December 11
I am on the ferry steaming away from Devenport heading back to Melbourne, I am leaving Tasmania, finally. Not that I hold anything against the state or it's people, in fact I like the people, always friendly and talkative, but it's weather, leaves much to be desired. We have been there for 2 weeks, and it rained the whole time. I can count the times I have seen the sun using only 2 fingers. I miss the sun, I miss the feeling of being dry, hell, after sleeping in the tent that one night, I would have preferred the snow, it was cold enough for it. I have to admit I probably would have enjoyed Tasmania better if we had come a week earlier, or later, or had brought my heavy duty rain gear, unfortunately none of that happened, and I leave cold, wet, and feeling almost slighted. The week before we arrived, it was hot and dry, the day we arrived 2 inches of rain, by the end of the first week we were close to 8, and it hasn't stopped. I am on the ferry, and according to the weather forecast for the island it will be 28 and sunny for the next 5 days...............I hate Tas. My experience for Tas can be summed up like so, we arrived, got wet, got wetter, got cold, saw some water falls, saw some trees, got soaked, left. If it hadn't have been for the trip to the chocolate factory and brewery, and the consumption of products made by such factory, I might have tried to swim back to the mainland last week. I have to admit chocolate and beer do miracles for moral. Anyway highlights of Tasmania, Hobart as a city is really nice, not to big, yet has enough to get by, also has 2 very important features, Cadbury Chocolate Factory, where you can pick up dirt cheap chocolate, which was very much needed, Hobart also has the Cascade brewery, which was really cool to tour. On the Peninsula I loved Fossile bay where the most powerful waves crashed in making a deafening sound which sent chills down my spine, I filmed it for later analysis. On the West side my 2 favorite features were Montisuma falls, and the drive down the old railroad bed to get into Kelly's Basin. On the North side of the state my favorite thing by far was the chainsaw carvings of the WW1 veterans in Legerwood, by far the coolest thing. Well Tas I am happy to say you are in my rear view mirror, and I think I like you better that way. Well I have to write some other blog stuff, most importantly I need to get my Convict blog together, since it is a very important part of Tasmania's history, hopefully get it written before I reach Melbourne.
Hope everyone is well.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Montezuma
December 10
Well everyone today we hiked up to Tasmania's tallest waterfall, called Montezuma falls. It is a 2 hour walk in along this abandoned railway bed to the base of the falls. It was really impressive, especially the suspension bridge they erected in front of it, which you
can stand on and get a great view of the falls from. As a bonus this waterfall also just so happens to be the worlds biggest washing machine. Here is how it works, toss on your dirtiest clothes and walk right up to the base of the falls. The spray and wind created by the falling water, blasts the fine mist right through your pants peeling all the grease and grime right off of them, it ever removed the oil and grease right out of the pants I was wearing when I installed the new shock, didn't even need soap. 
However it should be noted that getting to close may have the unforeseen result of peeling your pants right off along with some pieces of your anatomy, so use at your own risk. We also did a walk later in the day around Cradle Mountain, not bad, but nothing really special. We are camping back on the North coast a short way from the Nut and Devenport, as we leave Tasmania tomorrow, will see everyone soon.
Well everyone today we hiked up to Tasmania's tallest waterfall, called Montezuma falls. It is a 2 hour walk in along this abandoned railway bed to the base of the falls. It was really impressive, especially the suspension bridge they erected in front of it, which you
can stand on and get a great view of the falls from. As a bonus this waterfall also just so happens to be the worlds biggest washing machine. Here is how it works, toss on your dirtiest clothes and walk right up to the base of the falls. The spray and wind created by the falling water, blasts the fine mist right through your pants peeling all the grease and grime right off of them, it ever removed the oil and grease right out of the pants I was wearing when I installed the new shock, didn't even need soap. However it should be noted that getting to close may have the unforeseen result of peeling your pants right off along with some pieces of your anatomy, so use at your own risk. We also did a walk later in the day around Cradle Mountain, not bad, but nothing really special. We are camping back on the North coast a short way from the Nut and Devenport, as we leave Tasmania tomorrow, will see everyone soon. December 8
Today we went to look at some very tall trees in mount field national park (the second tallest in the world next only to the Redwoods in California. These trees were not overly wide, but man were they tall, up over a hundred meters. If you layed it down, it would take the fastest runners in the world 10 seconds to run it's length, and I imagine even longer if you made them run up the tree while it was still standing. As we walked though the trees we also went for a short walk over to Russel falls, which is what I would call a step water fall, which is where the water cascades over one layer of sedimentary rock, and then onto another one.
They are rather wide falls, not quite as impressive a Niagra, but worth the short walk. We are staying in a campground on Lake Burbany near Queenstown where it is so wet right now the grass is acting more like Muskeg than grass, everywhere you step, it seems the water comes out of the ground and pours into your shoes. At least it isn't raining. Oh ya, I just invented a game where you throw rocks at crows who are trying to steal my loaf of bread, surprisingly enough I did hit one when he landed on our cooking stove, he didn't stay there for long. He did fly away, but they did stop coming for a good 10 minutes after that. Well goodnight.
