Strahan

We started our trip to South West Tasmania Sunday morning by picking up our campervan rental.  We were quite impressed with it.  It was a hi-top van with seating in the back that converted to a double bed with a refrigerator, gas stove, sink and cupboards even further back.  It was a manual transmission which we were a little nervous about since Ben hadn't driven one in a while but it ended up being fine.

We had to stay in a little cottage across the street from the caravan park on Sunday night because the caravan park was full but moved over to a powered site at the caravan park for Monday and Tuesday night.  Monday we drove over to Ocean Beach which is the longest beach in Tasmania at 40km long.

We drove back to town and stopped in at Tasmanian Special Timbers where you could buy pieces of all sorts of Tasmanian hardwoods such as Huon Pine, Myrtle, Sassafras, Blackwood.  Next door was a shop with wood souvenirs such as salt and pepper shakers, bowls, boxes.  All of the wood used is reclaimed wood so as not to damage the forests.  The Huon Pine is an amazing tree that is very slow growing, can be thousands of years old, and the wood is very resistant to water and rot.   



After lunch we took a short hike to Hogarth Falls.

Can you spot the rainbow near the base of the falls?

We walked into town for fish and chips for dinner and slept the first night in the campervan.  It was surprisingly comfortable but we were glad to have three blankets because it was quite chilly.

SW Tassie

We're back from our campervan trip to Strahan, Mt. Field National Park, Bruny Island, and Hobart.  We had a great trip and are planning about 8-10 posts to make up for lost time (and no internet).  Here's some topics to whet your appetite:  the wild Franklin and Gordon rivers, multiple waterfalls, the tallest flowering trees in the world, an incredible boat trip, several wildlife experiences, and much more! 

What's Next?

Ben's last shift at the hospital is tomorrow.  We are sad to leave so have been reluctant to make our plans for the next few months.  Today we booked a campervan to drive around Tasmania for the next week checking the last few sites off of our list.  We are planning to go to Strahan on the west coast, Mt. Field National Park, and Bruny Island.  When we get back to Launceston we will finish packing up the house and fly up to Melbourne to start our mainland campervan tour.  We are hoping to spend 2 weeks driving from Melbourne to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road.  Once we are in Adelaide we want to go to Kangaroo Island.  We aren't sure if we will like living in the campervan or not.  We are planning to stop periodically and stay in hotels.  After Kangaroo Island we would like to see Perth and Ningaloo Reef, Uluru, and Kakadu National Park before returning to the States.  Should be another great adventure!

Women's 5K

I ran in a 5K today in Launceston.  I really wanted to do a race in Launceston before we left so I signed up.  The race was for women and benefitted the cancer center at Launceston General Hospital.  We all got pink shirts to wear to raise breast cancer awareness.  It started at 1 pm.  I am so used to getting up early for races so this was a change.  Ben had to work at 2 but the race was only going to take me a half an hour or so so he was nice enough to come be a spectator.  I ended up running the race in 30:30 and was 282 out of 1716 people.  Ben and I were talking right before the race about how I was running this for my Aunt Daleann who we lost to breast cancer a couple of years ago.  I got a little choked up as I crossed the starting line and thought of her.  She had a long hard battle but kept us laughing until the end.  I think of her often and know my mom misses her sister dearly.  It was really neat to see the sea of pink shirts running the race and I am glad I got the opportunity to participate.  Coming soon will be a post about our plans for the next few months.  Ben's last shift at the hospital is Friday! 

Aussie Lingo Part 3

snags-sausages
bub-baby
lollies-candy
pensioner-retiree
dummy-pacifier
bogan-redneck
flash-fancy
petrol-gasoline
torch-flashlight
rice bubbles-rice krispies
pear shaped-plans gone wrong "All of sudden, everything went pear shaped."
stroppy-belligerent

Croc Spotting

Wednesday after breakfast we drove to where the ferry crosses the Daintree River to go on a crocodile cruise.  We had a little time before the boat left so we drove into Daintree Village to look around and saw a big barramundi.

The crocodile cruise was fifty minutes along the Daintree River.  This time of year isn't a good time to see crocodiles because the water is so warm that they prefer to just stay in the water and do not have to be out basking in the sun.  Crocodiles can go quite a long time without food, but not without heat.  We did see one baby crocodile and one that was about six feet long.

Next we drove to Mossman Gorge to hike.  We stopped at Newell Beach on the way there and say another funny Australian sign.

Hiking in Mossman Gorge was fun, but very rainy.  There were some boardwalks, a suspension bridge, and a 2 km circuit trail through the rainforest.  We saw several trees with buttresses.

These buttresses are roots that help trees adapt in nutrient poor soils.  They provide stability and nutrients to the tree.

We ate at Mojo's again Wednesday night and left early Thursday morning to fly back to Launceston.

Daintree Drive

After breakfast at the B and B we headed out in the car to drive up to Cape Tribulation.  The owners of the B and B gave us a map and some notes they had typed up of good places to stop along the way.  First we had to cross the Daintree River on the ferry.  This was a cable ferry that used two cables to drag the ferry the short distance across the river.

Our first stop after the ferry was the Alexandra Range Lookout Point.

We stopped at the Jindalba Boardwalk and did a short walk through the rainforest.  Next we drove the rest of the way up to Cape Tribulation and had lunch.  Beyond this point the roads were unsealed and this is about as far as you can go without a four wheel drive vehicle.  We started making our way back towards Mossman with several more stops along the way.  We did a walk to the Cape Tribulation Lookout, the Dubuji Boardwalk, and the Marrdja Boardwalk.  These were all relatively short walks which was a good thing because it was incredibly hot and humid.

We walked onto a couple of beaches but could not swim because it is stinger season.

We continued on our way and Ben spotted a cassowary and chick along the side of the road!  I had just gotten done saying that I thought cassowaries didn't really exist because we hadn't seen one despite all the signs indicating they were around.  The cassowary and chick were eating fruit off the trees and we were able to get some pictures.  After we stopped several other cars also stopped to have a look.

It was such an exciting wildlife sighting!  We made one last stop at the Daintree Ice Cream company.  It was in a beautiful setting amongst various fruit trees.  We had a small bowl of ice cream with four different flavors-coconut, raspberry, jackfruit, and wattleseed.  We went back to the B and B and took a swim in the pool.  The B and B is surrounded by gorgeous gardens and we saw several blue Ulysses butterflies flying around.  We had dinner at Sugar Flames, another good recommendation from the B and B owners.