Offshore Again...Part Two

Day six of our Second Tasmanian adventure saw us heading for St Helens on the East Coast. We drove through some gorgeous countryside: fabulous farmland, dense forests and high hills. The weather was also better, with sunshine and higher temperatures.

A lavender farm enroute was a pleasant spot for a coffee break.

With a population of around 1,500 the pleasant seaside town of  St Helens is the largest town on the Bay of Fires, so named because of the red lichens that grow on the rocks. 

The beaches of the have stunning  white sand which gives the water a beautiful azure blue colour.

After a visit to a local wildlife sanctuary, where we made friends with a few wallabies, we had lunch at a local bar.

After lunch we decided to go for a walk along the bay, but had gone no more than 50 steps when her indoors tripped and fell hard. She got up, in pain, and then promptly fainted. Thankfully two women driving by stopped and one happened to be a nurse. We quickly determined that there nothing was broken, but she had a really bad sprain.  We went back across the road to the apartment for some rest.

While a number of the planned activities on day eight, Thursday, had to be abandoned after the previous day's injury, the drive along the coast to Bichenowas spectacular with more white sand beaches. This is another charming East Coast seaside town about 80 km south of St Helens.

At Bicheno we had an early lunch in a restaurant with superb views over Waub Bay and out into the Tasman Sea...and an uninterrupted 1900 km line to the West Coast of New Zealand.

Friday had us traveling to Hobart, with more gorgeous coastal and country views on a sunny and warm day. We paused for lunch in the pleasant town of Richmond, before continuing on to Hobart. After checkin to the exact same apartment we had last year, we headed out into familiar streets, winding up in a brew pub with the dubious name of Manky Sally's. Then after a little shopping at the supermarket we headed 'home'.

Saturday, our last full day in Tasmania, started with a stroll through hundreds of stalls that make up the Saturday Salamanca Markets. Then we worked our way up to the city centre - which proved demanding for my accompanying invalid. Here we had a bit of shopping planned, but didn't expect to run into tens of thousands of children and parents waiting to see the Hobart Santa Parade! We quickly bought what we were after then exited the area before Santa arrived and chaos ensued. Coffee and cake in a more subdued location followed before returning to the apartment to finish up the last of our lunch supplies.

An afternoon visit to Manky Sally's for a couple of pints and a slow walk around the docks preceded a home cooked dinner washed down with an excellent Tasmanian Pinot Noir.

Tomorrow we will pack up early and be at the airport mid-morning for a noon departure and an evening arrival into Auckland, the end of another enjoyable Tasmanian holiday. 

Offshore Again...

Well, we are back in Tasmania, on my retirement trip that we booked back in January to use up  one of my long service benefits. We wanted to do a few things we were unable to do when we visited in March last year.

We left Auckland relatively early on Thursday, arriving at Hobart around 11:00. The descent and arrival were turbulent, resulting in a go-around, but we landed on the second attempt. Immigration, baggage claim, customs and car rental were quickly resolved and we were on the road for Strahan before noon. There was a spattering of rain as we headed west on the Lyell Highway and as we climbed up through the rugged areas the rain became more persistent. Then, as we climbed above 600 meters, the temperature dropped dramatically to 3 or 4 degrees C and the rain became snow flurries. As we climbed even higher to 800 meters, west of Derwent Bridge,  the snow became heavier and was settling making for a pretty scene, but thankfully not heavy enough to impede our progress too severely.

After a tiring four hour drive we made it to Strahan. The last time we were here it was blue skies, 30 degrees C and sunny, but not this day - it was leaden skies, raining a little with a very cold SW wind roughing up the harbour.

After dinner in a nice restaurant beside the water, we returned to our hotel for a drink beside the fire then an early night. 

The weather improved over night and the day dawned clear, but still pretty cool.

Our main activity for the day was a cruise on the MacQuarie Harbour taking in the harbour entrance then up into the Gordon River 35 KM to the south. There was still a bit of rain around, but most of the trip to the harbour mouth was fine, although that sharp Sou'Wester called for a coat, scarf and hat. The harbour entrance is difficult, with 700 meters of shallows on the eastern side and a navigable channel just 83 meters wide on the west. In early says it was a treacherous entrance for the ships hauling timber as winds from the Southern Ocean roll in creating huge swells. A former colleague of mine encountered this when he sailed around Tasmanian few years ago, when after entering the harbour they encountered swells so great that they were stuck here for a week - there much worse places in the world to be stuck, mind you.

The entrance channel from outside the harbour.

