We chose Mathinna on the river to see out the year and see in new year. We would normally go to the seaside though given the holiday season all the beach camps are crowded.
Mathinna being a small town in the north east of Tasmania has an interesting history. Established in 1890 when gold was found in the area it grew to host a population of 5000 inhabitants with a large Chinese population making it the third largest town in Tasmania at the time. The Golden Gate mine was one of Tasmania's high yield gold mines and its closure saw the town diminish. There have been several attempts to start up the Golden Gate mine and the most successful was in 2006 when the mine yielded 70,000 ounces of gold before closure. Today the population of Mathinna is around 200 all making you most welcome in their town and if you have the patience you can pan for gold in the nearby river. Its other claim to fame is that a past Premier of Tasmania Eric Reece, was born in the town in 1909.
The reason for us choosing the area was to meet family and enjoy the festive season together. On arrival we chose in the first instance to camp on the football ground with family though it was obvious that it was to hot with no trees to shelter under.
We decided to seek out a cooler location down by the river amongst the trees. We chose to camp in the middle of the paddock to maximise the use of our solar panels, there were plenty of meadow daisies present which made for a pleasant outlook. The day was very hot and humid with clouds passing over, though we were not complaining for the previous day it had rained.

Camped by the river and forest with daisies outside our door

It was cool down by the river and that's where we spent the rest of the afternoon before we went visiting for happy hour. We were to meet other campers and it was good to socialise until we returned to camp. We sat out and enjoyed our evening meal in the last rays of sunshine listening to music cd's until moving inside and watched a bit of television and read our books before going off to bed.
Saturday dawned with clear blue sky's and most welcome sunshine, we were actually awakened by the screeching of the black cockatoo's and other than that there was total silence in the forest and only the flow of the river welcomed us this morning. It was excellent so we cooked our breakfast inside and ate outside and enjoyed the morning and the bird and river sounds. For lunch we had garlic prawns and cups of tea. As the day progressed we were to read our books in the brilliant sunshine before returning to the Mathinna football ground to celebrate the new year with many of the locals we had befriended over the years.
We first visited the local club for happy hour where we renewed acquaintances before returning to the camp to use the excellent barbecue facilities that the locals had installed for travellers use.
After our meal we watched television for a couple of hours and then went up to the town centre to join the festivities to welcome in the new year. There were many parties and fires we passed on the way to our destination. For a small community there was plenty of joy and noise and to make things easier for all for the street party they had blocked off the main street to traffic.
We ended up at John and June's place where we were to celebrate the new years arrival and whilst singing we watched the fireworks display in Melbourne on the television which seemed to go for hours. It was after 1am before we went off to bed all celebrated out.

John & June and friends

Sunday morning and we surprised ourselves by being out of bed at 7am, over to the barbecue facilities and cooked hash browns, eggs and bacon with toast and washed down with a couple cups of tea. The town was certainly quiet compared with last night and it was cool with plenty of low clouds blocking out the sun. After breakfast we walked from the sports ground down to the river and we passed some wonderful flower gardens on the way. The sun was shining brightly and it was getting humid. We stood on the bridge with the South Esk River flowing under and it created a wonderful cooling breeze.

Camp Buggery shade house and fireplace

Liz went back to the football oval and I continued on looking for the campsite along the river that we had been told about last night. Apparently very few know about it outside of the locals so we felt privileged to be let in on the secret. I eventually found it tucked away on the river complete with shade house and very large fire pit and nearly an acre of camp ground that had been recently slashed. On the way back I met up with family and they gave me a lift for I was getting dehydrated and when I showed Liz the photo's we didn't hesitate to move camp once again to Camp Buggery as the locals call it.
It meant that I have set the satellite dish up three days running though I suspect we will stay here until we are ready to go home probably Tuesday. We had a late lunch and sat under the shade house with its cooling breeze and read our books until happy hour. Robert and Diane plus children came over from their camp and had happy hour with us, they are going home tomorrow so we said our farewells and will catch them again when in Launceston.
It was 7.30 pm before we had our evening meal of ham salad under the shade house and taking in the last rays of the sun and listening to the birdlife which is prolific. Then inside for the evening bugs etc where starting to gather and we did not want to be their evening meal. We watched television or read our books until we retired for the night very much relaxed.

Sun setting late afternoon

Monday was quite humid at 7am so we hopped out of bed and cooked our breakfast and ate out under the shade shed, shed? not really just a series of poles in the ground and shaped like a roof with shade cloth draped over to break wind and keep cool under the sun. One thing about this camp there are not many chores to perform. Liz took the camera along the river and took some nice shots though understandingly we can not load them all on this web page. I commenced reading my favourite author Clive Cussler though on this occasion it was co written with another well known author. I have to say that it did not reach my expectations of Cussler. stopped for lunch and finished the book by 4pm just in time for happy hour. The temperature in the motorhome was 26 degrees and outside 30 degrees and under the shade cloth with a slight river breeze it was 22 degrees. We had a longer than normal happy hour and it was 8pm before we cooked our evening meal, on gas appliances on the camp table and whilst doing this we witnessed a pretty sunset.
We sat and enjoyed the quietness of the forest and the birds of all description including the noisy black cockatoo's passing over, when darkness came we went inside for the night bugs had appeared. Watched television for awhile and then off to bed after an enjoyable day relaxing.
Tuesday arrived and at 7am it was 27 degrees and humid so we decided to head for home and the coolness of the coast. We have to say we have enjoyed Camp Buggery for the past few days and are thankful that the local people of Mathinna allowed us to share their little bit of heaven on the south esk river. We had the area to ourselves for the period and we did not take them up on their offer to burn the wood they had stockpiled for we thought this may have been out of order or in poor taste.
Being the grey nomads as we are; all good things come to an end and so off home to check out the bills etc for they do not seem to go away. We will think about where to next and how soon, we are not going to sit around home waiting to stagnate.