Petal Point Holiday

Why sit around home reading or watching television. We decided to head off to Petal Point and into the roaring forties on the top north east corner of the State of Tasmania, Tasmania? The most southern state of Australia or should we say the island State of Tasmania. So it was that we packed our motorhome attached our motor car by way of A-Frame and headed off.
On the highway and climbing the many small mountains and down the many passes until we reached the town of Gladstone where we filled all our water tanks to capacity. We then unhooked the car that travels on an A frame on the back of the motorhome. Liz drove the car ahead to avoid being covered in dust for we had to travel on twelve kilometres of gravel roads to arrive at our destination.
Noticeable was the dry conditions prevailing on the large farms both at Cape Portland and Rushy Lagoon also the lack of Cape Barren Geese who would normally fly over from the nearby islands to graze on the usually lush pastures.
When we arrived at Petal Point, the area was living up to its name of the Roaring Forties with a fierce north westerly wind blowing, we chose a secluded camp site rather than opt for the top camping area, which has top views of the coastline, though you run the risk of being buffeted with high winds.
In no time at all we had our camp set up, then we had lunch at 2:15pm, after lunch we re-acquainted ourselves with the area and noted that the drought even had an effect on the trees and undergrowth in the camp areas, the tide was out, which with calmer weather would mean that we should be able to catch a fish or two in our net. Back at camp we then set up the satellite dish to get television if we wished to view. Then light up the campfire and cook our evening meal, we opted to eat inside the motorhome for there had been a change in wind which was now blowing a stiff southwester and quite overcast; later in the night rain squalls would come through only lasting a matter of minutes certainly not doing the dry ground much good at all.


Looking across Ringarooma Bay	Ringarooma Long Beach from top camp

We awoke to a windy warm sunny morning and after breakfast went for a walk along the entire length of the beach, about four kilometres return. Going was very easy for we were being blown along, on our return was something different, into a head wind you could feel the leg muscles working.


Petal Point Beach

Back in camp and we settled in reading books and later in the morning went to find a spot where our mobile phone would operate for we had lost the service where we set up camp.
Time for lunch and then Bob arrived and we helped him set up his camp, then out came the camp oven for we are having roast chicken and baked vegetables for tea. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading and soaking up the sunshine, for the wind had now abated.
On with the camp oven on the campfire and we roasted a chicken complete with roast potatoes etc this camping sure is tough, after our evening meal we sat out by the fire and then inside to watch television for a while before retiring to bed to read our books.


Behind the dunes at Cape Portland	Cape Portland Cemetery

Another wind change this morning coming out of the South East, another stroll along the beach then after breakfast we decided to go behind the dunes and look at the cemetery at Cape Portland and the fossilised trees and shells. The cemetery takes some locating behind the dried out lagoon, it is only the lone pine tree that looks out of place, the only indicator. Most of the headstones date to the 1800's and no doubt those lying there were the original settlers of Cape Portland, we then ventured back to the beach via the area where the wind has exposed the fossilised trees and sea shells. The landscape looks completely out of place and as it is unmarked it was only the local knowledge of Bob that lead us there, it is very difficult to find and probably just as for it may become vandalised with people wanting to take samples.


Cape Portland Fossilised Trees and Shells

After lunch we went for a drive out to Cape Portland and Little Musselroe Bay, on the way we were to see five pairs of Cape Barren Geese who we disturbed gathered around water troughs. They are beautiful Geese coloured light grey and with green plumage, the young are beautiful eating with the older birds being a bit on the tough side.


Cape Barren Geese, Cape Portland Property	Swans at Little Musselroe

We dropped into the Little Musselroe campgrounds and unfortunately the tide was out in the lagoon, their was prolific birdlife with Swans in the majority. This camp area is only for small campervan's and caravans with no dogs or generators allowed due to it being the breeding grounds of birds from the northern hemisphere. A very nice campground secluded and very quiet, good for children though not a lot of shelter in a south easterly wind.


Looking back to Musselroe Bay	Beach at Little Musselroe	Looking out towards Flinders Island

We then drove out to the headland of Little Musselroe and was met with a beautiful vista from the pure white sands of the beaches and views across to the furneaux group of islands. An excellent setting being so tranquil it has to lower stress levels

of any person, even with a slight cloud cover it did not diminish the beautiful vista that opened up as we stood on the headland.
Back to camp at Petal Point and it was time for happy hour and then we lit the barbecue and cooked our evening meal, the rest of the night was spent reading and watching television. The weather is holding up; not cold just warm enough to be comfortable and without any humidity which is great. The mornings are a little crisp though the days are sunny and quickly warming up, being a long weekend holiday there have been plenty of campers come in and set up.
Many have bought their boats and it doesn't take long for them to put to sea in an endeavour to catch fish, again a morning walk and trying to take photo's of pied oyster catchers, pacific gulls and dotterels is a little difficult for as you approach them they take flight. (photo of Pacific Gulls at low tide)
The evenings have been great and the camp fire is always alight to cook our meals or just to sit by when it gets a bit cooler in the evening, the only down side during the day is those pesky little fly's that always want of alight on your face. We quickly bought out our fly nets and it at times is difficult to read for the flies are landing on the net, I suppose this is small price to pay to have such excellent weather for this time of the year.


