Cradle Mountain, Launceston, Bicheno, Coles Bay and Freycinet National Park

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair is Tasmania's best known national park. It's just teeming with dramatic mountain peaks, deep gorges, lakes and wild moorlands. We only had time to stay here one night and were lucky enough to stay in one of the cabins actually in the park. Whatever time of year you visit the weather is always cold and wet. We were told on average it rains here seven days in 10, is cloudy eight days in 10, has all-day sunshine only one day in 10 and snows on 54 days each year. However, we had a great little gas stove in the cabin and spent a very cosy evening there just wildlife spotting from the window.

The next morning was gorgeous - so on with the boots and out amongst it!

Every country seems to have a 'crater lake'. This is another one - not seen at its best because of the weather up there, but still a marvellous sight.

The weather had changed a few times during the day (note the rain coats on). This was a sunny spell in between the storms. This is Dove lake with Cradle mountain in the background.

This is the formidable Cataract Gorge in Launceston. Here,near-vertical cliffs line the banks of the South Esk River as it enters the Tamar. The area around the gorge is a wildlife reserve. Launceston also has a very plush hotel that does half price cocktails from 6pm to 7pm - they even serve two scruffy backpackers like us!

Cataract Gorge looking from the gorge back to the bridge.

This is Keith demonstrating that he is still 'action man' and can climb a tree - nee botha!

This is a view of Bicheno from my vantage point on top of the tree.

This is a view from Coles Bay with the 'Hazards' in the background.

This is the beautiful 'Wineglass Bay' (sorry the picture is so small - the reducing software got carried away). This was quite a hike to get to this lookout point through some of the most amazing mountain tracks - the boulders were so big - most of them were the size of an English house (that's a two storey house - probably a detached, definitely not a bungalow. A cottage would be too small, unless of course the cottage had an upstairs extension. It could be a semi-detached if you include the garage and some boulders were definitely the size of a town house).

This should be a lovely big picture so you can see how gorgeous theColes Bay is - I may publish the picture again when I get the chance.

This was about 5:30 in the morning. The photos were taken from Cape Tourville near to where the lighthouse is.

Some more pics from around the national park.

This was looking back on the national park from about 50Km down the road, such a beautiful part of the island, again would have loved to stay longer.

Tasmania - Heading south west

This was the first day of a four day trip. This is me and Elvis at a place called Terraleah. There's a huge power station here which uses the water EIGHT times to create hydroelectricity ...then you eventually get to drink the water! Anyway - nice views eh! The next picture is the rugged landscape of the shanty town of Queenstown, nothing much grows here, it's a bit like moonscape. Years of mining has blitzed the landscape.

This is 'iron blow open cut', my family will look at this and think of a little place we used to visit as kids, we called it 'The Lagoon' (near Leyburn) but really it was very similar to this - a disused quarry. We were nasty kids then and used to throw stones at the ducks way down below, a game fondly referred to as 'Bombay Duck'.

This is Hogarth Falls in Strahan, a lovely little walk with a treat at the end. My wife and I thought a formal pose would do very nicely thank you.

Another boyhood dream came true in Strahan as we took a ride on a seaplane. Didn't get to fly that time but the ride was spectacular nonetheless! We actually landed in the Gordon River to take a walk into Aussie's largest temperate rain forest and visit 'Sir John Fall's - the landing was so smooth we hadn't realised we were on the water! When we landed the pilot then sped up and we blazed down the river in a kind of speed plane-boat kind of thing, I could have done a spot of water skiing.

You can see the salmon farms here - big business in Tasmania.

The river water has so much tannin in it from tea trees that it looks like jet black marble. You can see the reflection in the water as we come down to land

Note the life jackets - just in case you end up in the drink!

Trips around Tassie

This is our mode of transport - the 'Ute' (short for utility vehicle). There isn't a clear view from this picture - but if you could see the left rear mud guard, you'd see some quality workmanship from yours truly! So off we toddled in the Ute to Port Arthur.





On the way there we checked out some of the incredible coastal formations at Eaglehawk Neck.

Take these for example - you're wondering why have they put a picture of a pavement on the blog - well... this is a very rare phenomenon, this is called the Tessellated Pavement, which is a natural occurrence on the coast line.



Further along the coast is Tasman Arch and a little further the 'Blow Hole' - but it wasn't blowing at the time so there's no picture!

This is the rugged coastline leading into 'Devils Kitchen'

This is one of the cells in 'the separate prison' at the historic site of Port Arthur. It was used from 1830 up until 1877 as a prison for 'repeat offenders' i.e. you only came here if you had been to one of the others first. It was the first prison to attempt to rehabilitate the offenders by teaching them trades etc - but if that didn't work then they just lashed them with a whip or put them in solitary confinement. The person in this picture is in solitary for setting fire to his sister's friend's fence at the tender age of eleven!!

This is a special church for those in solitary - note how there's separating boards so no prisoner could see another one, but could only see the priest. Also the wearing of big blue hats was banned!

