Tasmania Part 3

On our way to the east coast of Tasmania we made a pit stop at a cheese factory, chocolate factory, and a raspberry farm. The first photo is of the cheese aging room at the factory, mmmm cheeeeeese. Then there is a raspberry orchard and proof that KT does drive sometimes. We then reached the eastern city of St. Helens where we enjoyed the beautiful white beach, blue water, and rust colored rocks. From St. Helen we went south along the coast and stopped for a lunch of fresh oysters and a glass of wine with another great view. After lunch we drove a little further and went on a short one hour hike to the Wine Glass Bay lookout where KT decided to interact with the local rocks. There are two shots of the spectacular colors of the bay itself set against the trees and mountains. On the way back from the lookout KT decided to take a break and take in some sun. Our last day we came back to Hobbart and visited the convict Women's Factory which housed most of the women prisoners during the years of transportation. Our last stop on our tour was at the Cascade Brewery to see the beer making process, and of course free samples. Arguably the best part of the holiday. It was interesting to see the contrast between the original building and gardens, and the modern bottling plant with it's robotic arm doing keg lifts and the line of bottles being prepared for packaging. Overall it was another successful holiday in which we managed to stumble across tons of interesting sights, sometimes completely by accident. We ended up driving around 1600 kms or about 1000 miles in the week we were there.
The dark photo from the last entry was of a penguin that we saw. He wasn't the only one, but he was the only one we managed to take a photo of, although not a particularly good photo.

Tasmania Part 2

The send installment of Tasmania photos begins with a last photo of our nice farm stay tower room at night. Leaving the Hobbart area we went north west to Mt. Field National Park, famous for beautiful waterfalls. On the walk to the falls we ran into this cute wallaby and told everyone about. The people we told gave us a funny look, which we later learned was because wallabies are very common in Tasmania and it's like telling someone in CA that you just saw a squirrel. On the way out of the park we saw this echidna
walking and sniffing for food. Echidna's are very interesting animals that have a very good sense of smell. That evening we made it to Lake St. Clair. This lake is the start or end, of the most famous hike over Cradle Mountain, the most famous mountain in Tasmania. We went looking for the elusive platypus, but came out empty handed, KT did get to reflect a bit though. We did see a rather brazen possum at our camp site before taking a photo of the moon over the lake and mountains. In the morning when we got up it was very cold and there was a beautiful fog over the lake encouraging us to get on our way to a warmer climate for breaky. We stopped to take photos of more waterfalls, after which our camera died on us. We have some film that we need to finish before we can get the next days photos developed. The last two photos are from our new digital camera. Can anyone guess what the second to last photo is of? We will reveal the answer in the last part of the Tasmania photo series. The last photo for today is of the southern cross constellation just above the cloud, taken on the north coast of Tasmania, the Bass Straits. Until next time folks, keep it real.

Summer Showers

A sample of the "light" rain we had. We received 17mm of rain in 15 min. That's 2/3" in 15 min. Some areas received 44mm or 1.73" in 30 min. That's incredible! Meteorologists are calling it a 1 in 20 year event. The interesting thing was how nice the day was until we saw the thick black clouds roll in and it was like some one turned on the shower. The drops were very large and there was thunder and lightning too. The first photo shows how much the visibility was reduced because of the clouds, not fog. Luckily no one had their laundry out drying.

The Queens Meet in Sydney

This Sunday some of the nicest cruise ships in the world met here in Sydney Harbour. The Queen Elizabeth 2 on it's last around the world voyage after it's 40 years of plying the seas, and the Queen Victoria on her maiden voyage. These two ships are two of the three Cunard Lines vessels that are very nicely appointed. A suite for the maiden voyage was around $240,000 and would be yours for the 100 day journey, that's $2,400 a day! The cheap rooms were going for around $40,000.
There was a huge crowd on hand, and at least 11 helicopters in the air to view the two ships pass each other around Fort Denison in the harbour. The officials were expecting around 100,000 people to go and watch, just goes to show how much Sydneysiders like their big boats. The Queen Victoria was berthed at Circular Quay and was so large that it could not turn around but had to be backed out. The QE2 was berthed at another part of the harbour until the QV was ready leave, and there are two photos of the QE2 making it's way towards Circular Quay. The last photos are of a fire boat celebrating and the Police Heli taking a closer look at the QV. The very last photo has the largest ferry that runs on the harbour for size comparison, for those that are in the know. Surprisingly, this free and somewhat random event turned out to be very fun because of the fair like atmosphere. It seemed that everyone in the crowd was relaxed and enjoyed the nice day.

Tasmanian Holiday Part 1

Earlier this week we came back from our great holiday to Tasmania, which is located off the coast of south eastern Australia. It is only about 2800 km or 1740 miles from Antarctica making it the furthest south that either of us has ever been. First I would like to give a shout out to the casualty of this trip, our canon G7 camera. It died halfway through, but will hopefully be repaired under warranty in the US.
Now on to the photos. The first night, and it turned out the second night as well, we stayed at a bed and breakfast that was on a working fruit farm. We were allowed to stuff our faces with different varieties of plums, apricots, and blackberries. We made sure to take full advantage of it and got so full of fruit we missed lunch, it was great. We also played with the various animals that were on the farm, and relaxed in our tower room. In the afternoon we decided to start exploring Tasmania's penal colony past by going to the Richmod Gaol. KT tried to see if she could get a free nights accommodation, but they kicked us out. The next day we went to Port Arthur which is the most famous penal colony in Tasmania. Along the way with stopped to look at some of the dramatic vistas of the coastline with it's sheer sandstone cliffs. The photos of the ruined buildings are at Port Arthur which was sold off to the general public after the penitentiary was closed, only to be made into a National Heritage Site. Can you find KT in the chapel room(the white room with wooden separations so that convicts couldn't see each other during mass), and in the last photo of the ruins? After Port Arthur we made a quick trip to the beach where we were the only people making sure to heed the signs about the Tasmanian Devils. On the way back our trusty steed took us through some very dramatic and beautiful evening skies. Stay tuned for the next part of our Tassie exploration.