March 11 - Port Aurthur

We were up early with the kids next door after a sleep that wasn't fantastic, but at least wasn't freezing! We loved the climate around the east coast. The bathrooms in the campground were kind of gross. Aside from a lack of shower fathey smelled like latrines. But the toilets flushed, and the flies weren't the worst I'd ever seen. The walk to the bathroom was short but there were great views of Hazards Beach and the mountainous points. The night before I had seen a small black quoll outside the bathrooms. It was about the size of a cat with a longer tail and a different face. So cute! It would be a nice campground at which to spend a couple of weeks, except for the lack of showers.

We had breakfast outside and then packed up for the drive. Before leaving Freycinet NP we headed to Cape Tourville to the lighthouse. There were great views of cliffs and Wineglass bay up a twisty road.

The road back to Sorrell took us through come beautiful wine country - there would be plenty of tasting options if one were so inclined. Along the coast the views were better than they had been because it was completely clear. The water was beautifully clear. We stopped in Swansea again for Paul's coffee, which was his third of the morning (sigh) and then found a nice beach at which to stop for some pictures. There were plenty of options. All the beaches were white sand, but no swimming because they were all too rocky.

Next stop, the town of Sorrell for pizza at a very cool cafe with a very nice proprietor. He was probably about 30, and took great pride in his salads and wood-baked pizza. Amazing food! Apparently he has been dabbling in the kitchen since he was about 10.

Next we headed into the Tasman peninsula. First stop - a rest stop because I really had to pee! When they say "rest stop" here, it isn't like a Big Stop on North American highways. It is a little roadside convenience store with a small, smelly block on the side in which there is one male and one female toilet that may or may not have TP, and may or may not have the ability to wash your hands. Ewww.

We went down the Eaglehawk Neck turnoff, which is part of the isthmus that connects the peninsula to the main island, then took the turnoff at Pirates' Bay road, and headed for the Tesselated pavement. I remember learning about Tesselation on Square 1 television (kids show) and was embarrassingly excited to see it. Tesselations came in pans and loaves, depending on how the salt sat on it or dug into the cracks. It was pretty amazing as natural phenomena go.

Next we headed to Port Arthur, which is one of the more popular tourist attractions on Tassie. The town was originally a penal colony modeled on a "new" (at the time) philosophy of criminal punishment and rehabilitation. Convicts were dailed in solitary, basically, for the first 4 to 12 months and were taught a trade, but were broken spiritually. Then they were set out to work in the town. The convicts built everything, and in a strange parallel universe the doctors and military officers, and an accountant, and visiting dignitaries, and chief prison wardens, etc lived lives of relative affluence amongst the prisoners.

Now, Port Arthur NP is a tourist trap, though quite pretty. Some buildings were restored, and some were in ruins. The houses left were beautiful, with the most amazing gardens. It was on a bay, so had great views.

We walked the grounds, did the tour of the visitor's center, enjoyed the evening sunlight, and fortunately missed the hundreds of school children that were pouring out as we were arriving. Unfortunately, I don't think that the park gave a true sense of how terrible life could have been - it was all too pretty.


Next we headed to our final campgound - the Port Arthur Caravan and camp ground. It was nice enough, with good, clean facilities. We were allowed to use bonfires, oddly enough. Instead we just cooked more pasta in the cookhouse. We met an interesting crowd - a Nova Scotian from Pugwash and some Bahai Kiwis who were finishing their fast for the day and felt that the only way to see New Zealand was on a bicycle. Finally, we headed back to the campervan to set up and finish the evening writing and reading.




The next morning I started the day with a walk while Paul slept. I headed down to the beach, took pictures of the beautiful red flowers on the trees, and stalked some birds. After getting the day started, we took off for the airport. On the way we stopped at two sites on our way to the airport. The first was the Tasman's arch, which was a cool arch carved out by wave action, and the second was the Devil's Kitchen, which was like a large gulch carved out by the waves. It started out as an arch, but caved in. We drove through Doo town which was good for a giggle. The houses all had name plates that all had Doo in their name - Just Doo It, Doo Me, Much Adoo, Doo F**K All, etc. It was cute. As was the sign on the way out telling people to watch for penguins crossing. I love this country!

March 10 - Wineglass bay

Today we headed from Hobart to Wineglass Bay. The first part of the ride headed along river, and inland farms. The rest was all along the ocean. It was slightly hazy, but the views were good. We stopped in a little tourist-driven ocean-side town called Swansea to get coffee for Paul and a hot chocolate for me. This was the first place in Australia that we found that served good hot chocolate that was actually chocolatey. And, the cafe had good music - Regina Spekter.

