Exploring with Goannaray

"Let's go to Tassie!"
"Righto, cool!... When? How long for? Self drive or public transport with tours? What's there to see and do? You wanna pay for it!?... Ok, can we afford it?"

And so the idea was formed...

But hang on...

"What about the kids? Are we crazy?!"
"Nah, it won't be that bad. No worse than going round the world with Sonia when she was 9 - 12 months old."
"But there's 2 of them now! And they'll be 10months and 2.5yrs old!"
"That's fine, just plan accordingly!"

And so the planning began...

However, if you've ever tried to research a winter trip to Tasmania, with 2 toddlers, you'll understand the frustration that occurs from lack of information readily available. We had a fairly long list of questions, with no quick easy answers.

Ie.

• Campervan with toddlers in winter… good or bad idea?

• What’s the weather like for ‘shorter’ hikes/walks that time of the year?

• Many walks available to do with a stroller?

• How best to keep toddlers warm and dry during hikes?

• Free camping with campervan?

• Accessibility of camps, hikes, and other things during winter?

• If booking into accommodation… do you need to book much in advance?

• Are many things or areas closed during the winter season?

• Recommendations on things to definitely do/not do with toddlers?

After reading a few other travelers’ blogs, putting questions out on various different forums, and numerous phone calls, I’d answered quite a few of our queries, but still wasn’t a hundred percent sure on others. Figured we’d just have to go and enjoy the adventure, learning along the way! Hey, we’d previously survived a three month round the world trip (July – October 2011) with one toddler and basically no research… how much worse could this be?! Maybe that’s why I was now trying to do a lot more research prior to this trip!

And so that brings me to this blog… trying to carry out this research got me thinking that if I’m having difficulty finding information and answers, maybe others could be going through a similar situation. Hence the idea of writing this, hoping our experiences would be able to help others in similar situations. Here’s to hoping it does!

After doing some initial basic research, we figured we had about 3.5weeks available in July to explore as much as possible. We’re from WA and are more interested in nature, but don’t mind history and other general things as well.

Basic outline:
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• Fly into Launceston from Perth beginning of July

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• Hire a car to get to Latrobe for the Winterfest, drive down to Hobart, and explore around Hobart and surrounds while based there

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• Stay in a hotel while we have the car and are based in Launceston and Hobart for the first week or so

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• Hire a campervan to drive around and explore as much of the rest of Tasmania as we can in the remaining time available

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• Fly out of Hobart back to Perth

I have to point out here that several dates for things like the Latrobe Chocolate Winterfest and pre-booked accommodation in Hobart, (prior to further research), had a major influence on how we had to plan things.

In no real order of any sort!

• Latrobe Chocolate Winterfest
• Cadbury Chocolate Factory
• Mt Field National Park - Russell Falls
• Snow - Ben Lomond or Mt Field NP
• Port Arthur
• See Tasmania Devils
• Cradle Mountain National Park
• Platypus House
• Seahorse world
• Louisa’s Walk
• Lake St Claire National Park
• Montezuma Falls
• Leven Canyon
• Tasmazia
• Liffey Falls
• Ralphs Falls
• Bay of Fires
• Wineglass Bay
• Tessellated pavement
• Remarkable Caves
• Legerwood Woodcarvings
• Bruny Island Cruise – Pennicott Wilderness Journeys

Campervan with toddlers in winter… good or bad idea?
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• Won’t know till we get there

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• Everyone’s different regarding what they enjoy or can put up with!

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• Perfect example… me Vs my husband!! I enjoy camping, he doesn’t!

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• Will see how we go for space and general comfort as well!

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• If taking toddlers in a campervan though, make sure it can take the car seats you need, and that the beds are toddler safe before you book

What’s the weather like for ‘shorter’ hikes/walks that time of the year?
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• Most likely cold and wet

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• As to how cold and wet… who really knows till we actually get there!

