We left off yesterday as we drove down the ramp of the Spirit of Tasmania and into Tasmania for our first day in the Apple Isle. It’s just about 7am and we’re in the port area of Devenport. We’ll be back in a week for the return trip, so we don’t hang around here, we’re off to Burnie, a picturesque city along the north coast of Tasmania to find some breakfast. Finally we’re actually Tackling Tasmania, having made it from Sydney and across Bass Strait.
Burnie is only 51km away and less than 45 minutes along a coastal road. We’re all a bit hungry and we know there’s some nice cafes along the waterfront, just near the first of our Electric Highway chargers. A group of members from the Tasmania branch Australian Electric Vehicle Association formed a company to create the Electric Highway. Along with NRMA, ChargeFox, Tasmanian Government, and others, they have created a network of chargers all around the state, which we’ll be relying on heavily as we go.
The car is at 65% after our drive up from Devonport and a few little diversions along the way. We’re on holiday after all, we shouldn’t just be travelling in a straight line from destination to destination.
We arrive, plug in and set off for a cafe. We’re just across the road and here we are, sitting down ready for some bacon and egg sandwiches (not rolls, actual sandwiches. I wonder if this a Tassie thing?), juice and coffee. The food’s not even arrived and my phone is already telling me I’m over 80% on the charger. I glance out the window at the car and head over to move in case it gets busy. It didn’t, but I always feel better knowing I’m not potentially holding others up. There’s plenty of free parking and I move the car over to the space next to the charger.
After breakfast, and a bit of a walk along the waterfont, we’re off on our day trip up to Stanley. This is a historic little town, with some very quaint little old buildings. It was one of the first ports in Nort West Tasmania and we found it it was also the departure point for the first ever crossing of Bass Strait by air. As a kid I’d often seen the plaque on the Torquay foreshore about how the first ever plane from Tasmania had landed here, now I’d found where it left from. We took some dirt roads just out of town and found an old telegraph station that’s been made into a BnB and some spectacular views. Don’t let the dirt road deter you. It’s well maintained and worth the drive, even if the car did end up filthy from the dust. Nothing a quick hose down can’t fix though.
Stanley is dominated by “The Nut”. Not the type you eat, but a great big flat top rocky outcrop. You can climb up the short, but very steep path in about 15 minutes, or take a chairlift. There’s a giftshop and cafe at the bottom and some nice flat walks around the top. It’s very steep on the way up and down, so wear good shoes, or take the chairlift. Don’t miss the great views, and opportunity to spot some birdlife on the way up and around the top. Informative signs along the trail give some great insight into the local flora and fauna.
The only charger in the area is at the local camping ground, but you need to be a guest, so make sure you’re reasonably charged up before heading to Stanley. There’s a Chargefox charger in Smithton about 20km further along the coast, otherwise it’s back to Burnie.
Unless you’ve booked accomodation with an overnight destination charger, the options are starting to get a little sparse around Stanley, but certainly not unmanageable. We didn’t venture to Smithton, but reports on Plugshare indicate it’s a decent option. If you’re tackilng Tasmania, please be sure to let us know.
The drive along the coast is really pretty and one of the local towns is called Hellyer (after one of the local eraly pioneers). Some wag’s painted up a boat in the same red and white colours of the Spirit of Tasmania and painted “Spirit of Hell Yeah” along the side of the hull. The kids got a bit of a laugh out of this. I wish I’d taken a photo, but I didn’t, so you’ll just have to believe me, or make the trip yourself.
We’ve spent a great morning looking around and our accommodation is available from 2:30pm, so we start our way back towards Burnie with a lunch stop planned for Wynyard. There was good pub food to be had at the Wharf Hotel, very appropriately located across the road from the wharf. Then it was along the waterfont back to the Bass Highway.
We got back to Burnie in the afternoon and checked in to our accomodation. We took a walk around town, got some food in for dinner. One of the advantages of the AirBnB was having our own kitchen. We’ll stay in a variety of accomodation over this trip, so being able to cook ourselves a meal is great when we get the opportunity.
The university of Tasmania has a campus only 150m from our accomodation and there’s an Exploren 50kW charger there in the car park. After unloading I moved the car over to the charger and walked back for a rest. An hour later I walked back with the girls to pick up a fully charged up car. We’ve gone from 39% to 90% and we’re ready for tomorrow’s drive. Watching on the app meant we could time our walk to coincide with the charge completing.
If you’re here in March or over the summer, you can go to the Penguin centre and watch the penguins return to shore at dusk. Alas, it’s April and the penguins have all swum north to warmer waters on the Victorian coast. We’re all pretty tired after the early start, so everyone’s off to bed after our dinner.
Tomorrow, we’re off Tackling Tasmania at Cradle Mountain, so tune in for some spectacular scenery and to see how the EV6 goes on the windy mountain roads. Will we get stranded by a faulty charger? You’ll find out tomorrow.
