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Published: December 26th 2007
Old Growth
Temperate rainforest near LauncestonWow.
Ten days in
Tasmania was certainly not enough.
It is a beautiful state full of
national parks with stunning scenery.
Sarah and I met in Hobart, and our Tassie adventures started. We spent the day wandering around Hobart, finding the harbour and the botanical gardens. We had a lovely dinner down at Salamanca Square and got lost on little side streets in the area. The next morning we saw an Antarctic exhibition at the museum near our hostel, which made me wonder about the Lonely Planet on Antarctica. I must discover why it's so thick!
On the way to Mt Wellington for the views, we were introduced to the Tassie definition of small, windy roads. Which made for fun, challenging and slow driving!
Afterwards we explored the Tasman Peninsula, stopping at Remarkable Cave, Devil's Kitchen, the Tasman Arch, and the Blowholes. The cave impressed us the most. We also mused over the names of the houses in Doo Town, with names such as Love-Me-Doo, Digeri-Doo, and Humpty-Doo. That night, we camped on the lawn of the owners of Eaglehawk Neck Backpackers, with their pet sheep grazing nearby.
In the morning, we set out for Port Arthur to
Harbour in Hobart
Fishing boats in Hobart's harbour learn about Tasmania's (and Australia's) convict past. Entry included a short guided tour and a cruise around the harbour. I soon lost Sarah as we wandered around the prison ruins. I was in a bit of a non-tourist mood, so I feel I didn't come away with much from Port Arthur. I know it was an important site in Australia's history, so one day I'll pay proper homage.
After lunch at the really neat Tesselated Pavement, we headed north to Freycinet National Park. As we tried to set up our tent in the hard ground, our neighbour kindly lent us his hammer and warned us the creek was called Mosquito Creek. Yay. We also discovered that we couldn't use our propane burner. Fantastic. And we got rained on overnight.
The rain didn't let up the next morning, so I stopped at the info centre to get a child's rain jacket so we could still do some exploring. Stops included Honeymoon and Sleepy Bays as well the lookout at Cape Tourville. We hiked up to the Wineglass Bay lookout but as it was still raining, didn't go down to the beach. We were entertained by the runners for the Mark
Prison Ruins
Ruins at Port Arthur Webber Challenge, and the soaking wet wallabies that were too wet to be scared of us. On our way out of the park, we had a walk on the beach at Friendly Beaches, hoping the weather would get nicer, but no luck.
So we drove to something even better! Mt Field National Park, west of Hobart.
We set up our tent, then drove up the hill to Lake Dobson. We marveled at the pandani (I still can't believe they're heath and not related to the pandanus palms!) and the alpine flora, but we were both shivering by the time we finished our alpine walk. After dinner, we wandered down the path to Russell Falls without torches in the aims of finding glow worms. We found an old tree stump full of glow worms, but the jackpot was to the left of Russell Falls. Glow worms everywhere! And to see the falls by moonlight was truly special. My mood was definitely up.
The next day we explored more of the park. We ran into the Adventure Tours group (so I left a note for the guide, as you do). We marveled at the height of Russell Falls (40 metres),
Pandani
Pandani (a type of heath) among gum trees at Lake Dobson in Mt Field National Park the towering ferns and moss-covered trees, took in the sight of Horseshoe Falls, and found a tree-walk where we tried to guess the height of the trees (over 70 metres). Then we continued to Lady Baron Falls. The park was beautiful, with the sunlight pouring through the tall trees and ferns. We then climbed 239 steps to get back to the visitor's centre, and marveled at the drastic change in vegetation between the top (dry, sparse, gum trees) and the bottom (old-growth, moss-covered tree ferns) of the staircase. Or rather, we had to stop because our legs were killing us!
I loved Mt Field! Its variety and diversity of vegetation found within the park is amazing. Plus we had fun spotting the pademelons. How cute!
