
Burnie to Smithton
Leaving Penguin behind the folks drove into Burnie to go to the Regional Museum and Regional Art Gallery. Both apparently really worthwhile but ‘no dogs allowed’ so Bozo here gets to sleep in the van. Dad likes to refer to this by saying ‘Guard the van, Enzo’.

Next up the Hellyers Rd Distillery to sample a couple of single malts, you guessed it, ‘no dogs allowed’. So once again it’s ‘Guard the van, Enzo’. The distillery had a great paper mache sculpture of a man and his dog. The Silverback took a photo of it for me. So, paper mache dogs were allowed in the distillery, but not canine travel bloggers! Where’s the logic? Paper mache sculptures seem to be a bit of a thing in Burnie. The folks saw some others at the Makers Workshop.

Lunch at the lovely town of Boat Harbour. What a spot, the Sparrow-phone said that it was voted ninth best beach in Australia. Makes me wonder what the first eight are like. Lunch on the beach, chicken salad sandwiches. Had to finish of the left-over chicken for the folks. Nice! Discussions with a friendly local had the folks shocked about how inexpensive the houses were compared with mainland prices.

Later checked into the River Breeze Caravan Park, Smithton, highlight of my day! Really friendly manager gave us a fantastic spot right on the bend of the river. Chased the ball for a while, went for a walk up the bush track. After dinner Dad forgot to put me back on my long campsite lead, so I nipped up to see the manager in his office and thank him for giving us a great spot. Got back before anyone noticed. Stealth is an important skill for a dog.

To finish of the day, I had to ‘guard the van’ one more time, while the folks went up the road for a steak at the Bridge Hotel. Apparently, the steaks were too big for the Sparrow, so she brought half of hers back wrapped in a napkin for me. Even after a day of van guarding, some clouds have a silver lining!