Heading West

• After only a few hours of sleep we were instructed through the loudspeaker to find our Arvi on the floor and the site we were meant to remember!! Followed the crowd and got lucky!
• 6:30am in Devonport – what does one do, they got to Maccas! With a 2 for one deal and free wifi! We found a dentist for a fellow traveller who had a sore tooth and no idea how to use his mobile phone. He was going white water rafting for 10 days- good luck with that!
• Then to a famous Belgian chocolate shop and factory which opened at 7am! Mark did a lot of free tasting and we bought a few blocks to take with us!
• Off to Burnie to see a friend’s sister who lives in this north west town. Stopped at Penguin, that has a lot of penguin paraphernalia. Like an English seaside village!
• Already seeing a lot of cows and English trees – poplars, spruce, hydrangeas, agapanthas, liquid ambers.
• Nice morning tea in Burnie then to Boat Harbour – a lovely bay which on a gorgeous sunny day reminded me of the Greek islands! We swam and paddled in the crystal clear water and thought its only Day 1 of our holiday and we are already in heaven!
• Motored on to Stanley for the night and enjoyed cheese and wine then dinner by the sea on a warm balmy evening with a glassy ocean. Could it get better than this! Oh our RV site right by the path to the toilet block meant it was only 9/10!!
• Next day we walked up “the Nut” a rock thing which does not resemble any nut I know! Mark had a few holes of golf while I wrote Blog 1! Found a Providore shop which as well as selling yummy local food and wine also sold yummy shoes! I am beginning to love Tasmania!
• Set off for Marrawah on the west coast and known for its surf – not on the day we arrived however with a howling 28km wind and a very small wave. Mark thought about windsurfing with his paddle board but didn’t have a visa for Argentina which is the next stop over the ocean so gave it a miss!
• Big storm that night that had Arvi rocking – to those of you who are thinking lewd thoughts we were asleep or at least trying despite the loud noises of the wind. There were people in tents which was amazingly still intact in the morning.
• Next stop was meant to be Arthur River the start of the Tarkine a world heritage area of temperate rainforest but nothing there apart from a fabulous coffee caravan called “seapod “which we just happened to find.
• It is close to the Edge of the World- the last spot on the coast before Argentina if you kept going west. Took obligatory photo.
• We decided to head for Corinna which was about 75km away down the Western Explorer a “highway” through the Tarkine and built despite some controversy in 1995.It is unsealed and had very little traffic due to its poor state. Also fires had been through in 2015 so many areas still looked like a bomb zone.
• 2 and a half hours later (with a nap for driver Mark who is not coping with the long stretches of driving- we have done about 250km since leaving Devonport!) we arrived at Corinna. The road was definitely unsealed and very bumpy for poor Arvi. There were speed signs for 100km/hr and 80km/hr – we averaged 35km/hr!!And Arvi, the bikes and the surfboard covers were all covered in a fine white dust! And later as I discovered also the inside of Arvi as well! Cleaning was necessary!
• It was an old gold mining town and in its heyday had a population of 2500, now possibly max of 10 who look after the pub, the caravan park and the ferry! It was a complete surprise to find this pocket of peaceful wilderness with no TV reception, no mobile or wifi! The river at sunset was picture perfect and in the morning with glassy river we took a walk along its bank through the forest. The rule is to tell a person in the pub you are going which of course I did – immediately regretted it as she said look out for snakes, they might be out and about today!!Suggested making a lot of noise and taking a big stick to ward then off. Why did she have to tell me – “duty of care” she said.
• Having survived the walk with me thinking every branch or root on the ground was a snake and making Mark go first with the big stick we left Corinn after putting Arvy on the Fatman Barge to cross the river for the next adventure! 

                                                     

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