Day 2 – Sydney/Devonport to Launceston

A patchy sleep and after stirring several times, I wake at around 1ish and it surprisingly a lot calmer.

4:30 comes and the alarm goes off.  I can see the lights of the Tasmanian coast through the window.   Showered, and as the boat docks I get ready for the 5:30 disembarkment.  Our deck gets called first and we head down to the vehicles.  I’m a bit surprised when the crew guy points to me first to drive off.   Dark and misty, I nervously navigate my way off the ship.

The plan is to drive to other side of the river, only a few K’s to Coles to do some shopping, given we needed to dump all our fresh fruit and veg before the voyage.  

I had expected some breakfast on the ship, but they were only serving coffee so I as I’m on the early side of the planned time, I go to Macca’s to get some breakfast.  Apparently, half the boat as the same plan!   And surprisingly Maccas doesn’t seem to be open till 6.   I hate queuing, so head over to Coles to get the shopping done first.   As this time in the morning, I can park the van up the far end of the carpark and not annoy to many people.

I get a message that Justine’s flight has been delayed an hour.  That, and apparently Sydney Airport security is just a cluster over the last few days and hasn’t improved today.

At just after 7 I drive out of Devonport and head towards Launceston.   Only a short distance out of town I can see the mountains to the south of me, I didn’t think they reached this far north.

We haven’t booked anything for the first 5 or 6 days.  In fact, the first booking is Port Arthur on Wednesday, from then given it’s easter and school holidays the accommodation is all locked in.   There are two options in Launceston, a Big4 and a campsite, called Old Macs.  As the weather seems fine, I’m keen on the campground.  This morning, the other benefit of this is I can turn up at any time, and don’t need to wait till 11 or 12 to checkin.  

I drive in, find a site and unhitch the van and fill out the registration forms.  Now I can just drive over to the airport and not need to worry about the van in tow.

I’m absolutely surprised to find out how hilly Launceston is, it’s unbelievable, and all these hills make the road system a bit of a rabbit warren.

Justine and the kids’s flight other than delayed was uneventful and they arrive on time.  As the van is already dumped we elect to drive over to Cataract Gorge straight away.  On the way we pass the Big4, only to find it overlooking the main highway in.  How’s the serenity?

As we walk into the reserve, I can see the chairlift.  We decide we’ll walk over the old bridge.  I want to do the gorge walk, so we’ll catch the chairlift back.  We all surprised how warm it is, particularly as it was raining this morning in Sydney.  Fortunately, in the gorge after crossing the bridge we mostly in the shade. The walk is only a few KM, and reasonably level, but with my bung foot, it’s a bit slow going. 

The view along the gorge walk is great, I nice way to ease into the holiday.  We arrive back at the chairlift.  Justine and Caitlin get into the first one, followed up by Liam and myself.  It’s a really peaceful and fortunately smooth ride over the reservoir.

Twice Liam gets called one of our “girls” and its only day 1.

We do a bit of a drive around Launceston CBD, grab some lunch, then as a surprise we head over the other side of the river to a new flash park the city has built on the river foreshore.  The kids go wild, while I rest up.

Back to the van for a bit of a late afternoon rest after such an early start.  

In the campground there are all these ducks and geese around and up by the entrance there are some paddocks with some sheep and other animals that the kids visit.

Caitlin finds from friends in from some of the vans around us.   A family from the Blue Mountains coming towards the end of a 12mths lap.

A bit of blogging, but it ends up being a very early night for everyone.