Tasmania - part 4 - road trip

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I had decided a few days into my Tasmania trip that it would be great to hire a car for a couple of days. So I did that the day after Cradle Mountain. I chose a little Hyundi Getz from a place near the airport and off I went for two days. Some of my driving lessons were done in this car so I was familar with it. I had booked a bed at a town called bernie on the north west coast for that night so that was my destination. I wanted to be there before it got dark, so I as long as I left enough time to get there I could stop where I want.

First stop was at Westbury, a very quite village where you could have heard a pin drop. Had a village green and lots of old buildings. Was a little like a Midsomer village! A lot of the houses used to be the hospital, school etc. Next stop was at Chudleigh, where I visited the honey farm and shop. Tried a lot of different flavours of honey! Instead of turning round and going to bernie via the main road I decided to carry on and go the backway on the advice on the electrician at the Arthouse. The route actually took me past Cradle Mountain again! It was a lovely route though very twisty turny, it was a good job it was just me on the road for most of the trip otherwise i'm not sure if my driving skills would have been up to it! I got to bernie that afternoon just before it got dark and found the caravan site I was staying in. My room was a 4 bed but it was just me in it which was good, if a little spooky and cold at times! I drove into town for some food and the waiter told me about a beach I must visit the next day which I did.

The next morning I was to journey back to Launceston via the main route. First though I went a little further along the coast to boat Harbour beach, it had crystal clear water and would have looked even better if the sun was out!
I stopped at the town of Penguin, where there are little fairy penguins living there and lots of penguin statues everywhere! I also stopped at Anvers chocolate factory. The last place before Launceston was Grindelwald, a swiss holiday village. Very lovely wood cabins and the view into the neighbourhood made me think of Carly and the Sims as the houses were all huge and individual, just like the ones people create on the computer game!
I took the car to the rental place after that and went to the airport for my flight to Melbourne.

I really enjoyed my short trip in the car, it was good to have independance and be able to go where I wanted. I was very happy with my map reading skills, I only got lost a couple of times! I drove 550km in two days, more than I have ever drove in my life!

So that is it for Tasmania. Next is the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide.

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Comments

[Carls]

Well done on your driving - sounds like a good road trip. You make me sound like a right geek, haha!! But thanks for thinking of me :) Were they real penguins?

[Carls]

Lol, I just looked at your photos properly - it really is quite Sim-ish! And the "little stop I made" photo looks very idyllic! Also, in all of your photos (not just these ones) it looks like there's no people around - is that because it's winter??