The track was way more fun than the road and what a reward at the end! We had this camping spot all to ourselves in another free approved spot at Granville Harbour. There is a great 4x4 track here that leads all the way along the coast through the dunes to Pieman Heads about 25 kms north of here. Not on any maps or books yet but well worth doing. Takes a good 1/2 day to go up and back but would leave any camper etc here as a base. Too much deep sand and a couple of creeks to cross to be towing.

The track led to this great campsite at Granville Harbour. ( click it for big pic. )

Next was to take the Western Explorer into the north west part of the island. There is a hard 4wd track here that leads to the beach from Balfour. Should never be done on your own due to a lot of very deep mud and water on the track and the lack of winching points. We double checked with the locals to make sure this was so and it was. Earlier that morning a father had walked in over 30 kms to try and get his bogged Land Cruiser out where he family had been stuck for 2 1/2 days! They had the electric winch and recovery gear etc but still could not get out after a couple of days trying so he walked it leaving his family camped next to the bog hole! We took the next track in to the coast at Couta Rocks and then north to catch the punt across to Arthur River township. Locals say that a river cruise is better here than at Strahan on the Gordon River where everyone else goes. We continued into the most north west corner before heading across the top to Stanley and Burney etc before heading south through the middle of the island at Devonport. Looked at the historic towns of Campbell Town, Ross, Oatlands and Richmond.

The first is the old bridge at Ross and then Richmond. Both the oldest in the land built by convicts.

It was then back through Hobart again and then taking the the Channel highway along the coast to Huonville where we had a private tour of the only place in the world to offer a wooden boat building degree. It was then down as far as you can go anywhere in Australia along a little gravel track to Cockle Creek for some more great free camping. Took a soak in the thermal hot springs in the morning but had run out of time to do a wild caving tour of Hastings Caves. It was then time to head north up through the middle again via another route through Bothwell and pass the Great Lake before heading through Mole Creek to Cradle Mountain.

Another great free camp near Cradle Mountain. Hiked to Crater Lake above.

People come from around the world to see this place and do the 5 day walk to Lake St. Clair. There is plenty to see here without doing that long track with most of the best views on short day walks. We got a bit carried away and combined quite a few in one hit even though we only had a bottle of drink and a snack with us. It was that you just wanted to see what was around the next corner and then find that you are not far from something else you want to see and so on. You have to be careful with the weather here as you can get big snow falls even in the middle of summer. If you look at the picture of the hut below it shows the extra door in the upper part for the winter entrance with a snow shovel hanging next to it for when it gets even deeper!

Fantastic shot of Cradle Mountain. Kitchen Hut is first lunch stop of the 5 day hike to Lake St Clair.

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