Tasmania Trip In January

[Laurie and Helen]

G'day,

Helen and I are planning a trip to Tasmania in January and were wondering if anyone had driven the road between Arthur River on the west coast down through Corinna and onto Strahan. Our investigations so far suggest it should be a reasonable dirt road all though steep in sections.

Any other thoughts or known good camp sites around the isle will be appreciated for our planning. We intend to go over on news year day and have 21 days on the apple isle.

Not the best time but we have to fit it in with work as gold lotto didn't help on the weekend.

Laurie and Helen :thumbsup:

[John and Jo]

Hi LAURIE & HELEN,

We spent 5 weeks in Tas Jan- Feb this year what a place lots to see and do. you can free camp just about anywhere

No resrictions. Not sure what interests you but we found the mountains great, cradle mountain ect.

21 days will certainly give you a feel of the island ,but you will have to keep moving.We drove from Auther river to Temma and back to Black river just below Stanley the roads were very corrigated so slow going.we traveled 4200klm just in Tas its a small island with lots of roads. We have a rather large photo of the nut in stanley and one of jetty beach on Bruny island hanging in our lounge specky shots wonderfull memories

happy travels John & Jo :smile:

[Laurie and Helen]

Jo and John,

Thanks for the information, we generally like doing most activities that take us of the main trails. We realise 21 days should be enough time to wet our appetite and give us some good information to plan another trip sometime in the future. I work with a chap that helped build most of the bridges down in this area of Tasmania about 25 years ago he was based out of Stanley.

We are looking forward to getting into some areas that we can do some treking all be it short walks this trip. We did about 6000 km in NZ last October in four weeks and 5 days of that was walking the Milford Track, we try to set a path that has minimal backtracking which is difficult on little islands, unless you get of the main roads. One advantage of this time of year is the twighlight when you are so far south.

cheers

Laurie and Helen

[Glen and Debbie]

Hi Laurie and Helen

we are off to Tassie in November for 5wks. We have booked the ferry and have our itinerary all ready for us to go. Yep that damn lotto just keeps evading us too.

Will keep you in mind when we do our trip for must sees and/or must avoid. We are doing the island anti clockwise. Glen has picked out 4 or 5 bases for us to do day tours from.

We have been advised that there are some amazing free camps in Tassie.

We are also hoping to do a couple of weeks in the South Island of New Zealand next year in a motorhome, so any advice is very welcome. Love doing the bush walks.

Cheers

Deb B

[Laurie and Helen]

Deb,

Yeah we are planning anti clockwise and if we can do the stretch down the west coast means we finish with the run through Cradle mountain then up to Wyndham. We are planning a few set down points like Hobart and Launceston but hopefully the rest (except Devonport) will be via the camps 4 book and local advice from passing vanners.

You will really love NZ this was our second trip, we hired a car both times and used van park accomodation but they are really set up for the traveller and nothing seems like a bother to anyone when you need assistance. We crossed the south island four times. If you give us your email we can send you our itinerary to give you an idea of how we went.

catch you all later

Laurie :smile:

[gunna]

Hi Laurie. I will be driving the SI in November. Any chance you can send me a copy of the itinerary too plse. Send to gunna98@hotmail.com

Cheers

Peter

[Bruce and Sue]

Hi Laurie & Helen,

My wife and I are new to the KEDRON site. We pick up our new ATV 2 in October this year and will then return to the South Island where we live.

You will have your running shoes on to do the island in21 days !!!!!

We took our 17' 6' Coromal van through the area about 18 months ago and it was easy. There are heaps of spots to camp at no cost. On leaving Strahan go to Corinna via Zeehan,(very good Mineing & Minerals museum there), cross the Pieman river on a punt called the "Fat Boy" and you are in Corinna. From Corinna a launch does a cruise on the Pieman River. I have heard it said that this cruise is better than the Gordon River cruise. There is a camping area at Corinna along with small shop.From Corinna to Arthur River the road is unsealed and steep in parts and back to bedrock in other places,in my opinion it is not hard going.