Our stealth-like catamaran took us south, zipping along at the rate of 25 knots, to the mouth of the Gordon River, a UNESCO World Heritage Area and the tourism jewel in the crown for this region. What a stunningly beautiful and peaceful place this is with a broad mix of fauna, including the famous Huon Pine, the timber that was the basis for most of the early industry of the area.

We travelled some 12 KM up the river to a landing site where we could leave the boat and walk through the dense forrest.

Her indoors has wisely taken the cruise upgrade that not only gave us "business class" seats on the upper deck by also an excellent lunch, with drinks, served as we exited the river.

Next stop was Sarah Island that served as a penal colony for 12 years - and what a harsh place it would have been too - before becoming a shipyard. It is in ruins now but the general layout is able to be seen.

Then it was back to Strahan for a rest before dinner. After which we climbed the 76 steps back up to our hotel on the hill for a drink as the sun dipped.

Day three, Saturday, saw us on the road again, heading for Burnie on the north coast. It was a relatively easy two hour drive through some stunningly rugged and beautiful country. Despite the forecast of rain, we had a gloriously sunny day. On the way we paused for lunch and to visit the Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden, an eleven hectare garden with ornate structures and lakes carefully and  constructed and maintained by a team of volunteers. Many of the Rhododendrons were in bloom and the vale was awash with colour.

We spent a couple of hours wandering along the trails and watching three platypuses in one of the lakes. 

The platypus disappears again!

After dinner we wandered down to the esplanade to watch the penguins come ashore as darkness fell.

Sunday, day 4, was a slow day  in Burnie. There wasn't much open in town, but we did get to walk along the esplanade again and saw a pair of juvenile penguins before rain set in just after noon. 

We returned to our apartment looking out over Bass Strait for lunch.

Bass Strait - mainland Oz lies 200Km beyond the horizon

The rain stopped shortly after 2:00 PM and we ventured out into the town again, but it was still very quiet so we stopped in a local pub for a while before returning to the apartment. We considered a walk down to watch the penguins return, but the return of the rain put paid to that thought. 

Today, Monday, day 5, saw us leaving Burnie for Launceston, taking a small detour to Beauty Point where we visited a platypus and echidna centre where we could see a number of rescued animals...I never knew that the male platypus is venomous.

 Very grainy image (a common issue with digital zoom) of a male platypus

Echidnas are strange little creatures that womble around - wombling seems to me to be the best way to describe their movement - quite happily amongst us humans.

After a picnic lunch we drove on Launceston for a bit of shopping, a couple of drinks by the river and dinner.

So five days down and half the trip gone.

 

Action on the Western Front in 1918

After our foray in the Western Front in 1914 last time the action has moved forward four years.

The scenario is that the Kaiserschlact has failed and the Germans are in retreat with the Allies in pursuit. Two of the retreating German regiments are ordered to hold their position and stop the pursuit, and a third regiment, a battalion of storm troopers supported by artillery, a tank and a single aircraft are sent to help.

The Allied advance is lead by the Gloucestershire Regiment and the Gordon Highlanders, with support from and Franco-American force coming up. The allies have artillery, armour and air support.

The battlefield being scouted by a single British aircraft

The retreating Germans northwards...the two guys behind threatening shoot the guy with the map if he gets it wrong...

The British Guns look for a position

Covered by the mortars

The messenger

The Gloucestershires advance on the right...

With the Gordons on the left

A Whippet supports the Gordons

The British Mk1 Tank rumbles forward in support of the Gloucestershires

The German machine guns take position...

To cover the retreat

Hubert: " Hello, is that Uber Eats?"

The A7 lumbers towards the Gloucestershires

The Stormtroopers arrive...at the double

The British storm forward

Enter the French

They bring a FT17 with them.

But the Germans hold

The British guns have found a position

The Gordons are advancing...

...against well positioned Germans

German guns engage the French

"What you lookin' at?"

"Well?"

The first aircraft arrives

The Mk 1 has almost made it to the front

A second British plane arrives

A third British aircraft arrives and sweeps over the recently arrived Americans

But the German aircraft has arrived and drives the British plane away

"Where are those Uber Eats?"

"Take a message sergeant..."

All was quiet in the ruined village...

But not for long

The British guns in action

The French commanders are looking for a café, while Bertrand  in the background has caught a pigeon for his dinner

The Stormtrooper flamethrower appears...

...and causes considerable loss in the Gloucestershires

But the Gloucestershires get their revenge and he is soon engulfed in flame as his apparatus explodes

Wait...there are the Uber Eats

"Damit, this is Butter Chicken, I ordered Lamb Rogan Josh!"

After a hard fight the Germans had stopped Allied advance for now, fulfilling their objective.

Thanks to John L for most of the images here.