We continued on through the peninsula to Coles Bay which was even more of a tourism town. There were cute colorful houses built on hills, and it wasn't touristy in an American seaside town way, or even Croatian. More understated. But they were definitely capitalizing on the fact that tourists frequented.

From here we headed on to the national park where we got our campsite and headed to the start of the walks. We had lunch out of the campervan with a wallaby and then walked to Wineglass bay lookout. It was about a 30minute walk uphill about 150m, and there were tons of people on the way. The views were worth it, though - Coles bay and the Hazards beach on one side, Wineglass bay on the other, separated by an area called the saddle. Of course, we had to go down to the beach...too pretty not to. So we went down about 500m to the beach. I think it was harder going down than the later trip up about 600 stairs, mainly because of my old knees. Paul disagreed. The stairs weren't really stairs, but branches and rocks positioned strategically. They seemed to go on forever. But the beach made it worthwhile. It was warm out, and the white sand felt so good on the toes!

There were jellyfish washed up on shore, and Paul found a cool spikey fish. We saw shells, and saiilboats, and I had a chat with a man who had come ashore for the day, but was running back to sleep in his yacht overnight.

The way back up the stairs was easier and faster than we thought it would have been, though it was frusterating that you had to go up to the lookout, above the carpark, before you could go back down. But more great views. On the way we saw two couples who would have been in their 60's. They were going slow and steady, but they were doing it. We also met a french guy who was doing 3 nights of camping - he was doing all of these hikes with the tent and bag and supplies for 3 days. Made us feel a bit wimpy.

Our next stop was supper at Richardson's Bistro in the Freycinet Lodge. The lodge was very swanky - cosy but expensive and oh-so-comfortable looking. The bistro was the less expensive of the restaurants offered, though we still spent a lot on an amazing supper. I had a much needed and very appreciated glass of wine and a yummy chocolate tart dessert, and Paul enjoyed an extra round of fries. Mmm.

We next headed to the campsite, which ended up being next to a family set up for 2 weeks. Nice sites, but no isolation, and we were worried a bit about the kids as they cried on past 9. We set up our caravans - we are truly getting to be pros at this. Unfortunately, the toilets were not as nice as our last campgrounds, but they flushed. As we did reading and journal writing, we basked in the comfortable warmth. Finally out of the cold!

Tasmania - March 8 - Cradle Mountain

After a very chilly night, I had an early night because I really had to pee. I hate having to put on shoes and a winter coat to go to the bathroom. I then had breakfast in the warm cooking shed by a fire that I kept going. Sleeping beauty arose at 10am, but to his credit, it doesn't take him too long to get ready, and we were set for hiking by 11.
We took a shuttle bus from the info center into the park, part of the effort to reduce traffic in the protected area. The last stop on the shuttle bus route was Dove Lake, where we got off. Dove Lake is a beautiful glacial lake with Cradle Mountain on its South end.
It was a 2 hour walk around the lake through mainly boardwalk and well-laid track. Much of the trail was through beautiful temperate rainforest. The best part was that it was sunny! and warm! Which meant that we quickly lost layers. There were waterfalls on several sides of the lake that were in full force as a result of the recent rains. The vegetation smelled wonderful, the air was warm - it was an enjoyable walk. The only downside is that Cradle Mountain generally, and Dove Lake in particular seem to be popular tourist destinations, so it was busy. Not Disney World busy, but busier than the trails at Lake St Claire where we saw one other person in 5 hours.

We had lunch at a covered picnic table at the end of the walk, and then took the shuttle to Romney's Creek.
We took the walk to Crater falls and Crater Lake. The first section was flat on boardwalk (to protect the ecosystem) that crossed grassland. Our first sighting of the day was wonbats! They were so cute! They have a body like a cross between a gopher and a teddy bear, with a face between a koala and a cat. It makes them look kind of like ewoks. They are now my favorite animals. The wombats stared at us, but were completely inconcerned about our presence. The rest of the walk had interesting pompom-like bushes along the way, and then a LOT of stairs.














The waterfall was nothing spectacular, but the lake was amazing.



We took a short breather with grapes and headed back down. There were amazing views of mountains in the distance, and the colors were beautiful blues and greens.
All along the boardwalk were little salamander-like lizards with iridescent blue on their backs. They were awfully quick when we tried to take pictures.