December 9
Well today we went and visited this place called East Portman, or something like that. It is an old abandoned mining town on the West coast of Tasmania on Kelly's Basin. In order to get into it, you have to drive 5km down this old railroad bed, before walking the last 8km in on foot. It was a really cool drive, because you are driving down where they cut this railroad out of this rock.
You are literally driving down between these narrow cuts of rock dug out 100 years ago, now covered in moss, and in some cases fallen in. It was really cool, and kind of freaky, but well worth it. I would love to do it again though, I filmed it for later enjoyment, whenever I successfully download my camera to my computer. I promise when I get it to work, I will allow everyone to view our wonderful camera shots. Anyway the abandoned town was kind of cool, it was completely overgrown with trees and stuff, only a couple of brick walls and 2 boilers remain behind. I unfortunately lost my sunglasses on the walk back, but I have a backup set waiting in the car. We passed through Queenstown, a mining town, that also has an old running steam locomotive that carries tourists around along the king river valley. We didn't do it, as we were busy walking into Kelly's basin. We are staying at caravan park in Zeehan, which has a kitchen as well as a lounging area, and even a TV. Quite a few of the caravan parks we have stayed at have these types of things, where they supply a kitchen and other stuff in case you stay in a tent and it happens to poor. I have to admit cooking under a roof instead of a rainstorm is very nice. It is really pouring right now, I am standing in the lounging area wondering if I could sleep in here tonight, or maybe the car. I like Tas, but I will also be happy when we get back to a warmer climate, it is only like 8 degrees outside right now, and I haven't been dry for days now. Look out Perth, I am coming to ya.
That is all for today, I will keep you guys and gals updated.
Today we went to look at some very tall trees in mount field national park (the second tallest in the world next only to the Redwoods in California. These trees were not overly wide, but man were they tall, up over a hundred meters. If you layed it down, it would take the fastest runners in the world 10 seconds to run it's length, and I imagine even longer if you made them run up the tree while it was still standing. As we walked though the trees we also went for a short walk over to Russel falls, which is what I would call a step water fall, which is where the water cascades over one layer of sedimentary rock, and then onto another one.
They are rather wide falls, not quite as impressive a Niagra, but worth the short walk. We are staying in a campground on Lake Burbany near Queenstown where it is so wet right now the grass is acting more like Muskeg than grass, everywhere you step, it seems the water comes out of the ground and pours into your shoes. At least it isn't raining. Oh ya, I just invented a game where you throw rocks at crows who are trying to steal my loaf of bread, surprisingly enough I did hit one when he landed on our cooking stove, he didn't stay there for long. He did fly away, but they did stop coming for a good 10 minutes after that. Well goodnight.December 9
Well today we went and visited this place called East Portman, or something like that. It is an old abandoned mining town on the West coast of Tasmania on Kelly's Basin. In order to get into it, you have to drive 5km down this old railroad bed, before walking the last 8km in on foot. It was a really cool drive, because you are driving down where they cut this railroad out of this rock.
You are literally driving down between these narrow cuts of rock dug out 100 years ago, now covered in moss, and in some cases fallen in. It was really cool, and kind of freaky, but well worth it. I would love to do it again though, I filmed it for later enjoyment, whenever I successfully download my camera to my computer. I promise when I get it to work, I will allow everyone to view our wonderful camera shots. Anyway the abandoned town was kind of cool, it was completely overgrown with trees and stuff, only a couple of brick walls and 2 boilers remain behind. I unfortunately lost my sunglasses on the walk back, but I have a backup set waiting in the car. We passed through Queenstown, a mining town, that also has an old running steam locomotive that carries tourists around along the king river valley. We didn't do it, as we were busy walking into Kelly's basin. We are staying at caravan park in Zeehan, which has a kitchen as well as a lounging area, and even a TV. Quite a few of the caravan parks we have stayed at have these types of things, where they supply a kitchen and other stuff in case you stay in a tent and it happens to poor. I have to admit cooking under a roof instead of a rainstorm is very nice. It is really pouring right now, I am standing in the lounging area wondering if I could sleep in here tonight, or maybe the car. I like Tas, but I will also be happy when we get back to a warmer climate, it is only like 8 degrees outside right now, and I haven't been dry for days now. Look out Perth, I am coming to ya.That is all for today, I will keep you guys and gals updated.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Good Day
December 7, 2009
So today was a good day in Tasmania. I woke up this morning, and proceeded to a garage where I borrowed his air gun to bust loose the one bolt on my shock absorber, I thanked him and then drove over to Kettering about 20 minutes away. We then rented 2 kayaks from a company called "Over 40 Ocean Going Kayaking". I love this company, for 60 bucks a piece they gave us 2 kayaks, wetsuits, drybags to store our gear, and anything else we might have needed. I have to admit, I liked these people. We went North for about 1.5 hours, and stopped for lunch on a beach. We relaxed for a while, before we jumped back in and headed across the channel to Bunel Island, 2km accross open water. I have to admit this is when I learned to love ocean Kayaking, there were some decent waves, but these kayaks have rudders, which means that it is way easier to steer these things. The rudder attach to your feet, so instead of doing all this fancy paddling, you steer with your feet, if you want to go right, all you need to do is push your right foot forward, and just like magic, you go right. The hardest part of the day was when we did the 4km trip back across the channel to the mainland, into a rather tough headwind. We returned our gear and rather tiredly found a rest stop so Chris could make supper. Meanwhile I got dirty installing the new shock, and am now happy to report that the vehicle drives a whole lot better. It was a very good day, with only one minor unfortunate brake on my part. Playing crib tonight I witnessed my enemy get a 20 point crib. He dumped 2 fives, I dumped king jack, and a five comes up on the cut, yes that hurt. Adding insult to injury, I only had 2 points in my hand. Yes I lost that game.
