Day 5 - Monday 26 February - Ulverstone, Penguin, Burnie

Slept ok again which was good.

Another couple of notes about this flat I missed. There's secure parking under the building which is good. The air conditioner in the room makes a rattly clanky noise when it's running. This morning I "fixed" the clanking by turning off the swing motion which wasn't working (it was trying, failing and rattling). Still a bit noisy but at least not rattling.

Out the door around 9:40.

Our first stop was Ulverstone.

The first thing we saw in Ulverstone was the clock tower. I mostly reproduced Dad's photo from 1971 although a tree was in the way for the exact spot. Meanwhile, Stu got himself a coffee.

Clock tower at Ulverstone

Tasmanian Light Horse Memorial at Light Horse Park

Then we went down to Buttons Beach. Not a particularly inspiring beach but we did have a nice wander around. Then we wandered through the park to the river, and finally back to the car.

Buttons Beach

Seagulls at Buttons Beach

Young Pacific gull at Buttons Beach

Stu at Buttons Beach

Outdoor stage at Bicentennial Park

Stu then dropped me off at the top of the Zigzag Garden and I walked all the way down. A very pleasant garden on a hillside with lots of flowers.

View from the top of Zigzag Garden

Zigzag Garden

Flowers in Zigzag Garden

View down Maud Street from Zigzag Garden

Flowers in Zigzag Garden

Zigzag Garden

Between Ulverstone and Penguin we stopped in the Three Sisters Reserve. We walked out onto the rocks and got a view of Goat Island, but decided not to go out (tide might have been a bit high anyway). Even saw a train coming from Burnie. The tide was coming in so fast the sweetie got stuck on a rock right while the tide was coming in around him. He may have gotten his feet slightly wet!

Goat Island

Goods train heading east near Goat Island

Hollowed out rock

Waterfront near Goat Island

Stu got wet feet when the tide rushed in

We also stopped at a lookout to see the Three Sisters, although I could really only see two heh.

Three Sisters

Next town was Penguin. Yes, called Penguin. We had a nice wander around and saw the Big Penguin. I bought a Tasmania stubby holder from the visitor information and picked up a Penguin Adventure Trail checklist.

Beach at Penguin

Penguin Uniting Church

Table and chairs at Penguin Beach

The Big Penguin

Penguin bollards (part of a treasure hunt trail)

Tardis library near the Big Penguin

Penguin Visitor Information Centre

Penguin-decorated bins

We had lunch at the Penguin Beer Co. They sell Island State Brewing beer, and as it turns out (the dude on the bar was literally there last night) it was actually open last night - we could have had a beer there after all. And then Google made a liar out of me and said oh yes it's open til 20:30 on Sundays. We SWEAR it didn't say that last night. Sigh. Everything is fail. But anyway we got some beer and had some noms (Stu had nachos that he said were really good and I had some buffalo wings) with lovely view of the Bass Strait and a breeze. *my* happy place heh.

After lunch I went to do the Penguin trail, but it's not a very well defined "trail" and in fact the trail just stops once you get to Hiscutt Park (and the Dutch Windmill therein). And the "checklist" isn't a list of things along the trail, it's really just a scavenger hunt. Bit dumb. So after seeing the windmill just went back to the car.

Penguin Railway Station

Dutch Windmill in Hiscutt Park

Seagulls in Hiscutt Park

Penguin on crutches on the Penguin vet

Penguin Beer Co. where we had beer and lunch

Next stop (15:00 by this point) was Burnie. This is quite an industrial town with a big port. We didn't look much in town just went down to the beach for a wander. We even saw two penguins in their (man-made) burrows which was pretty cool.

Coastline west of Penguin, with view to Table Cape

Octopus in a water park near the beach

West Beach in Burnie

Little penguin in Burnie

This is where the wheels fell off. We've been watching the Cradle Mountain forecast since we got here, looking for the best day to go. Today was going to be the best, but as of last night it was still saying partly cloudy with a chance of rain. While not a high chance, BOM is pretty hopeless these days so we decided we'll leave going there til the last week of the trip. Well then I stoopidly looked at the Cradle Mountain web cam, and it basically showed that the sky was clear all day. So we could have gone. Sigh. So I got pretty depressed about it.

We drove back to Devonport the way we'd come, so I had a better view of the coast. I even tried to get a photo of the Big Penguin on the way through (it was in better light than earlier) but as I took the photo we passed a parked car and that's all I got a photo of. I may have burst into tears. So the sweetie stopped and we went back so I could get a photo. It's all too hard.