Last few days in Hobart.....

After a long but leisurely drive from Strahan we arrived in Hobart. We stayed at the same hotel as when we arrived in Tassie as it was such a nice place and in a central location.

We took advantage of being in the town on Friday and went to the cinema to see the film "Australia" - it was a good movie but not the best we've seen - it was interesting to see some of the Australian landscape and lucky for us on Saturdays there is the famous Salamanca Market - an open-air event with an alternative feel and wonderful local food, including colourful fruit and vegetable stands, and buskers; stalls focus on local crafts, particularly woodwork using distinctive Tasmanian timber (often recycled), and there's lots of bric-a-brac and secondhand books which we found particularly helpful!

After the market we had a fish and chip lunch overlooking the harbour and whiled away a few hours people-watching.....

Our last day on the island and lucky for us the sun was still shining! We were staying overnight at a hotel near the airport but as we didn't need to get there until early evening we decided to explore the area between Hobart and the airport side of town - we ended up in Richmond on the Coal River, about 25km north of Hobart and surrounded by undulating countryside, scattered with wineries, and is apparently, one of the oldest and best-preserved towns in Australia.

Most of the buildings there are plain and functional stone dwellings - dating from the 1830s and 1840s, and many of them are now galleries, craft shops, cafes, restaurants and guesthouses.

We picked up a free leaflet and map which details all the buildings, the most authentic is the sandstone, slate-roofed Richmond Gaol, an intact example of an early prison. The gaol is set around a leafy central square and is quite pretty.

Richmond also has both Australia's oldest Roman Catholic church (1837), and its oldest bridge. The graceful arched stone Richmond Bridge was constructed in 1823 under harsh conditions using convict labour.

Toward the end of our visit we wandered alongside the Coal River where we spotted several geese and ducks all with chicks which was a real bonus!

And so back to Hobart......

We headed back East via the Lyell Highway which took us through Queenstown, a mining centre since 1883 it looks like a typical mining town, with identical tin-roofed weatherboard houses. Its infamous "lunar landscape" is chilling evidence of the devastation that single-minded commercial exploitation can wreak in such a sensitive environment. Approaching from Strahan we were confronted by the hideously ugly copper mine - the road then winds up around bare, reddish-brown rock. Damage already done has had an impact that will last some four or five hundred years - a real contrast to the natural beauty so evident elsewhere in Tasmania.

Heading east from Queenstown, the Lyell Highway enters the Franklin Lower Gordon Wild Rivers National Park - the drive through took us through temperate rainforest. From here the road began to wind and rise up and as it was a fine day we were able to see the white-quartzite dome of Frenchmans Cap. (the most prominent peak in the Franklin Lower Gordon Wild Rivers National Park). At Surprise Valley Lookout we had a good view of the valley and, across to the southwest, another excellent aspect of Frenchmans Cap. We continued down, and came to King William Saddle, another fine lookout point with views of the King William Range to the south and Mount Rufus to the north.

We continued our journey through this World Heritage Area marvelling at the contrast in scenery; arrow-sharp crested ranges of white quartzite cut across buttongrass plains. After a couple of hours driving we arrived at Lake St Clair where we had decided to stop for a break and take one fo the walks around Lake St Clair before continuing our journey to Hobart.

Lake St Clair lies at the southern end of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Carved by ice during several glaciations over the last 2 million years, this is the deepest lake in Australia.

As our time was limited we undertook several of the shorter lake walks - first we took a stroll to the viewing deck, beach and jetty which gave us views across the lake and provided panoramas of Mounts Olympus, Rufus, Ida, Hugel, Little Hugel and the Traveller Range. We then made our way along an easy walk which followed the crest of a glacial moraine for part of its route and took us through eucalypt and then rainforest to the junction of the Cuvier and Hugel rivers. There were many wildflowers, including acacia, waratah, hakea, orchid and leatherwood in flower.

Finally, we walked the 1 hour Platypus Bay circuit which offers views of the lake and the mouth of Cuvier River, and the chance to see platypuses - sadly, they were too shy on the day of our visit.

One (more) of those very special moments...

Whilst here in Australia we have been so very lucky to enjoy a number of memorable moments - it seems that each new day brings a new experience whether it's a bird that we haven't seen before, a flower that is new to us, an amazing sunrise, a walk alongside the vast ocean....big or small, the experiences have all been remarkable and life-changing. And, they continue.......