Many walks available to do with a stroller?
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• There are a few

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• I’m guessing those that are labeled wheelchair accessible should be no problem for a stroller

How best to keep toddlers warm and dry during hikes?
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• We’re thinking of using an Ergo baby carrier for our then 10month old, and whoever’s carrying him, wrapping their larger size raincoat around him as well. ?? smaller umbrella as well if it’s really heavy rain to reduce water running down between adult and child. This worked well for us before in New Zealand.

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• For longer hikes, we’re thinking we’d also take a Kathmandu child carrier backpack for our then 2.5yr old. Wearing our own raincoat, and putting a poncho over her and the backpack. Have yet to test this method!

Free camping with campervan?
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• Apparently there are quite a few sites available

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• We’ll see what we end up doing when we get there

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• Also depends on if we end up deciding if we want to pay for power so we can have a heater going overnight, or if we want showers and toilets or not

Accessibility of camps, hikes, and other things during winter?
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• Can sometimes be inaccessible due to snow

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• Won’t really know till we get there

If booking into accommodation… do you need to book much in advance?
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• Not such an issue in winter unless there’s something happening maybe

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• Like possibly in Latrobe during the Chocolate Winterfest in July, but we fly into Launceston the night before so decided to stay in Launceston instead and just do a day trip.

Are many things or areas closed during the winter season?
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• A few are yes!!

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• Not many (?? 2 or 3 of the things we would’ve liked to have done), but definitely worth checking before you go.

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• Tarkine Forest Adventures – Slide into the Tarkine: Shut during winter season

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• Eagles Eyrie – Maydena: Can shut depending on weather. Refund/Reschedule will be offered if this occurs they said

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• Westcoast Wilderness Railway: Shut due to financial issues. ?? re-opening for 2013/14 summer season

Recommendations on things to definitely do/not do with toddlers?
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• Depends on what your toddlers enjoy

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• We’ve received quite a few excellent suggestions, so will have to see what happens and how the kids enjoy them when we get there

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• For kids needing a baby seat, it pays to check that tour companies are able to cater for them. We’ve found several companies that wouldn’t be able to take our 10-11month old as their vehicles didn’t have an anchor point for his seat.

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• www.ytravelblog.com : Awesome hints and tips for travel with toddlers and travel in general

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• www.letsgokids.com.au : Awesome site for ‘things to do, where to go, vouchers, special offers’… all family related, for each state.

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• www.tripadviser.com : Excellent site for wide range of general and destination information with reviews

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• www.lonelyplanet.com/australia : General travel and destination information

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• www.discovertasmania.com : General Tasmania travel and destination information

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• www.tasmaniasleepervans.com.au : Yes, it is a campervan website. But they also provide excellent research resources. I particularly liked their information and list of different walks available round Tasmania

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• www.think-tasmania.com : General Tasmania info, plus ‘Things to Do in Tasmania: Top Ten For Kids’ is rather helpful

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• www.parks.tas.gov.au : National Parks site. Good for information on the parks in general, specific walks, camping…

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• www.forestrytas.com.au : Good for information on forestry walks. Many helpful and informative blogs by Shannon on a large number of the walks available

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• blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/jadejones/2/tpod.html : Blog of a family that travelled and worked their way round Australia including Tasmania with 2 toddlers at the time

• Travel High Chair Alternative

  Kaden in the Totseat

Totseat / Mobiseat – As they say it’s ‘the washable, squashable highchair’. (www.totseat.com). Made out of cloth, clip it onto/around whatever regular chair is available, and have your child safely sit in/on there. We bought one of these off ebay for our round the world trip to use with our daughter who was 9 – 12 months at the time. Packed really small and found it extremely useful. Even now with our 10month old son, we got extremely frustrated and annoyed at ourselves for not taking it with us to visit my parents for a week, two weeks ago. Trying to eat your own meal, plus feed and hold a squirming 10month old who loves to grab anything he can reach is not fun!

• Ipad or other tablet alternative

We hadn’t previously gotten one of these yet, so thought we’d pick one up and see how it went as an entertainment device for our 2.5yr old daughter, and as a laptop replacement for us while traveling. We ended up deciding to save a bit of money and not get the best, new, top of the range item, as we didn’t really know if it would end up being worth it or not. Plus, it’s not long till I’ll be needing a new laptop soon anyway… and many of the best tablets available, cost just as much as a new laptop! So we’re now the owners of a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. Will see if it was worth it over the duration of this trip!

