Our First Day in Van Diesel in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania for the non-Aussies, or "Tassie" for short)

 Our Longford family Adventure to Tasmania, has been in the making since June of this year. Given the "fluidity" of the "COVID situation" and Premiers that changed state border rules, week to week depending on what the polls were saying, we were never truly certain we would actually get on that plane, until we actually did. Even at the eleventh hour QANTAS cancelled our flight and we scrambled to get the last four seats on an earlier flight. 

As the plane took off from Brisbane, we felt like we were escaping. Even though the borders between Queensland and Tasmania are open now, air travel and moving around interstate for a holiday now seems even more exciting than ever, we have stopped taking it for granted. Plus after two years of being told to lock ourselves away we are kinda over it. We've done all the right things, we wore masks when we had to, we declared our whereabouts when we had to, we nearly lost our business due to border closures, we vaccinated ourselves and our 12 year old child, so enough already, we would like to get our lives moving again and accept any risks.

Steve had work to do in Tassie when we arrived, so I took the kids to potter around the Docks. The afternoon was brisk, despite the fact it's Summer, but there was enough Christmas frivolity along the waterfront to make us forget about the weather. One of the reasons we like going away before Christmas is it makes us get our Christmas shopping done early and we escape the pre-Christmas nonsense that seems to focus on panic and shopping when we are around home. When we are away, with presents wrapped and the smugness of being organised, we can enjoy the true delights of the Christmas season that tend to come our way, like a Santa on the Docks that had plenty of Tasmanian travel tips and some delightfully ancient Carollers all decked out with reindeer earrings.

The next morning we picked up our Campervan - 6 berth Britz. Let me be clear, I have never camped before.....EVER. I have backpacked, so have some experience of stinky communal bathrooms but the whole idea of sleeping in a truck is a novelty for me, and the kids. Steve however, has slept in trees in clothes he has worn for a week so for him, a Britz 6 berther is luxury. And to be perfectly honest, for my first experience camping, Van Diesel, as we named him, is pretty well the Ritz. All that said, our first day in it was a painful period of adjustment. After a super speedy van briefing at the airport pick up, we drove off feeling distinctly underprepared, Steve was swearing at everyone after we were only 8 minutes down the road, Van Diesel and everyone in it. This is significant as Steve never swears in front of the kids.  When you start driving a Campervan for the first time you discover how much stuff can fly around in a moving vehicle. For seasoned campervanners - you will be laughing at us right now, and we give you permission.

Twenty minutes down the road and Captain Steve was into the swing of it, beeping at other campervanners and giving them the wave of those initiated into Club Campervan, acting like we were old timers in the Campervanning game. We stopped at New Norfolk, 40 mins out of Hobart to pick up some groceries. When we returned to Van, there was a note under our windscreen from "Dave", one of the half a million friendly Tasmanians. Dave had written a note to tell us, " Just so you know, there is a branch under your vehicle". Captain Steve's bubble was burst, maybe there was a bit more to this campervanning lark and maybe that something was understanding how to manoeuvre large vehicles in small spaces. 

We continued on our 4 and a half hour drive from New Norfolk to Strahan along the Lyell Highway. We were in what Tasmanian's call the "Wild West" and wild it is.  What is striking is the contrasting landscapes and communities within small distances, lakes filled with hundreds of nesting black swans, gentle green hills, the expanse of Lake St Clair to moonscapes of scree from mining operations surrounding small mining towns. The charm of the tiny town of Hamilton with its stone buildings and rambling roses to the gritty, historically layered, copper mining town of Queenstown, once the richest mining town in the world.

The approach to Queenstown for first time Campervanners is hair raising, with 90 bends, it is not the best for those that suffer from car sickness on winding roads, nor is it the best for first time drivers of a 7.2m vehicles like Captain Steve.

Our only stop on the way to Strahan was a place a friend had recommended we visit, called The Wall in the Wilderness", it's off the Lyell Highway and was well worth the 30 minute stop. The Wall in the Wilderness is a 15 year project by sculptor Greg Duncan, a 100 metre by 3 metre tall wall of Huon Pine telling the story of the building and evolution of Tasmania through Duncan's eyes. We met his son Daniel and we were absolutely stunned by the skill of both father and son, creating a unique and grand record of our island state. The creators of "The Wall" do not allow photos so this image is taken from discovertasmania.com.au

We hooked Van up to a powered site in Strahan, beside the magnificent Macquarie Harbour. After a greasy dinner from the local chippie it took us almost an hour to put up two beds. Miss S slept in the loft bed above the driver's cabin, which was already made up, but getting the other two beds up and sleep ready was a challenge that reduced us to laughter and more cursing. Mr  A scored a double bed to himself and Steve and I slept in the smallest bed we have ever shared. How this 6 berther is a six berther is beyond us, the spec says it sleeps 6 adults -hahahahahaha. Tomorrow - a bit about cutie pie Strahan and what we are learning about Campervans.