If you are ever in Tasmania, drive down to Kettering for a day and rent a Kayak. You will not be disappointed. I must now plan a Kayak trip along the BC coast, makes me wonder if I ever want to go back to work.
Goodnight
So today was a good day in Tasmania. I woke up this morning, and proceeded to a garage where I borrowed his air gun to bust loose the one bolt on my shock absorber, I thanked him and then drove over to Kettering about 20 minutes away. We then rented 2 kayaks from a company called "Over 40 Ocean Going Kayaking". I love this company, for 60 bucks a piece they gave us 2 kayaks, wetsuits, drybags to store our gear, and anything else we might have needed. I have to admit, I liked these people. We went North for about 1.5 hours, and stopped for lunch on a beach. We relaxed for a while, before we jumped back in and headed across the channel to Bunel Island, 2km accross open water. I have to admit this is when I learned to love ocean Kayaking, there were some decent waves, but these kayaks have rudders, which means that it is way easier to steer these things. The rudder attach to your feet, so instead of doing all this fancy paddling, you steer with your feet, if you want to go right, all you need to do is push your right foot forward, and just like magic, you go right. The hardest part of the day was when we did the 4km trip back across the channel to the mainland, into a rather tough headwind. We returned our gear and rather tiredly found a rest stop so Chris could make supper. Meanwhile I got dirty installing the new shock, and am now happy to report that the vehicle drives a whole lot better. It was a very good day, with only one minor unfortunate brake on my part. Playing crib tonight I witnessed my enemy get a 20 point crib. He dumped 2 fives, I dumped king jack, and a five comes up on the cut, yes that hurt. Adding insult to injury, I only had 2 points in my hand. Yes I lost that game.
If you are ever in Tasmania, drive down to Kettering for a day and rent a Kayak. You will not be disappointed. I must now plan a Kayak trip along the BC coast, makes me wonder if I ever want to go back to work.
Goodnight
War Memorials
December 6,
Well I left Hobart today and headed South to Kettering. We dropped by a Kayak place and tomorrow we will rent a pair and go sea kayaking for the day, should be interesting. The rest of the day we went for a drive and ended up in a little town called Cygnet, with a population of 500-1000 residents. We stopped and picked up a roast from a local butcher and then spent about 45 minutes just talking, that is something I love about staying in the small towns, everyone likes to talk and chat as long as they aren't busy, lets you learn a bit more about the area and it's people. Around 9 I went for a short walk through the town, it was short because there isn't much town, but it still has all the essentials a small town needs. Main street has a hotel, a pair of bars, a butchers shop, town hall, library, grocery store, museum, a couple other little shops, and a war memorial. I have been running into these little memorials all over the place, city's like Sydney and Melbourne build these massive monoliths, which are bear down on you, but I find that the small towns have more thought put into the little statues and figures they build. Cygnet has a little monument flanked by a artillery gun and a mortar launcher. In this little place in New South Wales there was this really cool central grassed area in between it's main road that had a monument with all the names of those who went to war from their town, and had a special tribute to 1 person in each of the separate forces, (Naval, Army, Air force). I remember the tribute to the person in the air force was to a fighter ace who died in the battle of Britian, while shooting down an enemy bomber he was so close he was hit by pieces of the exploding bomber he was attacking. There was a miniature replica of a Spitfire, with a picture of him beside it. By far my favorite war memorial was in Legerwood Tasmania. We were heading over this dirt road towards the waterfall canyon when we went through this little town of like 250 people, when my eyes forced me to halt the car and get out to look at these. Here is a little back story, In 1919 the Residents of Legerwood planted a tree for every soldier who went off to the great war and died. In 2007 the trees were inspected and the residents were informed that they were considered unsafe and would have to be removed. The locals were devastated, they loved their trees, and the memory of those they represented, which is when a white knight with a chainsaw rolled into town. He had an idea, he would carve the trees into statues of those who had fallen, giving new life to the trees. And so he created these. I think I took more pictures here than anywhere else,
I love these, by far a highlight of Tasmania. Anyway, I like how all of the small towns take pride in those who have fallen, just like they mark their day of remembrance, not on November 11 like us, but rather on Anzac day, which is the day the Australian forces landed at Gallipolli, the day they died, failed and died, but they are proud of that failure, as I heard many of them say "It was not British blood that ran at Gallipilli, it was Australian. For those of you who don't understand what happened at Gallipilli, it is best you look it up. We Canadians won our independence after our success as Vimy Ridge, they Australians got their independence when the British generals sent them to die at Gallipili. Well that is all for tonight, hopefully will get this up soon.
