Day 7 – Swimcart Beach to Port Arthur

I’m up early again, so see the red horizon, only this time there is less cloud, so we see the sunrise not long later at 6:30.

Again, it’s an amazing morning.  This is such a great location.  Although overnight ever so often the waves sound like a small bomb going off.  Other times they are soft and soothing.

We’ve got a big day of driving today, so I’d like to get away before 9 if possible.

Finally packed up, we drive back through St Helens, and I have to stop for a pie at the local bakery.

Not long and we drive through the town of Scamander. All this east coast trip we’ve been talking about the time we stayed in Bicheno on our honeymoon trip, as we drive through Scamander and over the bridge, we see a hotel, and look at each other.   It’s wasn’t Bicheno afterall.  We wonder for a moment if Bicheno has a similar bridge and hotel, but as we drive through it a short while later, the answer is of course No.

The view along this section of coastline is just sensational.  

Justine spots the Bicheno blowhole to stop at for a short break.  We’ve been commenting on how calm the ocean has been today, as it has over the last few days, so we’re not expecting too much from the blowhole.  While I guess it might be spectacular in rough weather, it still pretty impressive today.

We’ve thought about going down to Wineglass bay, Justine wasn’t that taken with it last time.  When planning this trip, there were not too many camping options in the area, and any that could be booked where already taken. It will be at least a 1.5hr diversion and I doubt I’m up for such a walk so we continue on.

Through Swansea, and a quick break.   The bay here and the view across to the Freycinet Peninsula does look impressive.

We arrive at the small town of Triabunna around 12:30, Justine has spotted the “Fish Van” a fish and chip shop on the harbor that appear to have a good reputation.   It was pretty good and quite reasonably priced.  That, and somehow, they seem to have keep the seagull population under control.    Triabunna is the town that the ferry over to Maria Is. leaves from, but seem a busy fishing port too.

Just south, and the cops are stopping all traffic, everyone is getting a breath test. The cop that tests me, is particularly interested in the Wonderland Van, seems he might have his eye out for one.

A few more Km’s, at a town called Orford, Google has me turn off the main highway and swing a left.  I had noticed a couple of costal roads, that I was fine taking, so we turn left.   A few Kms on, we instructed to turn right, up some mountain pass, Mmmm this doesn’t seem right.  A few 100m in we decide to turn around.  The map is not particularly clear, we could head back to the main highway, take this pass or continue on straight.  With no real rhyme or reason, we continue straight.  At least this road is tar.  We drive for another 5 or 10ks and we come across this narrow grid.  Mmm, What the hell, we keep going.  The view over the bay here is fantastic, and the road is pretty good.  Then we come to another grid, now the road is dirt, although in pretty good condition.

We continue on for another 20 or 30k’s with the road slowly getting worse.  In my mind I’m wondering if we’ll need to turn back, at least we’ve got plenty of fuel.  We pass a few 4WDs and none wave me down (maybe just a minor chuckle at someone trying to tow a van through here).  Then we come across a couple of normal cars, phew, if they made it through, we should be OK.   It’s a bit of a relief to hit the main road again!

Finally, we arrive at Port Arthur, and I’m glad that drive is over.   We find our “Drive Thru” site and the car is at a very odd angle and ends up being rather difficult to un-hitch.

After a week of camping, we hook up the power and water, only to find the water not flowing.  The tap and hose are OK, so it’s something with the van plumbing.  The pump and the tanks are still working.  So about all it can be is the van’s pressure reduction valve, a part that reduces mains pressure so the van’s plastic plumbing doesn’t burst. I remove it and pull it apart, not 100% sure what it was, but that seems to have fixed it.

In the meantime, a couple in the next site ask if we’ve got an axe, they bought wood for a fire, but need to cut some of it down for kindling.  Sure, we do and we talk about our travels.  As it turns out they are here on their Honeymoon, albeit delayed by 12mths due to Covid.

On the quiet, Justine, while checking in, bought some food for the wallaby’s, or more accurately Long Nose Potoroos (we think), that live here.   Sure enough, about 5ish, we start to see them feeding on the grassed sites.  While timid little creatures, they are obviously used to being feed, and eventually eat out of the kids’ hands.

Every site we can see has a firepit, our one, best we can tell is the only site with a fire BBQ instead.  A pain for a camp fire, Justine points out they are not concreted down, so we “swap” with a nearby site. 

That wood from Anson’s Bay is just perfect for a quick campfire, Over the fire we talk to the family from Brisbane in the site above us and all the kids enjoy a few marshmellows before dinner.