Tasmania, part 1
I left Perth with Tiger Airways. Late, over an hour delayed, but in good spirits since I was offered a whole row of seats to myself so I could sleep lying down :) Also, there is a television show about Tiger Air in Oz and one of the most famous flight attendants on that show was on my flight (I didn't know him at the time, just saw him on tv here in Hobart) and he was very funny. Ofcourse there was another delay in Melbourne (as if waiting 8 hours in terminal 4, the most boring terminal ever with no facilities whatsoever, wasn't enough), but finally at 5 in the afternoon I was landing in Hobart for my last part of the Ozzie trip: Tasmania.
Winter in Tazzie in general is cold and wet, and to answer to that image it started raining just after I boarded the airport shuttle bus that was bringing me to my hostel. Duh. I was quite tired after the long journey, so I just went to Woolworths to get some groceries, cooked, chilled out in front of the tv and went to bed. The next day it was time to discover Hobart with the Lonely Planet of Tasmania as my guide, with a walking tour of Hobart already in the guide. So time to stroll around town: have a look in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Centre, a glance around the harbour, Salamanca Square and Old Battery Point. Lovely old buildings here, and an easy city to find your way in. Time for a bit more relaxing at the hostel where we can borough dvd's from the hostel. I watched Xmen (the first one), had dinner and an early night, since I was being picked up at 6.15 the next morning to go on tour again, this time with Adventure Tours. Bruce was to be our driver and besides me there were only 8 people on the tour, so lots of space on the bus and in the houses! Unfortunately the weather was really Tazzie: cold, wet and windy. A well, at least I didn't bring that poncho for nothing ;) We headed towards Mount Field National Park to do a few walks to Horseshoe Falls and 
Russell Falls. After a quick glance in the visitor centre (where we saw our first wombats
in the wild) we were off to Lake Meadowbank and we saw the source of all the electricity in Tasmania: hydro powerstations. It's amazing to see how they use the differences in height all around Tazzie to generate electricity from water and are able to meet all the electricity demands in Tas. Talking about green energy! If blogger works with me, I'll try and upload some pictures of one of the powerstations, this one
was near Tarraleah. After a barbie lunch with Ozzie sausages near that powerstation, we headed to Lake St. Clair National Park, with the deepest lake in Australia (max 200 metres deep), to do a platypus walk. Not that we saw a platypus, but hey it was a nice walk anyway (only 1 in 10.000 Australians see a platypus in the wild during their life, so why should we be so lucky to see one here). We had a short stop in Queenstown to get some supplies (very sad story there: they used to mine with sulphites which turned all the rain into acid rain, killing all the vegetation in the surrounding hills for a long time, only now it is starting to grow back a little: that's what happens when you polute the planet for your own profit) and off to our first accommodation in Strahan. Adventure tours has their own houses in Tazzie, except for Cradle Mountain NP where they rent a block of backpackers, which is great. Lovely houses, good facilities, nice beds and all just for your own tour group. Since we only had 9 people on tour we could all sleep on the bottom beds in the dorms. Bruce is training as a chef, so needles to say the food on tour was AMAZING.
Russell Falls. After a quick glance in the visitor centre (where we saw our first wombats
in the wild) we were off to Lake Meadowbank and we saw the source of all the electricity in Tasmania: hydro powerstations. It's amazing to see how they use the differences in height all around Tazzie to generate electricity from water and are able to meet all the electricity demands in Tas. Talking about green energy! If blogger works with me, I'll try and upload some pictures of one of the powerstations, this one
was near Tarraleah. After a barbie lunch with Ozzie sausages near that powerstation, we headed to Lake St. Clair National Park, with the deepest lake in Australia (max 200 metres deep), to do a platypus walk. Not that we saw a platypus, but hey it was a nice walk anyway (only 1 in 10.000 Australians see a platypus in the wild during their life, so why should we be so lucky to see one here). We had a short stop in Queenstown to get some supplies (very sad story there: they used to mine with sulphites which turned all the rain into acid rain, killing all the vegetation in the surrounding hills for a long time, only now it is starting to grow back a little: that's what happens when you polute the planet for your own profit) and off to our first accommodation in Strahan. Adventure tours has their own houses in Tazzie, except for Cradle Mountain NP where they rent a block of backpackers, which is great. Lovely houses, good facilities, nice beds and all just for your own tour group. Since we only had 9 people on tour we could all sleep on the bottom beds in the dorms. Bruce is training as a chef, so needles to say the food on tour was AMAZING. The next morning we went to the Falls in the peoples park of Strahan, trying to spot a platypus again, which we missed again. Nice walk, almost dry and good to get some excercise in the morning so we could wake up a bit. A short look around Strahan and off to the beach and the Henty Dunes for a lovely walk. Since the weather still sucked we only did a short 45 min walk, instead of the 2.5 hour return walk all the way to the beach. No worries, the dunes were impressive and the rain wasn't pooring down to hard on us (we even had some dry moments there, woohoo). After a stop in Zeehan (where we were supposed to have lunch, but the workmen just started that morning with demolishing our undercover lunch spot) to enjoy the lovely old buildings in town, we drove on to Tullah where we had lunch after a short walk around 
