Tasmania 2024

Another cool morning here at Cradle Mountain but the sky is clear again so we had a quick breakfast, packed the car and headed back to the Visitor Centre. The trip up the road was crowded (being the first bus away) but we were only going to the first stop about 2km up the road. We spent just over an hour walking a couple of the short walks near the Peppers resort. The light and temperature was perfect for walk in the bush walks and the waterfalls impressive. We didn't see any Platypuses but the stream looked perfect for them. The photo below is Pencil Pine Falls. Can you spot the Wallaby in the next photo? Once back at the Visitor Centre, we popped in to their café for a coffee and ham and cheese Croissant for second breakfast. Then hit the road heading for Strahan. Along the way we diverted to the Tullabardine Dam on Lake Mackintosh. This is a hydro lake with camping and boating options. We drove to one of the campsites and talked to a family who were there to celebrate their son...

When we arrived here yesterday the weather was bleak to say the least. The temperature was probably around 3C but the wind chill made it feel like 10 below. This morning the temperature outside was -1C at 7 am but the weather was fine and clear. The forecast was for a high of around 15C so we seem to have picked the right day for a long walk. We boiled some eggs for egg mayo and packed the ham and bread from yesterday's shop and loaded up our bags with warm tops and rain coats (just in case). We only had Miriam's small backpack which can hold her raincoat and a bottle of water. I chose the colourful Woolworths reusable shopping bag for the lunch and my other clothes. Very stylish but Miriam thought I looked like Roy Cropper! They no longer allow cars (except by special permit) into the park proper and run about 8 shuttle buses along the very narrow 20 minute drive from the Visitor Centre to Lake Dove from 9am till 5:30pm. We took the bus to the top and walked the circuit of Lak...

After a breakfast of scrambled eggs in our room (rather than paying $25.00 each for a fancy continental breakfast from our host) we loaded up the car again and headed west along the coast. There are some lovely beaches in this part of the island but the wind made it too cold to even think about a swim! We detoured off the main road and descended to Boat Harbour Beach. It has a beautiful white beach so we wandered around a bit and took some photos. After a coffee in the Surf Club Café we carried on towards Stanley. Stanley is on a small peninsula culminating in what is called 'The Nut'. This is an ancient lava lake solidified into a Basalt plug with the surrounding volcano eroded away. It is a large flat rocky headland about 170 m tall and 2km around the perimeter. While there is a chairlift to take you to the top, this was not running due to high winds. The alternative is a three stage zig-zag path which is quite a steep climb of about 80m over a 430 m of path. I chose to do th...

Arriving at Penguin we found our accommodation in the main street across the road from the beach. It is a quaint old private hotel which used to be a bank. The owner is a very chatty European chap who has obviously lived in Australia for many years. He assured me that the one hour parking restriction where I had parked would be fine. The council has been told in no uncertain terms to back-off when it comes to discouraging tourists with things like petty parking fines! We shall see. The nor 'wester is blowing pretty cold here but we managed a stroll up the Main Street and back via the beach-side walkway. The town as named Penguin after the Fairy Penguin when it was settled in the 1860's. Everywhere you look there are Penguin-themed statues and rubbish receptacles etc. We returned to the Hotel and tried the complimentary sherry and port before heading out again to the Penguin Brewing Co. for dinner. Nothing fancy but a nice friendly atmosphere. We both had burgers and washed them...

 Next stop was Beaconsfield where the old gold mine is now a museum. There is an extensive display about the rescue of two miners (a third tragically was killed) after two weeks trapped under a rockfall. The only thing that saved them was a metal cage they were travelling in. The rockfall was caused by a small earthquake. During our visit the skies opened outside and the temperature dropped dramatically so the outside exhibits didn't get much attention from us. Especially since I was wearing my shorts and jandals! Tonight we are staying in Penguin which is couple of hours drive away so we headed inland then back out to the coast and on through Devonport. Not far from Beaconsfield we stopped for lunch at a local vineyard (Moores Hill). This was very nice place run by a young couple. They are totally off-grid and their cellar door does tastings and platters. We opted for a platter plus the tasting (I shared this with Miriam as I was driving) and we ended up buying a bottle of their C...

 Overnight we had some pretty wild weather with thunder and very heavy rain. Its also quite cool again. We had more cereal and toast for breakfast and packed up for our next drive along the coast to Penguin. First stop was a photo of the Batman suspension bridge and then on to Beauty Point for the Platypus and Echidna house. We  were a bit early for their 10 am opening so drove on to a nearby café to get a coffee and something to eat. There wasn't much on offer so we opted for scrambled (for Miriam) and fried (for me). It wasn't very busy but these relatively simple requests took about 30 minutes to produce and were very disappointing. I had to cut off the hard frilly, edge bits of my eggs and the toast was only cooked on one side. To add insult to injury there was no Wi-Fi available due to some technical issue in the area. I thought Platypus display would be like a natural environment with bush and a stream but it turned out to be a large shed on the wharf. We were both pleas...

 George Town is at the head of the Tamar River estuary. This is navigable all the way up river to Launceston but large ships don't go that far. It is a very dangerous waterway with many rocks and shallow channels so piloting has always been a big thing here. It has the second oldest pilot service after Sydney. We toured the Low Head Pilot Station museum which was run by a very chatty and knowledgeable chap. The old-style diving suit was quite incredible. That's a 40lb lead weight around his neck. You wouldn't get me in one let alone dropping down to 300 ft! Next stop was the Low Head Lighthouse. This is at the entrance to the estuary and there are many other navigation markers all along the route upstream. In the picture above we are descending down through an area used by Little Blue Penguins. None in residence at this time of day though - just a couple of skittish Wallabies. Next stop was the Mt George lookout which gives expansive views over the whole area. Feeling pecki...