May 23 (142 km)  LAKE ST CLAIRE, Lakeside Wilderness ($A15)

Margaret's left knee had become painfully inflamed and was causing difficulty walking. Thinking she'd overdone it yesterday, she took a painkiller and we drove into Strahan to look round the Historic Town. The Customs House, opposite the harbour, is a splendid building now housing the Library and the Online Access Centre, neither of them open on this Monday morning. The free car park had just installed meters, so we paid $A2 to visit the displays in the Tourist Office, which turned out to be closed – a notice apologised that the volunteers were tired of volunteering, in the absence of State funding! Even the adjacent Huon Pine Sawmill, which still cuts wood felled before logging had to cease, was not working.

Gordon River cruises are probably the best way to appreciate this region, sailing to the harbour entrance at Hell's Gates, calling at Tasmania's first penal colony (1821-34) on Sarah Island, then going upstream into the forest to walk among ancient trees. But in the low-season (1 May-30 Sept) there are no half-day trips, only the full-day cruise (at least $A80 per person including lunch) which had already left, and it was raining again and Margaret was hobbling – not a good morning. www.worldheritagecruises.com.au describes what we missed.

We turned inland, just 40 km uphill to the copper-mining town of QUEENSTOWN. Its original links to Strahan were by the King River (polluted by mining waste) or the Westcroft Wilderness Railway (a rack & pinion train, built to carry copper to the port over 40 bridges, dropping 200 m in 34 km, now fully restored as a scenic ride). The drive through misty forests was lovely until the outskirts of Queenstown, where the landscape had been left to the mercy of the Mt Lyell Copper Mine, recently closed after 100 years.

The Online Access Centre in the Library was open for an email session. We looked in the heritage-listed Empire Hotel (1901) with its lovely blackwood staircase, but there were no lunchtime specials in the bar. Instead we got good fish & chips from a take-away and enjoyed them in our van, while rain poured.

The Lyell Highway, towards Hobart, was our onward route for another 90 km, hairpinning steeply out of Queenstown through bare rocks. The sulphurous copper smelting process had taken over where the early loggers left off, denuding the hills. The scenery did improve, as the empty road divides the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park (to the south) from the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park (to the north).

Damp forest and misty viewpoints for the next 91 km until DERWENT BRIDGE, with hotel and fuel, almost at the geographic centre of Tasmania. The road spans the Derwent near its source at the southern end of LAKE ST CLAIR, with a left turn for 5 km to the Visitor Centre on the shores of Australia's deepest freshwater lake (627 ft deep and 2,342 ft asl).). The simple campground has a hostel and a few powered sites. Margaret talked with 2 Israeli girls who had just finished the 7-day Overland Trail, staying in the 6 huts along the way – free of charge apart from their National Parks Pass. However, from November 2005 a booking system will be introduced from spring-autumn, with a $A100 charge per person (in addition to the NP Pass), and a one-way (north to south) rule! For more on this, visit www.overlandtrack.com.au.

May 24/25 (168 km)                     NEW NORFOLK CP ($A17)

A morning ferry ran along the western edge of Lake St Clair, calling at Echo Point and Narcissus Bay to drop or pick up walkers. A guided group were being ushered from the blazing fire in the Visitor Centre and through the rain to the jetty. Margaret was hardly walking and the return trip (about an hour) cost $A25 each, so we didn't join them.

The Lyell Highway followed the Derwent River south-east , passing former hydro-electric commision villages now privatised into tourist resorts: BRONTE PARK and TARRALEAH. We stopped here, after 56 km, for a view of the power station infrastructure and the valley below. Another 33 km along the highway, OUSE was the first town we reached, complete with cottage hospital. Here a friendly nurse bandaged Margaret's knee to immobilise the joint, apologised that it was the doctor's day off and directed us to the surgery in New Norfolk, 56 km on towards Hobart.

NEW NORFOLK (founded by displaced persons from Norfolk Island) is a sizeable historic town 33 km from Hobart. It had a hospital which didn't take out-patients or casualties, a health centre where we could only get an appointment for tomorrow afternoon and a tranquil caravan park under weeping willows by the Derwent. It also has an Online Centre in the Library, where we spent a few hours, and Woolworths supermarket and fuel, where we spent a few dollars. More on the area at www.derwentvalley.com.au.

