Tasmania

So another night in the beach car park and at 03.30 my alarm goes off, so so tired but we just threw some clothes on and headed for the airport. Found the car park where we are leaving the Tarago easily and by 05.00 we are at Melbourne airport waiting for our 06.00 flight to Hobart, Tasmania. Hats off to the pilot of our Jet Star plane as he announced that there is thick fog over the airport and was going to attempt to land if not we were going to another airport. First attempt wheels went down and we had nearly landed but we then shot up like a rocket and most passengers made some strange noises. The pilot then announced that we couldn't land cos he couldn't see a thing, very reassuring. Anyway around we go again and try again and this time he done it and I have never been on a plane when everyone applauded the pilot.

Headed to pick hire car up from Budget and we have a brand new Kia Rio, not a bad little car. We headed for our hotel to see if we could check in as we needed a shower after sleeping in the beach car park for 3 nights, but they said no, after 2pm. 

Off we head for Hobart city center for some breakfast and a look around, as it was early on Sunday we could only find McDonalds. We walked around the dock area, Salamander Square and the few shops that were open but not much else we could do. 

Mt Wellington is just outside Hobart and as it was warming up a bit that's where we headed. At the summit it was bitter cold but the sun was out, the clouds were amazing up there as they were moving very fast around the summit. Never seen anything like it before. We spent about an hour walking around the rocky plateau, in some areas there was snow and in the winter it's completely covered. Feeling very tired now and headed back to hotel to check in and a scrub up, hotel is more like motel but it has a bed and shower, luxuries for us. Lasagne was for dinner but we hit a hitch when the microwave blew and everything in the room did as well. Think we should go to bed now.

Up nice and early as we are driving over to Port Arthur and Unzoo. We pulled up outside Unzoo and it didn't look up too much and at $34 each thought it was over priced but by the end it was money well spent. We got to stroke and feed kangaroos, a lot of them had babies in their pouches as well. This was really good and you could spend as much time in the field with them as you liked. The zoo's main purpose is the conservation of the Tasmanian Devils, due to the drop in numbers due to the tumors they develop in the wild. These tumors are cancerous and they die within months of getting this cancer, but in the center they are breeding them but can't release them back into the wild until this disease is cured. They also have Eastern Quolls there which are of the same family as the devil, the bird display is very good too. We spent about 2 hours here and didn't regret the visit.

From here we headed to Port Arthur the world heritage site that was used as a prison from 1833 to 1877. This was also an expensive place to visit at $37 each and by the end we were happy to spend that amount. The site consists of the old prison, church, officers quarters and asylum with separate prison. We also got a walking tour for 30 minutes which just outlines the history of the place. Just off the coast there is two little islands which one was used as a crematory and the other was used for the young convict boys. A ferry takes you around the bay and tells you the history of the bay and the small islands. We left Port Arthur at 5.30 as the drive back takes 1.30hr even though it's only about 60 miles away. We found a Pizza Hut at the end of our junction so that's where we headed for our dinner, pizza and garlic bread take away, really nice.

Had a lie in and didn't hit the road until 9.30 where we headed for Tasmania's oldest and most popular national park, Mount Field. You have to pay $24 per car but that's for 24hrs and can be used in any parks. We wanted to see Russell Falls which were just a 10 minute walk and really nice waterfall, from there we walked to the Horseshoe Falls again a good place. This park is fall of massive swamp gum trees, the tallest in the world and you get to walk through them. From there it's a 2hr walk to Lady Barron Falls which are the best of all the falls and worth the walk. Back at the center we had some lunch and jumped back into car for a 16km off road drive up the mountain to Lake Dobson and then a 2hr walk up to Lake Seal lookout on the Tarn Shelf of Field Mountain. We were 1233m up and it was great with the view of the lake below and the snow around the peaks, during winter this is a ski resort. The walk down was a lot quicker and by the time I got back to the car I was shattered from walking up mountains all day. 

Sally promised me some flat walking today, said we would go to Wineglass Bay, one of the best beaches here. So after a 2hr drive to the Freycinet National Park we discovered you have to climb up a mountain to the view point which was amazing and the walk down to the bay. The bay was lovely just a bit windy but we still managed to have our picnic there. Once my strength was back we had to walk back up to the view point to then walk down to the car park, it was very hot too so my energy levels had got pretty low. All along the track we did encounter wild wallabies with their joeys, so funny seeing them poking their heads out of mummies pouch.

The sun had dropped by the time we were driving back so we drove quite slow so to avoid any wildlife that was around. We had a wallaby hopping along side the road at one point but even worse was coming around a bend and one just sitting in the road. We slowed down and waited for it to move, you can see now how so many of them get killed on the roads.  

Our last day in Tasmania and where else to go but the Cadburys factory and then to the Mona Museum. Cadburys was good, it was just a presentation and not a factory tour but we did get given a goodie bag and off course we had to buy some chocolate.

Onto the Mona Museum, well they call it the museum of new and old art, I call it crude and crap and a waste of money. The guy who created the museum made his fortune with online gambling and built this, the worlds largest privately owed museum. Think he could of spent his cash on some better works of art.

Our trip to Tasmania is over and driving about 1,000km we never got to see everything but I think we covered the best of Tasmania in the short time we were here.