On the road again, we headed north on the Lyell highway. We did a lake walk at Lake St Clair, where we spotted several echidnas. Then we drove through Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, a spectacular drive through old growth forests. We paused at the Franklin River Nature Walk and again at Nelson Falls, where we found a insect-collecting experiment set up by the Natural History Museum of Sweden. Sure. By that time, we
On the Gordon River Cruise
Aesop and Gulliver enjoyed the cruise into the World Heritage Area realised it was getting late, so the race was on to get to Strahan before dark. We wanted to pull over at Lake Burbury for its beauty, but we continued on. We did have to stop at the Queenstown lookout, though, because the contrast was so striking. Queenstown was the site of open-pit mining for ages, and the landscape contrasted greatly with the grandeur of the old-growth forests a few kilometres earlier.
We finally made it to our hotel (the Wilderness Lodge, quite nice!) after dark, and managed to get some dinner before everything shut down for the night. We debated what to do the next day. Sarah inquired about camping at Corinna, where there was a river cruise available. We figured a smaller river cruise on a less-touristed river would be good, but Corinna was all booked out for some event. So the
Gordon River Cruise it was. However, we had missed the cruise for the day, so we'd be staying an extra night in Strahan. We spent the day at the Pioneer Museum in Zeehan, and running up and down the massive Henty sand dunes just outside Strahan.
The river cruise was lovely. We saw the perils of entering
Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain above Dove Lake Macquarie Harbor, and quietly cruised into the beautiful
World Heritage Area. We visited Hertitage Landing to see the old-growth forests and the timeless Huon pines, and stopped at Sarah Island to get a guided tour of this very small penal colony. I quite enjoyed the guided tour and learned more about convict history. The lunch on the cruise was quite nice as well, featuring Tasmanian smoked salmon (from the salmon farms in the harbour).
After our river cruise, we headed north towards Cradle Mountain. We did a couple of short walks and got some views of Cradle Mountain. Shivering that night, I was glad I brought thermals! The next day we set out on a longer hike, ending at Dove Lake with the post-card views of Cradle Mountain. We couldn't believe we had beautiful blue skies!
Cradle Mountain is another area I'd love to explore more! In the morning we saw an
environmental photography exhibition, which fueled my desire to travel more (and get a new camera!).
We then drove up towards Stanley and got a view of the Nut...we could see it from quite a ways away! We were tempted to get lobster for dinner, but luckily for our purses the
Nature Takes Over
Ruins of an oven on Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour near Strahan shop had just closed. The next day we climbed the very steep hill up to the top of the Nut, and then headed for
Dismal Swamp, where we slid down a 110 metre slide down the bottom. At the bottom, a maze of boardwalks led us through a blackwood forest swamp, where we spotted contemporary art blended in with the environment and learned about the ecosystem. After a quick bite to eat, I had to be a kid and slide down again, and chatted biology and ecology with one of the staff, who gave me a ride back up to the top.
After our adventures at the swamp, we headed east towards Devonport. We stopped at Rocky Cape National Park for some photos and made it to Devonport for dusk. The next morning, we were overloaded with helpful information by a staff member at the visitor's centre, where we had stopped by to get some ideas for the day. Our stops for the day included LaTrobe, where we visited a shop called Reliquaire, that sold everything imaginable, and Railton, where we had a look at the town's topiaries. In Sheffield we had a wander to see the murals, and on
Heritage Ruins & The Nut
Ruins on the hill overlooking Stanley our way to Launceston we stopped at Alum Cliffs State Reserve, which was just magical with a short walk to a beautiful gorge.
We found our pretty
hostel in Launceston and explored Cataract Gorge. I've got to say I love cities that have huge central parks, and how can you beat a gorge as a park in the city? The next morning, we drove up to Notley Gorge to have one last temperate rainforest walk. I love the old-growth forests in Tas!
And that was our trip. My last big trip of Australia. Quite a contrast to living in the Red Centre!
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