Wednesday 27th March - New Norfolk
Today we went up into the mountains to Strathgordon. My cousin, Chris, had been a civil engineer on the Gordon Dam project and he and his family lived up there.
Our drive up was by far the most stunning we had seen. We didn’t have any rain and the sun shone a little as we were going up so there were shafts of sun through the trees and what trees - there were so many different kinds. We went into Pedder Wilderness Lodge to see all the info they had which was very interesting. The Gordon Dam is so high, frighteningly so. I had visions of all the men running around with huge tubs of concrete and Chris saying - not there!! We then went to see the Serpentine Dam which is much smaller.
Sally and Chris arrived in March 1971, as £10 Poms, with their eldest son, Anthony, who was nearly one. Jeremy was born in 1972. At the peak of the dam building there was 225 houses with a population of 2,500 of which 1,100 were single men. There were 400 children in the junior school but after that the children had to go away from the town for schooling. Sally and the boys left in 1977 for schooling purposes. Chris continued to travel up to Starthgordon during the week for another 2 years.
We had considered free camping up in Strathgordon but decided against it with our track record for free camping! We drove back down the mountain to New Norfolk and stayed at a site that wasn’t the best ☹️
Thursday 28th March - Hobart
We decided to do some touristy things today and set off to Hobart to go to MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. We weren’t sure what to expect and to be honest we still aren’t! There were lots of old paintings and artefacts interspersed with modern art (or was it the other way around!). The museum is underground, dug into sandstone as you can see from a couple of the photos. It certainly was very strange but also very popular. We felt that we had “done” everything in 90 minutes though I’m sure lots of people were there for much longer.
From there we drove to the Female Factory, a prison for women who had been transported from Britain. There isn’t much there anymore but an exhibition with lots of narrative boards was very eye opening and food for thought. It was operational between 1828 and 1856 and was located in an area of damp swamp land, and with overcrowding, poor sanitation and inadequate food and clothes, there was a high rate of disease and deaths. There is a memorial to the 1,148 known infants who died there.
We then drove south to look at some beaches. We hadn’t had any lunch so stopped at Kingston Beach, bought some chips and ate them overlooking a very nice bay. It was then on to Oyster Cove Marina where we sat overlooking the boats eating an ice cream.
It was then time to head back towards Hobart to see my cousin Chris and his wife, Sally. We managed to squeeze the campervan between the house snd the hedge, so we were sorted! It was lovely to see them and we sat outside drinking tea and eating hot cross buns! We had a lovely evening and then popped back to the van.
I forgot to say that today was a glorious autumn day and quite hot - Richard was back in his shorts again!
Friday 29th March - Hobart
Another beautiful day with blue sky and sunshine all day and it was shorts weather!
In the morning we went on a boat trip down the harbour where we saw dolphins, seals and a lighthouse! Our skipper was very knowledgeable and, as the boat was a rib, we were able to get quite close in to the rocks. We went down to the Iron Pot lighthouse, I went into the bow of the boat and was warned that there might be a dreadful smell - there was! It was the home of the black faced cormorants and they really had no idea about housework and keeping their home clean! From there we went down to Betsey Island where we saw two sea eagles flying around.
The Iron Pot lighthouse was built in in 1832 using convict labour and is the oldest lighthouse in Tasmania and the oldest original tower in Australia. There is a lovely story related to the lighthouse. In 1862 it is said that one of the keeper’s children claimed to have found a high grade gold bearing quartz nugget. The Iron Pot gold rush was on within hours of being reported, however 200 potential diggers were disappointed as no further gold was found!
We sped back up the harbour at 36 knots (41 mph) and were back on land very quickly.
In the afternoon we went up Mount Wellington where we had fantastic views. The mountain is 4,170 feet high but is only the 49th highest in Tasmania. It was named after the Duke of Wellington. The road up to the top of the mountain was built as a relief scheme for the unemployed and was open in January 1937.
Chris and Sally’s younger son, Jeremy, came round later, I haven’t seen him since he was 10 - 42 years ago!! It was lovely to catch up with my first cousin once removed!
It was then packing - again! I’m getting quite good at this now but having another bag at the campervan depot made it difficult as I couldn’t remember how much space was in it.
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