Burgess blog #2

Burgess blog #2 - Sunday 7 February

Towns/campsites/caravan parks stayed at since blog 1:

Triabunna
Fortescue Bay (Tasman National Park)
Ken Betlehem’s place in South Hobart
Cygnet
Dover

Highlights

Anson Bay is part of the famous Bay of Fires area in NE Tasmania. While using a pit toilet there, H noticed something moving in the pit. It turned out to be a blue tongue lizard. H wished he could have rescued the lizard from its predicament, but maybe it liked it down there.

We are sure many mainlanders have heard of Bicheno, a small fishing town on the east coast not far from Coles Bay and Freycinet National Park. We were a little underwhelmed by Bicheno, finding it overpriced and a little difficult for pedestrians to get around. K was looking for a feed of grilled fish in a local café and was told that the fish ‘comes to us battered’. We also encountered this phenomenon of the local produce not quite making it to the local cafes and supermarkets in the Huon Valley, famous for its fruit.

At Coles Bay, we walked to Wineglass Bay and back, as you do as tourists. We did an inventory of our bushwalking clothes, and it was a serious fashion case of ‘who are you wearing?’ – Paddy Pallin, Mountain Designs, The North Face, Mont, Scarpa, Kathmandu, Ex Officio, Royal Robbins, and Billabong. In our defence, we have acquired much of our gear over 10 years of camping and bushwalking.

Maria Island (off Triabunna) was a wonderful place to visit, a microcosm of Tasmania – a mix of cultural heritage (a former penal settlement) and beautiful natural heritage. Well worth a visit for anyone coming to Tassie.

While extolling the virtues of Tasmania, Fortescue Bay is a magical place, and the cruise down the eastern side of Bruny Island was exhilarating. Seas were rough the day we went out, it was like nature’s roller coaster. A few passengers were affected, and several times a crew member had to fill up a bucket and call out ‘feet up everyone’ as he splashed water on the deck! We could go on about the beauty of Tasmania, and H is happy to talk anyone into coming down for a visit. The tagline for Hobart on a tourist brochure is ‘the way life should be’. The perennial issue for Tassie is jobs, and talking with a caravan park owner, there are fewer grey nomads this year as the drop in superannuation returns bites hard.

Some observations about caravan park culture:
• Parks seem a great place for kids, who ride their bikes around, meet new friends and enjoy a level of freedom they may not experience elsewhere.
• Bathroom etiquette – shower at 2pm after they have been cleaned. This might require a total reorganisation of the day’s activities but totally worth the pleasure. What do you wear to and from the bathroom? K saw a younger man returning to his onsite van wrapped only in a towel, and an older man with skinny legs in a dressing gown.

Word Watch

Each blog we will share some of the words/names that catch our attention, or words that we create along the way.

Gwalk (pronounced gwawk): the regular wander around the caravan park to check out other people’s set up, with particular attention paid to newcomers.

At Geeveston in the south H noticed the ‘Volunteer Transport Axiliary’. Apparently ‘auxiliary’ is spelt ‘axiliary’ in a forestry town, where the ‘axe’ is regularly wielded.