Well I left Hobart today and headed South to Kettering. We dropped by a Kayak place and tomorrow we will rent a pair and go sea kayaking for the day, should be interesting. The rest of the day we went for a drive and ended up in a little town called Cygnet, with a population of 500-1000 residents. We stopped and picked up a roast from a local butcher and then spent about 45 minutes just talking, that is something I love about staying in the small towns, everyone likes to talk and chat as long as they aren't busy, lets you learn a bit more about the area and it's people. Around 9 I went for a short walk through the town, it was short because there isn't much town, but it still has all the essentials a small town needs. Main street has a hotel, a pair of bars, a butchers shop, town hall, library, grocery store, museum, a couple other little shops, and a war memorial. I have been running into these little memorials all over the place, city's like Sydney and Melbourne build these massive monoliths, which are bear down on you, but I find that the small towns have more thought put into the little statues and figures they build. Cygnet has a little monument flanked by a artillery gun and a mortar launcher. In this little place in New South Wales there was this really cool central grassed area in between it's main road that had a monument with all the names of those who went to war from their town, and had a special tribute to 1 person in each of the separate forces, (Naval, Army, Air force). I remember the tribute to the person in the air force was to a fighter ace who died in the battle of Britian, while shooting down an enemy bomber he was so close he was hit by pieces of the exploding bomber he was attacking. There was a miniature replica of a Spitfire, with a picture of him beside it. By far my favorite war memorial was in Legerwood Tasmania. We were heading over this dirt road towards the waterfall canyon when we went through this little town of like 250 people, when my eyes forced me to halt the car and get out to look at these. Here is a little back story, In 1919 the Residents of Legerwood planted a tree for every soldier who went off to the great war and died. In 2007 the trees were inspected and the residents were informed that they were considered unsafe and would have to be removed. The locals were devastated, they loved their trees, and the memory of those they represented, which is when a white knight with a chainsaw rolled into town. He had an idea, he would carve the trees into statues of those who had fallen, giving new life to the trees. And so he created these. I think I took more pictures here than anywhere else,
I love these, by far a highlight of Tasmania. Anyway, I like how all of the small towns take pride in those who have fallen, just like they mark their day of remembrance, not on November 11 like us, but rather on Anzac day, which is the day the Australian forces landed at Gallipolli, the day they died, failed and died, but they are proud of that failure, as I heard many of them say "It was not British blood that ran at Gallipilli, it was Australian. For those of you who don't understand what happened at Gallipilli, it is best you look it up. We Canadians won our independence after our success as Vimy Ridge, they Australians got their independence when the British generals sent them to die at Gallipili. Well that is all for tonight, hopefully will get this up soon.Santa Rides A Harley
December 5, 2009
Today we were standing at a street corner when Santa rode by on a Harley Davidson, followed by Donner on a Beamer, Blitson on a Kawasaki, Prancer on the yellow crotch rocket, Dancer was riding the classic Black Shadow, Vixon was relaxing on a Can-Am, and I swear Rudolf was bringing up the rear on a shining red Honda. Antlers proudly displayed, all were bearing gifts, to the children of Hobart, but maybe I am confusing you a bit, let me start what I found out later. When standing at the street corner we witnesses about a thousand motor bikes of all shapes and sizes came rolling into town, and many of them were dressed up as santa, reindeer, and in a couple cases, even Elmo.
What I was witnessing was an event called toy ride. It is a fundraiser in which a whole bunch of motorcycle riders get together and make a whole bunch of noise riding into Hobart. Essentially any motorbike in Tas is fired up and ridden into hobart by old boys, riding their toys. Everyone says it is a fundraiser, in which many people bring in children's toys and donate them to charity, which they do, but from the way everyone acted, it was more a reason for everyone on 2 wheels to get together to show off their toys, some things never change. It was still a really cool thing, the noise was almost as loud as the waves that were crashing at fossil bay. I have never seen that many motorbikes together in one place at once, there were some real classic bikes, some really fancy bikes, and more importantly some very funny characters riding them. Many individuals dressed both themselves and their rides up in the Christmas spirit, some as reindeer, some in santa costumes, and with some surprised looks from the crowd, even a couple of Elmo's were riding shotgun. But to give them credit, they did bring in quite a few toys to donate to the Salvation Army. Everywhere I looked there were motorbikes parked in the street and their riders laughing in groups in the bar, I imagine a couple people I know would have been drooling at some of the masterpieces sitting on the side of the road. Anyway, it was really cool and served the double purpose of letting old boys show off their toys, and allowed the salvation army to raise money and toys for the less fortunate allowing everyone dressed as Elmo to have a ball at the same time, why didn't we think of it before hu? Anyway heading out of Hobart tomorrow, and won't be back in cell phone or Internet range until probably next week. Goodnight.