This is the main penitentiary - a lot of the area was damaged by fires - hence that 'burnt out' look.





This is the port looking back from the 'Island of the Dead' (a small island where the prisoners and staff where buried - the prisoners in unmarked graves of course!).

A Pied Oyster Catcher!

Tasmania - Part 1 (expect a sequel)

'Tassie' (as us locals call it!) is a breathtakingly beautiful island and we're so pleased that we had the opportunity to spend some time there and see a little of the island - as usual just not enough time! It's a outdoor lover's paradise with lots of wildlife, wonderful national parks and superb beaches with crystal clear waters. Another added bonus is the climate, it's much cooler than the mainland making getting out and about much easier.

This is at the marina in Oyster Cove near where our friends Rick and Doreen live. We decided to do a spot of sea kayaking here which we really enjoyed.







This is Elvis singing 'Hawaii 5 o' at full speed - just about to 'ram' the innocent photographer!

This is the ex-photographer closing in to ram the new one!

Rick and Doreen very kindly lent us a vehicle so we could get out and about whilst we were staying with them. The next set of photos were taken on Bruny Island. We caught the ferry next to the marina from the port of Kettering and 30 minutes later we were on the island. Bruny Island is almost two islands joined by an isthmus (also known as a 'skinny bit'). As you can see there is some superb coastal scenery - check out those beaches and lots of picturesque walks.

This is the 'Skinny' bit of the island - you can see both sides of the beach. Notice - hardly anyone else there! You can still lie on the beach here, but you have to be a little more brave to swim - the water is much cooler.

This is the end of a walk that winds its way along the coast to this point here, which leads off to the open sea.

This is a little blue Wren - it made us think of our pal Jenny Wrenny!

For a small island there are some wonderful dense forest, this is a walk around the trees (the Mavista Nature Walk) in the middle of the island

This area was covered in sea birds - as we approached the sand bar they all took flight. It makes a nice change for us to pester the seagulls.

Happy New Year!

A 'Happy New Year' to all our family and friends, here's wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2008!

We spent New Year in Victoria with Justine and Ben, a lovely couple who we meet whilst cruising in Fiji. This is Justine, Ben, Elvis and I toasting you all, hoping everyone has a great 2008!

PS We know it's cold at home and you're all tucked up inside. Think of us too as we spent some of the day inside as we were unable to cope with the temperature of 42 degrees!

Newsflash!!!!!!!

Newsflash - it's a new thing, normally we try to keep the blog in date order, but when something like this happens, we have to blog it immediately!
Hands up if you've ever wanted to fly a plane! (I [Keith] have got both hands up). Well it happened for me today, thanks to Justine's parents David and Pam. I had the most fantastic experience and even better because I never expected it.... but first some recent history! We're in Bendigo, Victoria (about 2 hours north of Melbourne) with our friends Ben and Justine who we met on the Captain Cook cruise in Fiji. Justine's Mam and Dad own a light aircraft and David offered to take us for a flight over the Murray Riverm and surrounding areas. So here we are getting in the plane at the airstrip in Echuca, Victoria.




This is Justine and Suzanne in the back of the plane. Justine, the air hostess is demonstrating to the fellow passengers of 'White Knuckle Airlines' the correct procedure for using the 'sick bag' (thankfully it was NOT required).










This is us cruising at 2000 feet looking down the meandering Murray river, north of the river is New South Wales, south of the river is Victoria. The ride was just a little bumpy due to the heat outside - it was 41 C (that's about 106 F) this causes lots of thermals and 'thinner air' which equals 'bumpier ride'! The scenery was fantastic.









But wait... who's that at the controls!! Captain Hodge!! I think every red blooded male must wonder what it's like to fly a plane - I can tell you it is an amazing feeling. I was just asking David some casual questions about flying and he said - "Well, why don't you try - take over the controls, the plane is yours"! So with a mixture of excitement and sheer fear I flew the plane for about 10 minutes - it was class, I even did a big sweeping turn - it just feels amazing when you turn the handle and the plane rolls over and starts sweeping round. David can fly the plane with just one thumb - unlike me - note the 'vice like grip' I've got on the steering column!

Suzanne and Justine enjoying the ultra-smooth flight piloted by Captain Hodgson - or had they just had too much of the 'duty free'?

This the approach towards Echuca on the way back to the airstrip.

David is flying now as things get a little more difficult coming in to land - you need to fly past the runway 3 times, reduce altitude to 1000 feet, put the landing gear down and check all 3 green lights come on, slow speed to 80 knots and use the flaps.

Final approach to the runway, we touched down with hardly a bump - an absolute expert landing!

This is the four of us taxiing back to the drop off point. Can you spot the really happy face bottom left corner? You'd think he'd been flying a plane or something!!

And this is us back on TerraFirma! The only thing left to say is a big thank you to David for making a wish come true! We all had a fantastic time. We left in the car for Bendigo and Pam and David got back in the plane and flew home to Cohuna - can you guess who got home first?


Ps Justine - I hope you're not reading this at work!!!