Tasmania Day 4

Day 4 saw us leave Burnie very early in the morning because we had to get to Strahan for our pre-booked cruise around Port Macquarie and up the Gordon River. It drizzled throughout the day, but whenever we needed to get out of the car, or out on the boat's viewing platforms, God blessed us by having the rain stop. It was kind of eerie, but much appreciated!

Port Macquarie is the 2nd largest port in the southern hemisphere behind only Port Philip (Melbourne). Sydney Harbour could easily fit inside Port Macquarie. So why is it a realitively little used port? Why does the vast majority of shipping traffic head to Devonport instead? Well, the problem, you see, is The Heads.

When we got on the Lady Jane Franklin II, The Heads was our first stop. The Heads, the oceanic entrance to Port Macquarie, is actually quite wide. The problem is it's depth. On the wide side it only gets to aboue 5 feet deep. Yep, I could stand out in it with my head about water. The part reaches out from the northern headland to a small island. Between the island and the southern head the entrance is quite deep... but the width of the channel is about 60 feet - barely large enough for ships in the 1800s and nowhere near wide enough (or deep enough) for modern commercial shipping vessals. Add to that the Great Southern Ocean relentlessly pounding the shoreline with waves that have travelled from South Amercia (the widest oceanic distance between continents in the world) and navigation in and around The Heads is very difficult and treacherous. Four-wheeling, however, is quite popular as we saw several 4x4 SUVs driven down along the beach on the shallow side. People were fishing and evidently camping out there!

The Heads. See that tiny bit on the left between the island and shore? THAT is the only place boats have enough depth to pass through. That wide opening on the right - way too shallow.

Another view (heading back into the harbour) of the opening and a shot of the lighthouse on the island.

From The Heads we needed to travel the length of the harbour to get to the Gordon River, but we had a stop to make along the way. Because of the nice mix of salt water from the ocean and freshwater from the Gordon River, the harbour is an ideal spot for fisheries. We stopped for a few minutes and watched them feed the fish in their holding pens - by shooting a giant fire hose with the fish food in the water!

After that quick stop, we headed the rest of the way across the harbour (this boat is very fast) and headed up the Gordon River. The rainforest runs right up to the river and there are many different varieties of trees. The most precious is the Huon Pine. It takes 1000 years to grow to its massive height and was very much prized in the era of wooden ships because an oil it contains prevents wood-boring insects from eating it away - thereby making ships last a lot longer between refits. It is a very light wood and you can definitely smell the oils - even in products that have been made and sealed. The Lady Franklin has an 8 year old Huon Pine growing in a pot inside its main room. Eight years old and maybe a foot tall!

We stopped a way up the river and were able to debark and take a walk through the rainforest. Every rainforst is different, and this one was very, very dense.

After we got back on the boat and were back in the harbour, we made one more stop - at Sarah Island. Like Port Arthur, Sarah Island was a settlement for convicts. Unlike Port Arthur, the living conditions were not quite as bad once a shipbuilder was asked to teach the men to build ships. The shipbuilder convinced the warden that healthy, well fed convicts would be happier and work harder. Surprise, surprise, he was right. They turned out over 100 ships and boats in just over a decade before the island was closed by the government and consolidated with Port Arthur to save money.

When we got back to Strahan, Clarice and I went back into a wood-working mill and picked up some unworked blocks of different exotic woods the grow in the area, including a block of Huon Pine. Clarice ran over to the post, just before it closed, and mailed them to her dad for his birthday. Apparently, when he got the package with four blocks of wood, he was very confused, but much more excited once Clarice told them where they came from and about the woods.

The Strahan Post - one of the oldest buildings on the west coast of Tasmania

Well, that was day 4. We spent the night in the little town of Queenstown just north of Strahan and on the main road back to Hobart. We had all of Day 5 to get back to Hobart and find our last hotel for the trip.

Tasmania Day 3

Wow, I'm behind. In order to get even "kind of" caught up I'm going to have to make these posts short and sweet.