Today we were standing at a street corner when Santa rode by on a Harley Davidson, followed by Donner on a Beamer, Blitson on a Kawasaki, Prancer on the yellow crotch rocket, Dancer was riding the classic Black Shadow, Vixon was relaxing on a Can-Am, and I swear Rudolf was bringing up the rear on a shining red Honda. Antlers proudly displayed, all were bearing gifts, to the children of Hobart, but maybe I am confusing you a bit, let me start what I found out later. When standing at the street corner we witnesses about a thousand motor bikes of all shapes and sizes came rolling into town, and many of them were dressed up as santa, reindeer, and in a couple cases, even Elmo.
What I was witnessing was an event called toy ride. It is a fundraiser in which a whole bunch of motorcycle riders get together and make a whole bunch of noise riding into Hobart. Essentially any motorbike in Tas is fired up and ridden into hobart by old boys, riding their toys. Everyone says it is a fundraiser, in which many people bring in children's toys and donate them to charity, which they do, but from the way everyone acted, it was more a reason for everyone on 2 wheels to get together to show off their toys, some things never change. It was still a really cool thing, the noise was almost as loud as the waves that were crashing at fossil bay. I have never seen that many motorbikes together in one place at once, there were some real classic bikes, some really fancy bikes, and more importantly some very funny characters riding them. Many individuals dressed both themselves and their rides up in the Christmas spirit, some as reindeer, some in santa costumes, and with some surprised looks from the crowd, even a couple of Elmo's were riding shotgun. But to give them credit, they did bring in quite a few toys to donate to the Salvation Army. Everywhere I looked there were motorbikes parked in the street and their riders laughing in groups in the bar, I imagine a couple people I know would have been drooling at some of the masterpieces sitting on the side of the road. Anyway, it was really cool and served the double purpose of letting old boys show off their toys, and allowed the salvation army to raise money and toys for the less fortunate allowing everyone dressed as Elmo to have a ball at the same time, why didn't we think of it before hu? Anyway heading out of Hobart tomorrow, and won't be back in cell phone or Internet range until probably next week. Goodnight. Saturday, December 5, 2009
Tas So Far
December 3
Ok, so I haven't blogged for a while, not because I haven't been doing anything, rather it has been to wet to pull out my computer, so this may be a long blog, so please feel free to poor yourself any required refreshments, grab a bag of cookies, and perhaps use the bathroom first.......................Ok, here, we, go.
We took the ferry across the Bass strait from Melbourne to Devenport. The ferry left at 7:30pm under overcast skies with the odd rainstorm mixed in. We spent the time mostly walking around the ship, taking in the night air. I caught the last 15 minutes of Ice Age 3, before sitting down to watch a movie about the early years of Queen Victoria, which turned out to be rather good. Anyway, shortly after, around 1:00 in the morning, we retreated into our designated "Ocean View Recliners" and did our best to sleep away the rest of the night. We arrived at Devenport 5 hours later, I only just falling asleep then. We then had to got through quarantine, a rather annoying experience, but I understand it was necessary in order to protect Tasmania's unique habitat, it was kind of like going through customs after a long flight with no sleep. Anyway, after clearing them we hit Wolly's (Woolworths, a grocery store) for sausage, eggs and toast. One nice thing about Australia is they have all these free BBQ's which you can use, we found one of them in a park and made a much needed hot breakfast, to wake us up and warm us up. Proceeding down the East coast of Tas (Short for Tasmania) we proceeded to get rained on, quite a bit really. As we found out later, the day before we arrived they were fighting bush fires because of a drought, three days later they announced it is now the 10th wettest year in Tasmanian history, and still a month to go, fun hu. Well our plans for surfing in the sun this week kind of got washed away, the water was right up to the bottom of quite a few bridge decks that we drove over, that should give you an idea on how much rain we had. Anyway, we powered through the rain, the first day we did a canyon walk down this gorge outside of Launcheston that ended in an old power station. We then drove up over a mountain to see some impressive waterfalls and then continued on to the coast where we camped, in the rain. I slept in car, Chris slept in tent. Next morning we drove about 25km down the road where we made a group decision to park and find a Hostel in St. Helens, as the rain was getting worse. We hung up our wet gear, cooked a nice supper and did laundry, as it was sorely needed. That was day 2, and now that I look back at it i wonder why I didn't write my blog then, anyway day three dawned in, you guessed it, another rainstorm. We decided to look for some things indoors, and stumbled across this pamphlet for pancakes on top of Mt. Elephant where we found this little restaurant who makes really good crapes/pancakes. Chris had black forest (Cherry, chocolate, and cream) with ice cream. I had the Apple Cinnamon custard crepe with cream and Ice cream. Needless to say, very good, especially when the rain was pouring down outside. We drove back to the coast and camped at Bicheno in a national park. Day four dawned with cloudy skies, and I took the opportunity to surf, something I was thoroughly missing since