Thursday, April 7, 2016

Tasmania, Australia



Tasmania, Australia   March 31-April 7, 2016
                            Our first view on Tasmania....  Davenport....west of Launceston, Tasmania


                                                             Tasmania's natural side


After a very bumpy flight from Auckland to Melbourne  and then on to Launceston, we met a lovely Aussie, Jenny, sister to Liz and Max, our Australian friends who were waiting for us in Coles Bay .
 
 
 
                                          Kay and Jenny in front of the tree trunk/art carving

Artistic tree/trunk art carving dedicated to the convicts who built the bridge in Campbelltown

Jenny gave us a lovely two and half hour ride down Route 1 through the countryside of Tasmania describing various points of interest. We stopped in Campbell Town for bit of stretch and took a short walk around the park there.
                                         A lovely bridge built by convicts in the 1800's


On we ventured  passing  Lake Leake and Cranbrook stopping at Devil’s Corner for a scenic shot  of Oyster Bay and Hazard Mountains with vineyards. We spotted numerous duck blinds built upon the inland waters. Jenny described the controversy that had taken place there a couple of weeks earlier…naturalist/environmentalist spoke out against the hunters having the two weeks duck hunting season.

We proceeded on to reach Coles Bay and probably the number one spot in all of Tasmania….Freycinet Peninsula.

 
                         The view from our Tasmania home away from home....the Hazards!

                                                    Our Tasmania get away home!

When we pulled into our new homestead, we were greeted by the nicest Tassies, Max and Liz Swain and their beautiful view of the pink-granite peaks of the Hazards.


Kay and Jenny enjoying the "noyice" (nice) Aussie fire.

They immediately supplied us with a local refreshment beside the warm fire out on their deck with the sun set splashing on the mountain back drop. Larry and I felt right at home with these new friends. We enjoyed a marvelous dinner of grilled chicken, pumpkin, and roasted potatoes all cooked on the grill by Max with homemade bread. A couple of glasses of delishous Tasmanian Pinot Noir sent Larry and I off to a wonderful night of bliss….especially since our day had started at 5:00AM.

The next morning Max and Liz took us out for a fishing expedition on his boat. Although the fish didn’t participate, the scenery was spectacular.


Heading out to the Tasman Sea we dropped lines over at Weatherhead Point and Cooks Beach.  

Jenny donned her wet suit and took a crisp 56 degree swim in Promise Bay…..Brrrrr!

The white caps suddenly appeared making Max turn the boat back to Coles Point passing through Honeymoon Bay . 
 

After a wonderful lunch, we settled in for a little afternoon snooze….how wonderful was that!

A friend from Launceston, Robin,  joined us for the evening bringing 4 dozen of “THE” famous Tasmanian Oysters…

OH MY!… Was Larry in Oyster Heaven? Max stuffed four huge Tasmanian Salmon and spearing them with lemon and placed them on the grill. Robin made these  special healthy air fried potatoes while Liz added some great cole slaw. Whew…..What a feast! That was topped off with some fabulous Tasmanian Champagne that bubbled all the way down. OH MY!... The night  ended with this fabulous homemade blue berry ice cream that I am still begging Max for the recipe. And if that was not enough, a bowl of fine chocolate was passed around right before bedtime. Larry and I stepped out of the deck for a final look over Oyster Bay.

The sunset during the evening was just phenominal! Low and behold, the stars were so bright it was the first time that we had experienced seeing the Milky Way so clearly. A shooting star went right over and Max pointed out Saturn and two of its moons. What a magical evening….certainly one we will not forget for a long, long time.


Saturday morning, Larry took us all out for brekky (the Aussie word for 'breakfast')...at the
Freycinet Lodge... a fabulous buffet. We feasted like we hadn't had a bite for days. HA! After the meal from the night before, I don't know how we took another bite.
                     The view from Freycinet Lodge was terrific! The water is simply crystal clear.




 ….we enjoyed looking out on Oyster Bay. What a sight!

Max, Liz, Robin, and Jenny packed up to head back to Launceston. We had had so much fun that we were sad to see these dear friends go.

That afternoon we hiked around to the north side of Oyster Bay taking in all the fantastic views.
 
 
I never get tired of walking on the beach and
 
                            
                                     Larry has other ideas about relaxing in the shade.

The next day we hiked around the south side going back into the Freycinet Lodge for another look around.  You can spot the lodge just across the water.
 

The rocky coast makes for spectacular scenery!
 
Monday we took a road trip passing through some scenic villages..... Swansea and Lisdillon stopping at Spring Beach.
                                      The road south reminded us of New Zealand.

It was a lovely day….lots of sunshine and very summer like according to a gentleman that we spoke with on the beach. Tasmania has frequently changing weather systems so the sunshine can disappear to black rain clouds in a matter of an hour....and visa versa. We were fortunate to have a totally awesome sunshine day from start to finish.


 

Did I mention the speed limits in Tasmania? Every little town and in many unannounced areas, speed cameras are set up to catch drivers who go over the speed limit. A speeding ticket can just show up in your mail.
 This is tricky because there is not much warning….it just suddenly goes from 100 to 60. Most Tassies adhere to this easily, because they claim to not have ever had a ticket. We found it hard to adjust your speed at the blink of an eye…. There was no chance of daydreaming while driving down the Tasmanian highway.

