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Published: January 31st 2009
Tasmania is a truly amazing place. Lush rainforest, jagged mountains, picture-perfect beaches, and rolling countryside all crammed into one little island; and overrun by unique and almost comical creatures - echidnas, wallabies, and tasmanian devils just to name a few. Our last week at the apple orchard was more play than work. One evening, Robert (the owner of the orchard) took us on a “cherry-pinching mission” at a neighbouring farm. We each picked a 10kg bucket of cherries to bring back to the accommodation for everyone to share. After some cherries and beer, we went for a drive down to Cockle Creek. With a signposted population of three, it is as far south as you can drive in Australia. Walking on the beach, we were amazed to watch our footprints light up as we walked, some form of bioluminescent algae was washing up on shore! We also saw our first Australian wildlife - wallabies, tasmanian devils, and ringtail possums.
The next morning, ten of us set off on a hike up Adamson’s Peak, the pyramid-shaped mountain that had been beckoning for us to climb it since we arrived in Dover. With the peak reaching almost 1300 meters, it was a
long haul through rainforest, mud bogs, swamp, and a final scramble to the top over rocks and boulders, but quite rewarding - the view from the top was fantastic! It was a panoramic lookout over Dover and the many surrounding mountain ranges. Once at the summit, the clouds seemed to come from out of nowhere, appearing underneath us and rolling up the side of the mountain until we were engulfed in white fog - we quickly made our way down to the lower plateau before we would be unable to find our way. Returning to the accommodation with mud up to our knees, we celebrated our endeavor that night. The week was wrapped up with many beachside barbeques.
When the last apple had been thinned, we set off for a two week camping roadtrip around Tassie with Cassie and Maria, two British travellers we met on the farm. After arriving in Hobart by bus, we searched the city to find a good deal on a rental car. After living a month in relative isolation, the traffic and congestion of the city was a bit of a shock, despite Hobart’s small size. Piling four people, four packs, and a week’s
supply of food into our Hyundai Elantra was a bit of a challenge, but we managed. We first headed out to the Tasman Peninsula, an area known for both historic Port Arthur, Australia’s answer to Alcatraz, as well as its 300 meter sea cliffs. We spent our time enjoying the freedoms of travelling by car, exploring the area’s many cliffs and beaches. We went through a witty little community called “Dootown,” where every house had a “doo” name, such as “Love Me Doo,” “Dr. Doo-Little,” and even a chip truck called “Doolicious.” Our next stop was the Freycinet Peninsula. Rather than take the main roads, we decided to continue the exploratory theme of the roadtrip and managed to find our way there on old dirt roads, some of which were not even labeled on the map. Driving through the beautiful countryside, we had not seen any signs of civilization for a while when we came across a road sign, “Roadside Slasher Ahead.” We had seemingly navigated ourselves into a cheap horror flick. Proceeding with caution, we eventually learnt that roadside slasher is the term the Aussies (or at least those in Tas) use for a large lawnmower trimming the grass
on the shoulder of the road - what a relief! The rest of our journey to Freycinet was rather uneventful. Once there, we set up camp at the Friendly Beaches. We found a wonderful campsite, tucked off the road and just a few steps across the road was the beach. It was incredible! White sand, as soft as silk and crystal clear waters stretched on for miles. We spent a day hiking around the peninsula, climbing The Hazards for incredible views of Wineglass Bay and surrounding area. Once we got down to the bay, we were joined by a wallaby on the beach for a short time; and then we continued across the plateau to Hazards Beach. Sitting for a while to enjoy the most beautiful beach any of us had seen, we eventually carried on with a long walk in the sand, and finally along the coast back to the start of the hike. We had planned a beach day for the next day, but it was cool so instead we explored many rocky areas along the coast. Later that evening, we walked down the long stretch of the Friendly Beaches for hours without seeing another person. We found
a small lagoon type area at the end of the beach, and as cold as it was, Maria and I decided to go for a swim. Andrew thought we were nuts, but stayed on “shark watch” for us. At night, we were joined by an overly friendly wallaby, who got close enough to us to touch him! Before we prepared our dinner for the night, we tried to get him to leave with no luck. Despite us being careful to not allow him to get any of our food, he persisted for the night, but eventually we heard him hop off into the darkness after we had gone to bed.
