So we last left off at 'the Nut' in Stanley. Pack up from the luxury Stanley caravan park to head into the wilderness via the Tarkine Drive towards Arthur's River to spend a few nights exploring the Arthur-Pieman Conservation Area.
On route, we hiked to the Trawatta arch, an amazing natural arch formed between two sink holes, in dense rain forest, and a few look-outs prior to popping out onto rolling coastal heath, and the beautiful shacks of Couta Rocks. Found a relatively flat spot at the Manuka campground, and settled in with some rather vicious winds outside.
The camper survived so we headed out for a jog with the double, and ended up on the Arthur River cruise, hosted by Greg, a very friendly father of hockey friends ( thanks Corny for the heads up!). Pristine waters and untouched forests guided us to our lunch spot at the confluence of the Arthur and the Frankland rivers. A spotted quoll and a few paddy melon wallabies joined us for a sausage sandwich, and a swooping sea eagle entertained us on our return trip. Theo managed to get his captains licence on the trip too, so that should come in handy...
An un-planned detour saw us heading south on the Western Explorer (instead of east back towards Launceston) after a few recommendations from Rob, the captain of the MV George Robinson. This led us to Corinna, a tiny river town tucked into the dense forest next to the Pieman River. Our home for the night was a beautiful free camp next to the Savage River just out of town, running river water and night noises our neighbours.
Those neighbours ended up being 'devils' or some sort of critter that had a fetish for shoe laces, so Bern lost a pair of joggers and one of my hiking boots was ripped up, along with bitting through the strap of my Havianas. That didn't slow us down though, so at 8.30 we were off on a 4 hour return up Mt Donaldson, 450m elevation with a spectacular 360 degree view of the ocean, Tarkine and the Pieman River cutting a slice through the dense forest.
After a recovery lunch, it was time to pack up again, drive the Prado onto the punt and cross the Pieman to head south towards Strahan. Back to civilisation with a few days of morning runs, coffees, swims at the beach, and Theo's favourite, watching the steam trains shunting at the station...