Coal Mines, Tasman Peninsula, Easter 2013

On Easter Saturday we enjoyed a fantastic walk to Shipstern Bluff with our friends.  It turned out to be quite handy having Wanda along at the start of the walk, to provide spare socks and a toilet break for some of us!  Then, at the conclusion of the walk, it was great to able to relax in Wanda's comfortable seats and enjoy chilled Meadowbank champers and some gourmet nibblies.  When our buddies started back to town, Robert and I headed Wanda towards Nubeena.

We had intended to stay overnight at Lime Bay, at the far tip of the Tasman Peninsula.  It was a very pleasant drive through the Peninsula's green farmlands, until we passed into the Lime Bay State Reserve.  Here the gravel road deteriorated into severe corrugations.  It was hair raising progress along the winding road, compounded by the increased number of vehicles on the road for the holiday weekend.  When we finally reached the Lime Bay camping ground, we were gobsmacked to find it chockablock with tents, campers, utes and campfires.  It was too crowded, with small and large family and young adult groups finding themselves to be neighbours.  I felt a faint sense of desperation about the place, and a fair bit of alcohol had probably already been consumed.  We didn't stop, just turned around the driveway and left.  On the road out, we passed a group of young men driving a ute fast, dangerously loaded with old fenceposts (sticking out wide on each side of the tray!) which were clearly intended for a ripper campfire at Lime Bay that night.  We knew we had made the right decision!  Lesson learnt:  avoid popular camping areas in peak tourist periods.

No worries, not far away on the other side of the tip of the peninsula we found the quiet beach, Sloping Main. It was blissfully free of the Easter crowds.  We pulled Wanda slightly off the road, not before some careful checking of how firm the sandy ground was, and relaxed. 

It was a lovely spot.  We had a great view of the beautiful sunset across the bay, and we were completely on our own. To wash off our bushwalk, we tested Wanda's shower out.  It worked really well!  Time for another champers, and dinner - Robert heated up a yummy chicken curry that he had pre-prepared at home.  It was a wild and windy night, but we slept like logs, thanks to the day's bushwalking! 

Next day, after a leisurely start, we headed back to take a look at the Coal Mines historic site.  We had been there some decades before, and since then the area has been recognised as a World Heritage site.  We were very impressed by the work has been done to rehabilitate the bush, to restore buildings which had been hidden away in the bush before, and to design interpretation and short walks around the site. The main loop walk here is now listed as one of the Great Short Walks of Tasmania - there is now an app for the Great Short Walks.

The descriptions provided at the Coal Mines entrance of the various short walks you can do here were a bit confusing.  We ended up doing the main outside loop walk, in an anticlockwise direction, which worked very well. We were glad that we started at the main beginning point:  the interpretation centre provides a clever timeline of the history of the site.

Interpretation centre

From there we headed towards the Settlement (c 1838), the square where the prisoners were accommodated, where there was a hospital and also the prison cells.  

Chapel

 The chapel doubled as the schoolroom for the children on the settlement.

Solitary cells under the hospital

Leaving the Settlement, we walked along the bay toward Plunkett Point.  Hidden in the bush up on the left was the Commissariat's house.

Commissariat's house

At Plunkett Point we saw where the old jetty had been located, and where a fine Commissariat Store had been built in 1842 (unfortunately the stones have since been removed to build a church at Dunalley).  This was where all the coal was loaded onto ships (there is still a fine ground covering of coal) and where supplies for the settlement were received.  It must have been very busy.

We followed the Inclined Plane up the hill.  This was where a clever counterweighted trolley system used the weight of the full trolleys coming down the incline to pull the empty trolleys back up to the top of the main shaft.  This is a steady engineered climb, 10% over 400m(?) and was a nice little walk!

The main shaft, originally around 92 m deep, is still very impressive.   At the edge you can see the original stone seatings of the windlass pulley systems used to lower the men in and to pull up the coal. There is an old steam boiler still here, which used to power the mine's water pump.

The main shaft

The working conditions in the mine were horrendous, men crawling along low shafts, nearly naked because of the heat, and sometime completely naked, and engaging in acts of depravity(!).   

There is another carpark up here, but it is too small for motorhomes to manouvre in.

Continuing around the loop, we came to the site of the signal station, where a semaphore was erected around 1836.  The rest of the loop is downhill.  Soon we came across the military precinct, including the building where the soldiers were accommodated:

Military barracks (1837)

This was quite small, and by 1844 accommodated up to 80 men! The convict gardens are near here.  Not far onwards we found the Senior Military Officer's house, where the OIC of the garrison lived with his family.  This was much more salubrious.  Next we passed the house of the Superintendent, who managed everything except security.

Back down at the Settlement, we discovered the site of the Separate Apartments, which were built (c 1846) to try to combat homosexual activity amongst the prisoners. Under these apartment had been built the 36 Solitary Punishment cells, where prisoners were punished for up to 30 days at a time.  These have been restored immaculately and it is quite an experience being able to enter them and imagine the past inhabitants living here in total darkness.

