Day 153 – A Taste of Tasman Peninsula

Looking out of the rear window from the bed it was vivid blue skies – looking out the front window was dark grey clouds. Luckily we wanted to head south, which happened to be the direction of the blue skies…

We jumped in the rental car and started on our way for Port Arthur, the historic convict site (among other things). We’d travelled less than two kilometres when I saw a giant hardware store so decided to try my luck there with fixtures to make a quick fix to the car so we can get out of the caravan park and get back on the road in our van. I found something that I could make use of, and while I have no doubt that it will be durable enough for a few days, it is certainly in the realm of ‘Ghetto Engineering’. We had a 5/8” (19mm) x 5/8” x 10mm fitting originally. I tried replacing it with a 19mm x 19mm x 13mm irrigation t-piece, but it was ever so slightly too large. That was yesterday. Today I knew the original piece’s dimensions. Armed with this information I looked for a 19mm x 19mm x 10mm t-piece and to my surprise 19mm, 13mm and 10mm are common sizes with irrigation plumbing. Sadly, there were no exact matches. I had to make do with the 19x19x13 and use another reducer to drop the 13mm hosing to 10mm. Luckily I had some garden hose that I bought to plumb the water tank on the roof to the heat exchanger, back when I was planning on showering that way, rather than paying a few dollars at a truck stop… While I had it apart I took the opportunity to flush out the heater matrix to see if that was the cause of our lack of heating. I borrowed a hose and did my best to soak myself with it while trying to flush out the heater. After a few minutes of just getting wet, a slow trickle of brown sludge started to ooze out of the other end of the heater pipe. It was a long process alternating between pushing water up either side of the pipes and blowing air (using my lungs) and eventually the water coming out the other side was the same as the water going in. It was lucky that the weather this morning was so fantastic – I was working in boardshorts and a t-shirt nearly dry by the time I’d finished flushing the heater. The ghetto t-piece was installed, the coolant was topped up and bled, and (after returning the rental car) we were on our way south, with a very cautious eye on our digital temperature monitor.

Risa’s main interest in Tasmania is seafood, so I let her grab a dozen shucked fresh Barilla Bay oysters ($11.90). Happy wife, happy life… Tasty, but I’m not a massive seafood fan, so I couldn’t really tell you the difference between these ones and any others that I’ve had in the past.

Heading down the Tasman Peninsula there are a few attractions in close proximity. The first was the Tessellated Pavement, which if you didn’t know better looks just like a pavement (it’s actually rock that has undergone cracking and erosion to form shapes that look like tiles/bricks). It was high tide so a lot of it was under water, but I’d say even so it’s a bit of a B-grade attraction.

Same can be said for the blowholes a few kilometres south… I know that they are wave/weather dependent, but it was more of a weezehole than a blowhole.

They did have a food van selling fresh (though, crumbed and deep fried) seafood, so once again we ate. Risa got a platter with scallops, squid, fish and chips. I got a rabbit pie, which had amazing pastry and tender meat, however I think plain beef would probably be tastier and cheaper (but less adventurous). Oh, and if you’re wondering about the name of the shop, Doo-licious, the town is called Doo Town, and all the buildings/houses have Doo in their names, ‘Love Me Doo’, ‘Thistle Doo’, ‘Doo F@$k All’ etc.

Speaking of weather (we weren’t, but I will), the weather report I read in the morning mentioned afternoon hail. Sure enough, as we were sitting in our car eating a second lunch (in reality it was a slightly early dinner) it was hailing little chunks of, well, hail. They were only 2-3mm in diameter, so not like the hail we get in southeast Queensland, but still, it was hailing! Weirdly, it was actually sunny with blue-ish skies above us. Weirder still, it was predicted this morning!

We’d been let down two out of two with the attractions that we’d stopped at, so went to the next one, Tasman Arch, with low expectations. Now this thing was freaking HUGE! Strangely there were no signs explaining how high it was, only on the process of how it was formed (a cave whose roof collapsed). It was still alternating between hail and wind, so we didn’t spend much time outside, especially now that we have a car with a working heater! Devil’s Kitchen was similarly impressive with cliffs that would have to be well over 100m and nearly sheer. Visibility was a little limited, so photos don’t do it justice. We were finally impressed!

There was a short (1.7km) walk to another bay with sheer cliffs, but it was getting late (5PM) and cold so we took a rather long detour in our car instead to get to Waterfall Bay. The cliffs here would have towered over the ones by the Twelve Apostles in Victoria. Again, no signs to give any information, but using the giant trees (20-30m) as a judge, I’d have to estimate 150m.

We weren’t far from Port Arthur, so we continued on in the hope of being able to join a Ghost Tour, but sadly all the sessions were booked for tonight. So, feeling rejected, we drove to Remarkable Cave, which is further south, and set up camp for the night. The wind is still howling and there is still sporadic hail/sleet. I was hoping to one day see a sunset in Tasmania. I have nine chances left…

１５３日目　　１０月　１３日（日）　シーフード三昧

今日は、ポートアーサーへ向けてレンタカーで、ドライブ予定でランチを作って、必要なものを車に積めて出発したものも、日曜日でお店が早く閉まるので、帰ってくる前にデリちゃんを応急処置する為の部品を買えるホームストアが閉まってしまう前に、先に部品の買い出しと修理を済ませる事に。

結局、デリちゃんの応急処置が終わったので、キャラバンパーク代を浮かせる為にも今日中にホーバートを出て、デリちゃんでポートアーサーに向かい、月曜日に店が開く、三菱で正規の部品を買いにまたホーバートに戻る事に。（ポートアーサーまでは車で1時間ほど）

車を借りた近くの空港までレンタカーを返却しに行きいざポートアーサーを目指して出発。

パースでタスマニア出身の友達に勧められたカキで有名なBarilla Bayという場所に立ち寄り、大好物の新鮮なカキを頂きました。

１２個で＄１１．９０　　北海道のカキよりは小粒ですが、味も濃くておいしかったです♡

その後は、タスマン岬エリアを散策。　　まずは、Tessellated Pavement  というモザイク舗装？というよく分からない場所へ行ってみる事に。

着いてみると、何やら長い年月をかけた浸食によって海に面した岩が、もとは滑らかな平らな岩だったのに、四角く確かにモザイクのようになっている。

その前に人口の岩でできた階段があるんだけど、なんだかそれと全く変わらない感じで、言われないとこの岩は人工的に作られたものみたい。　ちょっと不思議だけど、なんか2人であんまり感動しないねと笑っていました。

お次ぎは、blowhallという岩に穴が空き、海のしぶきが、じゃばーんと豪快に見える場所でへ行ってみるもかなり小さくこれもちょっとガッカリ。　　でもここにテイクアウェイのシーフードショプがあったので、私は、ホタテとイカリングとお魚のフライセット＄１５、ロスはウサギのパイを頂きました。　これもうまうまー。　　タスマニアは、シーフードが新鮮で安くて北海道みたい。

その後は、大きなトンネル状の岩と大きな崖。　これは、グレートーオーシャンロードよりかなり大きそう。１５０mほどの高さはありそう。

とにかく寒くて、雨も時折激しく降ってくるし、ほんと寒さと天気の悪さに悩まされる毎日。　　しまいには、アラレも降ってきたーー。

ポートアーサーに到着したのは５時頃。　有名な夜のゴーストツアーに参加したかったけど、すでに今晩は満員。。。残念。　　だけど美味しいものもいっぱい食べれたよい1日でした。