Calm of the morning	Same beach later in the day	Sunset in the making

Another wonderful day with very little wind and the sea was really calm, dead flat really, on my morning walk I was to see many different birds on the beach. Then we went into Gladstone to buy a few things to make our stay a little more comfortable and later in the afternoon in came a strong northwester though the temperature remained around 27 degrees Celsius. The sea then became very confused, certainly changing the outlook across the beach, during our nightly walk we were able to capture the sunset, a truly beautiful sight.


Old Homestead Ruins	Views to the Islands	Tides out!

A lovely day so we decided to go for a walk over the top end of the Cape Portland Property, firstly we came across the old ruins of the original homestead of the property. This structure dates back to the early 1800's built out of stone from the property with convict made bricks for doorways and lintels. It was a wonderful walk on such a cloudless day thought the land is very dry. We headed for the beach's backing onto Banks Strait, a wild section of the sea in the roaring forties.
The day was so clear that were able to see the islands of the Furneaux Group in the distance, shrouded in a bluish tinge, the many bays and inlets at low tide showed many differing types of shell fish and birdlife all beautiful given that beach's in this area are rarely visited by humans due to limited access.


Putting to sea to collect the net	Returning to the beach empty handed

The weather has been a bit fickle, though generally warm though a bit cool overnight, during the day we were to witness two reasonable sized black snakes that slithered across our path. We have been very cautious about leaving water around the camp for this will attract the snakes who are no doubt looking for water in this hot dry weather.
We finally set the net and when pulling it at dusk found only two fish had been caught, though we are not worried for we know that this area will give us a good haul in the not to distant future. We are still enjoying our stay with plenty of walks taking in the scenary and especially the beach walks.


Rugged Coastline	Overgrown cemetery of ship wrecked Sailors

We are still having very good weather and we put the nets out again and on this occasion we hit pay dirt, blackback salmon, yellow eye mullet, flathead, pike, leather jacket and mackerel all very edible and plenty to go around the campsites. We even caught a sleepy joe, a type of shark, pretty harmless though you need to watch out for the spikes behind their fins; these can be very dangerous.
We were to feed 15 people on flat head that we had caught this morning which was very tasty.


Walking out the net	Net laid out at low tide


A few fish in the boat	Bin of fish	Pelican awaiting the spoils

Our last night at Petal Point was a windy and wet night, though it didn't dampen our spirits as we sat around the fire and spoke of the excellent weather we had enjoyed up until today.
We did our final packing and left our camp area that we had enjoyed for the last nine days and travelled into the shearing shed at Rushy Lagoon, the shearing shed was once the largest shearing board in the southern hemisphere. This would be the place of our renowned annual Hoe Down conducted by Waterways horse riders and the Traditional Campers Association.
We had a few more Motorhomes arrive during the afternoon and went into the shed and all we could smell was sheep manure. Out with the brooms and in no time at all we had the place looking a lot cleaner and in the morning we would be going out to get plenty of gum tree branches to help clear the smell away. We then had an extended happy hour in the shearing cook house, and there was plenty of laughter before we all went off to bed.


Rushy Lagoon Shearing Shed

Saturday dawned sunny and very few clouds and it was to remain that way all day, the last of the Waterways Trailblazers arrived with their horses and so it was that 40 horse riders left the Rushy Lagoon shearing sheds on their ride through the dunes and various farms on the way to Gladstone and return. We understand a few delayed long enough to have a few beers at the Gladstone Pub before returning to Rushy Lagoon.
We went out to the edge of the farm and gathered our gum tree branch's, when in place it did not take long for the eucalyptus fragrance to eradicate the smell of sheep and freshen up the place. For the rest of the day we just relaxed until the happy hour and then went off to have our showers.


Walking around before the ride	About to move off for the ride

On the riders return it hard to tell who was more exhausted the horses or the riders, there is no doubt they look after their horses for they rubbed down and fed the horses before they hit the showers and started their happy hour.
Then it was time for tea and then onto the Hoe Down, the music started and then everyone was up dancing or over at the bar having a refreshment of two. It was a wonderful night and their was plenty of laughter and the people just partied on until 2am and then when the band and bar closed they went back to their quarters and partied on until dawn, of course others had an early night going off to bed at about 3am.


A few Country Girls	Sitting it out	Watching dancers in action

Sunday morning and there was not much movement in the camp and it was around 11am before many saw the light of day and a few appeared to suffering from their hectic partying.
Unfortunately our holiday was coming to an end and it would be to true to say that Liz and I have enjoyed it immensely over the past 12 days both at Petal Point and at the Rushy Lagoon Hoe Down. So we said our goodbye's to our many friends and headed off to Launceston and for a few days before going onto our next Chapter Rally.
On arriving in Launceston on went the washing and cleaning the motorhome and our car removing the sand and grit that has accumulated over the period. Our next trip will be to mainland Australia for four or five months, who knows?

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