After we took a shuttle back to the visitor's center so that I could stamp our national parks passport book and then took a shuttle back to camp. It was still warm enough for sandals, and a shower. We then had a supper of spaghetti in the cookhouse, and then strolled around the campground. There were wallabies everywhere - basically little kangaroos. They look kind of like overgrown rabbits with short ears. They will stand on a campsite for quite a while waiting to see if they can get any food. They aren't scared, but aren't rude.

Tasmania Pictures

Australia 3 Tasmania

Tasmania - March 7

We arose early to get out of the campground on time. It was a very uninspiring cold, drizzly day. We packed up, had breakfast and took off through the mountains. I suspect that the scenery is beautiful with amazing mountain vistas. It was pretty even through the rain. But everything was covered in cloud.

First we came onto Queenstown. The descent was beautiful - from the top of the mountains down twisty roads into a valley where much of the scenery had been carved out by the local mining activities. It was like being in the Yukon. Queenstown is an old mining town, and the buildings are very colorful; the town's attempt to attract more tourist dollars. There was a small main street, a miner's memorial and everything was a bit rough. We found a little general store selling baked goods, coffee, lunch and renting videos and internet time. After a lunch of a ham sandwich (we had lots of those on the trip) we headed across the street to the local IGA. It was small, carpeted, and sold everything imaginable in 4 small aisles.


Next we headed through to Rosebery, a one-street mining community on a hill. There was a pub, coffee shop, police and fire station, library, post-office, pizza parlour, and of course the Rosebery Mining Historic center. The mine is visible from pretty much anywhere in town. The kids were tough, the shops were seedy, but everyone was friendly. We got a coffee and then headed to Cradle Mountain.

The Cradle Mountain Discovery Parks Wilderness Center was a really nice campground. Each site had some isolation and the bathrooms were super-nice, though completely cold. Sitting on the toilet was a bit painful. Our favorite part was the cook house, where you could build a fire, and do all of your cooking and dishes in the warmth. We ended up spending quite a bit of time in there.

On our first night we did laundry, and then walked a couple of kms down the road for supper. We headed to the "family dining" establishment, but it was at the Cradle Mountain Wildnerness Resort, which was rather posh, like a Fairmont. The restaurant was not exactly your average Swiss Chalet, but was the meal ever good - the best buffet ever. Dessert was the best - date cake with warm caramel covering. Heaven.

We started seeing wildlife almost as soon as we arrived. A kangaroo hopped in front of the van as we were driving earlier, and Paul made a smooth speedy stop. On our walk back to the campground we saw 2 wallabies, and watched a wombat forage in the bush for food - they are so cute...like mini bears. The birds have some very strange calls here - they sound like turkeys and some of the little ones can make a real racket. This is being composed from the caravan while we are trying to stay warm. At least it isn't raining.

Tasmania - March 6

After a MUCH better sleep secondary to our new setup in the campervan we got up to brave the cold. It was awfully hard to get out of the warm sleeping bags. But I had to pee!! The trip to the bathroom required hat and mitts. At this point we had two words to describe Tasmania - cold and wet. I got up about an hour before Paul, so headed to the visitor center, planned our day, and signed us in for the hikes. They have a good system here, where they keep track of hikers as long as you sign in. If you don't sign back out when you return, they go looking for you.

After walking around a bit, I decided it was time to wake sleeping beauty, so started getting my breakfast. It was a pleasant meal, if a bit chilly. Sat on chairs looking out at Lake St Claire and listening to the birds. After breakfast we prepared and then headed out for our hike.

The hike in short was 15k, with the first 5k all uphill through the woods, and the rest gentle, either flat or sloping downhill. Most of it was following tree markers in the woods or scrambling across rivers on logs, but there were a couple of boardwalks that made for nice breaks for the feet. Since it had been raining a lot in the previous days, there were rivulets here and there, which required much jumping between rocks and branches to avoid wet feet. Mucky muck pretty much summed that up.

As we climbed through the rainforest and tea tree swamp at the beginning of the walk, and then continued climbing through sub-alpine forest, I shed 5 of my 6 layers one at a time. At the top, though, I quickly started re-accumulating. About 360 meters above us was Mount Rufus with snow on top, and we were surrounded by what looked like upright driftwood. Pretty cool scenery, actually, but not a whole lot of color. There was very little animal life, though lots of interesting flora. The trees that looked petrified were very cool. There were lots of gum-topped stringy barks called Eucalyptus delegatensis that had peeling bark that left fascinating color patterns. After my childhood exposure to craft shows I had always thought that eucalyptus leaves would be rounder, but they come in all shapes and colours. Most around here seemed to be long and thin. This time of year they are starting to turn red and yellow as they fall, though most are still green. Most interesting were the mushrooms. There were colorful little orange ones, and large red ones. Paul found a white toad stool that looked like something from Super Mario Brothers.

