Tasmania 2023 Week 1 Day 9 Queenstown to Bothwell
Time felt like it had stood still – it was a nice feeling, the slower pace and not racing to be anywhere, but then it caught up again because later in the day it was hard to believe that it was after 1pm and we weren’t half-way along our trip for today.
We left an absolutely wonderful experience at Penghana Bed and Breakfast to resume travels after another superb breakfast and a gorgeous send off pack – some barley sugar and some eucalyptus lollies and a toilet seat cover for the ladies. Was such a cute thoughtful package. Karen and Steve are invested in providing an amazing experience and they have succeeded. It helped that Karen particular is a dog person, loves Bassetts, and of all the places to meet someone who knew my former boss, it was at Queenstown with Karen. If you are heading there, this is an unsponsored plug, look up Penghana and see about staying there.
Leaving Queenstown, we have sprinkly nuisance rainy type water droplets coming from the sky – enough to require the windscreen wipers to do a sweep but not to run full-time, that came later for about 5 minutes at a time. As we journey through the day, we observe that some of the scenery is a bit like highlands – Iguess that should be the case considering how high above sea level we are.
Our first stop was Linda Café – an old hotel, where a fire had been through at some stage, long ago. Fabulous service and good coffee to be had there. Resuming our travels we headed out along the A10 road, passing the magnificent and majestic Lake Burbury. The countryside changed so dramatically over the course of our travels today. We passed many walking trails and we were in the clouds for a portion of the day, climbing to over 1,000m above sea level for a good portion of our travels on backroads and gravel roads, again playing dodgems and riding the corrugations.
We came upon a stop/go guy. The one at our end simply turned his sign to “slow”; the one at the other had his sign planted in the ground, sign first, and was studying the ground beneath his feet. We were the only car for miles and miles. Looked like there were some core samples being taken from the west bound side of the road.
Today’s weather was much more like the weather you might expect in Tasmania. Added to it was the wind which brought the ambient temperature down from 13 or 10 or 9, to something lower.
We headed through the lakes area and along the B11 Marlborough Highway – a lengthy gravel road – heading to Wadamana Power Station. We pass a stone marker on the side of the road but cannot quite make out its markings due to age and weathering. We drive through cloud/mist/fog passing Little Pine Lagoon. The location was what might be described as mystical or magical on a clear day.
Passing Miena Dam, it was choppy – from the wind. Turning off we moved on to the C178, the Highlands Power Trail. We were travelling in the geographical centre of Tasmania – the middle of nowhere. It is spectacularly beautiful and desolate at the same time through some of these areas.
The power station is a testament to ingenuity and determination. It is preserved as it was when decommissioned, and costs nothing to enter. There is a wind farm on the neighbouring property. There are also Tasmania Wedge-Tail Eagles and we think we saw one today.
Leaving Wadamana, we continue on the gravel roads for some distance, passing many sheep (some black face and eared, some not) and the occasional cattle herd. We see the changing colours of the trees and the leaves – green, red, yellow, so beautiful in the changing season, not something we experience in our home town of Brisbane.
Our destination is Bothwell, a lovely quaint early town. We go for a walk and find a whiskey/wine bar with cosey fire and get talking with some really interesting people. Not what we had intended but part of the best part about travelling and living in the moment. Our host is Kelly, he is a musician in Hobart, greenskeeper at Ratho Farm and has been running this bar for about 4 weeks. He, like the others we met today, is a character, having grown up in Brisbane until he was 16. Another couple were also from Brisbane but buying and renovating properties, he’s a builder, to have as accommodation.
The Castle Hotel is our host for tonight. Their beef schnitzel is enormous. Their porterhouse good too. The feed is darn good pub grub. We have travelled 220km today. Again, not the most direct route but taking us through some amazing scenery and to the old power station and the testament to determination. Our room is rather less salubrious than the last 2, however, it is a building which has stood for nearly 200 years, quite a feat in this country.
