TASMANIA 3 - THE NORTH-EAST

From Launceston we drove north-east to a fantastic campground called Myrtle Park. The park is about 30 klms southwest of Scottsdale and is only $3 per night for a site. There are no powered sites but there is heaps of room with many camps right beside St Patrick’s River. The toilet block was excellent with beautiful hot showers and most sites also had picnic tables and fireplaces. This would be an excellent base for exploring the northeast. There is even a tennis court and we were assured there were also trout in the creek. We would have stayed longer but we had visited the lavender farm etc on our last trip so we only stayed for the one night.

Next morning we headed to Bridport and then continued northeast to Waterhouse Conservation Area. There are lots of camping areas including two lagoons on the way which were very ordinary. We later learned that these camps were used by duck shooters, which explained why they were not maintained at all. Anyway we continued on to Waterhouse Point. Most of the camps in this area are on the eastern side of the Point and this is definitely the better side especially if there is a westerly blowing. However, when we arrived, all of the camps on the eastern side were full so we went into The Village Green on the western side. The campground was excellent, with plenty of room and grassy sites amongst the coastal heath and the beach was fantastic. The views from the van across to Waterhouse Island were beautiful.

Looking across to Waterhouse Isand.



The beach was beautiful.



 

We didn’t have mobile coverage at the camp but there is coverage on the eastern side of the Point. Imagine how stoked we were too when we discovered abalone on the rocks at low tide. It was abalone patties for dinner and they are delicious. Thank goodness I bought a good blender before we left. There were also fish to be caught off the Point as well. We were given a lovely big salmon by a lovely young lad from Launceston. If we have time at the end of our trip this is one place we would definitely like to revisit.



There's abalone in them thar rocks!

This bright little resident attracted my attention.

Ransoms Beach on the eastern side of the Point is the nicest spot if you can get a site. It can be crowded.

After three nights at Waterhouse Point we drove down to Gladstone, a little hamlet south of Cape Portland at the very northeast tip of the island. We were lucky enough to find water at the little park in the middle of town so we topped up the tanks and then drove north to Petal Point in the Ringarooma Coastal Reserve. The campsite here at Petal Point was very similar to The Village Green but without the abalone and fishing, although I must admit, we probably didn’t get the chance to do too much here with 30 knot winds blowing from the west. We did however take a drive up to the tip past a massive wind farm which is being built right on the Cape. They certainly picked a great place to put one.

Petal Point camping site.

The beach at Petal Point.

It was the wind which decided for us that we should move on the next morning. We drove in to Musselroe Bay, thinking that it might be nicer as it was on the eastern side of the Cape but we were very disappointed. The beach was pretty but we were surprised to find that Musselroe Bay is actually a little community of mainly holiday huts and the camping sites were very ordinary so we opted to keep moving south to Policemans Point on the southern side of Ansons Bay.

There are lots of lovely little camps here either right beside the inlet or there is a really big grassy area nestled in the bush behind the foreshore. We opted for the latter when we arrived but moved over to another site right beside the bay the next morning when we had had a chance to look around properly. Policemans Point is a fantastic place. You have the choice of exploring the sheltered Bay in the tinny or you can wander along the beach around the Point and watch the birds on the sand spit where the bay runs into the sea. At low tide we saw lots of fishermen landing on a sandbar in the middle of the bay and discovered from our neighbouring campers that night that they were collecting cockles, which the guys just cooked up in a pot of sea water on fire. They were delicious just as they were and would be lovely with a nice sauce as well. Unfortunately our efforts to catch a bream were thwarted by the thick beds of weed. I doubt any fish could have seen a bait through it all. We were also lucky enough to sight a rather large seal on the sand spit one afternoon as well. The walks along the beach were a bit smelly as the strong winds had washed up a lot of bull kelp at the point but it was still lovely and the birds were certainly attracted by the kelp piled up on the beach.

The beach just inside the passage at Policemans Point. The sandspit on the left extends right across the northern side of the inlet and is a favourite haunt of lots of seabirds.

Our beachside camp at Policemans Point.

 

From Policemans Point we moved to the southern end of the Bay of Fires. Everyone we had met raved about this area and we can confirm that it is truly breathtaking. There are a number of campsites to choose from north of St Helens so after stocking up we headed out along the Binalong Bay Road then north along the coast a beautiful coastline, dotted with sheltered little bays with crystal clear water and picturesque rock formations. Apparently the area got its name when early explorers saw the fires of aboriginal camps from sea. They would probably give it the same name today as every camp site has several camps in it. We decided that Cosy Corner North was the pick of them for us and settled in for a few days. As always we met some lovely fellow campers including a friendly little pademelon (the smallest of the wallaby family) with her baby who visited our camp regularly. It was hard not to take photos constantly in this area so I’ll let them do the rest of the talking.

Rocks on the beach at Cosy Corner North. 

The Gardens, Bay of Fires

 

As I was driving back into St Helens to do the laundry, I noticed what looked like huge oysters along the shores of Georges Bay so we decided to investigate on our way out. Boy were we stoked to find an abundance of pacific oysters (or feral oysters as they are known locally) just waiting there on the rocks for us to pick. Some of them were huge and it took no time to fill a largish plastic container. Of course it was oysters Kilpatrick that night and mornay the next. We also froze some for carpet bag steaks – one of our favourites. Unbeknownst to us, there are not bag limits on feral oysters so we were kicking ourselves that we hadn’t got more, especially when we saw them growing right around the bay as we drove south.

A small sample of Pacific (feral) oysters. The one top right was the size of a fried egg and that was not unusual.

Just inland from Scamander is Trout Creek, a popular spot for bream fishing with the locals so we decided that it might be worth a look.

The service station in Scamander must have a very artistic owner. I thought these scrap metal sculptures were great.

 

When we arrived at Trout Creek there was a group oldies from the local nursing home out on a picnic and several of the old guys were fishing from the little jetty. They didn’t catch a lot but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. We unloaded the tinny that afternoon and headed out first thing next morning to see what we could catch. The creek itself runs into the Scamander River not far downstream and although we only caught one bream which we put back as he was only just size, we really enjoyed the serenity of the area especially as it turned out to be another lovey sunny day. We only caught one other bream here but we didn’t mind as it was a lovely spot and the birdlife was amazing. I could have spent hours looking as there were so many different species in the bush. There was even a pair of friendly pacific gulls who eagerly awaited any bits of bait that we might discard.



Trout Creek