Our final night in Strahan we took a short road trip out to Ocean Beach, at 30km, the longest beach in Tasmania but the wild waters are not safe to swim in. We headed out at around 7pm our plan to have a picnic supper overlooking the ocean before dusk when, we were told, you can observe the marvellous sunsets and watch the migratory muttonbirds roost.

We took a brief walk on the beach but it was very windy (and a tad chilly!), so we returned to the car where we had our picnic supper and, later true enough we watched the sun setting magnificently and then at around 9pm, muttonbirds came from all directions returning to their nests in the sand dunes - it was a sight we will remember for a long time - truly special.

Strahan and around

Strahan was our next port of call after Cradle - it is the only town and port on the west coast and sits in the huge Macquarie Harbour (over 6 times the size of Sydney's harbour) and site of Sarah Island, a harsh secondary convict settlement in use between 1822 and 1830.

Once we had off loaded our luggage we went out to explore the local area and made our way to Hogarth Falls - a lovely rainforest walk which culminates at the Falls which were quite spectacular, especially as there had been quite a bit of rain over the past few days.

We spent the next day cruising the Gordon River - we left Strahan on the "Lady Jane Franklin II", a beautifully appointed vessel. After leaving Strahan we crossed Macquarie Harbour to explore Hell's Gates, where the harbour meets the ocean. A lonely lighthouse guards the channel - to the north, the broad sands of Ocean Beach stretch away for kilometres into the distance.

We glided back across the harbour to the mouth of the Gordon River, our cruising speed dropped as the vessel is purpose-built to create a low wake, so the riverside environment remains pristine. We moved quietly upstream, passing dense rainforest, unchanged for thousands of years. Ancient trees were perfectly mirrored in the Gordon River's dark waters, stained amber by buttongrass tannins, but apparently pure and pristine to taste.

From the jetty at Heritage Landing, we followed a boardwalk which threads its way into the largest tract of temperate rainforest surviving anywhere on Earth.

Our next stop was Sarah Island. It was here convicts were confined in harsh conditions in the1820s, before the establishment of Port Arthur. We walked ashore and saw the ruins of the settlement.

We then boarded again for the return trip to Strahan - it was an unforgettable cruise.

Dates.........

In case any of our readership are wondering......the dates you see on our blog for each entry do not necessarily correspond to the activities etc we are recording! Given that we always seem to be playing catch up (not quite sure where the time goes!), the dates on the blog entries are invariably the date we've updated the blog - confused? We are!

Day out in Cradle Mountain National Park on the first day of Summer……

We awoke to clear blue skies and yet by the time we were ready to leave the hotel it was snowing!! A good start to summer! After that we experienced a mix of torrential downpours, hail and snow storms, interspersed with glorious (and warm), sunshine!!
They had warned us that the alpine environment here in Cradle was unpredictable and that we could potentially experience all the seasons in one day and so we did!!

Not to be put off we headed for the car park at the end of Dove Lake with a view to hopefully, taking a few snaps of the mountain (cloud cover permitting), but had resigned ourselves to the fact that we may not be able to complete the Dove Lake walk which at around 6km would take us on a circuit of the lake with splendid views of the mountain and surrounding scenery………………

Our guardian angels had obviously been working overtime(!) as not only did the weather behave itself with long periods of warm sunshine and clear skies but the mountain was all the more majestic, revealing itself to us slowly as we made the circuit walk and by the time we had completed the round trip she was free of any low cloud, all her peaks visible.

During the walk we were impressed by the flora and fauna - all of which were new to us - we saw plains of button grasses, King Billy Pines - tall and quite spindly pine trees, a number of colourful alpine flowers and plants, heathers and some amazing palm-like trees which seemed out of place in this alpine environment but beautiful nonetheless.

The waters were clear and there were several stunning waterfalls on the surrounding hillsides - some of the lake water was brown in colour and we discovered that this is a result of the tannin released from the many button grasses but, the water is fresh and good to drink.

When we had completed the Dove Lake walk we stopped for a light lunch and then made our way to the nearby Waldheim Chalet…….a King Billy pine chalet built by the Austrian-Australian Gustave Weindorfer in 1912, and now a museum devoted to this man who loved this wilderness.


