Tasmania

29th May 2010 A morning of packing was followed by an afternoon movie and general hanging around in Starbucks. Although we were able to leave our big bags at the hotel, we still had to carry our hand luggage with us and had decided a few days ago that it would just be best to be in one place for a while. The cinema seemed like a good option :). However, we had underestimated how busy it would be and failed to get tickets for anything besides the Prince of Persia, which was predictable but good. ...

26th January 2010 Today it’s Australia Day, the day to celebrate all things Australian and a public holiday, and the folks here in Tasmania are certainly flying the flag. Many of the homes we pass on our way out to the coast have their Ozzie flags out and loads of the cars too. After yesterday’s mammouth trek, a quiet day today with the car taking the strain. We head out to Burnie on the north coast. Burnie is Tasmania’s third largest city and a very industrial area with a large container port. Our first stop was Fernglade, a platypus reserve on a peaceful, forested stretch of the Emu river. A beautiful setting where we saw many birds but unfortunately no platypus, which is hardly surprising as they are most easily spotted at dawn and dusk and we were there late morning. ...

27th January 2010 From our window in the cottage we have a fabulous view of Mount Roland and since we arrived the plan has always been to do the summit walk which is about a 5 hour return hike. Unfortunately, the weather conspired against us today, which was the day we had planned to do the walk. When we woke up the summit was shrouded in cloud and although the cloud thinned during the morning we decided to do a shorter walk to the summit of Mount Claude instead. ...

28th January 2010 Like many ports we’ve previously visited in France, Devonport is kind of a non-descript transit location with some slightly weird people hanging around. We’re staying here tonight, right next to the ferry terminal and at first glance the hotel didn’t look like very much, but our room was very nice. From our window we could see the Spirit of Tasmania leave at 9pm (and feel it because the whole room shook!) and our boat arrive at 7am. ...

25th January 2010 One of the things on our ‘must-do’ list for Tasmania was to visit Cradle Mountain. Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, to give it its official name, is Tasmania’s best-known wilderness region. One of the most glaciated areas in Australia, with many lakes, the park covers some of Tasmania’s highest land, with craggy mountain peaks such as Cradle Mountain. We started our day early, arriving at the visitors’ centre at about 9am, then driving to Dove Lake carpark after paying our entry fee. There are many walks within the park itself, but we had chosen to do one to Marion’s Lookout, a point about halfway to the summit of Cradle Mountain. From the carpark, which was the start point for our walk, the sight of Dove Lake backed by the jagged outline of Cradle Mountain was a breathtaking sight. ...

24th January 2010 Fifteen minutes from the centre of Launceston is the magnificent Cateract Gorge, our destination this morning. Access to the gorge is via a nice park area with a public swimming pool with views over First Basin, a large, deep canyon worn away by the river and filled with water. Standing at the entrance to the gorge is the decorative, wrought-iron Kings Bridge with a span of 60 metres. Before we crossed the bridge, we took a short walk along the side of the gorge with its cliffs rising almost vertically from the smooth river of the South Esk River. Then we crossed the bridge and took the easy twenty minute Cataract walk around First Basin. ...

18th & 19th January 2010 In preparation for our leaving the Gold Coast, yesterday was spent sorting out our clothes and relaxing in the pool. When we arrived in Australia it quickly became apparent that a lot of our clothes were too warm for the climate so we’ve been lucky enough to leave these at Aunty Mary’s while we continue on our travels round Oz. Bidding a fond farewell to the pool was easy as the temparatures topped 38 degrees, so it was the coolest place to be (at least outside). ...

21st January 2010 Port Arthur was chosen as the site for a prison settlement in September 1843, as a place for secondary punishment for convicts who had committed serious crimes in other settlements in Australia. Built by convict labour, gradually Port Arthur became a self-supporting industrial centre with convicts able to learn trades and contribute to this society. Our entrance fee included a guided walking tour and cruise around the inland harbour. We started our day with the walking tour where we learnt much more about the history of this impressive site. The regime was harsh, with convicts being subject to lashing with the cat’o nine tails for such things as insubordination. The belief was that work would grind the badness out of a man so there was a hard work routine also. However, convicts also had access to free education and all were taught to read and write and also taught trades so that they could make a contribution to society. For many of them, this was the first time they had had any sort of education. ...

20th January 2010 Hobart is a small city and quite easy to walk around, so this was what we decided to do this morning. Hobart is Australia’s second-oldest city after Sydney, but has managed to escape the worst excesses of development and so it’s many early buildings are remarkably well-preserved. In fact most of the buildings in the centre feature colonial Georgian architecture which gives it a quaint, slightly old-fashioned air. The more ‘modern’ developments seem to date from the sixties and seventies, with lots of concrete and only serve to increase this feeling. ...