Beez Neez now Chy Whella

To Triabunna

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Fri 15 Jan 2016 23:17

To Triabunna

It was dark when Bear’s IPad burst into life. He pressed some buttons and there was Joe on the video, chatting at five thirty........in the morning. Apparently we can now Facetime if we press a little telephone in the corner. Can we.....That call was wonderful but it put us all wrong for showers and chores so we left in a bit of a rush. We bade our farewells to Port Arthur en route to the Historic Coal Mine twenty five miles away. No sooner than we had got going than we saw this beauty, oh, and the letter boxes – moss and all. Next stop was Maingon Bay and visiting the Remarkable Cave after eating our cereal. Back to the splendid shack.

This stunner goes straight into the running for this years ‘One Careful Owner’ competition. Will it do well I asked optimistically as I really like it. Oooo too soon to say, too young in the year. Ever the cautious one is the judge.

Bear stopped Mabel for the next. I fancy the caravan for the OCO’s. No, I disagree thoroughly, too young, no visible rust and certainly no foliage. Is that why it only got small pictures. Something like that........standards and all.

We drove by the entrance to the Mine and followed the track as far as it went, through a camp site where we stopped to look at Lime Bay.

Lovely rock formations each side of us........

........even a fossil..... Yes, my dolly bird. Steady.

Lime Bay State Reserve campsite, loads of spaces in between trees, we could overnight here if we stay a long time at the mine. The charges - $13 a night covers two adults, $50 per week and $120 per thirty days. Off we went back down the track.

We had a nice bimble around the ruins of the mine, picnic in the car park and onward towards Triabunna.

On the main road for a while, we drove past farms.The pastures looked incredibly dry.

We’ll take the scenic route. Always a worry to the ears that one, bear in mind the journey off piste in Antigua when I was out of the hire car poking a stick to judge the depth of the puddles, and one 4wd at the end of two hours looked shocked to see us. Then the episode of the thirty point turn to get Mabel out of having to go up a one in two over the snow line, the road that had the sign saying ‘not suitable for Mabels’......This was to be no different I feared. Rheban Road could never be called scenic. The surface was as if a tank had driven it on a moist day, it’s called unsealed. It could be called Marmaduke Kisswas for all I care, eight miles of the constant need to hold fillings in place and not a bird or wallaby to be seen, in fact no cars, nothing but trees and juddering. Even the Wicked Witch was wiggling in her stand, nothing for her to report but green each side of her route. Sorry about this. No, please, it’s all part of the AT-Venture, think nothing of it, I’ve been up since half past five and not yet at six weeks post-op and I’m having a restful recuperation...........

Eventually there was a bend and then we were back to tall trees.

Then we were thanked for visiting the Wielangta Forest but back to the juddering track.

To be fair the Wielangta forest is part of remnant glacial refugia forest and contains blue gum eucalypt forest and pockets of cool temperate rainforest. The forest is a key habitat of rare and threatened species, including the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, swift parrot, Wielangta stag beetle, spotted-tail quoll and the eastern barred bandicoot. A rare orchid (Genoplesium nudum) has also been discovered in the forest. The forest forms part of the South-East Tasmania Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance in the conservation of a range of woodland birds. Just not today, they were all off on holiday...........If you see a bandicoot wearing shades on a beach in Malaga could you send him back, I have a blog to write and would dearly love to feature him and his misses, name their price........

An interesting bridge, colour me happy a shack and another really interesting bridge.

If we had champagne on board I would have broken it open and drank it with a straw. A real road and a beautiful beach.

A road with cars and only six kilos to go. On our final bend, was that Santa I just saw, yes, it’s a Christmas shop. A little further and we pulled into the Take Away car park camp site, free to all and if you are desperate for electricity to charge something important up, you can ask the butcher in the corner by the gate. Would you like a drink, I would to see if my fillings are still patent. Would you like a little bimble, I would to see if everything from the waist down is still patent, then I would like to beat you at backgammon. Ooooo. Don’t you give me Ooooo.