We saw a couple of wombats as they made their way across the button grass to feed and several lovely wallabies basking in the afternoon sunshine and munching on the grasses…

Tomorrow we leave for Strahan……watch this space!

The West Coast.............

Sunday 30th November 2008

After a splendid 3 weeks living in Launceston and having said our farewells to Susan and Robert and their lovely family of dogs, Ebony, Evie, Maxi and of course the cat Buddha we made our way to Cradle Mountain - the start of our week long tour of the West coast of Tassie.

Our home for the next 2 nights would be Cradle Mountain Chateau - an hotel on the fringe of Cradle Mountain National Park and the World Heritage Wilderness area. (www.federalresorts.com.au).

The Cradle Mountain area enjoys world wide recognition for breathtaking scenery, wilderness walks and flora and fauna in close proximity.

It was an easy 2-hour journey from Launceston to the Cradle Mountain National Park and, despite the drizzle and grey skies the surrounding scenery was very impressive.

Our hotel lived up to our expectations and an additional bonus were the delightful Christmas decorations! Which, along with the cooler temperatures and lovely log fires made us feel quite Christmassy for the first time this year!

After checking in and off loading our luggage we headed out to explore……..
First, we followed the short-circuit rainforest walk around the hotel where we were lucky enough to see a couple of carrawong (crow-like birds with white tips on their wings), another gorgeous echnida (dells got the best pic yet!), and a lovely wallaby.

We then made our way to the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre a modern facility providing a wealth of information about the National Park, walks available and the history of the area.

We decided to start from here with a gentle boardwalk circuit through rainforest and overlooking Pencil Pine Falls - the falls alone were seriously impressive but add to that the greenery of the forest - thousands of years old, the fresh air smell, huge grey gums, pencil pines and more, and we were overwhelmed by the natural beauty surrounding us - we did keep an eye out for platypus but alas, none were to be found!

We made our way along boardwalk and through similar rainforest and beautiful heather groundcover and shrubs with vibrant red flowers until we reached the Knyvet Falls - thundering beneath us water gushed into the river below - it was a beautiful sight.

On our return we had our first sighting of the most gorgeous wombat!! As he waddled across the road in front of us we whipped out our camera and managed to get a couple of shots of him munching on grass - they are much bigger than we thought and look like the most cuddly bears - adorable!

Woolmers Estate

Warm sunshine and blue skies encouraged us to venture out for yet more exploring! We ended up at the Woolmers Estate, a property along the banks of the majestic Macquarie River. Settled in 1817 by Thomas Archer and continuously occupied by the Archer family until 1994 - it is one of the most outstanding examples of 19th century rural and colonial settlements in Australia.

The original homestead was built in c. 1819 with an Italianate front added in the early 1840s.

Woolmers Estate is entered in the Tasmanian Heritage Register and is of outstanding cultural and historical significance.

The Woolmers grounds include a National Rose Garden and Traditional Kitchen Garden.

The combination of the collections, artefacts, antiques, machinery, outbuildings, main house, gardens and property and its ideal setting made for one of our most enjoyable heritage attraction visits.

Campbell Town & Ross

The Midland Highway between Hobart and Launceston more or less follows the old coaching road and we took this route to Ross, stopping briefly at Campbell Town to admire the convict-built road bridge. We drove south through sheep grazing countryside (merino sheep are farmed here), eventually turning off the highway to Ross, like Campbell Town originally settled by the Scots.

Ross has a very secluded, rural feel; elm trees line the main Church Street, creating a beautiful avenue, while paddocks with grazing sheep stretch alongside. Old stone buildings along the idyllic street are well preserved. From the grounds of St Johns Church of England, one of the town's three pretty churches, there are views of the Macquarie River, spanned by the sandstone Ross Bridge.

We explored the town and walked from the church down to the original Ross burial ground and past the site of the Female Factory, actually a prison, where women convicts were held before being sent to properties as assigned servants.

Ben Lomond National Park

The plateau of the Ben Lomond Range, over 1300m high and 84 square kms in area, lies entirely within Ben Lomond National Park and can be seen from where we are housesitting!

