Honeymoon Corner - Bay of Fires

Arrived at 6am offloading our Nissan and small A’Van off the Spirit of Tasmania: $1500 with discounts for the return trip with a porthole cabin for two! No wonder Tassie complains about the high cost of travel. But hey! We were there for four weeks and were used to  far higher fuel costs for our trips to WA and the NT and Qld. We were heading for the North West, specifically the Tarkine, a spot we had not explored before when we lived in Tassie for a few years in the early 2000’s. The Bass Highway beckoned  and we shortly arrived at lovely Ulverstone where we stocked our fridge with fruit and vegies and scoffed a lovely breakfast from the Rotary sausage sizzle outside Woolworths. Braddons Lookout had been a small detour on the Forth Highway through  rolling hills filled with veggie farms on deep chocolate soil. Take the coast road from Ulverstone to Penguin where Moonlight Bay caught our attention -  great ocean views, a silver-grey sea, clouds, sunshine , blue skies and showers threatening. Whizz through Burnie unless you want Bunnings or other shopping. The old Australian Paper Mill factory was closed and rusting, a silver-green sea with misty hills appearing. Our main concern was where we would stay that night. We are wandering travellers and rarely book ahead preferring to see where chance takes us. However just out of Ulverstone we had met a friendly local “Terry” who had previously worked in the tourist industry,. He had given us a list of places on the North coast where we could free camp or stop and Crayfish Creek Caravan  Park  about a half hour prior to Stanley was one he recommended. We do too. It’s set on a rainforest block by the creek and individual sites are cleared out of the forest. Amenities are updated and convenient but if you are a “Big Four” type caravaner you probably won’t like it. All sites are quite private, surrounded by trees and native bushes and as a bonus forest animals are likely to pay you a call. However, the camp kitchen is due for a makeover.