And so the journey ends

Thursday, March 4 – Sunday March 7


Thursday found us driving up to see Freycinet National Park, or at least some of it. Most of this Park is only accessible by long trails but we did find some lovely view points. Then on to Bicheno for a stay at a self contained place with spectacular views of the coast line and lovely beaches. We enjoyed a dozen oysters from the local market with a bottle of good sparkling wine, followed by a good steak we grilled on the provided BBQ. Rain has been in the forecast but fortunately seems to be holding off.

At Launceston on Friday we walked the Cataract Gorge, found our B&B and visited a few wineries. One of the folks we spoke with at a winery asked us our impression of Tasmania as compared with New Zealand, as she thought the scenery was similar. We said NOT; the forests here are all gum trees which was not the case in NZ. But we were told to expect different forests when we get over to the west coast. After dinner we were sitting outside our room and a wallaby hopped by right in front of us! Cool, but not so cool were the fleas (or what) that started eating us up. Quickly back inside. Warm and muggy here! Some rain finally came during the night.

Saturday and on to Cradle Mountain Park and over to the west coast. The weather has stayed good for us; they keep changing the forecast from rainy to fine (nice) weather. Our trip to Cradle Mountain was delayed by an hour due to an accident, the first one we have seen outside of a fender-bender in Auckland. Unfortunately, a fatal bicycle accident on a steep, windy road – a bicycle team going downhill encountering a tour bus on the way up. Very sad.

We enjoyed some great views at Cradle Mountain, the premier park in Tasmania. And we got to see an echidna and a kangaroo/wallaby up close on a walk near the visitor center! We also saw a wallaby; but again no camera was handy on our lunch stop there. On to Queenstown – made for a rather long day.

Next day we climbed the long, windy road out of Queenstown over to Lake St. Clair. Queenstown has been a major mining town for over 100 years; the mountain outside of town has been devastated by the activity – and we understand that the river out to Strahan isn’t in such great shape either. Strahan is a major tourist stop but we didn’t get over there; ran out of time. Lake St. Clair was beautiful; we saw a location where platypuses live but they had ducked into their burrows by the time we walked to their home site. Found a couple of Kookaburras near the lake. We also noted many bee hives in the mountainous area from Queenstown to the lake; a winery host later in the day explained that the bee keepers are making “leather” honey; apparently a popular export but maybe to the EU.

We also stopped at Mt. Fields National Park to see a waterfall, most popular in Tasmania, and a walk through the swamp gum forest. These eucalyptus trees are the largest trees going, outside of redwoods. Huge!

We also visited a rather funky wildlife reserve outside of the park to see the Tasmanian devil, plus a number of other animals – again the platypuses there were taking a nap.

Off to visit a couple of wineries – both small enterprises where the owner greeted us and chatted with us for a long time. The second chap, told us his life story without prompting. His great-great-great grandmother (I’m not sure how many greats) deliberately stole some clothing so she could get transported to Australia in the early 1800s at the age of 16. Again, a fun time getting to talk with the locals. A dash into the local Woolies just before 7PM, and on to the Sorell Barracks in Sorell for our final night in Tasmania. Our host welcomed us back home; quite nice! We had stayed here two nights on our arrival – they are nice people here.

And so our journey ends (Except for the flights from Hobart to Sydney to Auckland to LA.) It will be a long day tomorrow, but it has been a grand adventure.

Thanks for following along with us.

Goodbye NZ, Hello Tasmania

Tuesday – Wednesday, March 2 – 3


On our way out of New Zealand we spent a very interesting half day at the Antarctic Center located adjacent to the Christchurch airport. Lots of displays, and we finally got to get up close to the little blue penguins – they are small! This complex is the primary supply center for operations in the Antarctic.

Wednesday the 3rd we visited Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula. This was the site of a large prison complex built by the British starting in the 1830’s and in operation into the 1870’s. The British liked to export their criminals (even those with minor offenses) off to their colonies. When the prison was closed, lots were sold off with the provision that the new owner would demolish signs of the prison on their lot, and bush fires in the 1890’s did considerably more damage. But starting in the 1950’s renovation work started and lately much more work has happened. This is the major visitor attraction in Tasmania; lots of fascinating history here.

We learned on the drive back to our B&B that the Tasmanian Devil is suffering massively; a cancer developed in about year 2000 that is pretty much wiping out the population except for the Tasman peninsula in the Port Arthur area where the government is making a last stand to isolate the animals in this area. And they are working to develop a strain of cancer resistant Devils.

Next stop at a strawberry farm – a U Pick place. Delicious berries being grown by a crusty old chap who retired here after a long career as a seaman. He noted that the strawberry season runs from January into May and was very proud of his water bore – 1000 feet! The water was excellent.