Day 8 - Exit Hobart on to St Helen’s

Woollen Mills Coffee shop

one of the tree sculptures

The carvings 

Almost the final leg of the “holidays” this time around. We headed off from Hobart and went out through Richmond heading for St Helens on the east coast. We met up with the main Hobart – Launceston highway just south of Oatlands and followed it up to Campbell town. 

We pulled into Oatlands for a break and coffee and found the local woollen mills – with little cafe attached. Oatlands has a lot of old buildings (as do a lot of Tassie towns) and the ability of the locals to keep them in such good nick is a credit to them. Another little quirk is the shrubs trimmed in the shape of all sorts of figurines. Cows, chooks, a farmer on a quad bike with dog the list goes on. They extended for quite a few km’s up the road. There were also some neat carvings in a small park which depict various elements of the Tassie history. The carvings are done on old tree trunks and are pretty large. From here we headed up to Campbelltown then we took the Lake Leake Tourist Rd across to Bicheno for lunch. The tourist road is fully sealed and not bad to drive on. There are quite a few spots for camping and walking and we have these in mind for future trips. Lunch at Bicheno and a bit of a walk along the rocks was in order. The wind was blowing a gale and just about needed lead boots to keep me on the ground. 

Bicheno Bay

The "Blow Hole"

Own ranch at St Helens

We also went down SW side of Bicheno to have a look at the blow hole which wasn’t really performing today. Back in the car and up the coast road we headed for St Helens. It was a pleasant drive along the coast but we didn’t stop anywhere.  We found our digs in St Helens, we are booked into the Big 4 and it’s not too bad. Had a bit of a look around the town and Di and I went for a walk to get some fresh air. Tomorrow we are heading for Devonport to head home but on the way we are visiting Pyengana to visit Priscilla the pig and the cheese factory.  By the way Dave forgot to mention the fact that we went passed through a town called Colebrook (formerly known as Jerusalem) Bet that gave the Tom Tom a headache..