A week in the Tamar Valley
Our first stop after Devonport was a pretty short drive really, about an hour and a half further east to Low Head, on the eastern side of the mouth of the River Tamar. We planned to stay here a week, so we could have a bit of time to get stuck into the new routine of home-schooling and working, with a bit of sightseeing in the mix. Even though I’ve worked while we’ve been away before it is a bit of a mindset shift to think of this as a life rather than a holiday – we have to get the work and the schooling done just as much as we’re here to have a look around.
Anyway, we arrived about mid-afternoon and were shown to a site that would hopefully be tucked away from the increased winds that were due to arrive. It was a really nice campground – big sites, not very busy, a couple of camp kitchens and some amenities and right on the beach. Once we’d set up we went to have a look at the beach, and a good thing we did because for the next three days the weather wasn’t great and we didn’t venture down there again until the wind dropped and the rain cleared away.
We’re reasonably well set up for rain, you have to be really, especially this year when most of Australia has had a ridiculous amount of rain. Generally we don’t mind camping in the rain, it’s the wind that is the problem as it batters things around a bit, but luckily our guy steered us right and we were pretty sheltered in our little spot.
The cold has taken a bit of getting used to – we had a couple of nights with a frost so it was pretty chilly. Heidi ended up in two sleeping bags, mine inside hers, with a duvet on top so she was toasty after that. We were calling her Tur-duk-in, after that great Christmas delight of a chicken, cooked inside a duck, cooked inside a turkey. The hot water bottles seem to do the job most of the time, and we’re hoping, being October, that the weather can only get warmer.
In terms of the local sights – Low Head is a really nice little town with an old pilot station and lighthouse and not a lot else. We went up to the lighthouse on the Sunday where they blow the foghorn at 12pm (and as promised it was really loud). We also managed to spot a seal gliding by in the sea below.
The nearest town of any note is George Town which is the third oldest settlement in Australia. The kids and I did the self-guided historical walk around the town which was reasonably interesting and thankfully not too long for the kids to start complaining. It ended at the old goal house which we went into for a poke around, and to learn more about the female factory that had existed in the town (some of the history around the convict times is pretty grim).
George Town was also home to a Woolies which we seemed to have to go to a lot, and a really good little library which I spent a morning in working (and using their lightning fast internet). In Devonport we’d signed up for library cards for 3 months as visitors. Tasmania provides this great service where they not only allow visitors to borrow books, but to return them at any library in the state. So we’re now carrying round this huge bag of books that we’ve swapped out once in George Town and will not doubt do again here in St Helens.
We also drove down to Launceston for an afternoon and the kids and I did the Cataract Gorge walk (Jett is not invited to all the good places, but I don’t think Jim minded the time to sit down and catch up on his emails). Plus we visited a pub that we’d had dinner at a few years before when we went to Launceston for our 10-year wedding anniversary. It was pretty cold, and also a public holiday for the show day so we headed back to the tent after a few hours of pottering around doing that.
On another day we went to the Beaconsfield Museum and Heritage Centre which is an excellent spot to take the kids (and we found it interesting too). Lots of interactive stuff that they can play with and touch which of course the kids love (probably in part because they don’t have to have the “don’t touch that” speech all the way around).
The weather turned good again for our last couple of days and we discovered a really nice coastal walk from our tent along the beach to the next beach, through the wildflowers, which are all in flower. We also spotted an echidna which was pretty cool. The wildlife is everywhere actually – pademelons (like little wallabies) are absolutely rampant.
One thing we’ve noticed so far (after only two locations to be fair) is that we are by far in the minority in terms of our camping setup. There were a couple of other tents and camper trailers around but mostly caravans and campervans. Because of the cold, they’re pretty keen to stick indoors so it makes for a quiet time in the campsites. They also prefer the powered sites, which means we often have the unpowered section to ourselves.
Speaking of power, we upgraded our setup before we left from 2 solar panels and 2 batteries to 3 of each, and bought a new inverter – the whole setup is going gangbusters even without much sun so we have had no issues using 240v to run laptops, running the 12v electric blanket at night (yes we have one and yes it is the best thing ever), or running the fridge/freezer. So hopefully that will continue, especially at our new site, which is fully off-grid with no camp kitchens to top up power in.
We moved on yesterday, going on a really nice drive through places we’d actually been before (Bridport, Scotsdale, Derby), over a few windy mountain rounds and down into St Helens before heading a bit out of town to this spot (Swimcart Beach, Bay of Fires). I’ve heard good things about the seafood here and was pretty pleased to spot a sign for oysters on our way in.
Jim had to do the set up himself (again) as I had a couple of urgent work things to get out the door, but actually he doesn’t mind the mucking about setting everything up and it’s a good time for me to do a bit of work while nothing else of interest is happening. We’ll stay here a few days at least – 50mm of rain predicted for tomorrow so we better get the extra tarps out…
2 Comments
Hi Sarah,
Fabulous blog (is it a blog?), and I love the web address. I’ll pass it on to the others. You’ve set a high bar with your posts, but I hope you can keep it up. I for one will be living vicariously through your travels. The 12v electric is also a revelation and something I’ll be following up.
All the best,
Chris
Thanks Chris! We shall see if the standard can be maintained…:-)
The power setup is quite complicated – I’ll get Jim to write about it at some point! But it is very helpful to be able to power everything as and when we need it, and so far without having to worry about running out of battery.