Down in Tasmania...

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At the end of January we had a week in Tasmania, with the intention of doing some walking and tasting some cold-climate wines and cheeses. We started off in Hobart and headed for Port Arthur - site of the historic penal colony of old Van Diemen's Land. We had an afternoon of wandering around the old prison buildings and grounds, and an evening of great seafood on the Tasman peninsula. From Port Arthur we headed to Bicheno on the east coast - our base for a couple of days in Freycinet national park, home of the famous Wineglass Bay. Our motel unit had a spectacular view of MacCleans Bay, and on the first evening we saw some little Blue Penguins on a walk on the beach (us - not the penguins). We spent our first day in the national park doing the 'Hazards circuit' - a walk along one coast line of the peninsula, across the isthmus to Wineglass Bay, then up (and up, and up) to the Wineglass Bay lookout. A good walk (and we saw our first snake! A Tiger snake (v deadly indeed, apparently) - we've been here nearly two years, and that's the first one), but the weather wasn't perfect. So when we woke up the next morning to a picture perfect day - clear blue skies and bright sunshine, we decided to seize the day, and climb Mount Amos (one of the 'Hazards' range - possibly should have been a sign...) - for an even better view. The sign at the bottom of the climb said 'steep in places. Slippery when wet'. It did NOT say ' You'll be clinging on for dear life and invoking foreign deities en route to the top of this one' - though it should have done. Anyway - several (seemingly endless) scary moments later, we did reach the top of Mount Amos - and it was totally worth it for the view!! Perhaps there's a parable there. We finished off the perfect day with a swim in the (cold) clear waters of Honeymoon Bay, and a twilight sea kayak across Great Oyster Bay - arriving back just in time to make it to the last open fish and chip shop on (it seemed) the east coast - really fabulous!
From Bicheno we crossed the centre of Tasmania to Derwent Bridge in Lake St Clair National Park, and decided to capitalise on our (new-found) mountaineering expertise to climb Mount Rufus. Not nearly so scary - but a good (and very long) walk above Lake St Clair and another perfect day, followed by dinner in the oldy-worldy (well - for Australia) Derwent Bridge Hotel.
From Derwent Bridge we drove through Franklin-Gordon National Park to Strahan, on the west coast. Strahan is a pretty little village - though it feels a bit like a theme park. We wandered on top the Henty Dunes (really, really big sand dunes) and peaked into the wilderness as we made our way north to Cradle Mountain.
We had intended to climb Cradle Mountain too - to round off a week of walking - but the weather was terrible and visibility down to about 5 metres on our only full day in Cradle Mountain national park. We contented ourselves with walking to Kitchen Hut (on the Overland Track) and along the front face of Cradle Mountain, before returning to Dove Lake. No views, sadly - although the weather cleared as soon as we got back to the car park! Our little cabin in the woods - complete with wood stove - a real, live wombat on our deck, and dinner at Cradle Mountain Lodge (with platypus swimming in the lake below) made up for it.
Finally, we returned to Hobart - and wandered around the waterfront, Salamanca and Battery Point in Australia's oldest state capital.

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Photos

Freycinet road sign
Wow - kangaroos who lie in wait to tip your car... scary stuff!