Kathleen
Tasmania, Australia – March 18-24, 2016
We had been looking forward to our 6 nights in Tasmania and were not the least bit disappointed. We hopped around a bunch getting around the whole island, and easily could have spent two weeks or more appreciating this lovely place and the wonderful, friendly people. Although we stayed in 5 different towns, I think one entry is appropriate since we had such little time in each place. I will try to touch on them all briefly.
We flew into Lauceston on an overnight flight from Bali and arrived in the rain. We had rented bicycles for the week so we had to go and pick them up that afternoon and had nothing else really planned other than sleep. Although it was a dreary day, Lauceston impressed us instantly as every person we came in contact with was so very helpful and nice. We went to bed early after getting take-out, and rose early to a beautiful morning. We rushed over to see Lauceston’s “Gorge” park, not quite the grand canyon, but very lovely and perfect for a morning hike.
We then jumped in the car and headed toward Cradle Mountain National park. We had a quick stop at a couple of wineries on the way. Tasmania has some excellent wines, but generally they don’t export because they manage to drink them all themselves. We picked up a couple of bottles to take with us and then made it to the park on-time for a lovely 3-hour hike up to a splendid view of Cradle Mountain.
Next day, we stopped at a Tasmanian Devil rehabilitation center and saw wombats, kwolls, a wallaby and a bunch of tasmanian devils. They are mean creatures, supposedly, but sort of cute. Apparently, they can run up to 30 mph over short distances. We had actually seen a couple of them in the wild outside the hotel the night before, but it was pretty dark so we didn’t get that great of a look. Wombats are the closest relative to the Koala Bear, and are very docile and pettable. We met a bunch of Wombats in the park on our hike the day before. We had a pretty long drive from the park to Hobart, Tasmania’s largest city which is on the South coast of the island. It is a beautiful port city with a lovely little harbor and cruise ship to boot. We rented a lovely little apartment and enjoyed walking down the hill to find dinner on the harbor. The next day we road the bikes on a lovely pathway that took us to the Hobart MONA (Museum of Old and New Art), where we had a lovely tour of the museum and lunch with a view. Back to town and we walked through the lovely botanical gardens on the way to cycle up to a viewpoint over the whole town….absolutely gorgeous!
Next day on to Bicheno and Freycinet National Park. Another lovely hike and we ended the day with a dip in the Tasman sea from the beautiful beach at Bicheno….a little chilly but absolutely beautiful!! Sadly, this was our last night, delicious pizza dinner (seafood places were done serving at 8) and back to the motel to get ready to fly to Sydney. Missing Tasmania already but looking forward to so many amazing things to see on the mainland!!