It was blustery and cold, and the kids' sideways hair and red cheeks and ears reminded me of my family's photo album documenting our childhood outings to similar windy up-country places. They were all happy though, talking to the cows, then coming in and playing board games, then going back to the cows.

The family are loving being back in Tasmania. X is a very interesting and opinionated guy, fun to toss ideas around with. He would be a terrific teacher for bright kids. He found teaching at a private school on the sunny Queensland coast hard going - the kids just didn't see what they had to gain from school. It was keeping them from their jet-bikes. Y is one of the kindest people I have met - she just radiates goodness. And she makes awesome brownies.

The following day we hit the road after breakfast, got home around 2-ish, and spent the rest of the afternoon preparing to re-enter the real world. We had missed soccer, Little Athletics, Milo Cricket and puppy school. but it was certainly worth it.

Oops

This afternoon we all had a paddle at Nutgrove Beach, Sandy Bay. Marcus is getting around really confidently now. Michael has overcome his fears of paddling in more-than-knee-deep water - he really enjoyed it today. Everything went brilliantly until I was tipped out by an invisible wave, and lost my glasses is reasonably deep water. A pretty expensive wobble.