Scott was asked to take 2 weeks leave so he didn’t have excessive amounts of leave. I find this amusing as we have the same employer, and he has taken more leave than I have in the past year or two. My manager’s just not organised enough to worry about my leave! So that meant we could just not worry about doing things around the house and spend some days together caching and bushwalking. As the weather isn’t terribly reliable, we decided to do some day trips rather than go away camping. We woke up gently and were on the road by the crack of. . .11 am. Well, it IS the weekend after all!
We decided to make today’s destination the Tasman Peninsula. To please Lottie, we drove past a few drive-bys and headed for a cache that would be a nice walk on the beach for her. There was one cache that seemed to be a drive-by that we were going to head for, ‘Why Here?’, as it was on a bit of road that forms a loops so we wouldn’t be driving past again.. The cache name didn’t really say much about the area :-), so I was certainly pleasantly surprised by the gorgeous views and interesting history of the site. And as a bonus, the road that makes it basically a drive-by was closed, so Lottie had a nice leg-stretch walking to it. The site was (from the information sign):
Impression Bay Cemetery
Impression Bay Probation Station was established in 1841 to produce food for Port Arthur and timber pit pros for the Coal Mines. It became an invalid depot in the late 1840s and 1850s for prisoners in ‘a most wretched physical condition, blind, maimed, infirm, and debilitated from age, accident, or disease’.
In November 1857 the Persian saild into Norfolk Bay with a pitiful cargo of typhus-ridden Scottish immigrans to be quarantined at the convict station. These destitute islanders from Lewis and Coll had been evicted from their homes as part fo the Highland Clearances, when Scotland’s English rulers encouraged local lairds to replace families with more profitable sheep. Eleven passengers lie buried here. Their names are listed below.
Death and Burial at Impression Bay
Able-bodied convicts died of accidents and respiratory diseases. Paupers and invalids died from common diseases of old age like stroke and heart attack. They also died from respiratory complaints. We know nothing of their medical treatment.
In the 19th century port and brandy were commonly prescribed to strengthen the invalid’s constitution; this is the only treatment recorded for the Persian’s typhus victims. One measure was effective by accident. Typhus was thought to be caused by dirt, so soiled bedding and clothing from the Persian were burnt. The lice, the real carriers, were destroyed. Most of the sick recovered.
We know of 191 burials somewhere at Impression Bay 1849-57, which includes 156 convicts, as well as station officials, soldiers, and women and children. We do not know where the convicts were buried. They may lie in the paddock behind this cemetery.
Cache Details
GC1TW0G by OldSaint
S 43° 02.986 E 147° 46.813
Difficulty is 1 and Terrain is 1
Cache type is Traditional
Container size is Small
It was hidden on: 18/06/2009
Snuva found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
12:22 What a great little spot! I hesitated doing this one as the dog was so eager for a walk I didn’t know if she could stand something that looked to be just a drive-by, however we parked on the main road and walked in. The dog was happy to get a walk and drink from puddles; I was happy as this was a perfectly beautiful little hidden spot with interesting history thrown in as a bonus! Cache was easily found; it’s quite wet on the inside – and of course this is when I realised I left all the desiccant I have at home.
Thank you for the cache! |
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Next we went to Roaring Beach, which was tonnes of fun. We had to find our way through the dunes with a river wandering through them, then when we finally reached the beach Lottie was greeted by a bunch of dogs. Lots of fun! And the beach certain lived up to its name; the surf was roaring the whole time we were there. Lottie enjoyed playing with the dog of one of the surfers.
Cache Details
GC1VK1W by OldSaint
S 43° 05.198 E 147° 40.202
Difficulty is 2.5 and Terrain is 3
Cache type is Traditional
Container size is Regular
It was hidden on: 7/07/2009
Snuva found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
13:33 What an excellent spot! I’d passed the turn-off to here before but not taken it, so it was fantastic to see this spot – AND it’s dog friendly!Lottie had a blast first pretending she was a wild schnauzer as we made our way through the dunes. Then she played with a gang of dogs having fun on the beach (I use the term ‘gang’ quite loosely here; it’s not like they had jackets made or anything). Then she enjoyed the climb up to the headland so she could take in the view with her ears flapping in the wind. I enjoyed the lovely beach, the roar of the surf, and seeing the track and droppings of the native that must take over the beach when all us more ‘civilised’ folk disappear.Of course a $@#(* muggle had to appear just as we were approaching GZ, however there were plenty of views to photograph to justify why we were sticking to the spot.
Thank you for the cache! |
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Cache Details
GC1VK1E by OldSaint
S 43° 05.575 E 147° 43.352
Difficulty is 1 and Terrain is 1.5
Cache type is Traditional
Container size is Micro
It was hidden on: 7/07/2009
Snuva found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
14:20 I used red tag’s coordinates (good thing; the published coords would have put me in the middle of a feral’s wooden teepee) and found the cache quite easily. The pile of ‘camouflage’ was a bit over the top for the container size. Lovely view.Thank you for the cache. |
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A little bit of a drive, then we were at Palmers Panorama. We’d thought about putting a cache here years ago, however we weren’t certain if the natives were friendly. The Cheesy Pigs took the guess work away!
