Burnie and Around

After leaving Cradle Mountain, we took a short leisurely drive down to the coast to our next destination, Cooee Point Reserve, just west of Burnie.

 We'd prebooked a free site through their website for a permit to stay for a maximum of two nights. Drinking water is available and a dump point for those requiring it. 

Unfortunately, the site is not monitored, and people in tents and slider vans with no facilities stay and use the few small trees and shrubs as their toilets. Those in caravans throw their water onto the ground with little respect for the site's leaving-no-trace policy.

After setting up, we drove to Burnie, walked around the town centre and watched a surf carnival. The water would be too cold for us, but they are used to it.

The town centre has some lovely old buildings, but many businesses have closed, leaving the place tired and rundown.

We stocked up at the local Woolies on our second day before driving to the Emu Valley Rhododendron Gardens. The site, which covers 11 hectares or 23 acres, was donated and is now run by volunteers with rhododendrons worldwide. There are three large lakes, and we saw a very elusive platypus that surfaced, but our photos don't do justice.

The lady who took our money said that we may encounter tiger snakes while doing the walk and just to calmly walk past them. Wow, no way was that going to happen, so after seeing our first snake, I decided to leave. By the way, Ros didn't disagree. It's not a particularly good photo, but I wouldn't stop and take a better one.