the lake there. Finally we entered Cradle Mountain National Park! The weather deteriorated as soon as we passed the sign and nature had decided we weren't going to see the Cradle Mountain at all in the time we were there: it was terrible weather the next morning as well hihi. The mountain was nicely tucked behind loads of low hanging clouds, but fortunately for us we saw lots of wombats and a few wallabies on the drive in and had a quick look at Dove Lake and the little cottage of Waldheim, the guy who turned the Cradle Mountain area into a national park. The next morning we went to the visitor centre to get an idea about what the mountain actually looked like before we walked around Dove Lake (all of the higher up lookouts where out of the questions since the wind was unbelievable and it was still very rainy as well). The nature there is amazing, but after 1.5 hours in hard wind and rain walking through little rivers that were forming on the path around the lake, I was glad to be back in the bus again, to dry and warm up a bit. Because of the ferocous weather we could only do the short walk around the lake and so had loads of time to kill before we arrived in Devonport. Time to do some queezy stops along the way: first of all we had lunch in Sheffield,
the town of murals. First it was raining there as well, but after 30 min or so it cleared up a bit and so it was time to stroll around town and enjoy all 
those murals. To keep our spirits high we also visited the Anvers Chocolate Factory, to get some free samples :) An early arrival in Devonport, where we had to cook for ourselves and said goodbey to 2 of our group members.
the lake there. Finally we entered Cradle Mountain National Park! The weather deteriorated as soon as we passed the sign and nature had decided we weren't going to see the Cradle Mountain at all in the time we were there: it was terrible weather the next morning as well hihi. The mountain was nicely tucked behind loads of low hanging clouds, but fortunately for us we saw lots of wombats and a few wallabies on the drive in and had a quick look at Dove Lake and the little cottage of Waldheim, the guy who turned the Cradle Mountain area into a national park. The next morning we went to the visitor centre to get an idea about what the mountain actually looked like before we walked around Dove Lake (all of the higher up lookouts where out of the questions since the wind was unbelievable and it was still very rainy as well). The nature there is amazing, but after 1.5 hours in hard wind and rain walking through little rivers that were forming on the path around the lake, I was glad to be back in the bus again, to dry and warm up a bit. Because of the ferocous weather we could only do the short walk around the lake and so had loads of time to kill before we arrived in Devonport. Time to do some queezy stops along the way: first of all we had lunch in Sheffield,
the town of murals. First it was raining there as well, but after 30 min or so it cleared up a bit and so it was time to stroll around town and enjoy all 
those murals. To keep our spirits high we also visited the Anvers Chocolate Factory, to get some free samples :) An early arrival in Devonport, where we had to cook for ourselves and said goodbey to 2 of our group members.The next morning we dropped off another group member in Launceston and picked a new one up, only 7 of us left! We visited the city park, where there are lots 
of monkeys. Weird to see that in a random park in Tasmania, but fun as well. Our last day of rain this Sunday, so a few quick stops along the way, and the rest consisted of mainly driving anyway. Our first stop was in Legerwood, where a guy carved this amazing war memorial out of the trees that were planted there after WWI. The trees were getting old and a danger to their surroundings. Since the people of Legerwood didn't want to cut the down, the had come in and turn them into this amazing memorial:
. In the afternoon we arrived at the Bay of Fires, where oh wonder, it was dry for about an hour! So lots of time to stroll around the beach and enjoy the beautiful east coast of Tasmania. Our nightstop was in Bicheno, close to Freycinet National Park, where we headed to the next morning, to walk up to the lookout of Wineglass Bay and the Cape Tourville lighthouse. Oh and all that time: no rain :) Still cold and windy, but as long as it's dry, you don't hear me complain. We had a lovely lunch in Swansea near the bay and cruised along Spiky Bridge, the Tasman Peninsula Lookout
, Remarkable Cave and ended up in the visitor centre of Port Arthur, the biggest convict colony of Tasmania in the early days. We had an hour to explore and see what happened with 'our' convict (everybody got a playing card, which represented a convict of the time, and you could follow his story in the visitor centre, very nicely done). The next morning we had all morning the explore the actual site 
(well you need the whole day, but we didn't have that much time on the tour), do a walking tour and a short cruise around the harbour. Impressive, depressing and amazing. I tore myself away there just in time for lunch at the house, after which we headed to the Federation Chocolate Factory for a few more free samples and to buy some supplies ;) Last but not least, we visited the Devils Conservation Park, where we met Kermit 
and saw the devils being fed and were able to feed the kangaroos and wallabies ourselves. All the animals there have been rescued from a certain death and the park plays a major role in the breeding program for the 
Tasmanian Devils who are threatened to become extinct now that a lot of them die of this horrendous cancer that is eating away their face and is transmitted through bites from one to the other. Since they tend to fight a lot and just touching food that has been in contact with a sick devil can infect others (there is still no cure and no way of testing which devils have the disease and which are still healthy, the cancer can be dormant for over a year), the government has finally stepped in financially to try and safe the devils from becoming extinct. Admittingly, they are quite dumb etc, but we sure want to preserve these lovely animals! Back in Hobart it started raining a little again, how funny. Just an early night last night and today was a day of shopping! A few new clothes, new shoes (the old ones were ruined after all the walking and wetness here in Oz) after which I thought I had to compensate a bit, so I went to the Tasmanian Museum and Arts Centre again to see the upstairs which I skipped last time. I arranged my shuttle bus to the airport on Friday and now chilling in the hostel again, updating you. Tomorrow I will head to Woolworths for loads and loads of tim tams and a chiller bag and I visit to the Cadburry Chocolate Factory to get some 'supplies'. And that's about it, for me in Oz :( Friday morning I will try to find an internet shop where I can print so I can check in for my flights online, which should give me a bit more time to transfer in Melbourne (no worries about long check in lines, just bag drop). If all goes well, I will be in the Netherlands again on Saturday evening....
