This is the place to find the updates on our travels: where we've been and (in due course) a little bit about the places.
With no need for an early start today (and it being a Sunday) we decided on a breakfast and leisurely look around the River Tamer area of Launceston, hoping to get a feel for Tasmania's second largest city. It is one of Australia's oldest cities (founded in 1806) and is known for its well-preserved Victorian and Georgian architecture however, our impressions, at least from the Esplanade area were somewhat lacklustre.
Moving on from Launceston, we had to option to take a detour to Tasmania's Bay of Fires, which in good light boasts orange (algae covered) rocks against azure blue seas. However this would add some 130km to the main destination of Bicheno and as the weather was overcast and ideal timing for the orange coloured rocks was near sunrise or sunset, we decided to skip this detour and go straight to Bicheno (just over 2hrs away), just stopping to see its blowhole (a rock formation on the coast through which the sea forces a plume of water at high tide and big waves.)
Our accommodation at Bicheno was just across the road from the beaches and we managed to get some orange coloured rocks there. Penguins also regularly visit a couple of the beaches at dusk on return from their daily fishing and after an early dinner we made our way to their usual spot. Unfortunately it is now moulting season when sightings are fewer. Despite waiting for over an hour beyond sunset, we were out of luck and had to return over the beach in near darkness. Sighting a possum in a tree on the way a consolation prize.
Images can be seen here.
Following the failed visit to the Cradle Mountain yesterday, we bit the bullet and set out at 7:30am to catch the first shuttle bus of the morning to Dove Lake. Arriving just before 8am to cloudless skies again, a substantial queue had already built up but nevertheless we made the second shuttle, arriving at Dove Lake at 8:40am. The morning light was probably better for lighting the mountain than the afternoon light but the pictures speak for themselves.
After 3 short walks, we returned to the Visitor centre at 10:30am as the main crowds of the day were growing and set off for Launceston, about 2 hours away. A particular target was to see the national penny farthing championships which were taking place that day at Evandale, 20minutes from Launceston.
The first intermediate waypoint (after a couple of photo stops) was the town of Sheffield which prides itself on its mural park which boast some 160-200 murals across the town, with many in a dedicated park area. The murals tell the history of the area and the people that have lived there.
After Sheffield, we proceeded to Cataract Gorge close to Launceston and a famous suspension bridge. Expecting some grand vistas on the scale of Cradle Mountain, we were surprised to find that Cataract Gorge had in fact been made into a leisure park complete with large open air swimming pool and chairlift providing views of the area. Being a warm summer Saturday, it was popular so we didn't stay long and moved on to Evandale.
We arrived at Evandale at 2:15 to find the streets of the small town lined with parked cars and several of the central streets closed to form a race track for the penny farthing cycles. It was a carnival atmosphere with races taking place throughout the day. Some races were for different age groups, with 'over 70s' being the most senior and within this race, the eldest competitor was 90! The commentator kept us amused with great 'one liners' such as 'the winner's harder to pick than a broken nose' and 'they're going faster than last week's pay packet'.
Leaving Evandale as the occasion was winding down, we returned to our accommodation in Launceston: an old colonial school dating back to the early 1900s which had been converted into a hotel.
Images from the visits to Sheffield, Launceston and Evandale can be seen here.
Day 3 was sunny and cloudless the whole day. The destination today was Cradle Mountain visitor centre – about 2.5-3 hours or 185 km away in the alpine mountains. There were 2 route options from Strahan of similar length and we chose the one retracing our steps to visit Queenstown – a town we had skipped 2 days earlier due to the time of day and inclement weather.
Queenstown is an old mining town [add detail]. Hunters Hotel in the centre of town was dated circa 1898 and most of the buildings had an air of neglect as seemed to be common in these more remote locations. The railway station however has been repurposed as a tourist attraction (the West Coast Wilderness Railway) providing a link to Strachan through the rainforest and serving a good cup of coffee, even if the credit card machine didn’t work.
