Tasmania 4 – The Southwest

Leaving New Norfolk, we drove along Huon River to Cockle Creek – the southernmost point of Tasmania you can drive to. It’s a beautiful drive along the river.

We picked the last camp on the dead-end road in Cockle Creek. While the camps along Recherche Bay (only minutes north on the same road) allow campfires, they were prohibited at our camp. Instead, we were in walking distance to all the walks. 😉 All the camps down there are free and provide well maintained toilets. Thank you to the ranger that comes around every day to clean and restock them.

We parked up, securing our spot on a hill, facing the woods and went for a walk. First, we went to the Whale Sculpture which depicts a Southern Right Whale. There is an info board that explains everything about the whaling stations in Recherche Bay back in the day.

https://parks.tas.gov.au/explore-our-parks/southwest-national-park/cockle-creek

The above link takes you to more info about the whales and the walks around this area.

From the sculpture we ventured on onto the Fishers Point Track.

Fishers Point is a former pilot station. After the convict ship George III was wrecked near the Actaeon Reef (named after the wrecked Actaeon (1822)) they finally installed the position of a pilot who’s job it was to safely navigate the ships through the area.

Convicts built the brick cottage for John Bruce (the pilot) and his crew in 1843 (before this he lived and worked from a hut in Recherche Bay). He retired in 1851 and with the end of the whaling era the locals turned to farming.

Captain Fisher was one of the ex-whalers and he leased the pilot cottage and grew cabbages until the 1880ies!

The walk is very nice through the bush and along the shore. There are a few sections where you have to climb / stumble over boulders but there is always a detour through the bush if you prefer. We did one way with the bush detours and then walked back over the boulders, enjoying the balancing act.

Back at camp we enjoyed a coldie (= a nice cold beer out of the fridge or better on ice) and couldn’t get enough of all the wildlife around us. Pademelons (Tasmanian Wallaby – I mentioned them in earlier blogs) were everywhere. We even saw a quoll wander past just a couple of metres of our mozzie proof home! When it got dark, we got a glimpse of a Tasmanian Devil – so rare to spot in the wild, we count ourselves very lucky!

The following morning, we had a nice brekkie (=breakfast) on the BBQ before we tackled the South Cape Bay hike. It’s an easy 18km walk – most of it is on walkways so you don’t have to worry about getting stuck in the wet weather.

The South Cape Bay hike takes you as far south on the Tasmanian Island as you can get. Even though my map showed an old track to the actual cape, we didn’t see the physical turn off for that track. Must be overgrown and now the bay is the most southern point accessible.

While we had nice weather on most of the walk, the last couple hundred metres, and especially the end at the actual bay was extremely windy and freezing cold. We met a lady who did the walk a decade ago in the most tranquil weather possible. She said there was barely a breeze when she got to the bay. Hard to believe, we’ve got to think that the West coast is always windy and rather wet, even in peak summer.

Due to the strong wind – we both literally got blown off the track hugging the cliff at the bay – we didn’t explore too far. If you keep going though, you get to the first camp of the multiday hike (South Coast Track) just another 8km or so west of the cape. The South Coast Track connects to the Port Davey Trail I mentioned in the last blog. This means you can walk all the way from Cockle Creek to Scotts Peak Dam!

On the way back, almost back at camp, I saw something I’ve never seen or heard of: an Echidna was half buried on the side of the track. I researched it and learned that they do that to either get out of the cold weather and stay warm, or to avoid danger. Am not sure if he did it as it was getting late and eventually a cold night, or if he felt threatened by all the hikers on the path and buried himself out of sight?

Back at camp we sorted out our fridges and found some apples that were a bit past edible. In the bin bag they went, and the wallabies straight into the bag. I took the apples out – I know it’s not great to feed the wildlife, but I was more worried that they suffocate in the bag. It was amazing to watch how the Pademelons dug into the apples, fought over them, and kept coming back to see if there is more.

The next morning, I went to check on the buried Echidna. He was gone, only the hole was there…

We left Cockle Creek and headed towards Hobart.

We discovered Banjo’s Bakery. Unfortunately, their pies are to die for. Honestly the best pies we’ve ever had. The bakery was founded in Launceston, Tasmania in 1984 and has grown to over 50 shops in Tasmania and mainland Australia.

Yes, you guessed right, we stopped at Banjo’s for breakfast on our way to Hobart.

We also paid a visit to the Honey Pot – a very touristy place but Tasmanian honey is amazingly tasty and well and truly another league than the random supermarket honey.

We spent a good part of the early afternoon to find a spot in a caravan park in Hobart. In the end we found one in the lovely Barilla Holiday Park in Cambridge. For what we planned to do it was a very good location and the bonus was the Thai restaurant on site which we checked out for dinner. It is very, very good Thai cuisine and super friendly staff. It’s closed on Sundays, so we couldn’t go back for another dinner the 2^nd night.

We drove up to the top of Mt Wellington in the morning. Highly recommend doing this earlyish in the morning for two reasons: you will be able to find a parking spot and you will be there before the haze of the day blurs the view.

It was freezing cold up there, but the view was incredible.

We did part of the Pinnacle Walk which is very nice but seems to go on forever. By the time we walked back it felt very warm, only until we got back to the carpark, there it was still cold!!

Leaving the parking lot was quite entertaining as we drove past hundreds of cars queuing to get a spot!

We went to the foreshore in Hobart and had lunch at the Victoria Dock. We were a bit confused with the parking ticket machine. It didn’t work. Then I read that public holidays are free. It being Australia Day I assumed it’s a public holiday and I don’t have to pay.

In the middle of lunch we saw a police officer checking the tickets and my partner went to ask him. We only just avoided a ticket!! Because in Australia they have that amazing system – if the public holiday falls on a Sunday you get the Monday off instead. That way you never miss out on a public holiday! As it was Sunday we were meant to pay for parking!

After this we explored the peninsula close to Hobart – South Arm Peninsula. It’s a lovely place with a flair that makes you feel you are somewhere in the outback. It seemed to be a close-knit community of locals. Lots of the houses at the beachfront appeared to be holiday houses which were mostly used on that long weekend.

People were out and about at the beach despite the rather cool breezy weather and played games, enjoyed a drink, and had a laugh.

We headed back to camp with the plan to visit Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula the following day. You’ll have to wait until next week to read about the history of the convicts and what else there is to see and do on Tasman Peninsula.