Week 3 - Arthur Pieman
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2008
1
4
6
Trip End
Ongoing
Smithton, Tasmania, Australia
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Monday: APCR - Manuka
Tuesday: APCR - Prickly Wattle
Wednesday: APCR - Manuka
Thursday: APCR - Manuka
Friday: APCR - Manuka
Saturday: APCR - Manuka
Sunday: APCR - Manuka
Well it certainly has been a lot better weather wise this week... although you wouldn't think that it would be the case being on the north west coast of Tassie! It hasn't rained for three full days and only a little on Wednesday night... of course when I started the campfire and to try and cook!
Has been pretty relaxing here... the first full day I spent enjoying the sunshine but my campsite looked like a laundry mat... just had all my clothes and tent and sleeping gear out drying/airing so it was a bit of a maintenance day. Met a lovely couple and their kid from QLD on the Sunday night (it seems it's only the QLD'ers and a few from SA still travelling). Paul has the best job for travelling though... a caravan repairer! He reckons he just sets up shop at Darwin over winter and works and then travels the rest of the time with a few odd jobs around the place... they have been on the road for almost 2.5 yrs!
Got chatting to the ranger to find out when the Western Explorer would be open....basically the story is.. it has been closed since for over a month due to fires that went through the area (burnt about 17,000ha).... And the story goes that a 'person' (semi-local) went 4wd and tipped the car on its side... walked back down the track to get his mates... but then decided to light a 'signal' fire to get their attention... and the rest is history as they say.. including his car! Basically the fire not only burnt out a lot of trees a long the road which then blew over with the big storm but some of the roading and a bridge (all timber based) have also been damaged
Apart from that it is fairly quite here... I have done a bit of driving around the park as it has some lovely sights... as well as some good 4wd!!! I took the track down to Arthur's beach which goes for a few km's along the back of the dunes which was fun as there is also a area called the 'bowl' which is just some steep dunes to play in... went down to the beach ... but chickened out on going for a drive on it .. looked a bit soft... or I was anyways... but did go and do the Balfour track the next day which was unreal.... Still a reasonable amount of water along the way but reasonably easy.... Did have a couple of but clenching moments when the nose of the car dipped and the water was up just under halfway on the windscreen.... But the mighty troopy got me through... and a bit of a wing and a prayer me thinks! Can't complain about the free car wash though.... The underside was all shiny and clean! The even funny thing for those who I did the track with last time... yep I lost my number plate again... and this time, no sign of it at all.... So the Balfour has finally eaten my number plate... after a second go at it :)
Have also been doing lots of walking (yes looking at plants and stuff and lots of photos!) and chilling out at the beach (Sarah Ann Rocks)... even tried a bit of fishing with a hand line... (yes start laughing now everyone). And to my shock within a couple of minutes I caught a bloody fish! I can't believe it either... so hauled it in... no idea what it was so chucked it back in (probably was a keeper though!) and then about another 10 minutes later.... Yep caught another... a bit small so chucked it back in... then after that I snagged the line and lost the hook and sinker... unless it was just a really big fish that got away :) ... so back to walking and chilling out.... The only other HUGE highlight for the day... was I found a toilet block with a shower in it... so off I went.... The water was colder than the ocean I reckon'... but I didn't care.. much cos it was the first proper shower I had seen since being here!!
Well I guess it had to happen at some stage... yes I got bogged..... there I was tootling down the Sandy Cape track thinking it was pretty easy... and having a little play along the way as there was lots of little bog holes.... But they would be very interesting in winter as you can see how high the water gets. So it sort of goes like this..... chug chug chug.... Front of car suddenly dips... bang... car no move... It seems that I had got it stuck in a couple of deep ruts on the exit of the hole.... As well as a rock in there! So off I go jumping out the driverside window, dig the hole to drop the spare tyre into as there is no trees big enough to winch off , and then just as I'm about done on the hole... a few blokes turned up in a couple of 4wd's, had a laugh, then after quite a few goes managed to snatch me out....
This is a funny piece of coast... well I guess almost any piece of coast is funny in Tassie due to all the little shacks that they have everywhere.... I think that most people just love fishing so that's why they have these places... some of them even have there own boat ramps, either concrete or for the bigger boats, old railways lines with a little carriage for holding the boat and dragging it out of the water..... amazing!
Definitely would love to come back here and spend some more time... but on a quad (ATV) which all the locals seem to roar around in... Oh well the feet are getting itchy so I think I will now head over to the north east.
