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.