Tassy tales January/February 2005 ... (a Clayton's 4WD trip!) ....

Whilst JC was handling the monthly Wanderers general meeting ... with family I was down in the land of Lee & Nicky. A bit of a rushed trip with only some 10 days to squeeze relatives, friends & sight seeing into ... but we managed! The weather was 25 to 30 degrees every day ... only rained one afternoon and we walked around Richmond in it. Coming home was a shock ... pouring with rain and strong winds on the tarmac.

Lyn's brother in law, Peter, lent us an early 90's Rodeo 4WD turbo diesel dual cab. This trusty steed with 386K kilometres on the clock! ... did a wonderful job of transporting us all over the southern parts of the state. It used no oil and was very frugal on fuel. Long-legged kids & I struggled to stay comfortable in it ... Lyn of course was fine.

Some highlights of our trip were ...

Mount Wellington.
Sitting above Hobart on a clear day you can see for ever ... great visitor improvements since our last visit of over 20 years ago. Boardwalks & a sheltered viewing area.

Cascade Brewery.
A lovely old historic place and free drinks at the end of the tour ... recommended.

Weilangta forest drive.
We stayed most of the time down in Tassy with Lyn's parents in Copping where her brother John runs the Roadhouse. Copping is near one end of this drive and Orford (a fishing/holiday destination) is at the other end. There are some nice walks and good picnic areas ... shame the anti logging mob has to deface everything put in place for the tourist to read & use.

Cadbury's.
More history and who thought you could ever get sick of eating chocolate?

Salmon Ponds.
A trout farm with a fishing museum. How good is this...you pay to go in ... and pay again to feed the fish! I need a job like that!

Mt Field National Park.
We walked up to the Russell & Horseshoe Falls ... then lunch at the bottom of the hill.

Ellendale.
Visited Nicky, Lee & Sam. Nicky's dad was there as well. Lee seems to have gotten involved with trains ... Nissan must be too small! Of course these trains have huge electric motors ... so he would be right in his element ... oops is that a bad pun or what! Still ... they don't get home much earlier from outings ... trains don't get bogged ... but they do breakdown! Ask Lee about the little jinker thing he is hot rodding up to cruise the railway lines a bit quicker. We didn't see Nicky's bus as it was still school holidays.

The Wooden Boat Centre.
This boat building school is down south of Huonville in the lovely water side town of Franklin. For $18k you can do a two year course in wooden boat building. Board & lodgings extra. I had a great time looking around both inside & outside of this place.

Tahune Airwalk.
Forget this if you don't like heights ... otherwise a very pleasant wander around at tree top level. And of course ... these treetops are very high up.

Sheep milking.
The sheep cheese was good too ... way expensive though.

Salamanca Market.
Only on Saturdays ... go early or make two Saturdays available to see it all.

And all too soon we were on our way home ... good times with Lyn's relatives & our friends just a pleasant memory. We never got up north to show my new head office to the family.

Can't wait for next time! Might even get to use 4WD!

Fred



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