we drove by the 3 best surfing beaches in Tas without an attempt do to high winds and cold weather. The waves were impressive and on several occasions found myself looking up from my board as a wave crested over me "this one is going to hurt" followed by "why is this fun again?" Those thoughts are usually followed by the wave hitting me with the force of a 12 ton battering ram, and usually significant amount of pain. However I got through and was able to ride some very nice waves making it all worth while, enough that I would paddle back out there and get pounded on some more. If there is anything I have learned about surfing, is that there is a lot more luck involved than you would think. You have to be in the right place at the right time, and as dad would say, it's a crap shoot. Later that day we decided we would do a 3 hour walk into Wine Glass bay, even though it was raining wallabies and kangaroos. We got soaked, we walked 2 hours in, saw lots of low cloud, hidden peaks, and a wet windy miserable beach. Would have looked beautifully, though I did get one good shot of Chris and a mighty wave. We returned to the car soaked to the bone and headed to a campground at a place called Friendly Beach, even though the beaches didn't sound very friendly at the time. Needless to say, that was a chilly night. The next day we crossed onto the Tasman Peninsula and saw some very awe inspiring sights. Around Eagles Hawk there are 3 main features, the cobblestone highway, which is a natural rock feature that looks like a cobblestone road made centuries ago by some forgotten people, but is actually just caused by the ocean and drying salt. Really cool, but that was a cool warm up for this, fossil bay. This was probably one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen. The waves were crashing with a power I have never seen, or heard before, the power was unimaginable,
and the sound was deafening. Perhaps the irony is that I have been complaining about the stormy weather, but because of that wild weather the waves in fossil bay were so astounding. It made the blow hole, and the poorly named Devils Kitchen pale in comparison. We did a short hike up to waterfall bay and enjoyed the suddenly not raining weather. That night we camped at Fortescue Bay where the waves still pounded with a deafening sound, that had me wishing I had ear plugs. But we did have our first camp fire with wet wood, but I got it going, because it was a very cold night. The next day we hit Port Arthur, which is an old convict colony, it was cool, and I will be writing a blog later about convicts and the history of Australia later, but for now, I was hoping to find more when I went to Port Arthur, problem is, there isn't much left. There used to be over 200 buildings some stone, some wood, but when the prison shut down a tourism wave hit and people from all over (mostly England) came over to tour the old colony in the 1900's. As souvenirs they would take pieces of the stone buildings home with them.
Then the bush fires came through, taking all the wood structures and wooden roofs with them. All that remained behind were the burned out stone shells, and even the stone in the walls were sold for building materials. They have restored some to pale reflections of their former glory, but I was almost disappointed, as I was expecting something more like Fort Louisburg. Anyway, I did learn a great deal about how Australia was founded, but as I mentioned earlier, that will be a whole separate blog. Though I will give port Arthur one thing, they have a real cool playing cards. They have 52 different convict stories, and each convict is represented by a card from a playing deck. When you buy a ticket, you get one of the cards, that allows you to track their story and find out what happens to them. Really cool idea, they made up for the lack of physical presence by reminding you that the buildings house people, and people built the country. The next morning my co-traveler and I walked around the remains of a coal mine and barracks that used to house convicts, cool, and I will explain more in later blogs. That afternoon I dropped Chris off so he could do some 5 hour walk along the cape, and I went looking for a beach to surf on, however I discovered the source of the rattling sound on our car that we have been hearing since we left Canberra. It turns out we blew a rear shock absorber on the car. I spent the next hour pulling the old one off, and then crawling around under the car looking for anything out of ordinary. I found some loose bolts I tightened, but I still have some other questions regarding my car, but will deal with it in Adelaide, until then, still have to replace the shock absorber, should be fun. Anyway, we have since moved into Hobart and spending some time wandering around town. Today we hit the Cadbury chocolate factory and got some good cheap chocolate. It is a very strange story how a chocolate maker from England opened his chocolate factory in Van Diemens Land. I could imagine that conversation with his drinking partner "I know, we are from Buckinghamshire, most of our business, including our best client the Queen, is in London, all our partners live in London, lets open up our first chocolate factory in Australia, a place filled with thieves, rapists, and murderers." Who would have thought that it would have turned into a genius idea. The weather in Tas is the like England, so when Mr Cadbury came over he said "this is just like home" and the factory was set to be built here in Hobart. They get the milk from Tas and sugar is grown and harvested in Quesland. We got so much free chocolate, I think I might get sick. Our afternoon was spent touring and taste tasting the wide variety of the fine drinks made by the Cascade Brewery. 
