DAY 31
14th January 2021
Today marked one month of our trip around Australia.
We started the day pumping up the tyres from yesterday’s beach driving, then went to try to find the town of Balfour and the cemetery. We were not very successful in our endeavour, and the walking track out to the cemetery was seriously overgrown. We did manage to find the “Balfour Hotel” though, basically just a shack.
We went back to the Western Explorer Road. It was a grey and rather miserable day, but I think this suited the landscape, as it was all very dramatic!
We took the Explorer Road all the way to Corinna. That was a strange place. The only way to continue was to catch a ferry, at $35 per car. We weren't really that keen, so drove towards Waratah instead. On the way there, we stopped in at the lovely Philosopher’s Falls. The weather had cleared up a bit so it was a nice walk down to the waterfall. We ended up spending the night in an abandoned town site for an old mine. It had markings around the ground where houses had been. It was all very odd!
DAY 32
15th January 2021
Bought the most expensive diesel of our trip so far in Waratah at $1.40/L.
Waratah to Zeehan was a good drive, with a river and some epic mountain ranges. Didn't stop as much today to take photos because we'd seen a lot of the same range yesterday. The road was also tarred now, so no more dirt road driving for a bit.
We stopped in Zeehan at the Pringles IGA to get some supplies then went on to Granville Harbour.
After lunch at the harbour, we went to have a look at Climies track, one of the more difficult 4wd tracks in Tasmania and one of the most well-known. Again, we decided against doing it - we’d both prefer going with a group rather than on our own on a track that neither of us know. Next time!
We drove through Strahan, a weird place, then drove out to Macquarie Heads. All the campsites near the ocean were taken unfortunately, so we spent the night in a pine forest.