Third Week – Spirit of Tasmania & Eugenana

It’s been over a month of travelling!

I honestly expected it to be a shit show – such a pessimist, I know! Or maybe, a realist? One of my parenting philosophies is “If I expect the worst, I might be pleasantly surprised”. Anyway, it’s been wonderful! There have been so many beautiful moments in nature, making memories together and spending quality time, which is exactly what this trip was all about!

So, here’s an update of what’s been happening.

Spirit of Tasmania – Geelong, VIC to Devonport, TAS – Day Sailing

You know when it’s the night before you’re travelling and you wake up at 2am, then 3am, then you can’t doze off again, because you’re afraid of missing your alarm, flight, lift etc. That was pretty much what this was like. We had spent a small fortune on the barge over to Tassie and if we missed it, we’d have buckleys of booking in again! So, we left our mates’ place at 5am, making sure that we arrived for boarding from 6am. The ship departed an hour and a half later. There was lots of waiting around with ratty and excited kids at the ferry terminal and in the car.

The boat was epic! Like what I’d imagine a mini cruise ship to be like – except, I’ve never been on a cruise, so I wouldn’t know. We’d booked in a Queen room with shower and it had a window. It was very fancy! We had our own robes and a complimentary bottle of red (which I’m drinking now, as I write this, 2 weeks later). There were 3 levels, restaurants, Xbox gaming consoles for the kids, an arcade and a gift shop.

The highlight for me was watching the Mufasa movie in the afternoon. Hubby and I just booked it in so that we could kill some time entertaining the kids, so we had no expectations. But, my goodness it was brilliant! We were blown away by it! Hands down one of the most epic Disney movies I’ve ever seen! Highly recommend.

We left the boat at 7pm, had McDonalds for dinner at Devonport, then pulled into our campsite, 16 kms away at Eugenana, and were unhitched with the boys in bed, at 8:30pm.

Holy moly, what a mammoth day!

Lakeside Tourist Park, Eugenana – 5 nights

Hubby did well to find this caravan park, close enough to Devonport, but also far enough that it felt like a country getaway. It was such a gem of a place, with friendly people running it, and lovely people staying there. It was quiet and quaint. A perfect place to land and recuperate after a hectic few weeks. On the boat over we read about ‘Turbo Chooks’, the Tasmanian Native Hen, which can run up to 50 kms/hour, and low and behold they are at our camp! 

It’s situated right next door to the Tasmanian Arboretum (meaning – a collection of trees and woody plants) . What a stunning place to go for a wander, even if you’re not into plants. We were told that we were ‘guaranteed’ to see a platypus if we went for a walk up there. I was dubious. I’ve been told there are platypus around before, back in QLD, near home, and I’ve never seen one in the wild.

Hubby spotted it first, and I wouldn’t have believed him if it weren’t for Crazy Cat yelling excitedly! “Mum, come pwick, Platypus!!!”

Holy smokes! This is one the most exciting nature encounters that I’ve had. This guy was sooo chonky and cute! Not only did we spot him (and affectionately nickname him ‘Perry the Platypus’, after the Phineas and Ferb Disney TV Series) but he was not shy at all and he was climbing up over the little waterfalls right next to us. Hubby was close enough for a scoochie, but decided against it, in case he fell into the lake!

We found some incredible tracks around this van site, which we were able to explore of a daytime – one of them for mountain biking too – and spotlighting at night.

The spotlighting was epic! On our first night we saw… pademelons and brushtail possums – grey and white, and brown and gold. They were so fluffy and huge! Then, in the river we spotted a short-finned eel, freshwater trout and a platypus passing through under the bridge. We finished off seeing a southern brown bandicoot. More like bandi-cute! (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!) What a night!

It was beautiful watching the boys playing at the playground/fort with some other kids that were staying in the park. They rode their bikes, played tag, mucked around with bow and arrows, and just had a really great time!

Prickly Mo Winery, Eugenana – 2 visits 

Oh, and another amazing feature of this caravan park was that there was a winery within walking distance! Yes! It was so relaxed, with eclectic furniture and a homely/farm vibe. We did the wine tasting for $15/person and decided to go with the Pinot Gris, and the tasting platters were $40 for 2 people and were so scrumptious! Big Boy took a really nice photo of us while we were there… check it out! Best 9 year old photographer in our family!

The winery was so great that we came back for a second day, and had the Pinot Noir.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the best part! The owner asked if we wanted to help him feed his ducks…. I jumped to my feet “Absolutely!!”

“Umm, I was more thinking of the kids” He laughed.

I stayed straight-faced until he agreed to let me join in too! So, we got to feed the ducks and they waddled up the driveway, from the dam, to meet us. They enjoyed feasting on the leftovers from the nibble platters, and they loved it – especially the smoked salmon skin!

No wastage and the ducks were happy.

Mental Note: If I ever decide to start a winery, it NEEDS to have ducks!

So, that’s it for our first week in Tassie.

I haven’t really mentioned Devonport, because there isn’t much to mention. I had a great massage in town, we ate some yummy sushi there, found a cool playground at the Bluff and most excitingly…

We joined Libraries Tasmania here, which we’re all excited about, as we can borrow books from all around the state and return them as we’re travelling.

We’ve met a lot of fellow ‘Mainlanders’, or as the locals refer to us ‘North Islanders’ (as in – the Mainland of Australia is the North Island). Most of those travellers have been from Queensland, or Northern NSW, who are heading back home after having been here in Tassie for 3 months…. And we’re only just getting started.

Much Love,

MumOf3WRs