Today was a special day as I had planned from go to visit Wineglass Bay but first we left Scamander heading for St Marys and then heading for the coast again stumbled upon the Mt Elephant Cafe at the top of Mt Elephant. Crepes were the speciality which we had to try and they were excellent. Had an issue as the cafe way up in the mountains it had no eftpos, cash only. If the customer does not have cash the process of trust involves the customer taking an envelope with the bill down to the nearest town, Bicheno, go to the ATM and drop in the cash and the envelope to the newsagent. Bicheno is a magic place and although the weather was lousy the scenery and facilities were superb.  The blow hole was amazing and the nearby rock island had a seal colony basking in the rain and wind. The sheltered inlet was picture perfect and we were told the weather was perfect, yesterday.
From Bicheno we headed off down the Freycinet Peninsula to get to Wineglass Bay. To get to the bay it is quite a trek and after some toing and froing we decided to give it a go. Many, many steps, steep climbs and around 1 hour we made it to the Wineglass Bay lookout. Burning calf muscles and heart pounding was worth the view and the trek.
A quick visit to the Eureka Berry farm at Swansea before settling in for the night around Swansea Villas.

After devouring the giant steak at the RSL last night we departed Scottsdale on a chilly overcast morning heading for the east coast, but first more mountains and twisty roads. Stopped in at the Crank It Cafe in Derby, a cafe dedicated to the regional pursuit of mountain biking -lots of bikers in the cafe with their Giants not Harleys. Also at the cafe was a tin museum. There is a lot of tin mining all across Tasmania and the museum highlighted the impact the humble tin can made on the world when it was introduced in the early 1800's. Next stop was Pyengana Dairy Company and the Holy Cow Cafe. The adjacent dairy was superb and included a massage device for the cows once they were milked. The rotary brush was used to scratch ears and backs and the cows knew how to start the brush when stopped. Terrific!. A quick look around St Helens and Binalong Bay and the bay of fires, so name by early explorers seeing the fires of aboriginals along the coast. Moved on to lovely Scamander for our overnight stay. Weather not great.

A day planned in the area covered Devonport city then into the countryside filled with fruit producers, dairies and wineries. Visited Anvers Chocolate factory - some samples acquired- then Ashgrove Cheese and Dairy facility to sample and purchase some special cheese. Visited Deloraine for coffee and a baguette at the Deli.
Off to Sheffield - the town of murals, almost all flat surfaces and walls have paintings depicting local scenes. Nearby Railton was the town of topiary - the art of clipping shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes, in Railton mainly animals, quite clever really.
Then we were off to spend the night with Mat and Megan ex Hervey Bay folk. Mat worked with me at State Development up until 2 years ago. He made a life change and bought a 20 hectare olive grove in Merseylea with 1000 olive trees of varying age. They produce some olive oil, Megan produces an olive oil based cosmetic skin care range. The kids, Adelaide (4) and Clarence (18mths) are great with Adelaide ever asking questions and talking. Main interest at the moment is dragons particularly the flying kind. Mat has a job with a salmon smoking company to supplement his income. The house cows provide milk and other dairy. An entertaining night of talking shit after the great home cooked meal ensued. I really miss Mat as he was great to work with as he had similar constructive imagination and entrepreneurship. Asked if he would return to a corporate / government life he responded "no way". Same response from Megan.

Wednesday dawned with our plans to head to Devonport. Heading along the Bass Highway we turned right after Sulphur Creek looking for Guns Plains Caves. Magnificent countryside mainly turned to dairy ran up and down the many hills on the way. The cave tours were hourly so we missed one by 10 minutes so travelled on to the nearby Wings Wildlife Reserve for coffee then back to the caves. These limestone caves are totally underground accessed by a 50 step ladder. Once inside the caves opened up to a superb series of caves. 2klms have been explored but we were told they go on much further. The caves are home to some possums and freshwater crayfish, the possums were the reason a hunters dog found the caves in the first place. No bats because it is too cold, a constant 11 degrees all year round. Magic formations as good as any I have seen in Australia and overseas. Only 4 of us in the tour group led by a very personable lady guide born and bred in the area. Well worth a visit.
On the road again through some great villages and towns all geared to tourism. Ulverstone was a beautiful seaside town, Turners Beach a cute village and on to Devonport. After a quick tour around the town we settled into our motel and over dinner watched the departure of the Spirit of Tasmania 2 - quite a sight in the late afternoon sunlight. Then off to the clubs for some raging and heavy drinking sessions - Nah! just off to bed.

