OFF BRUNY AND ON TO NEW NORFOLK - NEW NORFOLK - PART 1 (THE TRIP AND THE PARK) (6 DECEMBER 2017)

By comparison to our last two moves, today was to be a long day....all one seventy plus kilometres of it! After the shift from Great Bay to Adventure Bay and then to Alonnah, this was of marathon proportions. We hoped all would be plain sailing (!)

The BI ferries begin their crossings quite early each morning. We were keen to be aboard one of the first to avoid the tourist crush of mid morning and so were well on deck as the first pink of dawn tinged the light clouds over Alonnah.

With no water or power connected, and the Cruiser already hitched, our departure preparations were not onerous, and as one of the typical BI road signs indicated, the first leg of today's trip was not to take long (providing we drove on the left side of the road!).

As we climbed over the hill towards the BI ferry terminal we could see that the Mirambeena had already left for the first transit of the day. Our vessel for this crossing was to be the smaller of the two. This would make a change, and as you can readily see in this shot, it was much smaller.

We duly took our place in the short line of vehicles on the terminal approach road from where I could see that ours was not the only vessel on the move in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Initially I thought that this small channel tug was in trouble until a realised it was actually towing a salmon farm pen behind it, very slowly.....an estimated two knots at best.

Our ferry had to make a wide swing to starboard on approach to stay well clear of the slowly moving net,

before it was able to connect to the terminal docking ramp and take us on board. In complete contrast to the Mirambeena, this ferry reminded us both of a River Murray punt in design, and it was not a great deal larger. I did have an anxious moment or two as I took in the number of waiting vehicles and the deck size of this smaller ferry, 

but we were all taken on board and were soon chugging our way across the glassy waters of the channel towards Kettering.

Mind you the crew of these vessels are old hands at squeezing as many vehicles as possible into the available space, and this crossing was no exception. 

I was more than happy to be asked to wait whilst all others, including a large tip truck which had been our immediate neighbour, disembarked before us. I took the time to take a quick shot of the cluttered Kettering marina, where the pot laden decks and sleek (and practical) lines of a typical Tasmanian cray boat particularly caught my attention. 

With our large and noisy neighbour bellowing its way ashore well ahead of us, it was now our turn to ease out under the loading gantry and make our own landfall. It was still quite early in the morning, and we were well pleased.

With one final glance over a small harbour town we had come to really like, we turned onto the B68 and made our way south out of Kettering.

This was not the quickest route to New Norfolk, but we had decided to take the opportunity to do a quick run around the bottom of The Channel and up through Cygnet and Huonville en route back to, and through, Hobart.

Whilst the narrow and winding road was somewhat challenging we did travel through some delightful southern Tasmania countryside complete with quaint wooden churches

and charming farm houses.

With their surrounding orchards, lush green grazing slopes and heavily timbered hills, the tiny towns of Woodbridge, Flowerpot, Middleton and Gordon, which all lie on the eastern shore of The Channel peninsula, must surely occupy one of the prettiest patches of Tasmania. This was an enchanting drive, but one on which I'll not dwell for the time.....we had plans to return minus 'The Brick' whilst back in Margate post Xmas. This was really a recce.

So let me 'fast forward' through Cygnet, Huonville and Hobart and on to the Brooker Highway which took us north and east out of the city along the southern side of the Derwent estuary past the some of the outer suburbs

to the point where our chosen road to New Norfolk (there were two alternatives out of the city) ran directly alongside the river.

And it was here, as we were within close striking distance of our destination

that we caught our first glimpse of the most extraordinary sownder (or bank, bevy, drift, flight, lamentation, etc etc....don't you just love English collective nouns!) of black swans which made these reaches of the Derwent estuary their home. We were to see more of these later (in much greater numbers).

And so it was, after a most entertaining journey on many fronts, here we were, in a Tasmanian town with a real history.

But as we eased our way along the southern approaches into the town, where the always welcome sight of the blue caravan park sign ahead of us allayed any navigational anxiety, 

turned right as directed off the highway

and made our way past the local bowling club towards our park, we soon discovered something else about New Norfolk......it was just the most picturesque place.

We knew that our chosen caravan park was to be found on 'The Esplanade', and as we turned right yet again at the end of the bowls rinks, sure enough....we were right on the River Derwent.

Within but a few more metres (and one serious speed hump) we had made our way through along this delightful tree lined avenue

and found ourselves at the park entrance where the caravan sitting under a huge willow served as the park office. 

On this occasion (we did come back to New Norfolk again) we were greeted by Neil, a most obliging and avuncular host who invited us to pick any spot we liked on the open expanses which form the northern end of this quite large Council owned park.






The road off to the right of the entrance driveway took us to that area and here I had the pleasure of being able to drive straight onto a large patch of grass where we were soon set up for the next few days.









Things were much busier here on our second visit, but for now we really did have plenty of elbow room, as this shot from the roadway at the western side of the park so amply demonstrates.

And just look at the back drop views......large river bank trees with timber clad mountains rising grandly behind them.

Looking across the park in the opposite direction another abundance of large trees and local homes on the rising slope up to the main part of the town provided another lovely outlook.

As I mentioned earlier this park was one divided into two distinct sections, separated by this roadway with its boundary lawn, flower garden and trees.









Trees also lined the other side of this roadway, 











beyond which vans were clustered much more closely on smaller sites. Here those in residence (and they tended to be longer term) had the advantage of some shade, but we already knew that here in Tassie this was not a premium criterion for site selection....it was rarely hot enough to cause concern.





The park amenities block was somewhat dated and the showers were timed for a five minute run, but at least they were free of charge and the timers provided adequate beeping warning of  the imminent demise of the hot water. What's more, as I soon discovered, the timer would reset after 15 seconds, so another five minute soak was readily available for those in the know who were not able to complete their ablutions in the allotted time.


Well kept lawns and equally well nurtured roses (these were all tended by a permanent park resident for whom these gardens were her pride and joy) provided a lovely surround.

The adjoining camp kitchen was a tad 'agricultural' but it served its purpose, and was well used by the back-packer cherry pickers who were established in tents around the edges of the park.










The couple of park cabins were also located in this central area

and the roadway sites past the ablution block were seriously well populated. We were more than happy to be set up where we were.

The back boundary of this section of the park featured another leafy garden

with a low, rocky cliff wall behind it, something we soon discovered was completely in keeping with this section of the river.

Where this cliff face came to an end, the park opened out into another lawned camping area, with a few more van sites at the far end, again, all surrounded by weeping willows and other shade trees.

We could not have been happier with our new surroundings. What a complete contrast from those of the past week on Bruny Island.

Apart from taking in all the history which was on offer here in New Norfolk, we planned to use this town as a base from which to visit the not too distant Mount Field National Park with its famous Russell Falls, and to explore this section of the River Derwent and the berry and hop fields for which this area is very well known.