Tassie at christmas.

Submitted: Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 20:31
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Just starting the packing list for our six weeks in Tassie December and January.
How bad are flies, mozzies etc. in summer in Tassie?

SWMBO is insisting on taking our screenhouse which we use when camped on the beach in summer, but it is definitely one of the last items I want to be lugging around if it's not going to be used.
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Reply By: Member - Peter D M - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 20:52

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 20:52
hi andrew,
there is a big difference in climate from here to there.i know i'm just down the road and did tassie jan- feb this year. we camped out for a month national parks, forrests and camp grounds insects wern't the problem. bought a thermal sleeping bag when we arrived, my daughter then put two lighter ones inside each other to keep warm. 20th jan 2004 1.00pm cradel mountain sleeting and 4degree. snow overnight and frost in morning. we had a ball and will go again but different part of the world to ours. mt. william nat park a must and the west coast.
enjoy the trip.
regards peter
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (Bris) - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:35

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:35
We are prepared for the cold (as much as a Queenslander can be prepared). Hadn't heard of Mt William - will look it up.

Thanks.
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Reply By: Member - Nick (TAS) - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 20:53

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 20:53
Gday Andrew , flies9little black pricks) arnt a real problem but plenty of mozzies and sand flies about near the beaches.I'd go for the screenhouse if camping near the beach for a while.
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Follow Up By: Member - Nick (TAS) - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 20:57

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 20:57
Oops,make that (little black pricks),few more than 9 about.
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (Bris) - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:35

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:35
Looks like it is coming with us.
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Follow Up By: Brian - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 10:01

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 10:01
I find the Marsh Flies to be the worst!!!
It can snow any time Have been at the Great lakes in Jan and had 1" snow over the car....Love it

Brian
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Reply By: Leroy - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:13

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:13
Gets hot there......hiking in 30cm of snow arond cradle mountain on the 14th dec 98 i fink from memory!!!

Leroy
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Reply By: Utemad - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:19

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:19
We're going from Bris--->Tassie in January too. I thought it might be a little cold maybe in the mountains but snow????

I guess not all of Australia is like a Brisbane Summer!!
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Follow Up By: Leroy - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:55

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:55
IT'S SNOWed in Jan before!!!

Leroy
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Reply By: Member - Jack - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:34

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:34
I am heading to Tassie in January as well - hope there's still room on the boat.

Best advice I got was - be ready for anything and everything. That was from a mate who was there two years ago at around the same time. Can't wait, though.

Jack
The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get. (Lewis Carroll-Alice In Wonderland)

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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (Bris) - Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:41

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004 at 21:41
Seems to be a popular destination.

We're taking the boat from Sydney, and returning to Melbourne.

SWMBO is flying back to get a few hours extra shopping done in Melbourne.
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Reply By: Baz (NSW) - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 07:49

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 07:49
We went in the middle of winter but by the sounds of the other replies not a lot of difference, gotta do west coast Arther river to Strahan we took the western Explorer Rd dirt all the way to the Pieman river punt. Cradle Mt, Bay of Fires, Pub in the paddock for the beer drinking pig, mate so many great places to see you'll love it and super friendly people.

Baz.
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Reply By: Shawn - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 08:07

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 08:07
Andrew / Utemad,

We'll be there to from 26 Dec to end of Jan. Will be going anticlockwise from Devonport.
New Years Eve at Cradle Mt, hopefully it will the closest thing to a white Xmas that I will get.
Hope to see you both on the road.
Cheers
Shawn
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Follow Up By: Utemad - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 13:41

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 13:41
We'll probably be spending New Years in Melbourne before continuing on to Tassie.

Although it's all still up in the air at the moment. Haven't planned anything other than that we are going :-))))
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Follow Up By: Michelle from ExplorOz - Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 13:13

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 13:13
So Shawn, what's your itinerary? I hadn't thought of Cradle Valley for NYE, was going to hide somewhere on the coast. Apparently, Strahan is full of hoons from Boxing Day to NYE and the only dates we could get for the Gordon River Cruise and ABT Railway was the 3/1 and 4/1 so need to be in Strahan area on night of 2/1. NYE location is a bit up in the air, but thinking around Henty Dunes/Ocean Beach as the local ranger told me we could easily drive as far as we liked up that beach to get away from it all, but perhaps we will think about Cradle Valley instead - would be quite special! Everything is Tassie is relatively close after all.
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Reply By: Member - Nick (TAS) - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 18:29

