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WhereAreJanetandRick Australia |
Tasmania
Launceston to Cradle Valley
We flew into the north of Tassie and hired a car for our tour of the island. The countryside brought many interesting natural and man-made sites! 'Home-made' poo of all sorts was a big thing.
Our first stop was in Gowrie Park. From here we did day hikes in & around the National Parks. This was the warm up for greater challenges ahead!
In the background you can see the mountain we climbed earlier. In the foreground you can see one of the many murals that the area is known for and the rusted farm equipment on display.
This is one of the most popular National Parks and walks in Tassie. It was stormy with gale force winds but that didn’t stop us. We did don all of our warm & raingear and saw some beautiful Tassie!
Freycinet Peninsula
From West to East we went to a quieter and less touristy Nat’l Park. We had the luxury of seeing a couple these along the way.
We saw many geckos scampering away from our footfalls. The footpaths must be nice and warm (during Tassie's summer, daytime highs reach a balmy 22 deg C!!
This is one of the many wonderful views we got to see in Freycinet. We were lucky that the day was stunning as well.
The red rock and interesting rock formations are other interesting features of this area.
The rocks came in handy as the weather changed!
On our next drive we learnt the reason for the saying “just like sheep”!
The Road to Hobart
This “Spiky” Bridge was built by convicts to allow passage over the river. It seems that nobody knows why the ‘spiky’ rocks were incorporated into the design, but it was interesting!
This Tasmania's oldest Catholic Church. It was also the spot that we picnicked on fresh oysters that we bought from a nearby oyster farm!
Enroute to Port Arthur from Hobart is this interesting natural site. It looks like cobblestone steps but is actually a natural geological phenomenon. It is also home to exotic crawly shell creatures, which fascinated a group of tourists. (This story we’ll save until we see you in person!)
Here's a close-up - it really does look like cobblestones!
Port Arthur Penal Colony
The British originally sent the Empire's convicts to Van Diemens Land as it was known. The PA PC was a modern jail which differed from others in 2 main ways:
First: it was on a peninsula that was surrounded by shark infested waters (not true but that was what the convicts were told). It had rough bush/forest all the way on the long side making it difficult for the 'city dwellers type convicts' to survive an escape AND the thin land mass on the short side was less than 100 meters long & protected by dogs & guards. We were told there were only 64 escapes in the decades of use and all but 2 were found. They believe that they died in the bush. Second:Punishment was NOT used. The new belief was that solitary confinement could rehabilitate men & boys better.
Those who veered even slightly from routine were sent for long stretches to "solitary". They were given 1 hour of exercise in a yard/day and had services every Sunday in little boxes were they could only see the Minister giving the sermon!
South of Hobart
Enroute to Hobart we were told not to miss The Remarkable Cave. We forgot when we got there why it was special. As soon as we saw it.....we quickly remembered....the map of Tasmania actually shows up form the view out front! Remarkable!
Hobart
Climb every mountain....We decided to end of our visit to Tassie by climbing this mountain just outside of Hobart. The views were glorious and the hike well worth it. Yes, of course we did have chocolate on this one!!!
The very BEST market for local crafts in Tassie is the Salamanca market in Hobart on Saturdays. We timed our visit there to see for ourselves & were not disappointed. Rick will show you his Crocodile Dundee hat if you ask real nicely!
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