North- East Tasmania

After exploring the north east of Devonport, we continued over the Tamar River on the Batman Bridge and up the river to Georgetown. Georgetown has two camps: a $12, 24hr camp at the info centre on the way into town, and a $20 a night 48hr camp behind the Pier Hotel. Neither suited us. The info centre was not at all appealing and the hotel car park was very difficult to get into. At $12 and $20 a night for parking and neither proving anything more than parking a bit expensive. The view from the hotel would have been good, if we could have got in, but so many cheaper and free camps around Tasmania with views as good, if not better. So all we could do was drive a little way around Georgetown to see some of the old buildings. Shame there was no caravan parking as we would have liked to see some more. We headed north along the river to Low Head and East Beach. Two camps at East Beach – one $30-$35 with power and water, the other $20 non-powered. The drive was worth it though. This is where penguins will come in at dusk, and we saw the mist come rolling in from the light house. We did call into the Low Head Pilot Station Museum and café for afternoon tea. Well worth a visit.

With nowhere suitable to stay here in this area we continued along Bridport Road to Pipers Brook Winery. What a find! Nestled right in the middle of vineyards, and plenty of space for caravans of all sizes, Pipers Brook is a free 48 hour camp among the vines.

We first called into the winery to register and then found a spot – no level spots, so a ramp is needed. The winery is only open during the day and serves snacks, lunch, and of course wine. One can sit inside or outside on lovely picnic cushions. Wine tasting is also available.

We had a lovely night’s sleep and the sun setting over the hill was beautiful. There was one other van also there, camped a distance away.

The real reason for heading east off the ferry was to see the lavender at Bridestowe. So many people had told us about this wonderful lavender farm, so it was the first place we headed to before doing the Heritage Highway for Jonnie.

Bridestowe is Australia’s oldest and largest lavender farm and is opened 7 days a week. In 1922 C. K. Denny arrived from south west England with a bag of French lavender seeds and selected this property to start his lavender growing with an aim of developing distillery technology. Upon entry one gets a pamphlet explaining the history of the farm and the process. There is a gift shop, café and tours.

We did the self-guided tour and spent a little time in the oil distilling area talking to one of the distillers’. There are information boards to explain the process.

At the café we had lavender coffee, chocolate lavender milkshake and a lavender ice-cream. All were yummy.

Sadly the lavender harvester was almost finished harvesting the main field, so we did not see the beautiful purple of the lavender rows.

There is a$10 entry fee during flowering season, however check their website, and if one joins their free ‘Friends of Bridestowe’ you can have free entry. From here it was a short drive to Scottsdale, our next camp.