Damn You Tasmania - Part 3

Day 7

The following morning, everything had been drenched from the night's torrential downpour. Fortunately, Sang and I managed to stay dry in the comfort of the campervan. However, Luke and Sarah's tent took a bit of a beating which meant that they had an uncomfortable sleep.
After tidying and packing up, we headed towards Queenstown for breakfast. It was an exhilirating drive that took us through lots of bends and altitude changes. Upon arriving at Queenstown, we had breakfast at Tracks Cafe which was a fairly fancy cafe.  We did check out the other bakeries and cafes but most were either closed, out of food or didn't seem to welcome us in. In any case, the food at Tracks Cafe was really good so that gave our souls a bit of lift from the dreary weather.

We didn't stay in Queenstown too long thereafter as we made our way down to Ocean Beach, in Strahan, which was supposedly a fantastic place to watch wildlife and experience the vastness of the beach. Upon reaching Ocean Beach, Luke and Sarah got their wet mattress out to dry.

Wet wet wet

Tracks Cafe is on the right - inside the Queenstown Station 

Will this dry out?

Ocean Beach 

It was vast! Not sure if this photo does it justice

We were hoping to see wildlife that was actually alive! We had to settle with for this dead seahorse 

After spending about an hour there and getting lashed by flying sand, we decided it was time to leave Ocean Beach. The oncoming rain was another reminder to get a move on. We then drove to Rosebery for another quick bite. We had hoped to do a walk there at Montezuma Falls but the rain scampered our plans so we decided to continue along to Rocky Cape National Park. Midway through, we stopped along Fernglade Road to continue our customary platypus hunting mission. Once again, we were unlucky and the closest thing we saw to a platypus was a water rat swimming leisurely in the stream.

Luke giving Sarah a back rub to alleviate her misery from a sore back 

Luke on the hunt

Sang paces the riverbank

Some Grey Fantails did not seem to mind the wet weather

Rocky Cape National Park was gorgeous. There were roads leading to various locations so we decided to explore the place a little. Of course we visited the lighthouse that was there although it is not one that is open for tours. We then headed to another spot closer to the beach where we indulged in landscape photography as the sun began to set. Thereafter we drove to Rock Cape Tavern where we got a change to shower and freshen up. Dinner was a quick whip-up of our usual grocery stock after which we called it a night. Enjoy the photos :)

The Lighthouse at Rocky Cape National Park

Oooh that golden glow of the setting sun...

Sang seems to be in a happy place

The rockscape was really cool but I had to be careful not to fall

Our dinner that night. Quick and easy meal.

Day 8

This was the first day were going to separate from each other. Sarah and Luke were heading to Stanley to meet some friends. Sang and I decided to head in the same direction to see The Nut. When we eventually got there, we stopped at Ye Olde Chocolate Shoppe for breakfast. The pies were amazing and we really dug into the scallop mornay pie. Thereafter, we drove towards The Nut but were fairly underwhelmed by it so we quickly adjusted our plans to head down along the North-west wilderness.

The Tarkine was just stunning! I do not know how else to say this. When I return to Tasmania, I would definitely want to spend many days exploring just the Tarkine. We drove to a lookout called The Edge of the World which was located within the Sir Arthur Pieman Conservation Area and subsequently drove in further to check out Sumac Lookout and explore Julius River Walk. I'll let the photos do the talking.

The Tarkine Region

The Sir Arthur-Pieman region is a conservation area to repopulate Tassie Devils (we didn't get to see any though)

The view from The Edge of the World

The drive towards Julius River

We are happy chappies

So that was it! It was a fairly short time spent in the Tarkine but we loved every bit of it! We then headed back up to Burny to rendezvous with our travel buddies. There we stocked up on supplies including wine and moved on to our next campsite which was pretty much a patch of grass by the coast. Rumours had it that this place was famous for... wait for it... fairy penguins!

After setting up camp and enjoying a delicious pasta dinner, we got our gear out and walked down the coast as the sun began to set. Hoping for penguins to appear, we stayed silent and still. Eventually the sun had set completely and in the midst of figuring out how we were going to get photos of these penguins, I realised that I had coloured gels in my bag. If we shone our torches through the red gels, we would be able to light the penguins without too much of white light interfering with them. I ran back to the van in excitement and grabbed the necessary gear and slammed the door shut. Then I realised I had made a grave mistake! You see, our campervan locks automatically everytime the doors are shut. Meaning, you never want to leave your keys in the van. I am pretty sure you catch my drift. Despite constant reminders from Sang and all the previous days of us being so careful, I let my concentration slip due to my excitement of photographing the penguins. What ensued was Sang being on the line with Britz for a loooong time trying to arrange for someone to come down and unlock the vehicle. Fortunately (you will understand why), no locksmith was able to come down that night so Britz told us that we would have to make alternative plans till the following morning when someone could come up. As the drama unfolded, another drama started to peep out of the ocean. Little fairy penguins emerged from the water and made their way to the nesting sites. Thankfully, the red gels worked and we managed to get a couple of photos (hopefully without disturbing them too much).

After we were done with the penguins, we headed back to the campervan to solve the problem at hand. This is where things took a turn for the better. Realising that I had left one of the ventilation windows open, Luke suggested cutting the flyscreen out with his trusty pocketknife. Within the next ten minutes, I was inside my campervan and had located my keys. Walah! First part of the problem solved! The next part was of course to fix up a new flyscreen. This was something Luke had a lot of experience in so we were not too worried about that either.

With the major problem solved, we got the wine out and drank in merriment and the stars took over the night sky. Whipping out our wide angle lenses, we took a couple of astro photos before retiring for the night.

Fairy penguins emerge from the sea

It was worth it I guess!

Managed to squeeze my large ass through that gap

Yes we were very near private homes