Next stop after Queenstown (via a couple of photo stops of lake and mountain scenery en-route) was the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre which is a required stop to purchase a park entry ticket and to catch the shuttle bus up to the walking trails in the area and in particular, Dove lake. During normal opening hours, cars are not allowed this far into the park and the shuttle bus journey is 20 minutes making it a long walk to the start of the hiking trails.
Arriving at the Visitor Centre at 13:40, we were more than a little disappointed to discover that the shuttle service had been suspended due to scheduled works on the road to the walking trails. Not impressed! The only option was to check in to our accommodation, 15 minutes drive down the road – a forest lodge, pretty much in the middle of nowhere (no internet!)
The (small number) of images from the day (mainly Queenstown) can be seen here.
Cradle Mountain, we revisited early the next morning when luckily the sky was cloudless - images here.
Rather than driving, Day 2 was spent in taking a boat trip from Strahan, partly out into the Indian Ocean (next stop south America) and partly back inland up the Gordon river. Strahan sits about halfway down Tasmania on the west coast. It was originally developed as a port of access for the mining settlements in the area and is the base for boat trips to Sarah Island, the notorious penal settlement that gained a reputation as the harshest penal settlement in the Australian colonies for convicts that had re-offended (1822-1833).
The trip started early at 8.30 with a sailing from Strahan out towards the open sea, only made possible with the creation of a submerged rock wall (created by convicts) in 1897/98 which directed the tide to naturally dredge the channel. Returning back towards Strahan, the boat then took a scenic tour up the Gordon River, through the Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area of ancient rainforest. This part of the trip included a stop and boardwalk through the forest allowing a close-up view of the dense and impenetrable vegetation.
After a pleasant lunch aboard, the second stop was back to Sarah Island with a guided tour of the former penal colony. Horrendous stories of life (and beatings) on the island were heard followed by an unusual transformation to shipyard, given the abundance of local huon wood.
Returning to Strahan, the remainder of the afternoon was spent with a walk to the local Hogarth Falls: not especially dramatic in terms of height or water volume but an interesting 20 minute walk through the local rainforest with plenty of tree ferns.
Images from the cruise and locality in and around Strahan can be found here.
Images from Strahan itself can be seen here.
Having spent 3 nights in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania (which is probably OK to see the main central sights), we set off today on a 7 day excursion of the island. Although small in comparison to Australia, Tasmania is actually reasonably sized measuring 364km north to south and 306km east to west with a population of 576,000.
Hire car pickup was not as smooth as for the Sydney to Melbourne run. The vehicle provided was older with rather more existing damage to record and a hard sell on supplementary insurance. The process took an hour - far more than it should have done and delayed our start. This particular day was also the longest leg, travelling almost the whole width of the island (306km) from Hobart to Strachan through a significant amount of national park (part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area).
Such a journey also needed to include photo stops at scenic points and occasional small diversions to interesting places en route. Many of the places sported familiar English names like Norfolk, Hayes, Cambridge and Uxbridge.
The first significant stop was at the Russell Falls, a 15 minute walk into the Mount Field National Park through magnificent tress and tree ferns. Many of these places are served by paved paths and visitor centres for which the park authorities require a daily fee of AUD48 (~£25). Continuing on, we passed some impressive hydro-electric power stations up in the mountains along steep winding roads before coming down the other side along equally winding and heavily forested routes. The roads are generally all single tarmac carriageway with occasional overtaking lanes but there are also quite a few lengths of roadworks where speed restrictions are (always) 40kmph.
On entering the National Park, the weather (which had been reasonably kind until then) took a turn for the worse with low cloud and rain setting in. This significantly limited the landscape photography where the views would otherwise have been quite dramatic. As we began to leave the park towards Queenstown, the rain became heavy. I just managed to get a shot from the Iron Bore lookout but further lookouts above Queenstown were impossible, despite there being some very dramatic colours in the rock.
Queenstown is an old mining town which would have been interesting to explore but we were out of time with still another hour (40km) to go to Strahan on the coast. We arrived at Strahan as the rain stopped to find a most impressive accommodation in the Strahan Wilderness Lodge, originally built in 1897 as a mine manager's residence. Including stops, the total journey time for this leg from Hobart was 8 hours.
Click here to see the 'Leg 1' gallery.