The drive out to the National Park took about an hour and then we had to drive over gravel roads to reach the lookout - however, the view, the scenery and the alpine vegetation are magnificent and well worth the effort.

Tamar Island Wetlands

The Tamar Island Wetlands Centre is just outside of Launceston and we visited on a very windy Sunday afternoon! The Tamar Island and the amazing wetland habitat that surrounds it were well worth the visit although we didn't see as many birds as we had hoped.

At just over 70km the Tamar is the longest estuary in Australia. It is tidal throughout its length and has a range of three metres. We followed the 1.5km boardwalk to Tamar Island and whilst there was limited birdlife the views of the Tamar Valley were spectacular.

When we reached the island we found remnants of European settlement, including exotic trees such as oaks, firs and spruce.

The walk we followed took us through a waving, rustling sea of reeds and rushes - we saw plenty of black swans but no fish, skinks or snakes! We could hear the many frogs that inhabit the fresh water lagoon in the wetlands but did not see any of the several species that live there.

At the shallower lagoons we saw some white-faced heron and great egrets togethe with the remnants of the convict-built levee banks and the original fence posts.

The trees that we saw were the swamp paper-bark and they are the only native trees remaining in the reserve. Paperback forest is an endangered community in Tasmania, as most of it has been cleared over the past 200 years. The Tamar Island Wetlands has one of the best intact paperbark forest areas in the Tamar Estuary.

At the third bridge crossing we could see the remains of the metal steam dredger which is now a favourite resting place for cormorants and egrets. On the bridge itself we could see lots of regurgitated objects as many birds use the bridge as a night-time roost. Pacific gulls especially leave behind bits of glass, sweet wrappers and string - we also saw other pellets containing the bones of fish, small animals and carapaces of crabs.

Cataract Gorge Reserve

Our day out to the Cataract Gorge was another treat for the senses! A beautiful and sunny spring day made our enjoyment of this magnificent area of bushland complete!

The Gorge, formed through a series of large scale geological dramas over many millions of years, is quite remarkable. The Reserve's 192 hectares include grasslands, woodlands, dry forests, wet forests and wet gullies. The Gorge was once roamed by the Tasmanian tiger and continues to be a sanctuary for native wildlife.

The first Europeans were amazed by the Gorge's natural beauty. In 1804, aboard the Lady Nelson, explorer William Collins described it as the most beautiful scene in the world and by the 1890s, it was developed as a resort for the citizens of Launceston, in true Victorian style.

There are numerous walking trails and we enjoyed several, with lookouts, the world's longest single span chairlift, suspension bridge, an open air swimming pool, free BBQs and picnic lawns, a restaurant serving the finest Tasmanian produce, and a cafe with magnificent views.

In the Cliff Grounds there is a band rotunda where we watched peacocks strutting about the graceful Victorian gardens among towering conifers, exotic deciduous trees, azaleas and rhododendrons.

Bridestowe Lavender Estate

Bridestowe Estate is one of Tasmania's icons. Rich in history, and surrounded by breathtaking scenery, Bridestowe we had been told was a "must see". Sure enough the surrounding countryside en route to Bridestowe is beautiful and reminiscent of Devon in many ways, green rolling hills, sheep and horses grazing, winding country roads - the journey was lovely however, it wasn't until we arrived at the Estate that we found out that lavender blooms in December and this was the 17th November!! So whilst we got to see row upon row of lovely compact lavender it wasn't in bloom which was a real shame because pictures and photos in the Gift shop show how beautiful the place is when the vast, vibrant purple flowers are in full bloom.

We could not be disappointed though as the views were still worth the trip and the shortbread and cakes (made using lavender oil!), were delicious!!!!

Sunday Market at Evandale

Evandale is 20km southeast of Launceston and it is a National-Trust classified town from the 1830s - the Sunday market is a long-running event. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours browsing the stalls and even managed to bag a few bargains (3kg Sundowner apples for 3 bucks!!). There were over 100 stalls and this included some selling local organic produce.

After our stroll around the market we explored the local town which is very pretty. Most of the old buildings bear descriptive plaques but we also picked up a free Heritage Walk brochure from the local Information Centre which was very useful. Evandale we discovered is also famous for the three-day long National Penny Farthing Championships as part of its Village Fair.