Tasmania

Waking up at 5 a.m. to catch a flight may not seem like the perfect way to start a short holiday, but it was in the case of our 2 day trip to Tasmania, or Tassie as everyone here calls it. We arrived in the state capital of Hobart around 8 and picked up our rental car. This was Abigail's first bit of driving this visit and she came through perfectly. We headed off on a tourism circuit known as River Run which took us through a National Park. We went on a series of walks (surprise surprise) and to our delight we saw some spectacular scenery including three waterfalls and some wildlife running across our footpaths. Although wary, the wallabies seemed OK with us getting close enough to snap some pictures. All this was in the context of walking through a Gum Tree forest boasting the largest flowering (deciduous) plants on the planet. These gum trees aka eucalyptus treess grow to be 100 metres tall surpassed only by the California redwwods which are coniferous. The final waterfall was spectacular and by itself would have been worth the trip. The waterfall was probably 30 metres across and fell in two stages, top and bottom. totaling 120 metres or so. We left the park and continued on through some quaint villages stopping for tea and scones in a lovely little inn on the way back to Hobart. We got to the hotel in time to book a "Rivulet Tour". I will let Abigail describe that process.

Prior to leaving for Hobart our literature talked of a Rivulet Tour, where you would get to spend time walking under the buildings of Hobart, learning about the early history of the city. The tour is given only two days per week – so the day we arrived in Hobart was our only chance. Needless to say, it turned out to be one of the more obscure tours one could take. Only because it is given through the city council. The phone number given to call about the tour is actually the local convention bureau and they know nothing about the tour bookings. Our hotel receptionist made sense of things told us to get to the city council’s office … and off we ran. At the city council’s office we were told to line up with the other folks – folks there to pay their utility bills … by the time we saw a teller, the tour was about to start. Turns out no one else had booked that day (wonder why?) and so they were not operating the tour. We went to find a pub instead.

Hobart is a pretty, town with a Canadian Maritmes feel to it. It is situated under Mt. Wellington and next to the ocean giving it a look not unlike Vancouver. The architecture is decidely English with many inns and cottages in the Battery Point neighburhood. We took Wednesday morning to wander around and then set off for a six hour tour on the convicts trail. I decided I liked everything about Hobart. Abigail was less enthusiastic, but liked it all the same.

The Convict trail was truly spectacular with some of the most beautiful scenery. It exceeded our expectations completely. We saw natural bridges (build by the ocean crashing into the walls), a sea floor (cannot think of the name right now) that looked more manmade than natural. We did see a Tasmania devil, but only as roadkill. At the end of the trail is the town of Port Arthur. It is sealed off and so you have to enter after paying a fee. It looked well worth the money but also at least a day’s adventure – as we had a plane to catch, we could only take a picture of it from a far. Upon leaving Port Arthur Kevin had read that “roaring beach” was spectacular. We followed a sign for it … down a very narrow and somewhat treacherous road … never to find it … we could hear it … and went into the roaring beach conservation area – but after climbing a steep sandy hill, we only found a pool of water, no beach … to this day we are wondering how one gets to the beach …

We spent the last of last week wandering around Melbourne … more on that in the next installment. Today (Valentine’s day) we are going back to the Mornington Peninsula to play some golf. We booked a room at the Cape Schanck Lighthouse (in what used to be a lightkeeper’s cottage) – there are only three such cottages … we were told to bring a flashlight … this will either be amazing or horrific … more on our return …