We stopped and took a walk through these gorgeous healthy ferns to reach Spring Beach.
Spring Beach was a nice break from the winding roads south.
 
Maria Island can easily be spotted from this pristine beach.
 
From Spring Beach we followed a road that turned into OMG… 40 kilometers of dirt and gravel. It was a slow go but very rewarding to pass through the Wietangta Forest with 200 year old trees...a very nice setting.
                        The trees in the Weitangta Forest were just incredible.
On we went  passing through Copping and Eaglehawk Neck (a gorgeous view of the Tasman Sea).

OH...the sights we saw along the way....llamas who only showed their backsides...
 
the cutest fluffiest black and white sheep....
 
and all kinds of warnings to watch for the Tasmanian Devils...who never appeared.
 
 

From there we reached our destination, Port Arthur right next to the Tasman National Park.















After a picnic lunch we went into the park and took a nice walk through the museum.  Port Arthur was built to be a mill and Granary back in the early 19th century. It changed into a penal station in 1830 becoming a timber getting camp. From 1833 it was used as a penitentiary for repeat offenders. Here 2000 convicts, soldiers, and civil staff lived making it an industrial settlement that produced masonry stones, bricks, furniture, clothing, shoes, boats and ships.

 
We took a harbor tour passing Point Puer Boy’s Prison and the Isle of Dead getting striking views of the Tasman National Park’s endless green forests.  Port Arthur is on the World Heritage listings.





                Point Puer Boy's Prison












                                                                           Island of the Dead....Cemetery for Prisoners

                                                    Tasman National Park

We  headed back up the road to Coles Bay bypassing the dirt/gravel roadway traveled earlier. We arrived back in Coles Bay just in time to see the sunset over Oyster Bay.
                                              What a beautiful sight to end the day!

On Tuesday Larry and I went on a bushwalk...a Tasmanian hike... Up the Hazards on the Wineglass Track. My Oh My!....It was straight up!













Wineglass track leads to a crest of the Hazards with fabulous views of Oyster Bay and Wineglass Bay, huge granite boulders, and sightings of the cutest little wallabies hopping about. This hike is one of the most popular ones in Tasmania.   








 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                         Wineglass Bay
                              What a remarkable rock formation!


                                            A shy little Wallaby
 
One our last day in Tasmania we took a side trip through Bicheno, a lovely little seaside town north of Coles Bay….
 
 
lots of rocky coastline and
 
picturesque fishing boats anchored in the bay.
 
 
 
 
 
 
After a walk about the town, we continued north driving by lots of scenic coasts turning off to head west to St. Marys. We passed through the loveliest forest and mountainsides called Douglas Apsley National Park. It was simply beautiful. We stopped for lunch in Avoca….fish and chips. After lunch we drove west to Conara  and then headed north to Launceston.
 
Here we went out to the Tamar Island Wetlands, a 3.2 km walk. It was a little thrilling to see all the signs that said to watch out for the snakes…Yep, I was definitely on the look out!



 
                                                             1916-2016
 
The visitor center had great displays …

Wombat, kin to the Koala


 
 








 
 
 
  raptors,
 
 
 
 
Tazmanian Devil 
 

It was interesting to see pictures of an extinct Tasmanian Tiger....It seemed incredible for a tiger to be this far south of the equator….when tigers today are only found north of the equator in India or Siberia.



Our trip north ended at Max and Liz’s Launceston home. From there we jumped into the car and headed to Robin’s Australian home…She and her husband, Steve, had bought Robin’s family home years ago.

 
 
 
The home dates back to the 1800’s and is definitely a marvelous piece of history. Incredible high ceilings, sweeping wrap around porches, beautiful fire places, fabulous wood workings, antiques everywhere, and huge manicured gardens displayed the TLC that had gone into keeping this family heritage in fine working condition. It was simply brilliant.
 
Robin and Max went to work putting together yet another fabulous dinner. A fine pumpkin soup, rye bread, Greek salad,  eye round of roast, scalloped potatoes, carrots, green beans, mixed with a few glasses of that Tasmanian sparkling wine beside a nice fire made for a relaxing fun evening.
 

                          Larry admired the 1969 Velocette Motorbike sitting in Robin's shed.
Larry enjoyed a nice phone conversation about the  Velocette bike with Robin’s husband, Steve, who is on a brand new ship off of Maylasia…being the head engineer, he is testing  it before delivery to the buyers.

Robin's home sat high on the mountainside above the Tamar River....stunning views!

Brie, raspberries, dates, dried grapes, and figs were the final order of the day….but there was little room in the tum-tum for any of that. We said our final goodbyes to Robin and headed just down the road a mile or so to a warm cozy bed and final dreams of Tasmania in Max and Liz's villa.
 

                Thanks to Max and Liz for making our Tasmania adventure so memorable.
Thursday we board our flight back to Sydney to catch the cruise ship, Holland America, Noordam. Life is  reallllly GRAND!!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

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