Tasmania Part II

December 23rd I awoke to the not so peaceful sounds of all those birds chirping away at 6am. No Worries though, a little adjustment of the covers back over my head and I can sleep in a little longer.


Today’s adventures will take me from one beautiful bay to another. I leave the Tasman National Park in search of scenic places farther north. The first stop along the way happens to be Marion’s Bay. In honour of my step mother, Marian, I stop to stretch my legs a little and capture a beautiful shot of the coastline. It is here that I decide this is a good place to get a little saxophone practice in. The island behind me in the distance is Maria Island National Park. A place I hoped to visit. But when I inquired about the ferry ride at the information centre in Triabunna. I was informed the ferry ran only once a day and only 5 days a week and Tuesdays aren’t one of those days. It worked out for the best since you’re not allowed to bring cars to the island and in my usual fashion I had too many other things planned to add in this side trip to my adventures. I’ll have to do this National Park on my next trip to Tassie. (Anyone want to come along!) Back on the road I pass other idyllic places like Little Swanport and the Rocky Hills Convict Station. Which I found humorous since URS has an office in Rocky Hill Connecticut and work can some times be like a prison.

My trek north takes me past 9 Mile Beach with my sights set on Coles Bay in the Freycient National Park. This park is quite different than the last. Both are coastal places with forested slopes and rocky cliffs. But Freycinet is much more populated by the upper crust of Tasmanian society. This is where many people have summer homes along the 25km dead end road that leads into the park. There are many high end shops and galleries with massive homes resting on the hillsides. All with large windows to bring in the light and allow for magnificent vistas of the Great Oyster Bay. I find my next home away from home along Richardson Beach, space #39. (pictured above) The camping places here are a series of spots along the bay all just above the beach. Each with a view facing west, tucked into the shrubs and grasses of the dunes. Once I have claimed my spot and paid my fees for the night. I quickly head off for another hike. This time I only had to walk up and over one hill to Wineglass Bay (pictured right) . I took this photo at the top of the hill before making my way down to the warm sandy beach. Now I was on the ocean side of the peninsula and here the waves are a little bigger and the wind a bit stronger. These enhancements allowed me to immerse myself fully into the natural beauty surrounding me. I spent several hours on the beach, wandering from one end to the other. Lying on the beach for a while with my backpack as a pillow watching the waves break before me. I read my book and just enjoyed the quietness of a fairly secluded beach. The afternoon continued to pass and you are able to lose all track of time. As I see the sun lowering behind the hills I start to make my way back to my waters edge campsite for more relaxation and a little dinner. Since this area is somewhat populated with nice homes, restaurants and shops you were not allowed to build campfires and had to use my camp stove to make a green curry soup for dinner. Thanks to Sheila North and her Coleman camp stove this is a very easy thing to do. After dinner I do more of what I spent the afternoon doing. Enjoy the spectacular view and reading my book. But this time I added a couple glasses of vodka to wind down the evening. Another early to rise day where I was able to capture this shot of the main resort buildings in the morning light and clouds. Before moving on for Christmas Eve’s adventures.

Today’s travels take me many miles from where I started and the entire day to get there. I was getting low on supplies and needed to find a post office to mail some postcards. I needed some more cash and the most important thing of all, a shower, so I head for Hobart. Since it was Christmas Eve, I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed to continue in a manner I was quickly becoming accustom too. Which was basically great views, peaceful surroundings, simple meals and vodka. I was able to obtain all of these things I desired fairly easily, along with this shot of a pedestrian shopping area and the town center fountain. Hobart was much smaller and quieter than I expected. After 4 months of living with 3.5 million other humans in Melbourne I sort of expect Hobart to be a little bigger. I found myself pleasantly surprised that I was wrong, as the city only has a population of about 150,000.

While preparing for this trip I found a gay campground retreat on the web and wanted to check it out. Huon Bush Retreat is located south west of Hobart and on a mountain outside of Huonville and is a very nice place tucked away many kilometres along a dead end dirt road. I stopped and talked to the owner, Paul, and took a little tour of the place. It was only about 2pm and I was entering an area of Tassie that would require me to back track several hundred kilometres. So I decided to push on farther south and I would come back to this place later on my travels. The road then took me to Tahune Forest Airwalk. A tourist venue with a steel walkway about 40 metres (120’) in the air. Complete with a cantilevered section taking you bouncingly out over a river. I found myself more interested in the actual engineering of the structure than the woods that encased me. 20 years of doing transit and pedestrian related projects has left its mark on my persona and I just couldn’t help myself. Here you are about half way up the towering gum trees, closer to those ever chirping birds and you can even hear the wind rustling through to leaves in such a way that it makes you feel as if the wind is something tangible you can reach out and touch. It’s a hard thing to put into words.

A quick detour into Hartz Mountians National Park so I can check off one more on my list then it’s on to the final destination for the day, Southwest National Park and Cockle Creek Campground. I had been warned by Paul about the bogans (rednecks) that camp just outside the national park and hang out for the summer. So I passed the generators, dogs and screaming kids to find my own beach front spot along Recherche Bay. (Both shots taken from the same point with just a slight turn of the head.) This was another area where Sheila’s camp stove would come in handy. A pattern has started to develop by where every evening I’m sitting along the a bay sipping vodka and reading a book, writing in my journal or just watching mother nature's most magnificent TV station in complete serenity.