Day 3 started with us leaving Launceston and heading in the direction of Cradle Mountain. Our first stop, however, was a set of caves known not only for interesting stalagtite/stalagmite formations - but for "glow worms". The caves were not as nice as the ones we went to in the Bule Mountains (Jenolan Caves), but when they shut all the lights off and the little glowing spots appeared all over the ceiling... that was pretty cool! They are not really "worms", but the little bugs glow to attract food (prey) to get stuck in the web. No photos of the worms since we were not allowed to take any.

Then we went to Cradle Mountain National Park. Every time we told people we were going to Tasmania the person would ask, "Are you going to Cradle Mountian?" One of hte best known places in Tasmania, I would compare Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair National Parks (they are attached and form one giant area) to Yosemite National Park in the States. Huge area with lots of differing terrains, landscapes, vegitation and interesting places. Day 5 we would hit the Lake St Clair part on our way back to Hobart, but today was a day Clarice was really looking forward to. Every picture she had seen of Cradle Mountain in our guidebooks was wonderful and she wanted to see it for herself. Well... she did. At times. When the low clouds parted. Oh, and when the rain stopped. Not the weather we would have liked, but the day turned out to be a success. We sat in the transit station eating lunch watching the rain pour and both were thinking, "If he/she suggests leaving we're out of here." Instead, because she wanted to see Cradle Mountain so badly, Clarice said, "Let's take the bus up to the start of the trail and see if the rain slows a bit." It was more of a drizzle when we got off the bus so we said, "We'll go this far (looking at the map) and if it doesn't let up we'll head back. The rain eventually let up and we made it all the way around the 6 km track that circles Dove Lake at the base of Cradle Mountain.

Cradle Mountain from on the trail (left) and at the trailhead (right)

The 2 of us at the start of the hike - loving the weather and the low clouds!

When we got back to the car and were putting the bags in the back I saw this little guy! A Wombat out in search of a snack!

After we left Cradle Mountain... the sun came out. Doesn't that figure. We needed to get to Burnie on the northern coast by tonight, but first we planned on one more stop in a little out of the way hamlet called Sheffield. Friends who had been there told us that, to attract tourists and to keep the town alive, in the 1980s the town commissioned huge murals to be painted on the sides of the town buildings depicting life in Tasmania. They were a hit, attracting people travelling to Cradle Mountain and have turned into a yearly "Mural Festival" and contest with new murals painted in a special town square set apart just for murals.

The last shot is Clarice pointing to the signature of the artist. It reads "Purdue 2000"! The artist's name is Cheyenne PURDUE!

After Sheffield we headed to Burnie and our hotel/place to sleep for the evening. As we approached, Clarice remembered that this area of Tasmania is known to have penguins nesting all along the northern coast. We decided to check-in to the hotel and then try and find someplace to go on a "penguin watch". In our hotel room was the customary "things to do" book and Clarice found an article that said, "To see penguins, call Keith" and gave a number. No name of the business, no address, not even a last name. Just "Keith". I was skeptical to say the least, afraid of being mugged and killed to say the worst. Clarice called anyway.

Keith turned out to be a wonderful bloke who works for the Parks and Wildlife Department. He has spent his life studying penguins and participate in several rescue efforts after oil spills all over the world. He was hilarious. Of Asian descent, I expected an accent... but not a thick Aussie broag! He said that instead of the 30-50 person "tours" that were actually pretty hard on the penguins, he led small 12 person max groups that he could better control. And it was FREE! He only asked a donation if you felt "the experience was worth it". I had no cash other then a $50 and I felt guilty not giving him anything, but after 10 minutes I leaned over to Clarice and said, "I'm giving him the $50." Totally worth it. The tours cost at least $35 a person and we had a group of 8 for a 2.5 hour show!

