Planet Trekker

It is going to be –4 tonight!

Yes, that’s right, I’m not back on the Gold Coast yet, I am, in fact, in Canberra.

To say that I am a little tired at the moment would be an understatement so I will have to give you the highlights of the last couple of days rather than poetic descriptions of the countryside I’ve passed through.

I woke up early on Tuesday morning, they start loading the ferry 2.5 hours before it sails, which meant 6.30am. I was there a few minutes after that and queued up with a number of other vehicles waiting for the gates to open. Once they were we filed through the security check, which meant getting out into the cold and opening the bonnet and boot for inspection. From there we all queued up again and waited…and waited…and waited. We were still waiting on the wharf when the sailing time came and went which was causing a little frustration but eventually we formed up and were directed to our parking spots.

this was a day sailing, unlike the night one i had on the way down. Rather than paying extra for a cabin or recliner I just had a “day pass”, which meant access to the ship but no assigned seating. Luckily I managed to find a nice seat with a little table to spread my stuff on and a view outside. Then it was just a matter of killing time. The thrill of being on a ship at sea is a little lost on me so I just read magazines I had hoarded in preparation and watched which people headed to the toilets when we hit open water and the boat began to move a little. I’ve been in seas that have literally thrown me out of my bunk so it didn’t really phase me.

We were an hour late sailing which meant we were an hour late docking in Melbourne. Due to my normal run of luck I was among the last allowed off (first on, last off?) and it was dark and raining as I hit the streets.This is where Bambi was going to earn her money.

The plan was to head off and try and put a bit of black stuff between me and Melbourne straight away. On the ferry I had decided that I might like to have a look at Canberra, never having been there and keen to add another capital city to my list. Looking at a map I figured that I would try to get to somewhere around Sale and then find a nice looking truck stop and get a few hours sleep in the car before carrying on.

I somehow managed to lose a bit of time by getting lost in Melbourne. And when I say that I got lost I mean that I got lost and Bambi knew exactly where she was and where to go. I made a wrong turn, against her instructions, and then had to find my way back to the right road. Did you know that because of the trams you make right turns from the left hand side of the road in some places in this crazy Victorian city?

I did find a nice “power nap” area just short of Sale that had a toilet, was lit up and already had a truckie asleep there. I wrapped up in my North Face jacket, crawled into the back seat and was asleep pretty fast. I’d been awake a little over 17 hours so I actually slept well, in fact I slept until 5am.

From there I just followed Bambi’s instructions and got to Canberra safely.

The drive was good, a nice mixture of terrain with a stop for a full English breakfast in a little roadside cafe in Cabbage Tree Creek. The road took me from a heavy bush setting for breakfast to a fleeting glimpse of the ocean at Lakes Entrance and stark and wind blown hilltops at over 1100 metres closer to Canberra.

Tonight is set aside for sleeping and tomorrow I hit the streets to see if this town does its title of Capital justice.

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Today was a day of pure driving pleasure. I don’t know who built the roads around here but they are people who obviously enjoy driving.

I am now sitting in a motel that has seen better days but was (relatively) cheap and is close to the ferry terminal. The result may not be so picturesque but I had an awful lot of fun getting here.

To be perfectly honest there is little that I can say that I didn’t say yesterday. I followed Bambi’s suggestion of a scenic drive and made my way from Strahan to Devonport by way of Cradle Mountain. A decent coffee and a steak sandwich at a little place in Tullah and I spent the rest of the drive just waiting to see what would be around the next corner.

Come to Tasmania and just drive you won’t regret it.

If a picture is worth a thousand words then I’ll just post a few photos and leave it at that.

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• physical therapist posted on July 21, 2010
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Whoever it was that said it’s the journey rather than the destination must have had my day today in mind.

I started the day by looking out my window at the sort of weather that you picture when you think of Tasmania. It was wild, wet and very woolly. Even getting my bags into the grey ghost, which was parked in the street directly in front of my room, was an exercise is speed and precision. Holding the door open in the face of a gale and then managing to get my pack in the front seat and my bag in the back without getting too wet was an adventure. I bought a pie from the only establishment open in town and sat on the waterfront watching the rain shoot sideways across the bay.

I figured that it was going to be an interesting drive to Strahan.

As it turned out it was extremely interesting.

I followed all of Bambi’s instructions and headed back towards Burnie, eventually making a turn at Wynyard and heading inland. From here on the joy of the journey took over.

The scenery changed, seemingly at every corner, from bush that reminded me of New Zealand so much I almost had a tear in my eye, to green rolling hills and farm houses, to scrubby windswept hilltops and sweeping views over lakes. It was a magical drive and even the weather seemed to change from driving rain to bursts of brilliant sunshine at the drop of a hat.

I stopped to take photos of scenery and to walk little bush tracks that were signposted on the side of the road. I can count the number of cars I saw on two hands and no one else seemed to be in any more of a hurry than I was, and I wasn’t. The grey ghost glided gracefully over gradients and through glades to my glee. I also had a lot of time to think.

If I haven’t said it before then I’ll say it now, it was a great drive and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Eventually the road ran out and I found myself in Strahan. I wonder what I can say about Strahan that isn’t coloured by the weather. As far as tourism goes I can only say that it is a summer town. All of the suggested things to do on the sheet in my motel room are water based or require warmer conditions than are here now. As was the case in Stanley so many places that would be swarming with tourists at any other time are now shut. I drove around for a while and then walked up and down the main street, interacting with the friendly locals who were standing outside the local hotel, seemingly oblivious to the weather.

This would be a great place to visit in summer but for me today it’s turning into a place to rinse out some smalls and get some sleep at the end of a day of driving I won’t forget in a hurry. I can only hope that tomorrows scenery on the way back to Devonport is half as good.

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