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 18:29
May see some of you fellow formites around down here ,seems like half of you will be down here.(should just fit you all in).If any of you are travelling through Chudleigh and stop for fuel at the servo,keep your eye out for me,I'm always looking out for Exploroz stickers and wheel covers.The Honey Farm down the road is pretty good to,King Solomon and Marakoopa Caves are worth a look,Alum Cliffs is a short walk to a good lookout,all within 10 min from Chudleigh.
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Follow Up By: Michelle from ExplorOz - Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 13:09

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 13:09
So, you work at the servo? Will try to stop to say hi. I posted further below in this thread our full itinerary, minus the dates, but we'll be in that area on the afternoon of 27th Dec.
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Reply By: Michelle from ExplorOz - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 18:42

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 18:42
Hi Andrew - our whole family (David, myself, our 2 kids, and my 2 parents) will be doing a 2 vehicle trip around Tass in Dec and Jan too! look out for the EXPLOROZ plates (yes, they are finally back on now that we had them remade after losing them!). Tas is a long way from Perth so we are really looking forward to our 8 week trip! Have no idea of the itinerary yet - what's yours?
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Follow Up By: Member - Fay D Away (Vic) - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 19:07

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 19:07
Michelle
I hope you pop rivetted them on

Bill
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (Bris) - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 21:55

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 21:55
Nothing set in stone yet, but looking roughly at the following.

Dec8 Arrive Devonport Stay Devonport
Dec9 Latrobe, Deloraine, Mole Creek Stay Devenport
Dec10 Cradle Mtn day trip
Dec11 Walls of Jerusalem NP
12 Travel to Stanley
13 Long drive - Arthur River Temma Back to Stanley?
Dec 14 Travel to Queenstown area - via Smithton, Corina?
15,16,17 Day trips from Queenstown - Strahan, ABT, Gordon River
18,19 Lake St Clair and area - Bronte Park
20 Mt Field
21-24 Based around Launceston
25 Ben Lomond (SWMBO birthday)
26-29 Hobart Staying at waterfront in a hotel - day tripping
30,31 Port Arthur - hotel booked
1,2,3 Hobart / Huon area Maria Island?
4,5 East coast - Frecinyt NP?
6th Jan Back to Melbourne
Due back in Brisbane 15/01/05 - thought we would have a look at the grampians? for a week? on the way and express home overnight.
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Follow Up By: Brian - Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004 at 22:54

Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004 at 22:54
Looks like I will miss you by a Day andrew I am leaving melb on the night of the 8th Dec

Brian
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Follow Up By: Michelle from ExplorOz - Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 13:24

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 13:24
Fay, I noticed you mentioned the same advice when we originally mentioned the plates had fallen off, but we don't mount our number plate in the usual manner, and they fell off because the plate holder broke. (The spare covers up the standard plate position, and because we use the ExplorOz wheel cover we don't mount the plate inside the spare wheel on a bracket as one might. David made the first bracket which was a vertical bar behind the wheel carrier with a right angle so the plate sat just above the spare wheel (it held on for a couple of years and stood up to the CSR etc but finally gave way on the Variety trip). David's new bracket runs horizontally, and is much stronger now.
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Reply By: Rick Blaine - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 19:53

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 19:53
Hey guys.... while you're there call into Nabowla and see my great grandparents house...& dont forget to have a ride from Queenstown to Strachan on the ABT Railway... and yes the screenhouse will be used...you wont be sorry you took it...
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Reply By: Ronnie - Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 19:54

Thursday, Oct 21, 2004 at 19:54
Hi all
Anyone travelling the Hellyer Gorge way to or from the West Coast of a weekend are welcome to call in at 1046 Murchison Highway, Elliott, for tea or coffee. Only there at weekend as I work in Rosebery.
Regards Ronnie
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Follow Up By: Michelle from ExplorOz - Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 13:06

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 13:06
Thanks for the offer Ronnie, but looks like we'll pass through on a Wednesday.
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Reply By: MrBitchi - Friday, Oct 22, 2004 at 08:18

Friday, Oct 22, 2004 at 08:18
Did the Tassie trip last Xmas. The main problem we experienced was wind..... nearly got blown off the island several times. Insects weren't a problem (probably because of the wind!)
Camped first few nights at mates place near Devonport. Nearly got washed away. Wet and cold.
Camped in Mt William Nt Park. Couldn't go on the beach, too windy. Cool temperatures.
Bicheno, ditto
Camped in Hobart. Windy as....!! Went up Mt Wellington. Windy? heck, my daughter was too scared to get out of the truck in case she got blown away! Was 25 degrees on the top.
Camped at Strahan. Windy, wet and COLD. About 8 degrees max.
Camped at Stanley. Ditto. There for three days and the chairlift was closed the whole time.