of monkeys. Weird to see that in a random park in Tasmania, but fun as well. Our last day of rain this Sunday, so a few quick stops along the way, and the rest consisted of mainly driving anyway. Our first stop was in Legerwood, where a guy carved this amazing war memorial out of the trees that were planted there after WWI. The trees were getting old and a danger to their surroundings. Since the people of Legerwood didn't want to cut the down, the had come in and turn them into this amazing memorial:
. In the afternoon we arrived at the Bay of Fires, where oh wonder, it was dry for about an hour! So lots of time to stroll around the beach and enjoy the beautiful east coast of Tasmania. Our nightstop was in Bicheno, close to Freycinet National Park, where we headed to the next morning, to walk up to the lookout of Wineglass Bay and the Cape Tourville lighthouse. Oh and all that time: no rain :) Still cold and windy, but as long as it's dry, you don't hear me complain. We had a lovely lunch in Swansea near the bay and cruised along Spiky Bridge, the Tasman Peninsula Lookout
, Remarkable Cave and ended up in the visitor centre of Port Arthur, the biggest convict colony of Tasmania in the early days. We had an hour to explore and see what happened with 'our' convict (everybody got a playing card, which represented a convict of the time, and you could follow his story in the visitor centre, very nicely done). The next morning we had all morning the explore the actual site 
(well you need the whole day, but we didn't have that much time on the tour), do a walking tour and a short cruise around the harbour. Impressive, depressing and amazing. I tore myself away there just in time for lunch at the house, after which we headed to the Federation Chocolate Factory for a few more free samples and to buy some supplies ;) Last but not least, we visited the Devils Conservation Park, where we met Kermit 
and saw the devils being fed and were able to feed the kangaroos and wallabies ourselves. All the animals there have been rescued from a certain death and the park plays a major role in the breeding program for the 
Tasmanian Devils who are threatened to become extinct now that a lot of them die of this horrendous cancer that is eating away their face and is transmitted through bites from one to the other. Since they tend to fight a lot and just touching food that has been in contact with a sick devil can infect others (there is still no cure and no way of testing which devils have the disease and which are still healthy, the cancer can be dormant for over a year), the government has finally stepped in financially to try and safe the devils from becoming extinct. Admittingly, they are quite dumb etc, but we sure want to preserve these lovely animals! Back in Hobart it started raining a little again, how funny. Just an early night last night and today was a day of shopping! A few new clothes, new shoes (the old ones were ruined after all the walking and wetness here in Oz) after which I thought I had to compensate a bit, so I went to the Tasmanian Museum and Arts Centre again to see the upstairs which I skipped last time. I arranged my shuttle bus to the airport on Friday and now chilling in the hostel again, updating you. Tomorrow I will head to Woolworths for loads and loads of tim tams and a chiller bag and I visit to the Cadburry Chocolate Factory to get some 'supplies'. And that's about it, for me in Oz :( Friday morning I will try to find an internet shop where I can print so I can check in for my flights online, which should give me a bit more time to transfer in Melbourne (no worries about long check in lines, just bag drop). If all goes well, I will be in the Netherlands again on Saturday evening....
2 comments:
Sounds like you did a similar "Taste of Tasmania" tour to me, but with different stop-offs. Maybe they alter things with the seasons and weather.
I loved Tas - great place!
Not that I have much of an updated blog myself, but Tasmania, part I suggested to me that there will also be a part II. Have you drowned in Dutch life again?
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