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Published: January 2nd 2005
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In a tree!
Walking in Tasmania OK, so it's been a while since I last updated this website. I would apologise but I've been having too much fun! In case you were wondering, yes we are still away and currently in Australia. Let me take you back a few weeks…
We arrived in Sydney on 11 December where Mark, my Brother, and Sal, his girlfriend (she's Aussie as but don't hold that against her) met us at the airport. We had time to do a bit of shopping and washing before a flight the next morning to Hobart, Tasmania. Our next week was spent travelling round Australia's biggest island - a full tour of the map of Tassie. Following some sea kayaking near Hobart we moved on to the Mount Field National Park for a couple of walks to Russell Falls and through the endemic tall trees. The following day started with another long walk to the Montezuma Falls, Tassie's tallest waterfall (at about 5m ish) and then headed to the Henty sand dunes for a fantastic quad biking trip and some sandboarding (where both Mark and I had to use the trees as a brake!). In the evening there was a bit of time for
Cradle Mountain
Ness admires the scenery some canoeing on Lake Roseberry to partake in some (unsuccessful) platypus spotting.
The next day was spent on a hike round Cradle Mountain for some beautiful views of the mountain and surrounding lakes. Our wildlife spotting was more successful though with wombats and echidnas wandering around the paths. After that exertion, most of the following day was spent travelling on the coach with only a short stroll through Cataract Gorge to stretch the legs. In late afternoon we stopped at a wildlife park to hand feed the kangaroos and see the tassie devils. The evening entertainment was provided in Bicheno by the local penguin nesting grounds where the little fairy penguins were coming home from a hard days fishing with noisy sex on their minds!
The beach was calling the following day so we walked to Wineglass Bay, supposedly the best beach in Australia with pure white sand (and a long walk to get there which kept the crowds away). That evening we reached Port Arthur, the former secondary offenders' prison which specialised in mental as opposed to physical punishment. The ghost tour was a necessity and very good.
We had some time to explore the prison
Mark and Sal In Rehab
I think they have a long way to go in the daylight the following day before heading back to Hobart for our next flight on to Adelaide.
Adelaide was a small, pleasant city with empty beaches (there was a shark attack the week before we arrived), a couple of good museums and galleries, a historic tram, paddle boats and a fantastic hotel courtesy of Dawsey and Eva (thanks again guys). Days were spent exploring, nights catching up with the locals.
Time kept moving on and so did we. Next stop was Kangaroo Island, off the coast just south of Adelaide. (Interesting fact - there are no kangaroos on the island.) We spent a couple of days exploring the beaches and sights including the Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch (watching the local seals playing) and the local crazy golf course! We also visited the Seal Bay Conservation Park, where Australian sea lions were lazing around on the beach after playing in the surf (typical aussies) and the Kelly Hill caves. We camped overnight in the Flinders Chase national park and were joined for evening drinks outside our tents by wallabies and a possum.
After KI we headed on down the coast to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road,
Who are you calling Bignose
An echidna comes to say hello checking out all the sights including the 12 Apostles, The Grotto and The Arch - all very impressive. We spent Christmas Eve camping in Apollo Bay, playing 11 ball pool in the games shed and drinking beer from a granny-trolley-cum-esky. We woke up on Christmas Day with a beautiful view of the ocean outside the tent. Our drive up to Melbourne was only broken by a stop in Anglesea to go for our Christmas Day swim (well, Mark and I did while the girls watched).
In Melbourne we hooked up with Cindy for a couple of days as our local tour guide (thanks Cindy). The art gallery had some interesting piccies and the dinosaurs from China exhibit at the museum was fantastic. We now also know who Pharr Lap was.
From Melbourne we continued our drive north to Sydney. Our first night was spent in the metropolis of Merimbula where we spent the evening at the restaurant/pool hall/bar/club. Our reign as pool champions was unbeaten all night, despite the foul tactics used against us by the locals (I didn't know you could fit 4 balls and 2 penises in one pocket!). The next day we drove up to
Ness and the Kangaroos
There's good eating on one of them Bateman's Bay, home of a fantastic crazy golf course and not a lot else! We spent the night then headed back to Sydney via Shelly Beach to see the surfing kangaroos (unfortunately they had other ideas).
Sydney for new year could mean only one thing - fireworks. After spending the afternoon body boarding in the surf at Freshwater Beach, we headed to Balmain and watched the kiddies fireworks with a small crowd outside the pub. For the main event, Dave was kind enough to invite us to his luxury apartment with an uninterrupted, full frontal view of the harbour bridge. The fireworks were fantastic, every bit as good as they always look on TV with the sailboats in the harbour with lighting all over their rigging providing a great finishing touch.
Our remaining time in Sydney soon disappeared with a trip to Manly, some swimming in the pool beneath the harbour bridge (it must be the public pool with the world's best view) and a house warming barbie at Mark and Sal's place.
The time came to move on and see something else so we waved goodbye to my little brother and to Sal and headed on
Paddling in Adelaide
I think the peddlo says it all for Mark and Sal to Alice Springs.
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