Walking away from the lookout for Mount Rufus, we went through a very cool mossy forest with King Billy Pines and Yellow Gum eucalyptus.

About 5/8 along we came to Shadow Lake, which is supposed to be the point of the walk. It was very clean, with great views of mountains. It was in subalpine forest with snow gums and the lake was fringed with pencil pines. I particularly liked pink and red berries on shrubs everywhere, since they lent a bit of color to the day.

On the rest of the walk we followed river much of the way, or at least the sound of the river. As we descended, it got louder, and from the jumping we had to do over water on the trail, it was clear that the recent rains were being good to the river.

Back at the campground, we tucked into a hot chocolate and then a warm supper. I tried wallaby - not my favorite. After supper we grabbed our books and headed back to the lodge to sit by the wood stove until bed time.

Tasmania - March 5

After our horrible night of sleep, we dragged ourselves out of bed, had a breakfast on the fly and took off on the road towards St Clair National Park. First stop was Richmond, the site of the oldest bridge still in use in Australia. The red brick bridge was built in 1823 and is now surrounded by very cute ducks.

We got Paul a coffee and the drove towards Mount Field through the old town of New Norfolk. The scenery was gorgeous. There were hills everywhere, though they were surprisingly not lush. Surprising because it rained all day. There were sheep in the fields, pitch black cows grazing, and eucalyptus trees throughout. We went along the Derwent river, with cliffs on the sides, and our side had rain while the other side was sunny with a rainbow.

Mount Field National Park is in about the middle of the state. It was lush and green - lots of tall eucalyptus trees and rain forest. We did two walks. The first was to Russel Falls. It was about 40 minutes roundtrip, including pictures. There were ancient ferns that were huge, and looked like parks of palm trees. There were tall eucalyptus trees. The best part was the smell - so fresh.

Next we did a walk called the tall trees. It was just a short jaunt in the forest with narration by sign. The trees were HUGE. They are a type of eucalyptus called swamp gums that sheds bark so that it appears bare and has stripes of colour. They are the largest hardwood trees (the red cedars in North America being the tallest softwoods)and grow up to 90m, shedding branches as the get higher.

We had an amazing ham sandwich for takeaway lunch in our campervan and headed down the road to Something Wild, literally. This was a Wildlife reserve where injured animals are rescued and released back once they are able to cope on their own. At the time they had about 5 koalas, 5 or 6 tasmanian devils, lots of kangaroos and wallabies, 1 adult and 1 baby wombat. The wombats are burrowers, and they need to be able to burrow their way out to get out. There were apparently 3 platypuses, and the guy at the desk said that there was an 85% success rate seeing them at any time of day...we weren't so sure. They were living up to their elusive reputation. The two cockatoos were interesting - one was very angry and kept attacking the shoes of a visitor while asking a very innocent-sounding "Hello??" The kangaroos and wallabies were a treat. Mainly they were sunning themselves, but one curious mom came right up to us with her joey poking out occasionally. Then we got boring and she hopped away.


There were new animals to us - Quolls are spotted, the size of a small cat, the shape of a rat, but furrier with furry tails, and black with white spots. The possums were honey-colored and asleep. Lots of nocturnal animals makes for not-so exciting days at the reserve. The Tasmanian devils were the stars of the show. Only found in Tasmania, they are becoming endangered even there because of a form of facial cancer that is both contagious and rapidly fatal. The Devils that come into the reserve are not released into the wild because they will apparently acquire the disease more quickly.

We finished up at the wildlife park and drove to Lake St Clair Wilderness Resort. It wasn't as much of a resort as it was a campground. It was cold. And it was wet. We were really glad that we hadn't brought a tent. We got our site, and went for dinner at the lodge. Everything was soooo expensive. A burger and fries was $20. We spent the rest of the night trying to stay warm, which included reading and journal writing under the cover of a sleeping bag. In for come chilly days!

Tasmania trip - March 3 and 4

Our great trip started in a very non-descript manner. We spent the morning getting ready, the afternoon getting to the airport and on the flight, and then evening to the airport hotel. The hotel wasn't really worth mentioning, and we spent the night watching TV before going to bed early...so to be ready for touring tomorrow.