Founded in 1892 by, believe it or not, by a convicted tax evader. This guy left England with his family and some equipment and built a saw mill on land given to him as a new settler. Apparently he still owed some people back in England several thousand dollars, so he got tried in Aus and sentenced to five years here, and when he got out he converted his saw mill into a brewery, and the rest is history. The most recent history involved is we saw this lone beer tap in the brewery, apparently it used to have 7 friends, what would happen is 4 times a day everyone working would drop what they were doing and have a drink to make sure the quality was good, unfortunately health and safety didn't like the fact that all these employees were drunk, and that tradition was stopped, in 1990, a 100 year old tradition gone, funny thing is when that took effect the production of the brewery actually dropped, so which is worse I wonder, production being high, but all your employees being drunk, or sober employees and poor production. What a strange day, chocolate in the morning, beer tasting in the afternoon, a very good day in Tas. Another thing I should mention is that Tasmania is divided from North South by an invisible line, called the brewery line. in the North they drink only Boggs beer, but in the South they only drink Cascade. You actually have to be care full which one you order in a town, you might have crossed the line and entered into enemy territory. Anyway will blog more later, I am pretty sure you are tired of reading this novel. Goodnight.
Ok, so I haven't blogged for a while, not because I haven't been doing anything, rather it has been to wet to pull out my computer, so this may be a long blog, so please feel free to poor yourself any required refreshments, grab a bag of cookies, and perhaps use the bathroom first.......................Ok, here, we, go.
We took the ferry across the Bass strait from Melbourne to Devenport. The ferry left at 7:30pm under overcast skies with the odd rainstorm mixed in. We spent the time mostly walking around the ship, taking in the night air. I caught the last 15 minutes of Ice Age 3, before sitting down to watch a movie about the early years of Queen Victoria, which turned out to be rather good. Anyway, shortly after, around 1:00 in the morning, we retreated into our designated "Ocean View Recliners" and did our best to sleep away the rest of the night. We arrived at Devenport 5 hours later, I only just falling asleep then. We then had to got through quarantine, a rather annoying experience, but I understand it was necessary in order to protect Tasmania's unique habitat, it was kind of like going through customs after a long flight with no sleep. Anyway, after clearing them we hit Wolly's (Woolworths, a grocery store) for sausage, eggs and toast. One nice thing about Australia is they have all these free BBQ's which you can use, we found one of them in a park and made a much needed hot breakfast, to wake us up and warm us up. Proceeding down the East coast of Tas (Short for Tasmania) we proceeded to get rained on, quite a bit really. As we found out later, the day before we arrived they were fighting bush fires because of a drought, three days later they announced it is now the 10th wettest year in Tasmanian history, and still a month to go, fun hu. Well our plans for surfing in the sun this week kind of got washed away, the water was right up to the bottom of quite a few bridge decks that we drove over, that should give you an idea on how much rain we had. Anyway, we powered through the rain, the first day we did a canyon walk down this gorge outside of Launcheston that ended in an old power station. We then drove up over a mountain to see some impressive waterfalls and then continued on to the coast where we camped, in the rain. I slept in car, Chris slept in tent. Next morning we drove about 25km down the road where we made a group decision to park and find a Hostel in St. Helens, as the rain was getting worse. We hung up our wet gear, cooked a nice supper and did laundry, as it was sorely needed. That was day 2, and now that I look back at it i wonder why I didn't write my blog then, anyway day three dawned in, you guessed it, another rainstorm. We decided to look for some things indoors, and stumbled across this pamphlet for pancakes on top of Mt. Elephant where we found this little restaurant who makes really good crapes/pancakes. Chris had black forest (Cherry, chocolate, and cream) with ice cream. I had the Apple Cinnamon custard crepe with cream and Ice cream. Needless to say, very good, especially when the rain was pouring down outside. We drove back to the coast and camped at Bicheno in a national park. Day four dawned with cloudy skies, and I took the opportunity to surf, something I was thoroughly missing since we drove by the 3 best surfing beaches in Tas without an attempt do to high winds and cold weather. The waves were impressive and on several occasions found myself looking up from my board as a wave crested over me "this one is going to hurt" followed by "why is this fun again?" Those thoughts are usually followed by the wave hitting me with the force of a 12 ton battering ram, and usually significant amount of pain. However I got through and was able to ride some very nice waves making it all worth while, enough that I would paddle back out there and get pounded on some more. If there is anything I have learned about surfing, is that there is a lot more luck involved than you would think. You have to be in the right place at the right time, and as dad would say, it's a crap shoot. Later that day we decided we would do a 3 hour walk into Wine Glass bay, even though it was raining wallabies and kangaroos. We got soaked, we walked 2 hours in, saw lots of low cloud, hidden peaks, and a wet windy miserable beach. Would have looked beautifully, though I did get one good shot of Chris and a mighty wave. We returned to the car soaked to the bone and headed to a campground at a place called Friendly Beach, even though the beaches didn't sound very friendly at the time. Needless to say, that was a chilly night. The next day we crossed onto the Tasman Peninsula and saw some very awe inspiring sights. Around Eagles Hawk there are 3 main features, the cobblestone highway, which is a natural rock feature that looks like a cobblestone road made centuries ago by some forgotten people, but is actually just caused by the ocean and drying salt. Really cool, but that was a cool warm up for this, fossil bay. This was probably one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen. The waves were crashing with a power I have never seen, or heard before, the power was unimaginable,