The cause of the inflammation in Margaret's knee was a bacterial infection, which responded to a course of antibiotics. Relieved that there was no physical damage, she made good use of the walking stick bought for hiking! We had both registered with Medicare (for reciprocal health care for visitors to Australia – see www.hic.gov.au). This scheme gives visitors from several European countries (including the UK) free treatment in public hospitals and reduced doctors' fees at health centres. In this case, the doctor's bill was $A40, of which $A31.80 was later refunded (join and make claims at any Medicare office, in larger towns throughout Australia). Prescriptions are paid for at a subsidised rate.

May 26 (304 km)                         TRIABUNNA CP ($A16)

The Lyell Highway broadened into the busy Brooker Highway and we were soon in the State capital, HOBART, on the Derwent estuary. The dolomite cliffs of Mt Wellington to the west were dusted with snow but the weather was bright and dry at last. Tasmanians complain of recent low rainfall, especially on the eastern side, but compared with parched NSW we saw no sign of drought.

Parking was metered and already full in the centre, even though it wasn't Salamanca Market day on the dockside (Saturdays only). Margaret couldn't walk far, so we drove round to admire the sailors' cottages at Battery Point and the 'heritage' colonial sandstone buildings in the centre, showing the development from penal colony (1803) to prosperous port. A river cruise to the Cadbury factory with free samples and lunch was tempting, but we drove east across the Tasman Bridge, past Hobart Airport and over the Sorell Causeway. The Maui Motorhome depot by the airport kindly exchanged our thin chilly duvet (or 'doona' as they are called here) for one more suited to frosty nights!

SORELL, 26 km after Hobart along the Tasman Highway, is the gateway to the east coast with easy parking, shops and fast food. The Arthur Highway then runs south for 77 km, across the Forestier Peninsula and onto the Tasman Peninsula, culminating at Port Arthur. Eaglehawk Neck, between the 2 peninsulae, was once guarded by a line of savage dogs to prevent escape from Port Arthur's infamous penal colony (1830-77) 20 km away. Detours from the highway on either side of the Neck led to coastal rock formations: the Tessselated Pavement to the north, the Blowhole, Devil's Kitchen and Tasman's Arch to the south: all had to be viewed.

By late afternoon we reached the huge car park, new visitor centre and extensive convict ruins which constitute PORT ARTHUR. Our intention was to stay on the nearby caravan park and explore the place next day, so we went in to check on opening times, etc. However, the 'theme park' treatment of the site as a fun day out for all the family made us recoil. The Model Prison of solitary confinement cells and its adjacent Asylum were advertised as the highlight of the visit, along with a boat trip to the Isle of the Dead . The notices said it all: 'The juvenile inmates at Point Puer had to row to and from their prison home – Our harbour cruise is a much easier way to get there' and at the Felons Restaurant: 'The menu for convicts last century (sic) might be described as coarse gruel – We think you'll appreciate the changes we've made today'.

There was even a torch-lit ghost tour after dark. Having visited such sombre places as Auschwitz and many a Commonwealth War Grave, all presented with appropriate sensitivity and respect, we found it quite offensive. How must those who come here to research their ancestry at the Convict Study Centre feel? Or those who recently lost loved ones here in the 1996 shootings?

We rapidly retraced our route to Sorrell and continued north-east, rejoinng the coast after 54 km at the fishing port of ORFORD. The resort by the ferry for offshore Maria Island (an earlier penal colony, now a National Park) included a very expensive caravan park. We continued 9 km to TRIABUNNA, reaching its simpler resting place after dark.

For more on Hobart, visit www.hobartcity.com. The Port Arthur Experience is described at www.portarthur.org.au or www.portarthur-region.com.au.

May 27/28 (176 km)                       BICHENO, East Coast HP ($A20)

Paused after 50 km along the Tasman Highway in SWANSEA, on Gt Oyster Bay with views across to the Freycinet Peninsula, Tasmania's first National Park. On the way we passed the site of Rocky Hills Convict Station and the convict-built Spiky Bridge. For more on Swansea and its historic bark mill, visit www.barkmill.com.au.

Margaret's knee had improved enough to enjoy some exercise so we detoured 25 km to COLES BAY, the resort on the Freycinet Peninsula, and a few miles further into the National Park. The range of permitted walks was very disappointing: access to the Friendly Beaches meant driving several kms of corrugated dirt road, sensibly forbidden by Maui. The only alternative was to Wineglass Bay Lookout (and beyond), involving a steep rocky track with 600 rough bush steps to climb – still too much for M's knee – or the 15 minute circuit round the lighthouse at Cape Tourville (boarded for wheelchairs). We did that - nice coastal views, but a bit tame!

