Tasmania Trip – Day 2

We left early for Launceston to have McDonald Breakfast. Entering the city was heavily congested with traffic and after circling the city we cannot find McDonald and decided to head back to the motel for a simple breakfast and collected our walking shoes.

Rather than heading back to the city and hitching on the main highway to Devonport, we opt for the country road up to Exeter and turn west to Devonport. Following the travel brochure we picked up yesterday, we stop at Narawntapu National park and we were disappointed. It was bare and dry with nothing much to see. We then headed to Port Sorell which was on the other side of the National park divided by an inlet.

Port Sorell is a small coastal town with a few homes and a jetty. People come here for fishing, skiing and sailing. At the jetty we met a man unloading his boat. He just arrived home after sailing from Darwin, north east of Australia mainland. He told us he had sailed as far as Indonesia, Sarawak and Sabah. It will be a while before he sails again because he is having his boat repainted, some minor repair and the engine serviced.

Port Sorell

Leaving Port Sorell we arrived at Devonport. Devonport is a nice town and if you take the ferry from Port Melbourne, the ferry will dock at East Devonport. We had a quick lunch at Devonport.

Ferry from Port Melbourne In East Devonport

Between Devonport and Latrobe we popped into Anvers Confectionery. This confectionery makes chocolates and has a beautiful small garden, where you can sit and savor ice cream, hot chocolate drink and chocolate.

Anvers Confectionery

After this we headed east to Ulverstone and Burnie. Burnie is a coastal town and over 100 years Burnie port shipped out timber, minerals and produce from this region. This place makes world class cheese from perfect milk, make malt whiskey from pure rain water and make paper by hand from local fibres. We manage to visit the cheese tasting centre and missing out some places as it was almost closing time.

Cheese tasting Centre

We hit the road once again heading west and this time we headed straight for Arthur River which at the western end of Tasmania. The ladies wanted to watch the sunset at a place called Edge of the World. The sound from the sea rushing against the rock with a whish whish sound that sounds like a washing machine. This place is more of a holiday place.

Edge Of The World

After watching the sunset, it was time for diner and we headed to Smithon. We were told we could find good seafood in this town. How disappointed we were! The town was dark and all the shops were closed. Remember this golden rule, unless you are in big towns or cities, all eating place closed at 7.30pm.

Having no choice we headed for the next town, Burnie, and keeping our finger crossed we could find food there. The road was pitched dark and as I took a corner, I saw two eyes in the middle of the road, slammed my brake and before I knew it, I felt a thud with my wife screaming at the back of the car did not help at all. It was my first kill, I killed a possum. The number plate was dented with a cracked grill. It was fortunate that there were no major damage.

Because of this ordeal, we decided to turn into an off road town of Stanley for a breather. It was a good call. As we reach the town, we saw a restaurant opened with diners. Quickly we made buzz into the restaurant and order our meals. There were 2 crayfish left and the ladies took them.

Stanley

After dinner, we took a quick look at Stanley and headed back to Launceston via Devonport through the freeway to Deloraine and Launceston. It was almost midnight when we reach the motel.