Work, Save, Travel, Repeat...

Friday The fire risk is still high so the National Park is off limits again although it is nowhere near as hot today, thermometer topped at around 30 degrees and now a very pleasant 26 degrees which makes a cold beer taste just great. We headed out to Coles Bay this morning for great views of the Hazard Mountains... ...and then on to Bicheno. A beach town known for it’s Penguin colony (although they are out at sea all day and come back to their burrows and chicks at dusk) and a blowhole which is spectacular when the sea is rough but it still managed to catch me out with a rogue spray! We walked to the Whalers Lookout which gave great views, during the whaling industry Aboriginal women were employed (because of their good eyesight) and the whales were hunted almost to extinction! Today there is just a cacophony of crested Tern nesting on Governor Island and an odd Australian Fur Seal basking on the rocks. Just around the coast was Rice Pebble Beach ...

Thursday We had a relatively small drive today to Freycinet National Park which is our last stop in Tasmania, we have almost completed our circuit of the island. Our first stop was at Scamander Lookout which appeared to be a normal sandy beach but it has an unfortunate history, in 1843 The Packet ship Charlotte floundered here and two sailors drowned, a decade later another ship sank on a nearby island where the survivors found a boat and made their way ashore here but were unlucky enough to run into a group of policemen looking for outlaws who shot three of them dead. In 1981 183 pilot whales beached here in a storm, despite frantic rescue efforts only a few survived. The National Park is on a narrow peninsula flanked with golden sandy beaches, sparkling blue sea with the Hazard Mountains running down the spine. Our lodge is near the top of the peninsula and unfortunately for us most of the park is closed today and tomorrow due to the extreme heat which has led to there being...

Wednesday Today is a travelling day from the North of the island to the East coast. This area is very remote with very few settlements, no towns, fuel or shops. It is a good job we bought supplies and our lunch before we left Launceston. We drove many miles on gravel roads which felt like we were rally driving! Our first stop was at Mount William National Park, where we walked the track to the top - only a little mountain but I was a bit slow today. Great views from the summit though. Then another drive to the coast which is known as the Bay of Fires because of the huge rocks that are covered in vivid orange lichen. We were there at high tide which meant not all of the rocks were visible. Going into St Helen's town for dinner tonight. 15,800 steps, 7 miles

Tuesday Cataract Gorge is just a 10 minute drive from our hotel and we weren't sure whether to expect a tacky theme park (one of it's major attractions is a chairlift) or a place for someone with poor eyesight but in fact it is a huge natural canyon on a most impressive scale. Huge vertical and horizontal fault lines met in the Jurassic period (145-200 mya), causing the fractures in the columns of Dolomite that we see here. It is hard to describe the scale of these rocks, they really are colossal. The Aborigines believe they are warriors protecting their spirit and some of them really do look like tall bodies with heads on top. The South Esk River looks very benign today and a few hardy souls were swimming in the first basin and playing on the rocks but the area can be prone to flooding as the catchment area for the river is 15% of Tasmania. There are two suspension bridges that traverse the gorge, one at First Basin and another at Duck Reach and both have been...

Monday We have thoroughly enjoyed our time at Cradle Mountain and returned to the National Park this morning to complete the last substantial work to Pencil Pine Falls and the Dove Canyon Circuit 6.5 km. This was a rough track rather than a boardwalk which suited us well except for one very steep and rocky section that came with it's own health and safety warning. Unfortunately as we were walking on the steep sides of the canyon we couldn't actually see into it. The weather was improving today so although it was a chilly start we did shed a few layers of clothing. After lunch it was time to move on and head to our next stop in Tasmania's second City - Launceston. As Australia Day was on a Sunday today is a Public Holiday so the City was deserted. Our hotel is right on the shores of the tidal River Tamar, with bars and restaurants around the harbour, unfortunately we don't have a river view room, but we do have a fantastic suite. An after dinner st...

Sunday Happy Australia Day. We have had torrential rain all night and the forecast for today isn’t great but by 10.00 O’clock it had settled to a light drizzle, so we set off to the Cradle Mountain National Park again. We took the shuttle bus as far as it goes to Dove Lake where we did the a 6.5 km circular walk, we could easily have been walking in the Lake District around Rydal Water. With the right amount of clothes i.e 5 layers including my new insulating soft shell layer that I bought in Hobart and a wind/waterproof coat it was a great walk. Apart from a few showers which blew through really quickly it remained dry so we decided to extend our walk to Wombat Pool and Crater Lake – we were actually enjoying ourselves! From Crater Lake there was another extension and another 200m climb (we were already at 1000m above sea level) to Marion’s Lookout which boasts the best views of Cradle Mountain and the whole park. The climb was steep and the wind was blow...

Saturday Today we have had the rain that was forecast yesterday, even the barman says "you must be feeling at home with this weather" Not torrential rain but fine rain that soaks you through, and obscures the scenery, which is a shame. Our first stop of the day was at Henty sand dunes which are the largest dunes in Tasmania, 15 km long reaching heights of 30 meters, great for sand-boarding and ATV's. The sea is actually about 6 km away, we could see the huge waves from a nearby lookout. We drove through a couple of one horse towns looking for some supplies for our next two nights in room only accommodation but couldn't find anything suitable, we may be living on crisps and Tim Tams? We arrived at The Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village at lunchtime and checked into our cabin, it's a bit like a very small Center Parcs without any of the activities but it is very close to the Cradle Mountain National Park. We refueled with a couple of meat pies, took the...

Friday. The weather forecast for Strahan today wasn't good, prolonged rain showers with a strong wind warning, 14 degrees C but feels like 10! I thought we were coming to Oz for a southern hemisphere summer!!!! I needed some retail therapy for some warm clothes so I headed to trendy Salamanca Place and bought a couple of hoodies while Col went to collect the hire car before we checked out of the hotel. Unfortunately the hire car had a very rattly dashboard which had driven us both completely mad within half an hour, after unsuccessfully trying to fix it we tried phoning the depot to see if there was an alternative car available but kept getting the airport branch. We decided as we have this car for over a week it was worth a try returning to the city and asking for an alternative, this was a result and we have been upgraded to an SUV. Soon we were back on the road and the 300 km drive to Strahan almost entirely on twisting single track roads although there was hardly any t...

Thursday Hobart is a cool city surrounded by sea and mountains, although the latter were shrouded in cloud today. There are many reminders of the convicts that were transported here in the 19th century, also expeditions to Antarctica departed from the harbour. Our walking tour visited the waterfront where we are staying to the impressive Town Hall and Parliament building, then to Battery Point, the chic oldest residential part of the city where we stopped for coffee and cake in the renowned Jackman and McRoss bakery. Arthur Circus has a circle of elegant houses with a garden in the centre, an island with a difference. Next a side street with a community library in someone's mailbox and maybe a "Banksy" on the wall. The walk finished in Salamanca Place which brought us back to the harbour. In the afternoon we followed a stream through the Linear Rivulet Park to the Female Factory - a penal factory just for women, the conditions looked ver...