Cache Details
GC1K8EM by Cheesy Pigs
S 43° 09.923 E 147° 50.031
Difficulty is 1 and Terrain is 1
Cache type is Traditional
Container size is Small
It was hidden on: 19/11/2008
Snuva found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
14:44 A lovely panorama from here, of course! I was surprised to see the cache was half full of water; usually these containers do a lot better! I dried it out as best I could; unfortunately I’d left all the desiccant a generous soul had given out at an event in the other cacheMobile. The log book was damp rather than soaking, so I gave it an airing in the sun. None of the swaps were things that would be destroyed by water, so I gave them a wipe off and replaced.Thank you for the cache! |
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Cache Details
GC1V2GR by OldSaint
S 43° 09.934 E 147° 52.118
Difficulty is 1 and Terrain is 1.5
Cache type is Traditional
Container size is Micro
It was hidden on: 23/06/2009
Snuva Found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
14:58 I’d never been to the golf course side of this peninsula; we have been known to camp on the Canarvon Bay side, out at the end near the Isle of the Dead. The views from this side are stunning; I wave to my cache out at Mt Brown. 🙂 I felt a bit suspicious – it was just 2 golf muggle and us – so found the cache and quickly put a paw print in while trying to avoid their gaze.Thank you for the cache. |
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I’ve been looking forward to doing gorbak’s twin caches at Stewart’s Bay. Last time we attempted them we would have hit 1000 there; but as we pulled into the car park it started BUCKETING down. We had a beautiful day for it today, however the ‘complicated’ track (lots of downed trees) and the short winter day meant we only got to one of the caches. No mind – I’m looking forward to coming back for the next cache!
Lottie, who when we first got her freaked out a bit when having to even walk on unsealed tracks, is even getting the knack of walking on logs!
Cache Details
GC18GDB by gorbak
S 43° 08.255 E 147° 51.946
Difficulty is 2 and Terrain is 3
Cache type is Traditional
Container size is Regular
It was hidden on: 9/01/2008
Snuva found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
16:00 I’ve been looking forward to doing these two for ages. The last time I tried, the husband and I got into the car park and the rain was just BUCKETING down. We couldn’t see the bay at all and decided to leave it for better weather so we could enjoy it. Today was that day.The beach is just beautiful; Lottie bounced along so happily and I tripped over my feet while taking photos. As advertised, we found the track at the end of the beach and followed it to the Garden Point turn off. We made our way a bit further along on a track following the shore until we lost sight of this track and followed one going inland. After reaching higher ground, we found another track leading out to the end of the point. It came and went, but we kept persevering. Until we were within 50 metres of the cache and there was a tree in the track. And more if you picked up the schnauzer and tried to make your way further. So we went bush into some interesting terrain. You could tell the white rocks with your eyes closed; they were moist and incredibly slippery! After a bash the cache was eventually found. We grabbed out a TB that had been sitting there for a few months. It all took a bit longer than it should, so we’ve saved the sister cache for next time – although just swimming across seemed tempting (until you considered the water temperature).
Thank you for the cache!! |
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Now it was time to head home, via a couple drive-bys:
Cache Details
GA1464 by OldSaint
S 43° 02.687 E 147° 51.941
Difficulty is 1 and Terrain is 1
Cache type is Traditional
Container size is Small
It was hidden on: 21/05/2009
Snuva found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
16:41 Fantastic views of the setting sun across the water. Thank you for the cache. |
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Cache Details
GC1V3G4 by OldSaint
S 42° 53.590 E 147° 48.181
Difficulty is 1.5 and Terrain is 1.5
Cache type is Traditional
Container size is Micro
It was hidden on: 23/06/2009
Snuva found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
17:07 The description had me thinking this would be much more complicated to find! Thank you for the cache. |
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Cache Details
GC1TYF3 by OldSaint
S 42° 53.296 E 147° 48.884
Difficulty is 1 and Terrain is 1
Cache type is Multi
Container size is Micro
It was hidden on: 20/06/2009
Snuva found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
17:22 Well at least it didn’t take a monumental effort to find this one! Found in the fading light while avoiding trailbike riding muggles. |
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Cache Details
GC1V3GF by OldSaint
S 42° 52.555 E 147° 49.410
Difficulty is 1 and Terrain is 1.5
Cache type is Traditional
Container size is Micro
It was hidden on: 23/06/2009
Snuva found it on: 25/07/2009 |
Our Log
17:27 Found some parking, then found a cache. Our last find of the day. |
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I haven’t actually been through all our photos of the day, but there are more up on Flickr. And more will be uploaded in the next week or two. And thanks to bullit mentioning GPicSync, they’re all geocoded!!
Tasman Peninsula, 25 July 2009
Tasman Peninsula, 25 July 2009
2 comments for “Day at the Tasman Peninsula”