Returning to Burnie from Strahan and Queenstown signalled the last major attraction we wanted to see. We now had about 10 days before departing this fair state back to the mainland.
We have found living in a caravan is like living in a house in that after a while you need a change of scenery as hard as is to believe we wanted a small break from living in the van.
Leaving Burnie we headed west towards Stanley and Tarkine Region. Along the Bass Hwy we stopped at Rocky Cape Tavern which had a free camp out the back so decided to base ourselves here as it seemed central to most of the area we wanted to visit. While checking in they offered a site with power for $10.00 a night so decided take that option instead as we were expectingf cloud during the time we are in the area. Stanley and Dismal Swamp are all day trips from Rocky Cape so it seemed a bit pointless to drag the van all the way in then all the way back out the same way.
Leaving Launceston we wound our way back out towards the Bass Hwy heading in a westerly direction towards Burnie. During our stay in Launceston we had tried several routes in the car to try to find an easier way bypassing all the hills but alas no success so just went out the way we came in.
We had to decide which way we wanted to go from St Helens to Launceston. We could either go via Scottsdale on the A3 or head back and go through St Marys and Fingal along the A4. We had sampled some of the A3 towards Scottsdale and there were several steep passes along narrow roads we had driven through before you even get to Scottsdale. Along the A4 there was only one to negociate St Marys.