Moulting Lagoon, Swanwick, September 2015

Last weekend we had tried to make this trip, but found that for some reason Wanda's car battery was flat.  So instead we had had a quiet weekend at home while the battery charged! This weekend there was no stopping us.  We set off on Saturday morning and enjoyed a warm scenic drive up the East Coast.

At Orford we stopped for our gourmet ploughman's lunch at Raspin's Beach.  The previous campground here has been closed and some excellent conservation work has been done on the foreshore to protect the birds and marine life.  A pleasant unsealed walking/cycling trail has been built from Raspin's Beach through Orford and round to Spring Bay.

Raspin's Beach

We stopped to visit Spiky Bridge for the first time in many years.  It is an amazing structure, still very solid.

Spiky Bridge

We also visited Spiky Beach, just across the highway from the bridge.  This is a lovely pristine little beach with great views over to Freycinet.

 

For overnight camping we chose the Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve Campground, on the River and Rocks Road just before the turnoff to Swanwick.  This is a pleasant free campsite, with (as it is still the off season) plenty of room with grassed and under tree sites to choose from.

Just over the sand dune is Moulting Lagoon, a conservation area where the shooting of ducks in that season is still permitted (hence the name "Game Reserve"). When we walked onto the wide beachin the twilight we were amazed to see thousands (millions?) of tiny red and blue crabs coming out of their holes and scuttling towards the waterline.

Robert was pleased to try out our new travelling barbecue, table and chairs, and also tested out our house battery charger (for luck).

Everything passed with flying colours.

On the Sunday we made our way up past Bicheno to Apsley Gorge for a short walk - which turned into a long walk.  Read more about that on our Walk a Month blog.

Port Arthur, July 2015

Last summer we visited Port Arthur and bought some Ticket of Leave passes.  These give you unlimited visits for a period of two years.  In early July we noticed that Wanda was looking a bit neglected, so we decided it was time to get some value out of our passes.

It is a pleasant drive down the Tasman Peninsula, and it was good to see Dunalley starting to look prosperous again as the locals rebuild after the dreadful fires.  I checked my new WikiCamps app for locating camping grounds and found the Port Arthur Holiday Park had pretty good reviews from fellow travellers.  We had a quick look, booked in for a quiet site with greenery, and then drove to Port Arthur.

We were in time for an excellent guided tour of the superbly restored Surgeon's House:

The Drawing Room

 The tiled floor is actually painted canvas!

The Dining Room

 This room displays the history of the building.

The doctor's desk

Nightstand in the Bedroom

Bedroom

Unfortunately the old house which had been a popular hotel wasn't open for visitors, that will have to wait for our next trip.

I thought this detail (on the house that currently displays archaeological materials) of how they attached winter shutters was interesting - basically just swivelling blocks:

After a quiet night in the caravan park, we returned to Port Arthur on Sunday morning, this time revisiting Smith O'Brien's Cottage.   The stories of the political prisoners - the Irish rebels and the Levellers - are fascinating.

In particular the fact that the political demands of the Levellers are political equalities that we now take for granted.

Our second guided tour for the weekend was through the Commandant's Cottage. This house was extended and refurbished many times through the years of the penitentiary's operations.  It still boasts a large kitchen and pantry which are worth seeing.

Housekeeper's bedroom

 This room, right at the back of the house, was claimed by one of the guides to be haunted.