The whole loop took us 2 hours, allowing plenty of time for exploring the buildings scattered along the way and reading the useful interpretative signs.

Shakedown trip, to the Spin-In at Bothwell

We took delivery of our lovely new motorhome, now tentatively named Wanda, on Friday, so of course on Saturday we had to take her for a run! It took all of Saturday morning to prepare her and to pack what we thought we'd need for her first trip, including our electric bikes - isn't she beautiful?!

Yes, well, this picture lasted until we backed Wanda out onto the road, and the road connected with the bike rack!  Straight back into the carport, and the bikes came off.  Obviously we needed to do something with the towbar, but what?

Friendly Peter at Kings Caravans had the simple answer:  turn the towbar attachment over, so it bends upwards instead of downwards - of course!

Our destination was Bothwell, where the 35th reunion of the biennial International Highlander Spin-In and Fibre Festival was happening.  I'd always been interested in going to this festival, as I used to spin pure fleeces into jumpers a long time ago (i.e. before Sam came along and my quiet spare time disappeared), but had never managed to get there.

We felt like king and queen of the road, sitting up high in our bright and shiny new van, with great views of the road and the sights, and attracting looks of wonder and appreciation :-).  It was a pleasurable easy drive to the historical town of Bothwell (established 1822), with beautiful weather and quiet roads.  On arrival we thought we'd secure a spot in the local caravan park before investigating the show.  Sadly the park, located in the centre of town, was underwhelming, comprising some powered spots on a dry and dusty carpark, and unpowered sites crowded into a grassy paddock.  We preferred a powered spot today as we were keen to test out our 240V connection.  There was no office on site, and it turned out you had to book a site through the service station down the road.  The heritage garage doubled as the local centre for the Sporting Shooters Association, and the walls were adorned with magnificently mounted deer.  When the shop assistant decided to ask us what we wanted, we found out that all the powered spots had been booked by more organised travellers who were in town for the festival.  So we decided we may as well seek a more attractive location outside the town.

Before the festival finished for the day we were in time to admire some fantastic sheepdogs carefully manoevring frankly stupid sheep through gates and up ramps in the sheepdog trials.  One dog scored 38 points, the next 83!  The range of washed, carded, dyed, felted, knitted and spun wools on display was fabulous.  There were spinners, weavers, lacemakers, dyers and papermakers from all over the world.  Flax weavers from New Zealand were making fine bags and cloaks, weaving Weka feathers into them.  A contingent from Japan were demonstrating superb weaving and dying.  The First Prize winning spinner had created an astounding continuous 670m length of fine yarn from 10g of pure fleece!!!

We drove west towards the Great Lakes in search of a pretty camping spot, and decided to try Arthur's Lake.  At the first turnoff to the Lake there was a little sign saying that there was a caravan park 1.5km north at Pumphouse Bay.  Of course that was too easy, we had to investigate what was on offer down this road (Wilburville, ugly roads, lots of shacks but no welcoming signs) before we returned and headed north to Pumphouse Bay.

It was a good sign when we found that the road to Pumphouse Bay was quiet and pretty.

 The caravan park is quite old and seems to be well managed by the Hydro Electric Commission.

The site manager was a friendly chap, who extracted the princely sum of $8 for one night's stay. It would have been even cheaper if we'd had a pensioner concession!!

We found a nice grassed spot at the quiet end of the park, with an outlook straight onto the bush, and with glimpses of the lake in the background.  Who could ask for more?

Our fellow residents were clearly avid and capable DIYers, with every caravan set up differently.  People were cordial,  and respected others' quiet times and privacy.  Hopefully this will be the norm in our future travels.

Taking an evening stroll along the lake's edge, we found out that these are the native fish that you are NOT allowed to catch here:

and these are the introduced Brown Trout that you ARE allowed to catch:

There were several fishing boats having a go.

We enjoyed our first night in Wanda.  We worked out how lots of the equipment worked, and what was missing (like the coaxial cable for the TV), and made lists of  things to be installed or packed before the next outing.

Next morning I noticed that our neighbours, a pair of French cycle tourers, were having difficulty pumping up a flat tyre.  I tried out my basic French and offered the use of our sturdy pompe a velo, which they were very grateful for.  They had come from the north the day before (tres dur), and were heading towards Maydena now.

Our second day at the Spin-In, we enjoyed the Show and Tell.  Jenny was doing amazing things using natural substances like gum leaves in dying:

After watching some more sheepdog trials, we headed back south.  Also on this weekend was a wineries open day in the Coal River Valley, and so we popped into Pressing Matters to try some excellent riesling and pinot noir.  With more stocks carefully loaded into Wanda's "garage", it was time to find lunch.  Meadowbank was booked out, so we headed back into town.  Our fantastic first outing in Wanda came to a fitting end as we enjoyed the best fish and chips in Australia at Fish Frenzy, feeling like pampered and  carefree tourists in our own home State.