Blogs from Bicheno, Tasmania, Australia, Oceania

Voici déjà ma dernière soirée en Tasmanie... ce short trip a été tellement rapide... une vraie fête pour les yeux!!! L'arrivée à Hobart s'est faite tout en douceur, l'avant-goût des paysages était déjà très alléchant: de grande étendues vertes bordées de collines à la végétation luxuriante dominant des lacs ou des bras de mers aux eaux turquoises, argentées, scintillantes, tellement sublime que j'en ai déjà profité pour prendre quelques photos. Et là, le choc... j'ai quitté Paris lundi matin avec -4°, j'ai testé Sydney mercredi avec 34° et cela tout en faisant du sport (siouplé!), et là, j'arrive à l'aéroport de Hobart et il fait plus chaud dedans que dehors, le thermomètre indique 16°... autant dire ça re-caille! Mais bon la perspective de passer cinq jours avec la petite famille de mon frère m'enchante, les deux ... read more

It's raining, it's not raining, it's sunny, now it's raining again. It makes leaving the house nearly impossible! I went up to Cradle Mountain to do some hiking on Monday. It would go from completely pouring, to so hot I had to take my jacket off, to pouring again all within 20 minutes. I got soaked to the bone on the 2 hour hike around Dove Lake, but it was so beautiful to be up there with the mist coming off the mountains and the raindrops creating ringlets on the lake. I made a deal with Mother Nature that if I saw any wombats in the wild then they might replace koalas as my favorite animal. Right as I was about to give up on Her, I saw three of them! So freakin cute. Don't know ... read more

Day 2 of our Tasmania tour started, as usual, with a bit of driving. We stopped in a small town called Ross, where much like our first day we got to see an old bridge. This one had an interesting story though. As with the majority of Tasmania’s infrastructure at the time, the bridge was built with convict labour. However, the people who commissioned the bridge were supposedly so pleased with the bridge’s detailing, that the convicts were able to have their sentences shortened! How about that for a reward. We then made our way to Wineglass Bay. This involved a bit of a hike between two mountains to get over to the sheltered bay. Halfway there was the lookout, where we got a great view of the bay. After the lookout, we climbed down towards ... read more

We made our way back to a place near Hobart called Seven Mile Beach for a day and a night to catch up on some school work and the like before heading up to Launceston. We decided to free camp at a cute park in Campbell Town half way between Hobart and Launceston, it is one of the oldest settlements in Tassie. A lot of convicts settled here after they completed their time in Hobart or Port Arthur. We arrived in Launceston and got settled. The next day we decided to do a day trip and drive to St Helens and Bicheno on the East coast about 2 hours drive from Launceston, Just south of Bicheno is Freycinet National Park and Wineglass Bay, we couldn’t do the walk we wanted to do because of the weather ... read more

We finally said goodbye to our wonderful oceanview apartment and headed towards Port Arthur. Port Arthur is one of Australia's great tourism destinations. They say every building and every site has a story to tell. Created with convict labour, the impressive architecture, gardens and prison still stand for all to view. The Port Arthur Historic Site has over 30 buildings. The Penitentiary, the Separate Prison were all very impressive. We went on a fun ghost tour that evening and enjoyed all the stories they told. Up bright and early on Friday morning we headed to Hobart. There were many beautiful sites to see. We took a long walk along the waterfront and did some shopping in the little shops. You will see pictures of Salamanca Place on Friday and then a whole new world on Saturday ... read more

Thirteen years ago, Lorenza and I booked a trip to Tasmania, a few weeks later we put a deposit on a block of land in the mountains northwest of Sydney. We toured Tasmania on our motorcycles and spent some time visiting our long time friend Mandy. At that time (1993), Mandy and Steve had just started going out together. Soon after our return from that trip we built our house. So, thirteen years later, Lorenza and I decided we had better get and see these people again. It had been too long and we had promised so many times to come and visit again. So, in thirteen years what’s changed? More wrinkles? Yes! Some grey hair? Yes! Were the four of us able to make each other laugh? Yes! Had we changed much? Not really! Well, ... read more