SUPER VARIO WORLD

Hello from the high seas – we’re now on board the Spirit of Tasmania, crossing the Bass Strait back to Melbourne and hoping this crossing will be less “lumpy” than our original. Last time it was a night crossing, so we booked a nice little cabin to lie down in, which helped prevent any real sea-sickness from the constant rolling. This time it’s a day crossing, so we haven’t wasted money on a cabin – hopefully they’ll be fine with us lying like starfish on the floor of the main lounge!

We’ve had a great last week in “Tassie”. On Sunday we had a farewell BBQ hosted by Martin & Charlotte’s friends, Brett & Annette, which was great, not least as Bry got to eat his favourite dessert - pavlova. Mind you, he needed the calories as he had spent the morning kayaking about 14KM down the Huon River and was a bit knackered!

On Tuesday it was a sad farewell to M&C and the girls. Every time since, when we have seen a sign to Hobart, we have had a pang of sadness not to be heading back there – you really made us feel at home – thanks again guys!! 

So back on the road, we bumbled along the East Coast, stopping at Richmond (in honour of Caroline’s family, quaint almost Cotswold style town, oldest bridge in Australia, 1825), Swansea (for Bry’s family, lunch on the beach) and then into the Freycinet National Park, camping at Friendly Beaches. Here the sand is squeaky clean – literally, you walk on it and it squeaks – very bizarre. Next day was off to Wineglass Bay, apparently one of the top 10 beaches in the world, but you can’t drive there. It was a great half-hour hike to the lookout with stunning views of the perfectly curved bay. It was then an hour’s return hike to the bay itself, which was a bit disappointing up close, leading Caroline to surmise that the Wineglass name must be because it looks inviting to start with, but disappointing once you get to the bottom! Then it was off to Bicheno (pretty fishing village and a blowhole) and another campsite next to white, squeaky sand at Lagoon Beach.

We had hoped to carry-on up to the North East corner and also do a treetop adventure, zip-wire thing, but time was running away from us and we needed to get over West to Cradle Mountain, the main National Park in the state. So we headed inland, leaving the rugged coast for green rolling hills, then open moorland, then some more hills, a few rivers, then some mountains, you get the idea – it’s a varied landscape. We ended up on a campsite next to a pub at Mole Creek that has a resident platypus. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the platypus, we spent our time in the restaurant, he must have been in the bar.

Cradle Mountain is iconic in Tasmania. It’s not the tallest mountain, but its shape makes it the most recognisable and the surrounding lakes make it so photogenic. The national park is huge and merges with other parks which mean most of the west of the island is unspoilt wilderness. We spent a good few hours doing different walks around lakes and along rivers, enjoying the sunshine – we were lucky to be there on a clear-ish day and could actually see the summit. We were promised wombat spotting, but they all eluded us – again. We still haven’t seen a live one in the wild, yet they’re meant to be everywhere!  We did see a Tasmanian Devil, dead in the road, like most of our wildlife spotting has been here. Road-kill is everywhere, we spotted 12 dead wallabies in our first morning on the island and countless other piles of fur. We went for a bike ride the other day and in places it was hard to breathe due to the stench of dismembered marsupials. It was a nice ride though and we bumped into a German couple who had shipped their vehicle from Thailand – they also had their rear number plate stolen, just like us! They weren’t carrying a spare though – Ha! Now who’s the most organised?!

Just to explain some of the photos, there’s a bit of a “thing” in Australia for building “big things”. So far we have seen a big penguin (in a town called Penguin), big cricket wickets, big cherries, a big apple, a big platypus. Some are to advertise a business, or commemorate a famous resident and some just seem to be random. Anyway, we like them and hope to find more, so stay tuned for more photos of us awkwardly standing next to stuff.

So it’s back to the mainland (or “The North Island”) where we will be paying another visit to Cousin Simon to see Auntie Chris who is over from the Isle of Wight. Just a one night stand this time, before we’re off towards Sydney, via Canberra.

Finally, Happy Anniversary to Bry’s sister Michelle and hubby Nick, and Happy St David’s Day to all our followers in Wales (that’ll be you Uncle Frank!)

Hoo Roo!