Along the way there are Trial and Granville Harbours, shackies and permanents frequent both places.You will have heaps of places to camp along the way.Temma and Couta Rocks are two places where cray fishermen live and fish the West Coast along with holiday makers. After Couta Rocks there is Arthur River.At Arthur River there a fair sized community and a good river cruise. Two boats operate on the river and we took the ------- Robertson, can't remember the christain name of the bloke the boat is named after. We enjoyed the trip very much and the operator has a couple of wild Sea Eagles who put on a show picking up meat he throws onto the river bank. After Arthur River you are through. I would recommend that you buy a book called "the guide to free-camping in Tasmania, ISBN 0958677859. This will knock spots off the Hema camps book. If you want to speak to me shoot me a note on the site and I will call you, thi goes for any one else who plans to ccome to THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY. Regards, Bruce

[Laurie and Helen]

Bruce,

Thanks for the information, when you pick your van up in October you are welcome to stay a while at our place just out of Toowoomba if you are returning that way (we will be at the Millmerran camp fire meeting apart from that October is free). We realise that 21 days is short but when you have to work you take what time you have and make the most of it, scoping for a future trip we will return to the apple isle. That is good news about the western explorer road, NP advise that it is closed at the moment due to bush fires, and NP thought we may have had troubles getting on the barge at Corinna (obviously not an issue). We are doing the trip anti clockwise and as this is our first trip over we will take any advice about what to see and what to look out for. With your help along with Glenn and Deb we should be able to make a good trip off it. Cold or rain doesn't stop us, we have all the wet and cold weather clothing in the van at all times. If you want to, our email is on the members list. Apart from being booked in at Devonport on News Year day night we intend to wing it the rest of the way so if we find somewhere to stay we will have to decide where we make up the time later. :thumbsup:

(the photo was taken last October in NZ on the Milford Track)

cheers

Laurie

[Bruce and Sue]

Hi Laurie,

Further to my previous note on your trip to Tassie in 2009. I contacted the people who operate the Fat Boy re its carrying capasity today, 17/6/08.

Max weight 6.5 tonnes.

Max length 9 meters.

Wheel base 2.46 meters.

Width 2.5 meters.

Their web address :- www. corinna.com. au

If your rig is too big for the Fat Boy you would need to drive to Corinna via Zeehan, Rosebery, Tullah, Waratah and Savage River. The web address will give you the full mail.

If there is anything else you would like me to do for you let me know.

Regards,

Bruce :thumbsup:

[Laurie and Helen]

Bruce,

That could be a bit of a problem, we come in at 13.5m with the XC extended draw bar and cruiser hanging off the front. Might just park up and do a drive around this section of the trip without the van.

Thanks for your assistance, you can't put a price on local knowledge. I will look up the web site.

cheers

Laurie :sad:

[Bruce and Sue]

Hi Laurie,

Further to the length of your rig on the FAT BOY. The owner rang me yesterday to ask if I understood how they measure the 9 meters for the length of the rig. It is measured from the middle of the front axel on the towing vehicle to the middle of the leading axel of your van. I reckon that would get you back into the game ???

Regards,

Bruce :thumbsup:

PS- Thank you for the offer to drop in after we pick up the van, we will come back to you on that. B

[Laurie and Helen]

Bruce,

Yes ! I took your advice and looked up the website, spectacular photo's and will definately be spending some time in the area. Have contacted the people via the website and came up with the same outcome as you the barge is OK one of the photo's on site actually show some vehicles coming across. I did a google earth tour down the road and coast the other night to determine the amount of side roads off the main road out to the coast that might be good for an overnight stop. We will have to watch our days but just makes more reasons to plan a second trip at some time.

Thanks for your help and hope to catch up some time.

cheers

Laurie :thumbsup: