We arrived in Mathinna and checked out the pub which serves as the bottle shop and general meeting point of all the landowners in the area. There is not much of a town, it is an old settlement of people that cherish the isolation. When we drove in, everyone was eyeing the numberplate – quite a common thing in Tasmania, we’ve noticed that in a lot of places. We were greeted quite friendly despite being as much an outsider as one can be with number plates giving away that we are from the very other end of Australia.
Photos borrowed from We love making jokes about Mathinna at… – Launceston Memes | Facebook and Mathinna, Australia: All You Need to Know Before You Go (2025) – Tripadvisor
From there we navigated to the block of land our friends call their new home. At Mathinna’s pub we already felt like we are in the middle of nowhere. Trying to find our friends place made us feel like we were heading into the nowhere from the nowhere. They well and truly found a haven on crowded planet Earth in the middle of bumfuck (Australian slang for the ‘nowhere in the nowhere’).
It was great to catch up, we haven’t seen them for a long time. Very exciting to be able to help with their project bringing the rainwater tank to the spot they had prepared for it. On the way to where the rainwater tank was waiting, we came past a Bush pepper tree – I only know about Bush pepper because of my favourite cheese (more about that further down). The tree was ripe and we had a go at the berrylike fruits. Geez they were intense! (other slang word for’oh my god’ or ‘Jesus’ – excuse the language 😉) Not even eating raw chilli made my tongue go that numb, let alone the spice in my throat!!
Our friend’s video of the installation of the rainwater tank in the youtube below:
After that mission we gathered around a campfire in front of the house and had a delicious meal while chatting away until late.
The next day they took us for a drive to see the backyard. Our friend tried for a fish, but had no luck that day, we had nice steak sandwiches at another stretch of the river and enjoyed the company and the bush.
Back at their home we were allowed to feed the Joeys. Our friend did a course on how to raise orphan animals and got two joeys. They are old enough to be weaned off the bottle slowly.
Am amazed by the commitment she got into raising them baby kangaroos. At the start they had to be fed every 4hours, means she had to get up in the middle of the night to feed them. It’s getting easier now they soon will be weaned off the bottle.
That second night we got the headtorches out and got to see the Quolls roaming the area. Walking back to our camp we spotted lots more and heaps of possums too.
Sadly we said our goodbyes after the 2nd night as we had to get on our way to catch the ferry in 48hrs. It was fantastic to catch up – since they moved to Tassie and us relocating to Darwin… it won’t be quite as easy to catch up as it used to be.
Thanks for having us, enjoyed every second of it!
If you would like to follow their progress in setting up a new life away from everything, check out Dani’s blog: WILD by Dani www.youtube.com/@wildbydani She also has an Instagram site featuring her incredible photos of the wildlife and plants around them – in WA as well as in Tasmania: Instagram.com/@wildbydani
The inland of the Northeast is what we haven’t seen yet, apart from Mathinna. Hence, we drove a big loop after we left and visited a few places in that quarter of Tasmania.
We headed towards Little Blue Lake and stopped on the way in Legerwood where they have the Carved WWI Memorial Trees. The trees were planted in 1918 in honour of the 25 fallen soldiers from the town. In 2001 the trees were declared unsafe and by 2004 it was decided to carve each tree into the likeliness of the soldier it was planted for. Chainsaw carver Eddie Freeman of Ross did a marvellous job. It’s a very impressive memorial site and worth to stop and stroll amongst the sculptured tree trunks and read the stories behind each of them.
We got hungry and found a bakery in Branxholm, unaware that they are famous for their pies! I admit, it was one of the best I’ve had! They are that big though that we decided to share one which is unheard of!
We saw another snake along the way and finally made it to the Blue Lake which we only visited because I heard of it but didn’t know that it was an old mining site and not a natural Blue Lake at all. Its pretty anyway and we walked as far around it as we could follow the track.
When it got too confusing with the mountain bike tracks, we turned around and went to The Pub in the Paddock our friend told us about. It is a very old building and features a lot of funny posters on the walls. The sheep are grazing nearby but the biggest attraction is the beer drinking pig Priscilla.
From there we made our way towards Devonport along a gravel road. We stopped at The Columba Falls, which were officially closed because of fallen trees after the heavy rain they had a couple months ago. By now there was a sneaky little entrance next to the closed sign and we went to see the falls like many others. It’s a beautiful walk down the hill amidst the rainforest. The falls do not disappoint either.
Further down the track we walked to the Ralphs Falls. They have a decent drop and you can see them across the valley.
In Nabowla we found a gravel pit – thanks to WikiCamps – where we set up for the night. The sunset over the neighbouring paddock was very nice with the grass glowing in the late sun.
Later we had the silly idea to chase each other up the gravel piles. It was a very funny chase and even funnier coming back down.
The next day we planned to do the Catraract Gorge hike in Launceston, which sounds incredibly nice, but we got a bit lost on gravel tracks on the way to town. We came across a sign saying, “DANGER forest operation ahead”. We called the foresters on the UHF (radio communication device in cars and trucks) and they said we are good to come through. We stopped where they were and had a chat and also asked what the best way was to get back on main roads. A very interesting and different experience it was!
We saw a full rainbow on the way! It always excites me when I see the full bow and not just a half one.
We paid the Ashgrove cheese factory a visit – we discovered their cheese in 2023 when my dad was visiting us for three months. Dad loves a wine with bread and some cheese, and we had no idea what cheese to buy. So, when we found the Ashgrove 5 piece tasting packets, we went for it and loved it! My absolute favourite is the Bush pepper one. You read my experience with fresh bush pepper above. In the cheese it turns to a spicy but somehow sweet taste.
Thanks to WikiCamps (again) I located a camp only 20min from the ferry but situated quite remote along a river with a little pond. We spent the evening looking out for Platypus. We saw some but I failed to get a good shot of one of them. Anyway, it was a great way to finish our Tasmania trip – we started and finished with Platypus hehe.
We had to get up before sunrise to check in at the ferry – or so the text message from Spirit of Tasmania said… Checking in and getting our tickets wasn’t a problem but then we sat in the queue for over an hour before we could board because they were still unloading cars and trucks off the ferry. Finally, we got on and went for breakfast as soon as they opened. We booked the cinema ticket for Moana2 at 10am and went to our recliner chairs for a nap after.
Yes, we are back on mainland Australia for the next blog. Thanks for reading and hopefully enjoying it. Leave a comment below for questions, remarks, improvement suggestions, etc. Have a great day!
Explored Feb 2025, written March 2025
Another interesting read, full of adventures. look forward to next blog.