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 hen we first
heard about Tasmania in school most of us did not have a clue
were it actually was - this Island at the south tip of the 5th
continent exposed directly to the forces of the Great Southern
Ocean. About a year ago we moved to Sydney to escape the surf-less
European winter and to enjoy the waves at the east coast of Australia.
Pretty soon after we arrived we met Quentin - a wavesailor from
Newcastle - and he told us about his idea to set up a special
kind of wavesailing event at the northwestern part of Tasmania.
Barbara and I loved the idea at once and we decided to help him
with the media work for the competition.
On the 23rd of january we left Sydney to go down south in direction
to Melbourne where we would go on board on the Spirit of Tasmania
- the big ferry - to cross the Bass Strait. We decided to go down
along the coast instead of driving shorter but boring Hume Highway
which is leading directly
from Sydney to Melbourne. One reason was that there might be some
surf on the way down and the other reason was the big bushfire
that was moving around Canberra and also in the Melbourne area.
Well we did not have that much swell but I guess the Trip was
much better than it would have been on the Hume.
Princess Highway
The next day we turned off from the main road and chose a dirt
road through the forest to test the offroad qualities of our Landcruiser
(year 1981!) again. Passing by lots of beautiful and impressive
bays and beaches we nearly forgot about the fires. Just when we
realized that the sky was getting darker and the sun was hiding
behind a brown cloud we thought to change the route and better
go back on the main tracks.
Green, like in Europe, Sun behind smoke haze
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Clockwise: general store, dirt road, scorched forest, river
mouth
About an hour from Sydney the Highway passes some
spectacular cliffs and some spots with promising names like Aussi
Pipe, Bombo and Breakwall. The area is green and reminds me very
much of some areas of southern Germany.
Mostly farmland but still quite a lot of eucalypt forest through
which the road winds up and down the hills. The more south we
got the hotter the air.
And more and more we could smell and see the smoke haze from the
bushfires. The first night we had a stop at a campground at Narooma
close to the beach.
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