03.03.2012
After a late night we still got up early, finished packing our backpacks as well as bringing all the bedding inside the car. We cleaned a little and after placing the rest of our things inside the car, we had to say "Goodbye" to the Huon Bush Retreat our home and retreat for the last week.
We drove for about 50 minutes to Hobart and parked close to the "Salamanca Market".
The market is every Saturday from the morning 9.30am until 3 pm. It was lovely to just wander through the stalls and see the great art and delicious food. We ended up having a "Bratwurst" for lunch and a Crepes with Nutella and banana for dessert. Robert also saw a Digerido earlier at the market and wanted to go back to buy it. We didn't have a chance to compare the prices as we haven't seen a store or another stand, but the price sounded very fair. The owner was from an Aboriginal tribe which crafted this digerido and he also explained us the story told on the painting of it. After asking if he could give an even better price, we got another 10$ off. He told us that we would probably pay the double price in a store and so we bought this beautiful digerido (it turned out that he was right with his statement). Just shortly before the market closed we were ready to move on.
We got the car and drove out of Hobart and tried to find a supermarket on the way out. We did not find one close to town but on the way to the Tasman Peninsula we found a "Coles" were we bought food supplies and lovely Australian red wine.
Just before we drove on the Peninsula we were able to stop and enjoy a wonderful panoramic view. We continued the drive and had some more nice stops.
Tasman Arch
Devils Kitchen
Robert found a lovely spot on the side of the road, next to the beach for the night. It was exclusively for us. There was even a place to have a fire, so we decided to have a barbie. We had foil potatoes, foil mushrooms and small steaks grilled on thick iron sticks that Robert cleverly rapped in foil so we can use it as grill. I can only say it was delicious. The food too, not only the wine.
The night was extremely windy and rainy and we were really lucky to be able to sleep in the back of the car. Unfortunately the attached top part was not waterproofed, so it dripped inside from the side and the edges of the mattress got really wet. But there was enough dry space for the two of us to sleep comfortably.
04.03.2012
In the morning it was still raining quite hard and we waited for the moment it was a little less to get changed into our cloths and drive to a covered picnic shelter we saw the day before close by. We had breakfast there and planned to drive north with the hope the weather would get better.
By the time we reached Richmond the clouds started to give way to some blue sky and sunshine and it even got hot. There we walked to the river and saw the oldest bridge of Tasmania that was build by convicts. We also strolled along the main road filled with small shops in historic buildings, all with their own little charm.
On the way to the east coast we passed the "Spiky Bridge".
We walked along a beautiful beach.
We found a camping ground at the "Freycinet National Park" where we saw some surfers doing some great tricks on big waves in the cold water.
We walked along a beautiful beach.
We found a camping ground at the "Freycinet National Park" where we saw some surfers doing some great tricks on big waves in the cold water.
Note: can anybody explain this sign to me? Does it mean that kangaroos do oil pit stops and lift your car up? Or should it mean that there is some kind of strange connection going on? Well, please help me!
05.03.2012
One of the main attractions of Tasmania is "Wineglass Bay". It is not exactly sure were the name came from apperently. It could have the following reasons:
It is shaped like a wine glass.
It has the crystal clear water of a wine glass. Or.
During the whaling time the water was red like red wine from all the blood of the whales, which got slaughtered in the bay.
As there was blue sky and sunshine we walked to the "Wineglass Bay" viewing point first as we did not know how the weather would be in a few hours. We enjoyed an amazing view and walked back to the entrance of our main hike.
The Hazards Beach Walk was about 6 hours, through nice shaded bush and along the stormy "Hazards Beach" were we had lunch and continued our way around a bend to Wineglass Bay Beach where we spent 1 hour enjoying the sun and watching the friendly Wallabies making contact with the humans, willing to be photographed by everybody.
Close to the National Park we found this lovely Oyster Farm where we had a seafood platter with Oysters, mussels, smoked salmon and octopus for our 2nd lunch with a glass of local Riesling.
For the night we stayed south of the Bay of Fires at a campground close to the beach at Scamander Forest Reserve.
06.03.2012
On our way up north we stopped at the St. Helens Info Center to trop of more leaflets from Huon Bush Retreat and to get some information ourselves. From there we entered the beautiful Bay of Fire from the north and drove all the way to the Gardens to have a wonder around at the windy beach. We also tried to dry our mattress that got quite wet during another rainy night.
We drove to a cheese factory at Pyengana and tried some lovely cheeses and continued our drive towards the St. Columba Falls where we had a nice short walk to see the falls.
We decided to go to our campspot to put silicon at the car so we would stay dry during rainy nights. Robert bought the cheapest gun and had to work hard to get the silicon out. After Robert finished we even put the rain cover over the car (just in case).
07.03.2012
After breakfast we walked along the north side beach of "Bay of Fires" before we packed everything together and drove to the Eddystone Lighthouse at Mount William National Park where we had a wonder around over an Aboriginal site.
We drove through Scottsdale and stopped at the Info Center and drove next to Launceston. We parked the car and walked around, but it was just after 6 pm and everything was closed, so the only option was window shopping and enjoying the buildings.
The night we were hiding our car in a recidence area behind trees to camp at Swan Point. Nobody got upset with us and we were able to enjoy the full moon through the windows of the car.
08.03.2012
First thing we did in the morning was to drive to the Tamar valley Info center where we were able to plan our hole day out.
First we went to Mores Hill Winery where we tried some Award winning wines. As it was still kind of early in the day we decided to go to a museum next before we continue our wine tasting in the Tamar Area. We got recommended to go to the Beaconsfield Mine & Heritage Centre. It was a hands on museum and we had a lot of fun and even found out that a few years back some miners got caught underground in a small cage after a small earthquake collapsed the tunnel to get out. They were captivated underground for 14 days before they were freed.
In the PMs we were only able to visit two more wineries: Goaty Hill & Holm Oak. Especially the second one was great. The lady who provided the tasting was full of passion and lot of fun. They had a pig that would sit for an apple.
Along B71 we took a left turn to go to a reseve and do the "Notley Fern Gorge" walk.
We still had a drive ahead to get to the "Narawntapu National Park". We arrived at dusk and the short scrups left and right of the road looked alive, there were so many, wallabies, kangaroos and I even saw my first wombat. We had to really drive slow and careful not to hurt any of the animals.
Around the information center of the park was a lot of open land with lush grass that was full of wallabies, kangaroos and many more wombats. We even were able to get up close for pictures and just enjoy how cute they are.
At the campground we had a lovely dinner and a campfire.
09.03.2012
We did a short walk at the Narawntapu National Park called "Springlawn Nature Walk" to see more wildlife, the lake and birds.
We rushed through Devonport to get to Burnie, Somerset to see more friends of Robert. We found the house of Jodi and I met Caroline and Rob later that day.
We had a great BBQ at Jodi's place and burned a tree in the fire pitch till the late hours of the night to stay warm and because it was so much fun. We enjoyed the nights rest in Jodi's comfortable bed.
For more pictures click on the following link: East Coast
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