Back to the Highway and on to BICHENO, a former whaling station, now a popular little holiday resort with 2 caravan parks, boasting its mild east coast climate. The welcome at the Tourist Office included a couple of apples and the larger, better equipped, caravan park was practically empty, giving us exclusive use of the facilities at the touring end of the park. It made an excellent base for our last 2 nights in Tasmania.

We walked the foreshore track round the headland to the fishing harbour at the Gulch, where a horse-drawn tramway once brought coal 7 km from the Denison River mine. The walls of the convict-built coal store remain. Plenty of seabirds, which nest just across the water on Governor's Island. The Glass Bottom Boat Trip, to see the marine reserve and kelp forest, was closed for winter, but Margaret + 9 others braved the evening cold for the absolutely delightful Penguin Tour.

A small bus, driven and guided by Wayne (a well-informed senior armed with 2 powerful torches), left after dusk each day to drive a couple of kms up the coast for an hour's walk through a protected penguin rookery. We saw hundreds of Fairy (or Little Blue) Penguins come ashore after their day's fishing in the Tasman Sea to return to their burrows. The world's smallest penguin, living in temperate waters, they stand about a foot high and weigh in at one kilo. Some burrows were penguin-made, some artificial into wooden boxes with hinged lids. The inhabitants had become so used to the nightly tours that Wayne could lift a lid and show us his favourites: Oscar and Esmerelda, together for their seventh year! Photography was difficult, as flash would damage their eyes and the extremely cold starry night required thick gloves! A very special experience, well worth the $A18. A Japanese tourist asked some alarming questions: 'Are they edible?' – No – 'Well, how about their eggs?'!

May 29 (363 km)                     FERRY, Spirit of Tasmania

A long drive back to Devonport via Launceston

Tasman Highway again, following the east coast for 74 km to its biggest town, ST HELEN'S, a fishing port at the head of George Bay with a serene colony of pelicans. Here we enjoyed reputedly the best fish & chips on the island (local Blue Eye fillets), before turning inland for 75 km, climbing over a misty viewpoint, to BRANXHOLM, where timber and hop-growing have replaced tin mining. At SCOTTSDALE, 25 km further on, there are several timber mills and a new Forest EcoCentre to visit, had it been open. More at www.forestrytas.com.au.

Another 60 km to LAUNCESTON on the Tamar River, Tasmania's second city. Sadly, we had no time to explore it – unusually, we had a deadline, a ferry sailing at 9 pm! Driving the faster Bass Highway for our final 100 km on the island, the amazing blankets of cloud overhead turned through many shades of sunset until the whole sky was on fire, like molten lava pouring across. We stopped several times to photograph the process while others sped by, oblivious – perhaps such skies are the norm?

And so to DEVONPORT, arriving after dark with just enough time to make a snack before boarding the ferry. Despite the stormy winds of the past few days, we had a smooth crossing in an outside double cabin with porthole, arriving back in Port Melbourne before 7 next morning. The only forbidden fruits on entering the mainland are lettuces and some types of flower, so no problems.May 30/31,

May 30/June 1 ( 366 km)                           SWAN HILL HP ($A19)

In Melbourne, with light traffic at this early hour and armed with a map obtained on the ferry, we avoided the complication of the Citylink Tollway by taking the West Gate Freeway and Western Ring. A McBreakfast along the way before 8 am was a record for us! We joined the Calder Highway near Essendon airport, then north to BENDIGO.

Shopping again at Aldi, including greengrocery, we somehow forgot that a few miles along the road we would re-enter the Fruit Fly Zone! In the rest area at its border, we had a second breakfast – apples and bananas, all you can eat – leaving those we couldn't eat on a picnic table for travellers going the other way. There was no inspection, but a threat of spot checks and fines as we continued on a quiet minor road to KERANG, rather than going round via Echuca, visited on our outward journey to Melbourne.

Back in SWAN HILL by early afternoon, we had a walk by the riverside before returning to our favourite caravan park and a warm welcome from Cliff & Joy and Peter Dowell, whose wife Judy was now touring Europe. Two rest-days followed, in which Margaret's knee fully recovered and great advances were made with our website, thanks to the broadband wireless internet connection and support from Bec (and Kev) in Cairns.

The log could be read in conjunction with our Notes on Motorhome Travel in Australia.