On the fourth, we were up at 9 for check-out at 10, and headed via shuttle to the Britz campervan rentals. After a fairly painless transaction and rather helpful video on the campervan and where to find all the little knick-knacks and doo-dads that they hide on board, we headed in to Hobart, the Tasmanian capital.

Hobart reminded me of a combination of small, inland, Croatian towns and the mountain towns of Washington or BC. There were great views of the Tasman peninsula from the many hilltops, and sweet little houses all around. The business district was fairly blah, but the area near the waterfront was full of historic character. Hobart is right on the sea, and has a very cool marina where fishing boats dock, and you can chat with the local fishermen. Apparently, if you are early enough, you can buy the fish directly. Paul and I were never going to get up that early.

It was a cool day, and the rain spit on our heads several times, but we enjoyed walking around and taking in the city. We started with breakfast at the Retro Cafe ($30! for toast and eggs!!) then walked through Salamanca place, a set of old fishing warehouses that have been converted to the arts district.

Next we headed up to Battery Point, a historic neighborhood on a hill (of course) with cottages from the 1800's. It used to include the red light district, and was frequented not only by sailors, but the the recently released convicts. We stopped briefly at a quaint roundabout - it was surrounded by non-gabled cottage houses with pretty gardens. Paul took pictures while I made use of the swing hanging from the tree in the middle of the roundabout.

Next stop - Parliament house. It was dull, so we crossed the street to the pretty St. David's park. This used to be an old cemetery, but is now a park where yuppies in tight spandex roll across the lawns doing aerobics and pilates. But we did like the flowers, the pagoda that you couldn't walk up, and walking through the old memorial tombs.

Next stop on our walking tour was the Tasman Museum of Art and History. It was free. This somewhat made up for the 5 times that we had to refill the parking meter in Hobart. The museum was worth every non-penny. Excellent exhibit on aboriginals in Tasmania, and the history of their land loss, the war with the colonizers, and the concentration camps run in the 1800s. There were also excellent exhibits on local rocks, animals, and the antarctic. So much cool trivia!

Walking next along the waterfront, we saw the bronze statues of animals and explorers commemorating the first expeditions to the south Pole, the anti-whaling ship "Steve Irwin" and a Mystery Machine, a la 1980's iconic show Scooby Doo.

We made our way back to the van, then drove through the city on the way to Mount Wellington. The mountain towers over the city from the northwest, with Hobart facing the ocean to the south. The city looked like any city away from the water front, except for the very cute school children in their pinafore uniforms with straw flat-topped hats that made the girls look like Anne of Green Gables. The drive up the mountain offered wonderful views of the city and surrounding islands. We drove through tall pines and eucalyptus trees with pretty pink flowers strewn throughout.
Half way up it started to rain, and we got rainbows, but almost at the top it started to hail. On top we ran to the observatory, trying to get out of the cold but, with the wind blowing the rain almost vertically, got soaked to the bone. We met with 3 motor-bikers on top - brave souls. The views were great, though, and there were two rainbows!

After getting through the rush-hour traffic, we headed to our campground at 7-mile beach. It was a beautiful beach in a quaint seaside town that looked more like cottage country than a place of permanent residence. The campground was very clean, and very close to the ocean, but we were packed in to the campground like sardines. Fortunately, it was quiet and everyone seemed to go to bed at dusk. We walked down the road to dinner at a place that looked like a bar, but had the best fish and chips ever. So good with a Victorian Cabernet.
We stolled on the beach - 7 miles all to ourselves and the birds. The dusk cast beautiful shadows, and watched a seagull playing in the waves. He may have been looking for food, but I like to think that he was enjoying the rush of the surf on his legs.

Our first night of sleeping in the campervan was a bit rough. It was cold, and the bed was hard - not much sleep to be had for either of us.

Heading to Tasmania

Today we head off on our first trip within and around Australia. Stop #1 - Tasmania.
It will just be a short flight (about 50 minutes) to the airport in Hobart, and we start tonight by catching up on sleep! Then tomorrow we will pick up our cool caravan.


Our journey will have us spend two nights near Hobart, two nights in Derwent Bridge near Lake St. Clair, two nights at Cradle mountain, then two nights in Freycinet National Park. Our last night will be spent on the Tasman Peninsula, amongst the ghosts of convicts.


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Hopefully lots of pics and stories when we get back.

Pictures from February

Here are pictures from our apartment building and some new ones from inside the apartment. Paul and I walked around the city some more, I took a bike trip to St Kilda's and spend an afternoon reading in the park. Here is the pictorial evidence. As you'll notice there is less sun, but we are sleeping better!

Australia February