Dean's Travels

Day 11 - 4th October

Beechford to Wynyard

Distance Travelled - 230.3 km

Windy conditions and flapping sides of the fly woke me a few times during the night but on the whole it was not too bad as I was able to fall asleep again fairly quickly. I woke up around 7 am with sunlight dabbling at the edges of the tent opening. In no particular hurry this morning I managed to doze on and off for a while and then lay listening to the chirping of birds and then my ipod until just before 10 am when I could no longer stay comfortably in my tent.

I got up and had breakfast and then read for a short while as I waited for the dampness to dry out of the tent. By about half past ten I was ready to leave. I drove off towards Devonport enjoying the initially winding roads through the countryside before ending up again on highway roads that took me to the Mersey Bluff lighthouse. This lighthouse has distinctive red stripes painted down the tower but interestingly these are only on the coast side of the tower. The inland side is just painted white.

I went for a short walk around the area and then decided to head on towards Burnie and the Round Hill lighthouse. This was a little tricky to find as it was not listed in the GPS and I only had sketchy information from the Internet. Having driven into town and talked with people at the information centre I had to drive about 7 km back out of town from where I had come. Driving into town you cannot see the lighthouse as it is only small and on the coast side of the hill. Going out of town it is easier to see. I parked nearby and climbed the hill to find it. Having taken a few photos I headed back to the car and decided to head towards Wynyard and the Table Cape Lighthouse as there is more chance of finding a place to stay the night out there as it is slightly more remote.

The drive was one again on busyish roads but I managed to find it without much fuss. It is right near a tulip farm and well signposted. The lighthouse precinct was very windy and a bit nippy but was reasonably busy with visitors. I spent a bit of time there and took a couple of photos before heading back out to the entrance road to take photos of tulips visible from outside the farm. The section that I was taking photos of was not part of the farm display from what I can gather but I was still a good boy and stayed on the road side of the barbed wire fence.

After taking photos there I headed off in search of a place to stay. Not too far from the farm is a picnic spot near the river. I pulled in there and found a nice spot to park and look out over the river. It also has a grassed area with a BBQ and small shelter put up by the local Rotary Club and I decided this would be my camp for the night. I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening (with dusk not starting until 7.30 pm due to daylight saving) reading, watching people fish, working out various ideas and plans for tomorrow and contemplating taking more photos.

Organised tea and started writing the blog before sorting out photos from today. There seems to be a few mosquitoes at the moment so I will delay setting up the tent until it gets dark and hopefully the mosquitoes will go away. Tomorrow the plan is to head towards Stanley and see which of the lighthouses on my list I can find.