He led us down to a little beach where he had set up two levels of bleachers. We all sat down and he told us exactlyhow things were going to work. He explained that we were going to see Little Penguins (their species name) and they are the smallest full-grown penguins in the world. There will be between 40-50 and they will come up in groups in 2 places - buy the rocks to our left and the rock cliff to our right... Very good information and all spot on perfect. It was so funny to see him point a red-light flashlight down one corner of the beach and here him say things like, "If group 3 has started over here..." then move the flashlight... "Group 3 will be starting over here"... and their they were! We even had to sit completely still and quiet while 10 penguins walked 2 feet away from us up to their nest right behind us!

After all the penguins had made it safely to their nests (we waited a bit to make sure no others were coming) he took us on a beach walk and visited several nests where parents (penguins mate for life) were raising their little chicks. We even saw mom and dad feedling little ones! Needless to say, this was one of the highlights of our trip and something I will never forget. The penguins themselves were awesome, but it was Keith's information, hilarity and just general love for the little birds that made the experience. And to think I was worried we were going to be mugged and killed! :-) My only regret is that we could not take pictures, but I picked up a postcard with some of the little buggers making their way up a beach.

Anyway, that was Day 3. Stay tuned for more!

Tasmania Day 2

I wrote the next bit that day in Tasmania. I'll tell you when it switches back to now (as I post this).

A lot of driving was expected today as we planned to make our way up the east coast stopping first at a town called Richmond. Richmond was known for the oldest stone bridge in Australia built, of course, by convicts in 1853. It is wide enough for a normal 2-lane road.

We were blessed with bright sun for most of our photos, then we wandered over to an old church to find a pleasant surprise. The church, St Luke’s” is the oldest Catholic Church in Australia and is still in use. Framed in their small foyer is a letter from Pope John Paul II in 1986 congratulating them on 150 years of worship in that church. The years have been kind to the walls and roof, but the steeple has been replaced twice. We walked behind the church to the cemetery and looked as some of the old gravestones. It is always interesting to see what was written, how old the person was when they died, and any ornamentation on their headstone. Headstones have always been a great source for the historic record and the ones in Richmond were no different.

From Richmond we got back on the Tasman Highway and started making our way north up the east coast to the Freycinet Peninsula. We were making good time until we got stopped behind a serious accident along the only road heading north. Here I sit waiting for the accident to be cleared for us to start our trip again. We’ve lost 1.5 hours already and we’ve been told it will be “a while”. After scouring our maps looking for an alternate route only to find there just isn’t one, I decided to get out the laptop and site here looking over the cliff at the ocean and the beautiful blue water. It is a wonderful view and would be quite tranquil… if I did not know that every minute spent waiting here was endangering my chances of making it up to the Bay of Fires later today. I’m trying to remind myself that someone just up the road is probably fighting for their life right this second and my inconvenience just does not matter. At least we had some grub in the car and got to eat a picnic lunch here on the cliff side. That will save us some time later. The medical helicopter arrived about 20 minutes ago and since I can no longer hear the rotors I assume they found a place to land. An ambulance arrived on the road shortly thereafter. I doubt I’ll ever learn what happened, and I’m almost certain that I will never know the victims name(s), but I still say a prayer for them and the emergency personnel. Most everyone has been quite accepting of the road delay and patient, doing the same things we are: sitting and eating. We can see Freycinet Peninsula from here, so I know we will get there.

Funny update. As I was typing that last sentence a woman came up and asked if she could charge her Iphone off my computer as her battery just died. How funny is that?!?! Her kids are very grumpy, but she seemed very nice and of course I am charging her phone. When I finish this up I’m going to turn the computer off, but I have my radio transmitter/charger in the car so I’ll charge it over there. She is just two cars in front of us. Hopefully it will not be too much longer.

It wasn't. Obviously this is the part where I am back at now now, everything I'm typing now, I'm typing NOW. (Then, however, will never be now. For that I am, indeed, sorry. Sorrier still that only Clarice and my bro will get that reference.)

We had planned on hiking up to the Freycinet Lookout (1 hour) and then on down to the beach (another 30 minutes) before hiking back out. Well, because of the accident, if we were going to make it to the Bay of Fires we only had time to get to the lookout. Freycinet National Park, like all of the parks in Tassie, is huge and we barely scratched the surface - as with every place we stopped. Oh well, now we know what we want to focus on if we ever get back!