As you can see the weather was a hassle but even so we had a good time. Saw lots of good stuff.
Suggest you go prepared for anything and be prepared to improvise or buy stuff for conditions you weren't expecting.

Having said all that, I've done previos trips when the weather was great, including one motorbike trip when we never got wet once.

Enjoy your holiday.
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Reply By: Roger from Tassie - Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004 at 21:53

Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004 at 21:53
Hi Andrew

Mozzie and March Flies can be a problem. But if you use the flies in northern SA or the mozzies at Hann Crossing at Cape York ( and I shiver when I recall the pain associated with 2 nights camping on the west coast of Fraser Is ) as a benchmark of 10 then mozzies & marchfies in Tassie rate 0.5.

Been camping here all my life and we've never used a mossie tent. And rack our brains as hard as can we can only remember ever seeing one other group of campers use one.

The critters are around and bad luck sometimes stikes but it won't be anywhere as bad as above.

Personally I wouldn't bother. Apologies to the SWMBO.

Have fun on the trip.

Roger

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Reply By: Michelle from ExplorOz - Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 12:58

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 12:58
Thanks for your itinerary Andrew - sorry I didn't respond sooner, but it's taken me until now to sort ours out! Problem was I couldn't fit everything in I wanted to see and had to extend our dates. Now have 3 full weeks and will be doing an anticlockwise circumnavigation as follows:

Arrive Devonport 3pm Dec 27 (Spirit 111 from Sydney). Since the sunset isn't until 8.50pm there is plenty of driving time, so the 1 1/2hr trip down to Mole Creek area seemed feasible to me, so we'll go directly there. Then onto Cradle Valley, then back up via Hellyer Gorge to the NW coastline and look around Cape Grim, Green Point, Marrawah etc and continue to hug the west coast down through Arthur River, Temma and part-way to Sandy Cape. Punt across the Pieman to Corinna, then explore Granille Harbour - Trial Harbour (Climes Track), out through to Zeeman and Montezumma Falls, back into Strahan - where we'll beach camp for a couple of days somewhere up Ocean Beach (Henty Backwater area?) while we do the Heritage Cruise of Gordon River/Sarah Island and the next day the ABT Railway, then onto Queenstown (getting the key from ranger to do the McCall track - will camp out there), then back into Queenstown next day to drop off key and drive onto Lake St Clair area (full of bus crowds there so probably bush camp near Lake King William), then drive onto Mt Field NP and camp there, then drive through Hobart (quick look at Mt Wellington, have been there before) and through to Bruny Island for 2 days. Then following our Bruny Island trek note that goes back to Hobart via Huonville and the Tahune Forest Reserve (and Airwalk), possible take a quick drive to see Southport area too, then start the final leg up the East Coast with camps at Freycinet NP, Bay of Fires and Mt William NP, last night camping at Bakers Point (near Port Sorrell) in time for the early morning departure from Devonport on the ferry to Melbourne, where we'll start our return trip to Perth via the Vic High Country and camping right along the Murray River.

ExplorOz Cruiser and a red GQ Patrol (both with ExplorOz wheel covers). Make sure you say hi if you see us.
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (Bris) - Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 20:33

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 at 20:33
We've now managed to squeeze another couple of days in. We changed our sailing days forward by two days. Want to have a bit more time on the west coast - thought we'd camp somewhere around the Arthur River area. I also wanted to have a look at Woolnorth, Cape Grim. We've booked a half day tour.

We're not making any plans to drive any further than we have to on the first day in Tassie in case either of us gets seasick and needs recovery time.

When we originally planned this trip we were hoping to have an absolutely minimal itinerary and just go when and where we felt like, but there seems to be so much we want to pack in now that it's starting to look like it might be a bit of a rush.

I'm starting to look forward to the week we want to spend in Victoria relaxing on the way home.
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