and the sound was deafening. Perhaps the irony is that I have been complaining about the stormy weather, but because of that wild weather the waves in fossil bay were so astounding. It made the blow hole, and the poorly named Devils Kitchen pale in comparison. We did a short hike up to waterfall bay and enjoyed the suddenly not raining weather. That night we camped at Fortescue Bay where the waves still pounded with a deafening sound, that had me wishing I had ear plugs. But we did have our first camp fire with wet wood, but I got it going, because it was a very cold night. The next day we hit Port Arthur, which is an old convict colony, it was cool, and I will be writing a blog later about convicts and the history of Australia later, but for now, I was hoping to find more when I went to Port Arthur, problem is, there isn't much left. There used to be over 200 buildings some stone, some wood, but when the prison shut down a tourism wave hit and people from all over (mostly England) came over to tour the old colony in the 1900's. As souvenirs they would take pieces of the stone buildings home with them. Then the bush fires came through, taking all the wood structures and wooden roofs with them. All that remained behind were the burned out stone shells, and even the stone in the walls were sold for building materials. They have restored some to pale reflections of their former glory, but I was almost disappointed, as I was expecting something more like Fort Louisburg. Anyway, I did learn a great deal about how Australia was founded, but as I mentioned earlier, that will be a whole separate blog. Though I will give port Arthur one thing, they have a real cool playing cards. They have 52 different convict stories, and each convict is represented by a card from a playing deck. When you buy a ticket, you get one of the cards, that allows you to track their story and find out what happens to them. Really cool idea, they made up for the lack of physical presence by reminding you that the buildings house people, and people built the country. The next morning my co-traveler and I walked around the remains of a coal mine and barracks that used to house convicts, cool, and I will explain more in later blogs. That afternoon I dropped Chris off so he could do some 5 hour walk along the cape, and I went looking for a beach to surf on, however I discovered the source of the rattling sound on our car that we have been hearing since we left Canberra. It turns out we blew a rear shock absorber on the car. I spent the next hour pulling the old one off, and then crawling around under the car looking for anything out of ordinary. I found some loose bolts I tightened, but I still have some other questions regarding my car, but will deal with it in Adelaide, until then, still have to replace the shock absorber, should be fun. Anyway, we have since moved into Hobart and spending some time wandering around town. Today we hit the Cadbury chocolate factory and got some good cheap chocolate. It is a very strange story how a chocolate maker from England opened his chocolate factory in Van Diemens Land. I could imagine that conversation with his drinking partner "I know, we are from Buckinghamshire, most of our business, including our best client the Queen, is in London, all our partners live in London, lets open up our first chocolate factory in Australia, a place filled with thieves, rapists, and murderers." Who would have thought that it would have turned into a genius idea. The weather in Tas is the like England, so when Mr Cadbury came over he said "this is just like home" and the factory was set to be built here in Hobart. They get the milk from Tas and sugar is grown and harvested in Quesland. We got so much free chocolate, I think I might get sick. Our afternoon was spent touring and taste tasting the wide variety of the fine drinks made by the Cascade Brewery. Founded in 1892 by, believe it or not, by a convicted tax evader. This guy left England with his family and some equipment and built a saw mill on land given to him as a new settler. Apparently he still owed some people back in England several thousand dollars, so he got tried in Aus and sentenced to five years here, and when he got out he converted his saw mill into a brewery, and the rest is history. The most recent history involved is we saw this lone beer tap in the brewery, apparently it used to have 7 friends, what would happen is 4 times a day everyone working would drop what they were doing and have a drink to make sure the quality was good, unfortunately health and safety didn't like the fact that all these employees were drunk, and that tradition was stopped, in 1990, a 100 year old tradition gone, funny thing is when that took effect the production of the brewery actually dropped, so which is worse I wonder, production being high, but all your employees being drunk, or sober employees and poor production. What a strange day, chocolate in the morning, beer tasting in the afternoon, a very good day in Tas. Another thing I should mention is that Tasmania is divided from North South by an invisible line, called the brewery line. in the North they drink only Boggs beer, but in the South they only drink Cascade. You actually have to be care full which one you order in a town, you might have crossed the line and entered into enemy territory. Anyway will blog more later, I am pretty sure you are tired of reading this novel. Goodnight.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)