Freycinet Lighthouse

Us at the lookout over Wineglass Bay

Clarice on the hike up to the lookout

We did do a couple of hours hiking at Freycinet, but not nearly as much as we would have liked. It is definitely a picturesque place but so was our next stop - The Bay of Fires. Even before we started planning our Tassie trip I saw on MSNBC an article in the travel section about the Top 10 undiscovered beaches of the world. #1 was The Bay of Fires in Tasmania. When we went over to our friend's place for dinner they showed us some photos they took at the bay and I was sold. Because of the long drive, and the fact we were still 2 hours over exceptionally twisty roads from our sleeping place, we were only granted about 90 minutes and we only got to one small section of the beaches. It was fabulous! There were places to camp just over the sand dune from the beach, not very many people (in fact, at some points there was no one at all), and just some of the most beautiful water you will ever see. I took lots of photos and would have loved to spend an entire weekend just crawling all over the dunes, pools, rocks, beaches, inlets, etc. and taking pictures.

This is "The one I got soaked for" - I think it turned out pretty good!

We needed to get moving before the sun set and we would have to drive in the dark. As it was we still ended up with 30 minutes or so of nighttime driving - not something I would recommend in Tassie. Partly because of the treacherous roads and partly because a lot of animals are noctournal. I just missed an echinda on day 1 and barely missed a wallaby on day 2. Darn thing hopped out right in front of me. I've been lucky enough to have to hit a deer back home, imagine if I came all this way just to wipe out a wallaby or something!

Long post, but I hope you are enjoying our Tassie trip. Three more days to go!

Tasmania Day 1.2

From the Tasmanian Devil Wildlife Park (see previous post) we headed to Port Arthur. The site itself covers many acres and has over 30 historic buildings in various states of repair/ruin. Some are just the outlines of where the buildings once stood, some have been restored or kept standing, others have faded into history all together.

Nice panoramic of Port Arthur from the water

I was infatuated with the colors and swirls of the bricks

The Chapel

After the 45 minute walking tour we took the harbor cruise that was included with our admission fee. The boat circles the Isle of the Dead and pulls alongside of Point Puer where a boys penal station was built and run for about 15 years. The idea was to keep the young offenders from becoming old offenders by restricting their contact with the men at Port Arthur. Good idea, bad location since there was no fresh water and the land was terrible for raising even subsistence crops. Water had to be rowed over every day by convicts from the mainland.

We paid a little extra for a 45 minute tour around the Isle of the Dead, so named since it was the cemetery of Port Arthur. Convicts were buried on ½ of the island in unmarked graves while free people (guards, military people and their families) were buried on the other half of the island with stone carved markers. Because the markers were places facing north/south, weather has caused a lot of breakdown in the stones but thankfully a photographic record was made in the 1930’s so the text on most, if not all, is known. The guide did an excellent job of telling the stories of a dozen or so people who were buried there. In fact, Clarice and I thought she was very creepy – the perfect guide for a cemetery!

We spent the next couple of hours wandering the grounds and taking in the many buildings and features of the prison. One aspect that was especially interesting was the Separate Prison – the prison they built for solitary and silent confinement. Each cell had meter thick stone walls and no one was allowed to make a sound, even the guards! They sat in these cells without talking for 23 hours a day. For one hour each day they were “allowed” exercise. I put that in quotes because it was more of a forced exercise. Each convict was hooded (so they could not even see anyone) then taken to a series of larger rooms where they entered, the door was closed, then they removed the hood/cap and were made to walk briskly around the room until the bell rang signaling stop. Then they were taken back to their cells. Even church was solitary! Each prisoner was led under hood/cap to a specially built chapel in the building. They would enter and walk down an assigned isle to their place where they stood for the service. Once in their place, they closed a small door behind them. That way, each “cell” was smaller than an old telephone booth and the only person they could see was the preacher. From there, they were allowed to sing the hymns, often the first time in a week they had heard their own voice. Stories were told of prisoners trying to communicate by singing incorrect words, but if caught was a very serious offence. No wonder the prison saw a dramatic rises in asylum cases!

