DAY 33
16th January 2021
We drove back to Strahan to get food and water (it turned out to be not very nice water, as was most water in Tasmania). We checked out the showers that were supposed to be there but they were closed because “out of order”.
So we drove to Queenstown. I ducked into the IGA and bought us both a bacon and egg roll as a pick-me-up, and we got fuel from a funny shop where the guy who owned it collected bobble head dolls and had them all lined up in the front window with a “not for sale” sign.
We drove up the Lyell Highway to the lookouts and waterfalls up there. I stayed in the car as it was cold, windy and raining. Josh went to look at Horsetail Falls and came back cold and drenched.
Continuing along the Lyell Highway, we stopped off at Nelson Falls. It had brightened up slightly and the waterfall was just beautiful.
Our next stop was out to the Lake St Clair Visitor Centre but we went via the Lake King William campsite to check out the camping. I wanted to visit the area and go on some walks, but the Walls of Jerusalem National Park was hard to get to, you couldn’t really drive in, and anyway we were on the wrong side of the range to get there! We went back to Derwent Bridge Wilderness Hotel. You could stay in the carpark there overnight but it was right on the road, and I was concerned about the lack of a toilet. So instead we went inside to have dinner only. Josh had the Sri Lankan curry and I had a parmigiana. We drove back to Lake King William and camped there for the night. The lake was really pretty, and it was a quiet site. Also good, there was plenty of bush around for wild-weeing!
DAY 34
17th January 2021
We were planning on going to Mount Field National Park for a couple of days but we’d checked the weather report and it was going to be terrible weather for the next few days – high winds and cold. So we booked two nights’ accommodation in Hobart instead!
On the way to Hobart, we passed several pick your own berry farms, and we stopped at one raspberry farm and bought 1kg of raspberries (already picked). We drove off to Hobart munching on delicious berries.
I’d booked St Ives serviced apartments in Hobart, which had parking, a kitchen and bathroom, shared washing machines and dryers, and enough room for the both of us. It was actually really good. We drove there and then had to get bags of our stuff out of the car, and our sheets and bedding out of the tent for washing. It was a strange experience being in a city carpark and having the tent up while I got out our sheets and pillows!
There was a Coles nearby and we walked down there to get some supplies for dinner. Oh my goodness, we were in such a lovely area! The houses were all fairly old and really lovely. We got some food to cook at the apartment then went back for a quiet night in.