After a slow pack up from Tall Timbers we took our time to get to Arthur River on the West coast of Tasmania. We had booked into the caravan park there, so we meandered through the lush hillsides over the 70 or so kilometres from Smithton to Arthur River.

When we arrived we stepped out of the car and into a GALE! Boy was it windy! Unfortunately there wasn’t much shelter at the Arthur River Caravan Park, so we chose a spot (we were the only ones camping) as sheltered as possible and battened down the hatches – well pegged and roped the camper anyway. Normally when we set up we don’t bother with pegs, poles or ropes unless it’s windy. (Edit: From Arthur River onwards we decided to peg and rope most locations as the wind tends to come up mostly in the evening)

Camp set, we jumped into the car to check out the scenery. We headed out to the lookout known as the Edge of the World, and BOY OH BOY we nearly got swept away. The winds here are known as the roaring 40s, so named for the latitude they are found (between 40 to 49 Lat). The lookout is situated at the mouth of the Arthur River, looking across the beach and out to sea.

We survived the wind but we did find the National Park campgrounds (toilets are the only facilities) named Manuka and Peppermint are much MUCH more sheltered so if you don’t need showers or power we suggest you head into those. We made good use of the camp kitchen in the caravan park during our stay, it’s impossible to cook on gas in the wind!

Greg finally got the chance to get the kayak wet. He paddled up the Arthur River where he was told the rainforests were spectacular.  He said, while it was a nice paddle to get to the rainforest was too hard going in the strong headwinds. He also praised my need for packing Tupperware while camping, he was able to enjoy a non-soggy lunch when the cooler bag fell overboard!

We had a few intermittent showers during our stay, nothing too heavy. We decided to take a drive out to Temma though and check out some of the other beach campsites and the little fishing village itself.

It was a great drive and we couldn’t believe how good the gravel roads were. We took a few side roads to the beach and explored a few little beaches along the way which was really lovely and a great way to spend a grey day. At one beach we had a little mishap... rather Greg had a little mishap. WARNING< IF YOU ARE QUEASY YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH!  The rocks were an awesome red and Greg just couldn’t resist shooting them so as we all wandered around the rocks, he headed out a little further from us. He wasn’t out long before he came striding back, his hand gushing blood. The rocks were exceptionally slippery when wet, and the seaweeds and lichens on them didn’t help. As he was rock hopping he slipped and came crashing down on his hip and hand (yes, the camera hit hard too – not sure if he was more worried about the camera or the blood). There was a little house nearby, Greg told me later he didn’t want to look silly for falling over so tried to hide his pain – Men! He had cut the heel of his hand very badly, there was a flap of skin about the size of a 10c piece and lots of blood. Thanks again to Aunty Cath, we had a fully stocked first aid kit, we cleaned him up and had a big bandage (rather than the dodgy bandaids we would normally travel with), camera was fine thankfully – Greg’s comment was “That’s why you pay the big bucks!” (Edit: After a few sore days he is fine. Hand has healed really well and Teddy loves to relay the story to everyone with a clenched fist hitting the ground followed by a pained look and pointing to his hand – see he doesn’t need to talk).

We drove on to a few more beaches, many with camp areas although the wind was so strong the only caravans we saw were hunkered right into the dunes to get as little of the Roaring 40s as possible. Great places to explore though.

After a few nights we decided it was time to head back in towards Smithton, grab supplies (not much available in Arthur River, no fuel at all) and find another campsite – this time out of the wind! We checked out Green Point Beach where the Cold Water Classic Surfing is held but it was just too windy and we were so over wind.

After driving around and looking at a few different places like Marrawah and Redpa, we thought we would try in the rainforest itself. Oh that was a good idea!