Thursday 12th

Drove slowly back up to the A3. Stopped at Bicheno for coffee and to see the Blowhole. While we were doing a first tour to get our bearings we saw some people looking at an Echidna, so we got out and took our own pictures of it. When we were having coffee the café owner told us that it was quite rare to see one at this time of year. The Blowhole was going  really well as the waves were quite strong and we got some good photos.

Carried on up A3 but took the inland detour up and over Elephant Pass. Quite  steep and winding but no viewpoints. Stopped for lunch at Pancake Barn near the summit. Very nice pancakes but still no view. Carried on back down through St Mary’s to the coast again and then reached Scamander just after 2pm. Checked in and transferred to a ground floor room when they asked us about stairs. When we went to the room we found that they actually have a lift so we needn’t have worried! However, the view is just as good as the ground floor at the back is actually the first floor at the front due to the slope and the ground floor rooms have all been refurbished (not sure about the upper floors). Much smaller room than previously but very smart and well equipped.

Unpacked then took a drive northward to St Helen’s and drove up both sides of the inlet, first to Akaroa and St Helen’s Point at the end of the road and then to Bilabong Bay on the north side. The skies were grey and we could see lots of rain but fortunately we never got more than a few spots. Nice scenery but not good for photography as it was dull. The inlet at St Helen’s is really long and deep and makes an excellent natural harbour. Saw quite a lot of fishing boats at the main quay at St Helen’s both commercial fishing and day boats for deep sea game fishing.

Back to the hotel by 6pm. Had a quick drink in the bar. There is a coach party and reception warned us that they would be sitting down to eat in the restaurant at 6.30pm and that we should leave it for a while to let the rush go, so we’re writing this up before dinner.

We thought the mouse had died on the computer and we spent ages using the keypad to enable the touchpad so that we could use the computer. Eventually after about 15 minutes of this it suddenly dawned on us that the problem was one that we’d had before – namely the desk/dressing table in the room has a glass top and the mouse won’t work as it can’t detect a surface!

A nice dinner. We were worried that it might not be that good as there’s no competition for a long way but in the end it was fine. Anne had the sweet and sour fish (flathead) and Les had gummy shark, which we learnt is also called flake. Both were fine.  Back to the room and we watched the video that we’ve taken so far on the television before going to bed.

Friday 13th

No breakfast included so up and away relatively early (9.15am). Stopped in  St Helen’s to fill up the car and had a coffee. Had a quick look in the library which was offering internet access but it was the same AU$8 per hour that is in all the hotels. Odd this because Les had noted that in Adelaide there was free wifi in all the libraries.

The driving on the first part was much slower than we’d anticipated on some very winding and hilly roads. Stopped at Little Plains lookout, and then at the Rainforest Walk. After, we went on down the hills to Scottsdale where we stopped for lunch. After lunch we went into Woolworths and bought some fruit and coffee.

Another winding steep road and then the last bits towards Launceston were better and we were able to sustain 100k for quite a while. Stopped at Springfield Lookout.

Found hotel very easily in Launceston – first floor again! Nice room with a separate room of two single beds that we could use for the cases. On hotel advice we drove rather than walked down to the port area and were in good time to catch the 3.30 boat tour around the port and up the Cataract Gorge. Very interesting and a good time to relax. As we were worried about tomorrow’s weather, which suggests rain, we drove up to the First Basin in Cataract Gorge. Rather than take the chairlift across the basin we walked over the suspension bridge and then back across the weir. Saw lots of people swimming in the Basin as well as in the very smart open-air free pool next to it.  We’re told by the boat captain that we’ve now done the top four attractions in Tassie – Salamanca Place and Mt Wellington in Hobart, Port Arthur and Cataract Gorge.

Back to the hotel and a quick shower as today has been quite hot – 27C. We think we’ll go down to the port area and try one of the fish restaurants that we saw. We drove to the port area and went to Fish & Chips! Les had breaded ‘fishnet’ which was calamari, scallops, two different small pieces of fish and a mini fishcake (fishball). Anne had calamari and we shared a Greek salad. The chips were absolutely lovely but to be honest we could have  just had the salad. Walked back past all the new housing and then drove round to the old bridge at the entrance to Cataract Gorge. After parking we walked up the Gorge walkway for a couple of hundred yards and after numerous aborted attempts Les managed to get some night time pictures by balancing the camera on the top of one of the pedestrian lights and using the self-timer.

Back to the hotel and into the bar of the restaurant and had a drink and a leaf through the 42^oS magazines before going to bed. Noticed that all the meals were being brought up the stairs into the bar and realised afterwards that they must actually carry them all the way from the main hotel kitchen.