In the early morning light of Christmas Day I start out on the longest hike of my trip, 15.4 km (10+ miles) to South Cape Bay, aptly named since it’s the southern most point in Tasmania. However, this time I got lucky as the trail is very flat and about 5km is in a open field with grasses waist high, wild flowers in bloom and rolling hills all around me. The trail itself, like most in Tassie, is actually a boardwalk of sorts keeping you several inches above the ground which helps minimize the impacts humans do on the environment and a welcome change to climbing over rocks, tree roots and mud puddles. Every so often the trail would tuck into a small patch of forest that slightly rises above the plain. Taking you into the trees and giving you some shade. Again I was lucky as this day was slightly overcast and I was able to get by with just 2 layers of sunscreen and my hat. I did give thanks to Mother Nature for saving me. It would have been a much more difficult hike in the blazing light of full sun. Another day where I don’t see another soul for several hours. All the way out to the cliffs and the beach and no one in sight at all. Ed and Corina will understand it just doesn’t get any better than this when you are on a hike. After several hours of walking through one beautiful landscape, another completely different one emerges in front of me. As I draw closer I can begin to here the crashing of the waves, smell the sweet salt air, and hear the wind zipping along the barren cliffs and beach. Like so many times before on this trip I lingered on this beach all by myself. A lonely seagull approaches as I rest my weary bones on the sand. I’m snacking on some green grapes and in an unusual fashion the seagull is quietly, patiently waiting for a scrap of something yummy about 15’ from me. I toss him one of my grapes and watch him try and break it apart. He keeps throwing it on to the ground hoping it’ll become smaller and more able to eat. But all it does is roll away from him and he chases it down and throws it again. After about 5 very humorous (at least for me) minutes he gulps it down whole. Trying to be helpful I squish a second one in my fingers before tossing it to him. The seagull pokes at it but is no longer interested in this game. So on this day I learn a Seagull will eat 1 green grape but not 2! Moments later when he realizes I’m not the local grocery store, he flies off down the beach in search of something tastier to nibble on. Once again I have lost all track of time and when I’m good and ready I start to make my way back to the camp. But before I go I take just a few more pictures of the ocean and this natural wonder of the world.

Since I was able to get an early start and we have about 17 hours of day light I packed up the tent (set up to only hold my spot I didn’t actually sleep in it) and start my trek back north again. Along the way just before getting back to the tree top walk I stop at Hastings Caves and thermal springs. Your price of admission gets you a 1 hour tour of some beautiful caves and a free trip into the hot springs pool. ( I can hear Ed now HE HE HE hot springs!) But first let me tell you about the caves. This cave system is much like the ones of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and Mammoth Caves of Kentucky. Not like the volcanic lava tubes of Oregon. Acidic water has washed away the softer lime stone leaving stalactites, stalagmites, curtains (or ribbon formations) and straw tubes in its wake. All of which are colourful and sparkly taking thousands of years to form and only a single touch from a human finger to kill. We are reminded several times not to touch things. Our guide does allow us to touch one stalagmite early on the trip to allow the kid in all of us to get it out of our system. We’re also told of the very rare but very large Tasmanian cave spiders that inhabit all of the caves here on the island. They live on the cave crickets that live on organic matter that falls into the cave openings. These cave spiders are sort of like a Daddy long legs with long spindly legs and round bodies. I did mention that these are big. They grow to be about 18 cm (7”) in diameter and tend to hide in the crevices near the mouth of the cave. We are luck enough to see a baby one on our tour. This little guy is about as big as my fist and as you would expect some people in my tour group are squeamish about getting close to one, but not me. Our guide lends me her torch (flashlight) and allows me to take a good long look at our friend once everyone interested gets a peak and she goes into detail about the life of such a creature. Now I bet you all are hoping for a picture aren’t you! Those who aren’t are in luck. The spiders are very sensitive to light and the flash of the cameras are far beyond what they can handle so we weren’t allowed to take any. (The flashlight had a covering to dim it). The tour itself only takes you about 400 meters (1200’) into the cave system then back tracks you out. I have been in many caves in my years and. I found this one interesting for how similar it was to caves systems back in the states.

After the caves I make my way down to the thermal hot springs. The long hike of the morning, several days driving, and sleeping in a not so comfortable passenger seat has left my muscles sore and tired. I was looking forward to soaking in the mineral rich warm waters of a hot spring. Much to my disappointment, this location was a man made concrete pool about 27 C (80 F) not the 39 (102F) I was hoping for with lots of healthy mud to rub on your skin. I did my 15 minutes anyway and then spent 20 minutes in a wonderfully HOT HOT shower. Which is a big no no in Australia, remember, I now live on a desert continent and even here in Tasmania fresh water is a commodity to be conserved. But it just felt SO good and my muscles kept saying “please don’t go just yet”, plus it was only about 15c (60F) outside and I didn’t want to leave this warm place for the cold reality of a Tasmanian summer.
Once all dried, dressed and back in the car, I head for hill country and Huon Bush Retreat. The evening was spent playing cards and talking to a very nice local family of 7 around a barrel campfire. By this point I’m starting to actually want to talk to other people and this is a nice change from the solitude of the last several nights I have spent by the bays.

It is at this point, dear friends and family that I must leave you once more. Please continue to check in when you can. Part 3 of my Tasmanian adventures is almost finished and should be posted in a couple days.