SuperTazzieWasFantasticDevilsLookedFerocious
Trip Start
Nov 12, 2007
1
13
40
Trip End
Aug 01, 2008
Hobart,
Australia
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
There were 2 reasons to come to Tasmania - one it is supposed to be a beautiful place to visit and two I have family here that I have never met. Well that is not strictly true. My Aunt returned to the UK last June for the first time in 30 odd years and that was the first time I met her. As we had been planning to go to Hobart to meet her anyway, she kindly invited us to stay with her. My cousin Julia emigrated to Hobart when she met her husband Mike and now has a son Patrick - who is working in Cairns and twin daughters Harriet and Sophie.
We spent 3 days in Hobart and liked it a lot. It is a small city much calmer and quieter than the mainland with less traffic. Hobart is on the water and we spent most of our first day walking around the historic centre, harbour front and the parks / gardens. The Taste of Tasmania was taking place in the centre. A large venue on the harbourfront with lots of stalls offering tasters and selling Tasmanian foods and wine.
We had a family BBQ the first night to get to meet Harriett's twin, Sophie and to get to know the family better.
During our stay we also took the steep winding road up to Mount Wellington that dominates Hobart and got spectacular views of the surrounding area. Neither of us expected us to be up so high. We also did the lesser heights of Mount Nelson for less dizzy views but equally beautiful of the city and the surrounding inlet.
We also visited Richmond a small village with the country's oldest bridge and Catholic church.
Devils
It was just like being by the Thames.My Aunt's neighbour, is a member of the Tasmanian Cricket Club and once the family knew Rob was a cricket fan they arranged for him to see the 20/20 game between Tasmania and NSW.......... E
Enjoyed the cricket which went to the penultimate ball. Probably be the only time I'll see an Australian team lose at Cricket. Reluctantly we left the home comforts of Emma's aunt and went back on the road to the east coast staying in the small seaside town of Bicheno. The coast here is great.We did a marked walk along the foreshore and with a strong wind blowing in off the sea the waves were crashing in. The perfect blue sea and small fleet of fishing boats created picture book scenes.
Just south of us was the Freycinet National Park home to the famous Wine Glass Bay.It is meant to be in the top ten beaches in the world (not sure on whose say so) It a quite a hike to the viewpoint to see the Bay and on a hot day it was a bit of a struggle. As the view is on every brochure calender and place mat it isn't a huge surprise at the top but it is certainly impressive, a perfect semicircle of white sand brilliant blue sea mountain backdrop etc. We climbed on down to the beach. There were not many people on it as it is a long walk down and back. It would have needed a cafe toilets and some scantily clad female sunbathers to get in my top ten but it was not a bad way to spend the morning. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the park firstly driving on to a lighthouse with just as good views without the climb. Here the wind was incredibly strong almost blowing me over on the viewing platform very invigorating on a hot day. A coastal walk and a visit to another beach left us hot and tired with an ever filling photo memory card. We arrived home in time to watch the 2nd Test where India proved they are as good as England at messing things up in Australia contriving to lose 3 wickets in an over to a part time bowler to lose the test with only two overs to go.
One thing we really wanted to see in Tasmania was the famous Tasmanian Devil particularly as we had no idea what they looked like apart from some vague recollections of a Disney character chasing Bugs Bunny. As they are not easy to find in the wild we called in at the Trowunna Wildlife Park.
They are about the size of a large rabbit and with their mouth shut they look like a small fairly cute bear. However the bunny/bear is completely transformed when it opens its mouth twisting its face into a horrible grimace revealing an extraordinary set of vicious teeth . We were lucky (or unlucky) enough to see them at feeding time. They eat rotting carcasses adding dripping blood and slightly unworldly shrieks to the mix. Apparently they pose no threat to humans and are quite timid but I wouldn't want one as a pet.
Our next stop was the Cradle Mountain national park for a couple of days walking. It was still hot. Our first walk was the standard walk in from the edge of the park to the bottom of the mountain. It is about 5 miles all along a boardwalk that stretches in front of you.There is a forest of strange dead looking silver trees and the top of the mountain is visible in the distance. We felt like hobbits on the way to Mordor? Mawdaw? or perhaps more aptly Dorothy on her way to Oz. We did some higher level walking the next day all very scenic though privately we agreed there are better views in the Lake District.
On our way North we did stop en route to take a photo of a road sign which confirmed that the road off to the left led to "Paradise (Sheffield)"!! There are actually many places here named after UK towns. We saw a sign for both Stroud and Gloucester just north of Sydney and there is a Tewkesbury and even Bracknell as well as Stratford on the River Avon.
Our final destination in Tasmania was Launceston (pronounced Launceston). This is Tasmania's second city but still quiet and set by a dramatic river gorge which opens up into a park area where given the temperature most of the population seemed to be swimming either in the purpose built pool or in the river itself where it widens. The world's longest single span chair lift crosses the gorge so we had to try this.
And that was it for Australia. It has gone so fast and would love another month here. We nearly had some unscheduled extra time here as our interconnecting flight was late and we were still checking in for our NZ flight 15 minutes before we were due to take off. My superior speed across the ground and in the toilets and hurdling ability meant I skidded to a halt at the boarding gate way before Emma. It was closed and there was no queue. I breathlessly asked the stewardess if she could let us on (I would of course not gone without Emma...) but she smiled and pointed out the flight had been delayed and no one had boarded
and I looked round to see the rest of the passengers lounging around waiting for news and watching me in amusement. The first time I have been grateful for an hour's delay on a flight.
Comments
ok you win...
...the prize for the best title! If I don't write before then, have a great birthday on Friday. nigel