Easier day today with a casual drive along the north coast of Tasmania. The water was calm and colours reminiscent of those in the Whitsundays. Boat Harbour beach was spectacular with protected water, clear but cold and the brunch at the Boat Harbour Surf Club was great. Travelling along the highway parallelled the sea with amazing views, way off to the north was mainland Australia, somewhere. Turning right we travelled to Stanley and the most superb headland called "the Nut", nothing of the sort I had ever seen. Every direction were spectacular views of water or countryside, lighthouses and historic buildings. On to Smithton with  U turn back toward Burnie.
The rush back to Burnie was to prepare for our platypus hunt this evening. Alas again we were thwarted but another platypus hunt is in the offing Wednesday.

Left chilly Queenstown heading for Cradle Mountain along more windey roads. The main roads guys here in Tasmania do not know how to build straight roads. Up and down some serious climbs but thankfully little traffic - just like the rest of Tasmania. One thing I have noticed with thanks is the low levels of vehicle traffic both in Hobart and out on the highways and byways.
The west coast is/was a big mining area, mainly tin, silver, copper, some gold and other minor minerals. Queenstown was copper and smaller towns we passed includes Zeehan (tin), Rosebery (tin, silver and gold)  and Waratah, again mainly tin. Rosebery is the highest community in Australia with its own postcode. Waratah has a superb waterfall the early miners used to generate power (reportedly Australia's first hydroelectric scheme), and used to drive crushing equipment for the ore.
Cradle Mountain unfortunately was a bust with rain, strong winds and low clouds making trekking for us older folk not on. There were plenty of younger trekkers and campers heading out but discretion being the better part of valour we visited the gift shop and headed off to Burnie.
Burnie is located on the north coast and offers port facility for smaller shipping up to 50,000 tonnes. There was a vessel in from Hong Kong and a Toll company barge used to transport goods from the mainland. Burnie is a nice small city with all the modern conveniences including McDonald's and Jack's.
Last night at around 9:00 we braved the cold and went penguin hunting. This area is home and breeding area to the Little Blue Penguin. It was once called the Fairy Penguin then they found they were not all gay so changed the name. We saw quite a number of these little critters. Some adults having done with rearing children for the season were land bound getting ready for their sea voyage. Some adults and young came from the water and waddled their way up to their burrows for the night. Great sight and great facilities provided by the friends of the penguin group.
And so off to bed. Tomorrow we head west.

Sunday started at 6:00 and 7 degrees. The night was made comfortable by electric blankets and donnas. The 40k drive down to Strahan took some 45 minutes of spirited driving on the twisty road with 35klm corners every 100 metres.
Great test road for Top Gear or my old Skyline GTR. The trip to Strahan was to connect with the Gordon River Cruise. A trip to the Devels Gate entrance to Macquarie Harbour was a real eye opener with the entrance only 80m wide offering access to Australia's second largest harbour, Port Phillip the largest, and 10 times larger than Sydney Harbour. The Gordon wilderness was superb with a seemingly endless variety of vegetation of trees, shrubs and flowering bushes. On the return boat trip we called into Sara Island which was a penal facility in the early 1800s with a reputation of extreme cruelty and deprivation. A part of Australia's history I was not aware. Weather deteriated on the way back on the cruise with strong winds and rain. The whole day was one on squalls, Sunshine, rain and gales. Great day overall.