• Camps 7 Book

Was recommended this book, and from numerous previous long driving trips around/through Australia and overseas… thought it looked to be a pretty good investment not only for this trip, but also for future trips within Australia. I’m not a fan of GPS systems for driving, preferring a physical map to look at to get a better ‘picture’ of what’s where, and where I want to go. I’ve photocopied the Tasmania section to take with us, and will see how useful the campsite information provided with the maps is for us in Tasmania.

• Baby/Toddler Car Seats

We’ve decided the best option for us is to hire baby/toddler car seats through the companies we’re hiring vehicles from. Less hassle, and means we can bring other child items free of charge on the plane (Stroller, Kathmandu child carrier backpack etc).

• Tasmania National Parks Pass

Decided to pay for it online before we go and take the corresponding printout, instead of purchasing at the park, as we may want to go into a smaller park that doesn’t have that service available, before we get to somewhere we can do that. I rang and asked, and they said the printout should be fine if you haven’t had a chance to exchange it for the physical pass/card yet.

• Discounts

Definitely check these out!! A lot of the tourist brochures/booklets you can pick up often have local business discounts in them. The ‘Let’s Go Kids’ booklets, and online for each state are awesome sources of ideas and discounts. Also check out what discounts you can get through any of the cards/memberships you may have. For example, RACWA (RACV, NRMA, RACQ etc), YHA (Youth Hostel Australia), QANTAS Frequent Flyer. Also, we’re really lucky that our children are both younger than 3yrs. So entrance fees are not needed for them to any of the places we want to visit (as far as I know so far anyway!). Plus, our son pretty much fly’s for free as he’s under 2yrs. However… we found out that as soon as they turn 2, and you have to pay for a seat… it’s basically straight up to adult fare cause they’re taking up a seat. The downside to the age thing… they very likely won’t remember much (if any) of the trip.

We'd booked flights a while ago to try and get cheaper fares, and Clancy'd decided for us that the bit extra we'd pay for Qantas was worth it. I tend to agree with him! Especially for the longer WA to east coast flights! Included baggage allowance, meals, entertainment, baggage checked right through to end destination... made for a much easier experience. Particularly as we were all fighting bad headcolds.

I'd really been dreading the take off and landing, having previously experienced bad pain from blocked sinuses on a flight before. We were really lucky this time, with no pain for any of us. Breastfeeding Kaden, and everyone else sucking on throat lozenges must've worked! Having ABC 4 Kid's programs available on the inflight entertainment was a big help with Sonia, and the few toys we'd brought were very useful during the wait in Melbourne for our connecting flight to Launceston.

Another toddler issue we had to deal with that turned out different to what we expected, was bladder and bowel control. Sonia's not 100% toilet trained yet, with the occasional accident, and requiring frequent reminders and enforcement. Despite encouragement throughout the trip, and complaints of a sore tummy, it wasn't till we landed at Launceston that results were reached with longest, biggest, smelliest poo ever! And in the toilet too! We'd expected to have to change atleast one set of nappy pants.

Finally retrieved our bags, picked up the hire car (including some fun learning how to start a car with no keyhole in console! ... Ensure foot is on the brake!), and headed to our booked accommodation for some much needed sleep! Note for future late arrivals... pick up some take away food on the way from the airport to the hotel.

Finally, the day for the event Clancy had said we definitely could NOT miss! The Latrobe Chocolate Winter Festival! It was going to be an awesome day filled with all things chocolate. Food, art, fashion, music, poetry, drinks, entertainment... and more!

The drive from Launceston was great, with nice views of snow on the distant tiers and mountains. There were lots of different activities and competition's for all ages, with a lot of the local businesses and organisations getting involved. Plus the all required taste testing availabilities! Using our stroller with its attached buggy board came in very handy for containing, and keeping two kids moving. However, it was a bit of a hindrance with the crowds of people.