We continued up the east coast to the Bay of Fires, an area just as beautiful but even more deserted than where we had come from. As we pulled in to the carpark to go for a walk, we were surprised to see a vehicle that we recognized. Walking along the beach, we ran into Steve, Melvin, and Nana; three friends from the farm we had recently parted with. Happy to see each other again, we went back to our beachside campsite to spend some time together before they
departed for the airport. We had our first campfire of the trip (fire bans are common and often permanent in Australia because of the abundance of bushfires), enjoying the perfect combination of sitting by a fire and listening to the ocean waves. The next day, we headed to the northeast corner of Tasmania, Mt. William National Park. An hour from anything, we were hoping to see some of the kangaroos that are supposed to be in that area of the state. We didn’t find the kangaroos (that will have to wait for the mainland!) but we sure had an interesting time. That evening, Maria and Cassie decided to go for a walk - they said they wanted to see how far they could get before they had to turn back to return before dark. We wished them well, and spent our time between the beach, the lighthouse, and the campsite. Going out at dusk to look for animals, we were surprised to return to the empty campsite in the dark. Not thinking much of it, we joked that hopefully they had a flashlight, but figured they were on the beach or had met someone at one of the cottages. It
got later, darker, and colder, and there was still no sign of them. We found their flashlight in the car, making us afraid they couldn’t find their way back, so we took the car out to look for them. Driving down the roads, and looking on the beaches, we didn’t find them but weren’t too worried - we were sure they were off goofing around and would be back by morning. Morning came, and they still weren’t back. We were in a National Park, far from anywhere, and surrounded by dense forest and raging ocean. We spent the morning searching for them, and driving 100km to the nearest payphone and back. When there was still no sign of them, we had no choice but to drive to the nearest police station (over an hour away) to report them missing. We took down their tent, and their packs were already left in the car. We knew they had a lighter, but little outdoors skills - it was a long drive to the police station. When we reached St. Helens, we decided to make one last desperate phone call before sending out a search party. To our surprise, Tim (the farmer) had
heard from them, and we were astonished to learn they had just decided to hitchhike out of the park! Relieved they were not injured in the woods, but bewildered as to how someone could disappear out of a National Park in the night and not understand the magnitude of the situation; we took what was left of the day to drive, perplexed, down the twisted roads to Scottsdale. We stopped at St. Columbia Falls, the highest waterfall in Tasmania, along the way. With no way to contact each other (cell reception is limited to only a couple places in Tas), we wondered how the girls planned to meet up with us again, and we were slightly amused by the fact that they took off without thinking to take any of their belongings. With no idea where they were, and having wasted enough time looking for them, we continued on with our roadtrip, enjoying the newfound quietness in the car.
We spent a night camping
above Mole Creek National Park, an underground network of caves. The next day, we headed to Cradle Mountain National Park. We had planned to climb to the peculiar, almost unnatural looking peaks of Cradle Mountain,
but with rain, heavy winds, and freezing temperatures, we decided to stick to a lower altitude walk around Dove Lake, which provided good views of the strange mountain. After travelling through the middle of the state, we headed up to the north coast. Stopping in Burnie, an industrialized port town which was nicer than expected, we went for a walk in the Fern Glade park by a river said to be full of platypus though we couldn’t find any. At dusk, we went to the penguin observation area in hopes of seeing a penguin. We were told by a volunteer guide that our chances were good as over 400 penguins are known to nest there. As it started to get dark, two chicks came out of their nest in anticipation of their parents bringing home their evening dinner! Only a couple feet away, we watched as the babies waddled around, play-fighting with each other. We had just seen live penguins for the first time at the California Academy of Sciences; so to see them in the wild was magical! As the night carried on, the adults slowly started to pop up onto the rocks - we were even lucky enough
to see the mother feeding the babies!
