Cockle Cove - Police Point 13th -15th February

Cockle Cove

We decided to head on to Australia’s southern-most point Cockle Cove nestled among the tranquil coves of Recherche Bay on the edge of Tasmania’s Southwest National Park. and spend some time exploring the many walking trails. 

A short stroll around the foreshore takes you to a whale sculpture and interpretation sign explaining the bay’s whaling history.

Southern Right Whale sculpture

Our camp spot

Cockle Cove

Cockle Creek Bridge

We managed to find a magical little spot at the head of a small bay not far from Cockle Creek a bit wet but we were glad to have it to ourselves.  

Cockle Creek was once a thriving settlement of over 2,000 people. The area’s rich human history is reflected in Aboriginal sites, abandoned tramways, gravestones and ruins. It is the  southern entry point to the Southwest National Park in Tasmania's Wilderness World Heritage area.

We had planned to stay here and do some of the hikes in the Southwest National Park but after checking weather reports and realising that we were in for 3 days of rain we decided to head for Port Arthur.  

A close call

Heading on to Port Arthur decided to head in and take a back road through Police Point - on a windy dirt road doing about 30 -40 km per hr with the master of song -"Leonard Cohen" blasting from the CD player.  I was belting out a tune when suddenly I lost control of the silver ghost. on a  very slippery bend...  Everything happened in slow motion - I looked at Rob and thought Oh no this is it we're going to roll and it will be his side.  The drivers side wheels lifted off the ground teetered and then rocked slowly back.  "What do we do now" I shakily ask?  "Get out - you're door," Rob answers authoritatively.   Shaking like a leaf I head to the nearest home to ring for assistance. A lovely lady said no worries "I'll ring Ian, he'll get you out; he's had to rescue a few..  So back to the car I head to wait for Ian.  Rob gives me a cuddle and we are grateful to be so fortunate.  A small scratch on the passenger side of the duel cab window where a fence post scraped shows how close we were to toppling over.  It must have been the wait of Rob's tools that rocked us back - lucky he has all those tools eh?

Scary !!

Ian and his neighbour Charlie arrive with tractor and discuss the best way to get me out.  I mention that I should know better and shouldn't have been driving that fast on these roads, I tell them I was singing along to Leonard Cohen,  Ian interrupts - "ahh Bird On A Wire" was it?  We all have a bit of a chuckle and they manage to get us out no problem..  Ian tells me I'm number 16 since he's lived there and number 3 incident this year - his fence posts are loose so he can just pull them out - not worth fixing it up properly someone will go through it again he jokes...

So after a cuppa with Ian and Ursula we set off again, Rob admits that he was thinking that it wouldn't happen to him but guess what all the time we have been driving neither of us have had a close call like this and not far from Port Arthur Rob had a near miss when a vehicle stopped suddenly a couple of cars ahead of him.  We decided it was a good time to stay off the road and have a good rest at Port Arthur.....