The "Solitary Chapel" - each convict stood and could only see the preacher!

The Insane Asylum - where the convicts often went after too much time in the Separate Prison

A couple of "convicts"

We spent about 6 hours all told at Port Arthur and then took the extra daylight we had (being summer and so far south) to drive around the rest of the Tasman Peninsula. We did a small hike to an old mine that used convict labor and had several ruins of buildings. Pretty interesting.

By that point we were pretty tired and the day was fast fading so we headed back to Hobart. We stopped in one town to get some food and supplies, ordered pizza delivery from the car, and we delighted to find the pizza dude arriving at our hotel door just ahead of us. What great timing! I moved all our photos to the laptop, we cleaned up and scarfed down the pizza, then we went to bed knowing tomorrow was going to be a LONG day.

Tasmania Day 1.1

Christmas Day, at 6:00, we flew down to Hobart, Tasmania to spend the time between then and New Year's Eve exploring. Friends of ours had just returned home after spending 8 weeks motoring about the SE corner of Australia and their 3 weeks in Tassie helped us narrow down the essential things we had to tackle while we were there. Let me tell you straight off, Tasmania is a wonderful place if you like nature and the outdoors (we love both) and 5 days is nowhere near enough time to see everything. That would take months.

December 26th - We left the Old Woolstore Hotel (loved it) in Hobart with the intention of spending the day on the Tasman Penninsula. Now, I need a map as the vast majority of you could not find AUSTRALIA on a map much less Tasmania. One moment while I hit Google. Amuse yourselves...

Alright, there we are. Hobart, for the map illiterate, is the "star" at the bottom and the Tasman Peninsula is clearly marked for you. The plan for Day 1 was to drive down and explore this penninsula focusing on Port Arthur, a location that served as a convict prison for many years in the middle 1800s and is a major tourist attraction today (much to the chagrin of the now dead convicts I would imagine).

On the Tasman Penninsula

The entire drive down to Port Arthur would only take 1.5 hours so we planned to make a stop along the way at the Tasmanian Devil Zoo. We know our luck with wildlife in the wild and we are not leaving Tasmania without seeing Devils. They are too cute! Cuddly looking, but they will bite your fingers off if you get too close. We got to watch the keepers feed a male and two females who were penned together and loved watching them “grrrr” and fight over the pieces of rabbit. They ate the bones and all! Apparently, the Tassie Devil has the strongest bite pressure of any mammal on earth. I’d believe it as we could hear bones crunching with every bite.

Another to add to the "Fun Animal Road Sign" Collection

Adorable... from a safe distance

Keeper teasing the hungry devils. Good way to lose an arm!

What you can't see are the 3 other pieces lying a short distance away

Which is more cute and cuddly?

We also visited the other animals in the small zoo, wallabies, kangaroos and birds of all kinds. Our favorite was the Tawny Frogmouth, an owl-looking bird that we both thought looked exactly like a “Furby” – the toy from a few years ago that you could “teach” to talk. Basically balls of fluffy feathers about the size of a 16” softball.

Tell me those aren't just Furbies in a cage!

'Roo with Joey in her pouch

How cool am I?!?!

After leaving the park, we took one more quick detour before getting to Port Arthur. We had seen photos from our friends of Tasman Arch, a natural rock formation just a quick jaunt toward the coast. Pretty cool indeed. There once was another arch in Victoria that led out to a stone pillar in the ocean, but it collaped in the early 1990s stranding a couple of Canadians out on the new pillar! They had to be rescued by a helicopter. No wonder why people are not allowed out on the Tasman Arch.

Alright, that's plenty for today. Tomorrow I'll rock up with the photos of Port Arthur and finish off Day 1 of our Tassie Adventure!

Jon