Sailing today

How lovely of everyone to visit and leave a comment, it's so wonderful and those that visit and don't leave a comment.  It doesn't matter where you all come from English speaking or no English it's great to see your comments - thank you to all.

So my husband and I are off again for a holiday to other areas of Australia for over 3 months towing our caravan.  Photo and some information how we get off the Island below.
Don't know where we are going as yet but certainly to Queensland in the north.

Be happy, safe and keep well till I return early in November and if I'm lucky I will be able to visit your blogs once in awhile whilst away, maybe even post a photo or two on my blog.

My husband and his friend went for a long drive (5 hours) the other day round trip which took them to Bradys Lake near the middle of Tasmania.  These photos were taken with my husbands phone. Mind you he never takes photos but he knew I would love these reflections.

The photo below is of the view from Blackwood Creek not that far from home.

The Spirit of Tasmania 1 and 11 are the ships that ferry passengers, freight and vehicles across Bass Strait.  Bass Strait is between the north of the Island of Tasmania, Australia and the State of Victoria of which Melbourne is it's capital.
The channel's width is approximately 300 km (190 mi) and it's depth is 60-70m (200 ft) 500km (310 mi) long.
The time from Devonport in Tasmania to Melbourne in Victoria is 9 to 11 hours.
We sail at night time.

Mathinnia

Another day trip recently we headed to Mathinna which is a small town in the north eastern part of Tasmania, about 63 km from Launceston..   We went the long way around to Mathinna.
Mathinna was named after a young aboriginal girl who was befriended the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin.

The town became established as a gold mining centre, shorty after gold was discovered in the area in 1890's.  The Golden Gate Mine in Mathinna was one of Tasmania's highest-yield gold mines, second only to Beaconsfield.  At its peak in the late 1890's the town sustained a population of over 5,000 including a large number of Chinese miners, making it the third largest town in Tasmania.
Wikipedia

Today there is only a handful of people and there are no shops, just a few streets.

The photos below a bit too green was taking on the way to Mathinna before we came into bush country.

Tree plantations on the way

A church in Mathinna is worse for wear and obviously not used.

The house below is an old miner's cottage in the main street.  I posted the photo on Instagram the other week and a person left me a message to say his grandmother lives in that house.  How amazing is that, of all the people in this world that should happen.  Rather amazing..

More scenery as we came on our way home, along with the abandoned house which was after all the bush we came through.

Hawley

After Squeaking Point we headed around the corner to Hawley Beach.  When our children were little we spent some time here staying in a house during the school holidays in summer. 
Across from here you can see Bakers Beach back a few posts.

Squeaking Point

Continuing on a day trip we called into Squeaking Point which is a small town attached to Port Sorell, and Hawley.
Two women were fishing from the jetty.

Bakers Beach

Narawntapu National Park which includes Bakers Beach where one has to pay a fee to enter or buy a yearly pass which we do every two years, yes you can get one for that time.
There is only one road into the park.
Opposite to that sign (below) one can come by boat from Port Sorell which is on the other side of the beach, we used to do this for several years on a Sunday years ago to water ski in this area.  Those times there was no fee and no road into Bakers Beach.

Below is a Pademelon which is a small marsupial, they can be distinguished from wallies by their shorter, thicker, and sparsely haired tail.
Above is a Parrot taken from a distance out the vehicle's window so it's not that clear.

Wallabies are just everywhere, they are much smaller than kangaroos.  If you look hard in the below photo and enlarge it you will see them dotted along the side of the right hand side of the road and in the bushes.

Above photo is part of the camping area which is low cost, no showers in this area or power, toilets are available.  However within the National Park in one area close to the Information Centre there is a campsite with power, toilets and showers for a low cost.

Both photos are of Bakers Beach.  The top one is a short part of the beach and the bottom one is the long beach and just as long in the opposite direction.

Below the walkway out from the beach.

Arthurs Lake

Arthurs Lake is a man made reservoir in the Central Highlands of Tasmania.
The lake was created in the 1920's by the Hydro-Electric Commission of Tasmania damming the Upper Lake Ricer, Blue Lake and Sand Lake as well as the Morass Marsh.  The principal purpose3 of the lake is to support the generation of hydro-electricity.
Water is pumped from Arthurs Lake to the Great Lake which then feeds into the Poatina Power Station which is not that far up above where the first photo is of my last post.
The water comes down via a huge pipe.

A great fishing place at Arthurs Lake many people own houses or shacks and spend many a weekend up there fishing.

Tamar River, Launceston

Haven't finished our days trips but had to post these two photos taken last evening of the Tamar River on such a beautiful winters day.
This area is about 5 minutes walk from the city centre of Launceston.
The second photo there are two bridges to cope with the traffic for those people who live on the other side of the river.
There is a lovely park over that fence on the right along with a skate park and this side a playground for children, carpark, toilet block and a nice walk along to Home Point where one can catch the ferry that takes you up the Tamar River for a tour.
Years ago we used to hop in the ski-boat and go ourselves.

The second photo, there are two bridges to take the traffic across to the other side of the river.

Up in the Lake Country

On the way to the Great Lake and other lakes in the area we came through Cressy a small rural town. The 1st photo is on the way to the Lake Country and you can see the hills/mountain in the distance.  The way up is very windy as in several S Bends, so you meet yourself coming back :)
I've written before about the Great Lake, statistics below in 2016, but it was good to see the level of the lake a bit higher than in that drought year.
The last photo is of an outdoor loo at Arthur's Lake.  There will be photos of some of the shacks or houses next post.

The header photo was taken in Bogan Road near Liffy on the way home on the day trip.

The Great Lake is a natural lake and man-made reservoir that is located in the central northern region of Tasmania, Australia.

Area: 114 km² Surface elevation: 1,030 m

Length: 22 km

Catchment area: 399 km²

Year built: 1967

Outflow location: Shannon River

Town: Miena

We ventured up to the lake and surrounding areas on Sunday to see how low the water level was.  The lake supplies water for some of the Hydro Power to Tasmanian's.

The lake is very low for this time of year. 

In the photos you will see where the normal level is expected to be.

Up the Central Plateau

Central Highland, Central Plateau, The Lake Country, The Highlands of Tasmania all refer to the one large area.

Up that way there is a town called Miena and boy it's cold in winter when the breeze blows, the temperature during the winter days will be about 5deg C and overnight - 3deg C.  It can snow up there but doesn't hang around for long.

Sunset on the way home

The above is a bush walking track on the way down from the plateau.

Also one of the mountains called Projection Bluff.

Part of the Great Lake.

Typical of the shacks up on the Central Plateau mostly people that own them and go fishing.

Shannon Lagoon.  Both photos taken when moving