Sonia enjoyed being able to decorate and eat her own biscuit at a stall the local IGA had set up. We all enjoyed the different things on display throughout the town, and couldn't avoid buying some chocolate that was constantly being offered, and fresh fruit from the local market. Hmm... and with Clancy there... there was no way we were going to miss the taste testing sites!

Picking up lunch to take and eat in a park turned out to be a good idea too. We found a nice park with playground, picnic tables, toilets, parking, and creek with small waterfall/rapids and bridge, just behind the shops on the main street. Coincidentally named 'Kings Park'. We're from Perth, WA, where 'Kings Park' is the major park/gardens of the city. Sonia enjoyed the playground, and also the new 'game' of mum trying to set up the camera on a rock for a self timed family photo, then rushing to join everyone else, having to catch and pick up Sonia... who by then was half way down to the camera on the rocks near the creek!

Even without the chocolate festival, the town itself and surrounding districts would be well worth a visit. Many historical sites, natural things to enjoy, and places to eat/drink. I would've liked to have gone to the Axeman's Hall of Fame, and the Warrawee Forest Reserve to try and see a platypus, but time and kids did not allow. We did however get to enjoy plenty of other things.

Chocolate Chef's...

• Parking was difficult due to it being the chocolate festival weekend, but we were lucky and got a quick spot. A free complimentary shuttle bus was operating from the town centre for the day though for those who couldn't get parking.
• The chocolate making area had good viewing windows, and a video running as well, which was greatly appreciated when you couldn't see through the crowd of people at the windows.
• Some good and interesting information on the history of chocolate was well displayed.
• Taste testing was available at the small shop building to the side of the cafe and chocolate making building.
• Was a bit crowded for us to fully enjoy the place and all it had to offer, but we still thought it was worth a visit.

Big Cherries

• Had an excellent set up for visitors, including families.
• Big cherries you could climb up in and look out of.
• There was an outdoor toddler player/area set up with door access to both the outside picnic area, and also into the inside cafe tables.
• Sonia did not want to leave the big cherries and play area.
• They had an aamazing and very informative set of dioramas set up inside showing all the stages of growing, to processing cherries. Including some 'hidden' things to find in each one. Managed to keep Sonic interested looking for different things long enough for us to read the information on each one!

Ashgrove Cheese Cows

• The cheese tasting and numerous painted cows around the outdoor eating area were really the only things that really caught Sonia's attention.
• We were also able to view the maturing room, and read the different informative posters. Obviously more interesting to us than the kids!

The Raspberry Farm Lake

• I popped into this one very quickly on the way home to Launceston, as both kids were sound asleep by this stage.
• Would've been a really nice place to spend more time earlier in the day.
• They also had an outdoor toddler play area, as well as a much larger grassed area near a lake.
• The lake and grass picnic area looked nice. I would've enjoyed the walk around the lake, but had to keep moving unfortunately.
• The tasting and testing of produce available was also very good.

• Plugs

Make sure you remember to pack both a medium/large and small/medium multifit plug for hand basins or washtubs. Especially if you're travelling with kids who aren't used to showers! I remembered to do this thankfully, and have used them at nearly every place we've stayed so far on this trip. Whether for bathing Kaden and/or Sonia, washing dishes, or washing a few quickly needed clothes. At both caravan parks and hotels.

• Mobile Internet

If you want regular access for checking email or whatever on the net, take you own access device, or plan in time to find somewhere for access. Most people would be able to do this on their phones nowadays anyway, unless they're like us and still haven't upgraded to smart phones yet. The majority of campgrounds we've stayed at haven't had wifi available. Or if they do, we've arrived too late to be able to purchase some usage time from reception for our tablet.

• Gumboots

This was an excellent suggestion we received from one of our friends in Hobart. She recommended we get some for Sonia. We did, and are very glad we did so! The amount of water and mud she's walked through since being here in Tasmania is amazing! Plus they're very quick and easy to get on and off which helps greatly with toileting and getting in and out of the car or campervan. Let alone the enjoyment she gets from being able to walk through water and mud!