Well our first real taste of Tassie. After meeting Bob and Rhonda up at Yolla and spending the night we headed towards “The Bay of Fires”. Only about 350kms away – how long could that take. Well a bloody lot longer than we thought. After topping up with supplies at Launceston we headed to St Helen’s via Scottsdale, Derby and Weldborough, definitely the hilliest trip we have had yet. It was literally hours of uphill and down dale and most of it fairly steep. We were told Tassie was pretty hilly, but I don’t think we were prepared for quite so many!!!

We finally arrived in St Helen’s late on Friday afternoon and headed up the coast (about 20kms) to the Bay of Fires. We decided to stay at the Cosy corner north campsite as it is a bit more protected from the wind. It is a free camp site that has toilets and little else; except for some of the best beach views I have ever seen. The plan was to just hand around and do a bit of fishing, walking and a couple of day trips to see the local sites, and that’s exactly what we did. The coastline is dotted with little bays, lots of rocks, surf and lagoons. I thought the bay got its name from the red rocks (caused by a lichen that grows on them), but it was named by Captain Tobias FUrneaux in 1773, for all the aboriginal camp fires that were burning when they first sighted the coastline.

Cosy Corner North

We caught a few Salmon and our neighbours camped nearby gave us a lobster. The Oysters from the local farm were $8.00/doz and straight from the ocean – yum. We had some really fine sunny days, some rain and at times a bit of wind, but no matter what the weather the views were still great.

On a less happy note, Larry (the car) finally decided that at age 21 he would give up the ghost, well partially give up – the clutch started playing up at bit. All those hills no doubt. We had him fixed at St Helen’s and are hoping to get 21 years out of this clutch.

Bessy continues to eat and grow, and has just loved being down here with the beach and rocks to run rampant on, although she has been feeling the cold at night, and we have had to get her a coat. You would think a dog from The Alice would be used to a bit of cold.

When we head back up to Yolla we are going via St Mary’s and the Midlands Highway, hopefully not quite so hilly. Once we are settled in Yolla we will be looking for some work in either Somerset or Bernie (to help pay the bills). My Dad has not been well so I may have to fly home for a short spell and leave Peter and the dog to fend for themselves for a week or so. Travelling is great, but the down side is that we are away from family and it is really hard not being at home when something goes wrong. Anyway, we will keep you all updated and let you known what life is like up in the hills at Yolla.