The morning found us following the coast to Stanley in the northwest. As we approached, we saw “The Nut,” a large almost rectangular plateau rising out of the water. It’s thought to be of volcanic origin, but researchers cannot be sure. It was a steep zig-zag to the top; many people were taking a chairlift to the flat highland. Once on the plateau, it was larger than expected, and if it weren’t for the spectacular views of the town, the docks, and the ocean, we wouldn’t have realized how high we were. Since we were making good time, we thought we might as well drive to the west coast. Driving through old mining areas, we reached Strahan. Looking out at the ocean from this point, there is nothing but open water until Argentina. There were a lot of people passing the Australia Day long weekend with a rod and reel, and from what we could see it appeared to be good fishing! We spent the night camping on yet another peninsula, and in the morning we drove through the town and stopped to take a walk through a rainforest park to Hogarth
Falls. Heading back in the direction of Hobart, we drove through the barren mountains of Queenstown, and stopped to do some hiking at the Gordon River and Lake St. Clair, at the south end of Cradle Mountain Park. Unsure of where we were going for the night, we decided to head to Hobart, wanting to partake in the Australia Day festivities in the state capital. Once we were back into cellular range, we tried to call the girls again. They were also in Hobart, happy to hear from us, apologetic, and surprised to hear that we still had their belongings; we arranged to meet them later to give them their packs. Hobart was surprisingly quiet, considering it was the national holiday. The waterfront, however was beautiful at night; so we walked around enjoying the harbour and the town’s historic areas. The next day, as an early birthday present for Andrew, we went to Cascade Brewery, the oldest continually run brewhouse in all of Australia. The tour was interesting and informative. Our guide told us about the history of the brewhouse, and the discreet differences between their different types of beers. The tour finished at their bar; where after an in-depth
Cascade Bar
With a Tasmanian Tiger in the background (now extinct, or is it?)lesson about each beer - what it is made with, alcohol percentage, when and how to drink it, and what to drink it with - we got to the fun part: the sampling. We found many different beers (and even a cider with Tasmanian apples) that we liked, and now have a deeper appreciation for beer and the brewing process.
Having driven all around Tasmania, we thought we should take some time to explore more of the area we had lived in for the last month, so we headed south. Taking a ferry to Bruny Island, we were finally able to explore the area we looked at from across the Dover Bay. Many of the original Pacific explorers, including Captain Cook, anchored here in the past and the island was also a major whaling port in the 1800s. We took some time to climb to the top of the sea cliffs (from the long way around, we haven’t been rock climbing yet!). We also climbed to a lookout above “The Neck,” a narrow sand bridge connecting the north and south parts of the island. The sandy bays on either side were almost mirror images of each other. Crossing back
on the ferry, we drove through the Huon Valley area. Quite scenic, with the Huon River winding its way between orchards and vineyards, we had not been able to appreciate the area when we had taken the bus through it (due in part to being carsick - the roads here are also very windy), and we were glad we had taken the time to appreciate it with the freedom of the car. In the end, it was one hell of a roadtrip, especially with Tasmania’s cliffside curves and hairpin turns. When we signed the rental agreement, we were told we had 2800 kilometers; the service representative joking that you’d have to drive on every road in Tasmania to hit that. As it turns out, we maxed out our mileage! And we did just about drive on every road in Tas….
For a month we had planned the details of a two week hike through the remote South West area of Tasmania. While in Hobart, we collected supplies, and organized the final details. We were just about ready to go, when we stopped to confirm the bus schedules - only to find out they had cancelled the route to the
start of the hike. We looked into other options, but all were far too costly, or impractical with the timing; thus to our immense disappointment, we’ve had to give up the trek. As much as we had looked forward to it, there are many other long distance hiking opportunities in Australia, so hopefully we’ll make up for it in the end! With our last minute change of plans, we decided it was time to head back to the mainland, and we flew to Melbourne today. After temperatures that barely reached the 20s in Tas, we arrived to a heat wave in Melbourne with the temperature hitting a smothering 45 degrees Celsius today. I guess we’ve got about 60 degrees on everyone back home….
Cheers! Miss you all!
With love,
Cass & Andrew
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Fatima & Rick
non-member comment
perfect...
Hey Guys! Sounds like you guys are just perfect! Perfect at all this wonderfull stuff that you are doing.....exploring! This is all so cool! Can't wait for your next entry.... When I grow up I wanna be just like you guys....lol all our love