A Day in Tasmania

On the first day of 2012, we caught the shuttle from the Falls Fest back to the Hobart Airport in the morning. We had a rental car booked for the day (not cheap!), and our flight back to Melbourne wasn't until 9pm, so we had a full day to explore Tasmania. I knew we wouldn't have time to make it over to Cradle Mountain (where most tourists go), but I wanted to see something Tasmania was known for. So after a huge buffet breakfast at a casino in the town of Hobart (to wait out the rain), we headed out to Freycinet National Park. The first thing I noticed was that Tasmania only has a few main highways that run through the country, and the roads are extremely windy with very narrow lanes. It made for kind of scary driving, but the land was pretty. There were lots of sheep in green pastures and beautiful, remote beaches. 

On the way, we pulled off the road to stop at a little winery. It happened to be Freycinet Vineyard, and they've won some pretty major awards for their wine. We enjoyed a tasting; their 2010 Pinot Noir was especially good.

After about two and a half hours, we finally made it to Cole's Bay at Freycinet National Park. Our mission was to walk to Wineglass Bay, and that's what we did. This bay is considered one of the top ten beaches in the world. It's supposedly shaped like a wine glass, though I don't really see it. I think it's a gem because it's so remote; you can't drive to it. This picture is from one of the lookout points. 

Other than the water, the hike was rather Colorado-ish with big boulders and such. Of course, we were surrounded by eucalyptus trees instead of aspens!









We walked down to the beach to get a closer look. The orange on the rocks reminded me a lot of Squeaky Beach at Wilson's Promontory. The water was a beautiful shade of blue, but when I saw hundreds of little blue bottle jellyfish (and some big clear ones) washed up on shore, I had no desire to swim at this beach!

This wallaby was hanging out on the beach. It was very friendly; I think tourists feed it. We saw another one on the trail right before the beach as well. Overall, it was a decent hike, and it was cool to see Wineglass Bay and say we were on one of the top ten beaches in the world.

On the drive back to the airport, Zack spotted an emu in the field on the side of the road, so I finally got to see one in the wild. They are such strange, big birds! We stopped in a little town for some fish and chips (for me) and fresh oysters (for Zack) and talked about how Tasmania is basically a miniature version of Australia with a nautical feel. In fact, Hobart reminded me a little bit of Seattle.

Originally we thought we'd have to make another trip back to Tasmania sometime to really see the state and get the Tasmanian experience, but we both felt satisfied with our short trip. Yes, it would have been cool to visit Cradle Mountain or tour the Cadbury Chocolate Factory (they weren't open on New Year's Day), but there are so many other places we'd like to see in Australia and beyond, so I think we've crossed Tasmania off our list.

Everyone wants to know if we saw a Tasmanian devil. The short answer is no. The long answer is that they are extremely rare to see in the wild because a facial tumor disease that has been spreading and decreasing their population. You can go to wildlife centers and such and see them there, but we'd already seen them at the zoo and Maru Animal Park with my family, so we didn't take the time to see them in Tassie. So yeah, that was our day in Tasmania and our start to 2012!

Hiking Near a Deadly Snake

On Sunday morning, we awoke with our sunburnt faces and shared our breakfast (of cookies) with some pretty birds. Then we packed up our camping gear and decided to head out for a hike.

The campground is next to Tidal River, which connects to Norman Beach. There was a huge flood at Wilson's Promontory in March of this year, so several trails and such are closed for repair. But we were able to hike to Norman's Point from the beach, and it was beautiful.

Here I am checking out the beautiful blue water of Norman Beach.

As we were heading down the trail, we ran into an Australian couple who warned us about a tiger snake they had seen along the path. Being an ignorant American, I asked if tiger snakes were dangerous. Um, yes. Apparently they are aggressive and their venom can kill you. Welcome to Australia!

When we found it along the trail a few minutes later, Zack quickly took a few pictures with my zoom lens while I tried not to freak out, and we ran past it quickly to continue our hike. Apparently this one was "only" a baby; I would not like to come in contact with its mother!

This is looking down from the end of the trail at Norman's Point. The churning water looked like shaving cream, and yes, some of the rocks are really that orange. I was surprised at how many islands there were out in the ocean and how mountainous (hilly) this region of the country was in general.







Wilson's Promontory is a beautiful area of Victoria. I definitely want to come back once more of the repairs are finished; it seems like there could be a lot to explore. We had a fabulous weekend with so many awesome Australian experiences: a kangaroo hopping across the road, sharing Shiraz around a "barbie," wombats walking through our campsite, boogie boarding on white sand beaches, and hiking near deadly snakes. It's weekends like this that make me realize and appreciate the adventures we're able to have in another country. Until next time...

Blue Mountains

On Sunday we headed to the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. They actually do look blue, apparently because of the eucalyptus oil combining with the atmosphere to create a blue haze. It was kind of a trek to get out there, because they were working on part of the train route, so we had to take a bus for about an hour, wait for awhile, and then take a train for over another hour. But it was worth it. We started by walking through town and checking out the Three Sisters. This is a famous rock formation, and all of the tourists were there.


Then we started our hike (or bushwalk as they would call it here), and it was quite the hike! We went down the Giant Steps (all 900 of them-seriously), walked through the oh-so-green rainforest, saw several waterfalls, heard lots of noisy birds, and went back up a trillion more steps as part of the loop. We only saw a few people once we got away from the big staircase down into the valley. The whole thing took us a few hours, and our legs felt the results of those darn stairs for several days afterward! We felt like we were climbing a 14er in Colorado, huffing and puffing and wondering when we would ever reach the top. Maybe we're just out of shape (quite possible).

 

On our long walk back through town to the train station, we stopped in a little place for some Chinese food. Much to our delight, the prices were completely reasonable, the quality of the food was excellent, and the portions were large. You don't find that winning combination in Australia very often! We both fell asleep on the train and bus ride back to town and woke up sore the next morning. I think the Blue Mountains are a pretty cool place to visit if you have a spare day while visiting Sydney. We're kind of spoiled brats because we compare everything to the mountains in Colorado (and not much compares), but we were impressed with the waterfalls and green plants growing everywhere. It was also nice to just get out of the city. We sure did miss Molly the Trail Dog though; she would have had a blast out there!