Blogs from Tasmania, Australia, Oceania - page 9

16/2/18 Wow!! What a day!! Booked a days tour with Pennicott Wilderness Journeys Which started early at 7:30 at Hobart waterfront. The first part of the day was a journey to Port Arthur in a small coach driven by Phil our genial driver. We started gently by having tea and delicious scones at cafe on a lavender farm set in an idyllic cove which was on our route. After getting refreshed we were joined by Chris a crew member of the boat we were going to board. We continued on to Port Arthur to board our boat with Chris explaining what we were in for. The boat was fairly small (approx 30 foot long but quite wide and easily accommodated our band of 17 people. The passengers were not fully enclosed but were protected by a ... read more

15/2/18 Today we had booked a walking tour of Hobart. Our tour guide, Lisa, gave us a good idea of some of the history surrounding some of the buildings and statues. It started on Hobart waterfront where their is a memorial dedicated to the convicts that were deported to Hobart and provided the majority of manual labour. The memorial lists the names of the first deportees to arrive in Hobart. The U.K. deported some 76,000 people to Hobart over 50 years the scheme operated. The convicts provided a large proportion of the population. Initially they were housed in tents but other shelters and buildings were constructed with the convicts providing most of the labour to achieve this. Over time, the women and children were separated and housed in a building some way away called the Female ... read more

ok, sitting at the Melbourne airport waiting for our flight to Christchurch, with super fast internet... well, I just kept uploading pics. Tassie was great!! A little colder than we expected, but only 2 days of rain, so we were lucky with the camping. But to continue from the last blog, we enjoyed our drive along the Great Ocean Road, but it was very crowded, this being the week of New Years. But we did see several koalas in the wild, which was really cool. The 6 cars pulled off along the road with the cameras gave us a clue. Then it was North to the wine country of Bendigo, a beautiful area, the buildings reflected in their prior glory days of substantial gold mining. At a small cafe, we asked the server what one Shiraz ... read more

We drove 60 or so Kms to the Ranger station at Freycinet then drove to the walks car park, which is a few Kms further south. We then set off onwards and upwards to the wineglass bay look out. On the way up we saw a pademelon jumping jobbo having a snack by the side of the trail. Then back the way to pick up the wineglass bay path to visit the stunning beach we had just seen. When we got there we did what any Britisher would have done. No, not name it on behalf of the Queen but go for a paddle. Warm clear sea? No, bloody cold. Following the path across to Hazzard bay where we had lunch. Then contour round the coastline back to the car park. A gorgeous sunny day at ... read more

We went for a Trog up Rolland mountain today but despite starting the walk at 1012 we only managed to get 5 miles in and turned around at the upper plateau viewpoint because it was so hot. To climb to the peak was another 75 mins so we decided to endex and walk back down. Once back at Sheffield we had a tea and milkshake at one of the many cafes. I went to the post office today to send off parcel number 2 of souvenirs and leaflets which cost $18! Tonight Jan and Peter have invited us for dinner. How very nice of them. Such a loverly couple who are travelers just like us. I must admit that Sheffield is what I think Aussie towns are all about. One long street full of shops. For ... read more