It was with great reluctance that we left Southport. But, as I mentioned in my last, we were on a schedule to ensure that we saw as much of Tasmania as time would allow.
With the van hitched we took one last look at the most southerly pub in Australia
before making our way back to the junction of the Huon Highway and the Hastings Caves Road. As you can see, with Dover as our destination, today's journey could best be described as short!
With this in mind we had allowed ourselves the luxury of a comparatively late start, but even so a morning haze was drifting across the roadside forests
as we again passed through
the hamlet of Strathblane
before descending towards the road bridge which crossed the Esperance River at Raminea.
This is probably as good a point as any to again provide an overview of just what we were up to. What would I do without good old Google Earth? The fishing port of Dover lies within the sheltered waters of Esperance Bay. The Esperance River flows into the south western corner of this large bay. We were about to cross the river at the spot just below the word 'Raminea' and make our way into Dover from the south-west.
The point which protrudes prominently into the bay is the location of the town wharf, whilst our park is to be found at the eastern end of the town, near the strip of sand which lies just to the left of the 'Kent Beach Road' notation.
Once across the Esperance River the road into town took us up and over a quite prominent rise (and past yet another marvellous splash of colour)
from where the eastern side of the bay opened out in front of us.
Dover can be a little tricky to negotiate, but fortunately our previous whistle stop tour a week or so ago stood us in good stead, and in no time flat we had crossed the town and were making our way along past Kent Beach
to the entrance of the Dover Beachside Tourist Park which is nestled between the beach front (unsurprisingly!) and a range of hills immediately behind it.
We pulled up at the park office where the most obliging and helpful Pete took our fee and invited us to choose which ever site we would like.
Apart from a group of vans clustered near the entrance, the park was anything but crowded, and we had plenty of choice.
After a quick stroll the decision was taken and we rolled on into the park proper,
along the left hand roadway past the park cabins on one side and the ablution block on the other,
before easing ourselves onto the lush grass strip between two of the park roadways.
A relatively limited number of park permanents were housed along another sealed roadway in front of our site.
Just beyond our patch the open expanses of the rear end of this lovely park contained a few huge powered sites and the park camping area. Here too was another well established semi-permanent site
just this side of the large, open and well equipped camp kitchen overlooked by the charming local house high on the hill behind the park.
From this end of the park, looking back towards our site, the rather long grass (it was cut just before we left) was a carpet of small, white flowers which just seemed to add to the rustic charm of this compact and well managed park.
As this shot shows, we were only a few metres from the well set up park BBQ and the amenities block beyond.
Whilst the heads were a little dated, the showers here were more than fit for purpose, and all else functioned as it should,
including the park BBQ which I put to good use on the sunny afternoon of our last day here.
Apart from exploring the sights and sounds of Dover itself and (hopefully) enjoying an evening out at another of 'the most southern in Australia', this time the Dover RSL, we chose Dover as a base from which to sortie out along the western coast of the D'Entrecasteaux channel to visit a couple of beautiful little beach communities and the nearby Huon salmon factory. And indeed we did accomplish all this (as I shall share with you in ensuing missives) but for at least one day we were housebound.
Now I have to say that a rest day every so often is a very necessary part of travelling, but we do prefer to make our own choice as to when. Here at Dover we found one forced on us when, on the third day of our stay, the heavens opened and we found ourselves housebound
in very sodden surroundings.
The picturesque hills behind the park all but disappeared in the gloom
and as the old saying goes, 'this was great weather for ducks'!
We did get the odd break or two in the drizzle, when Liz was quick to respond to Max's nagging and got him out for a quick gallop, but by and large this had been a day of being 'confined to barracks'.
Fortunately this doom and gloom lasted but one day and we were soon out and about again exploring all Dover and its surround had to offer....which was plenty!
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