Thursday, June 26, 2008

Tasmania - part 2

On leaving Launceston, I headed up to the North coast. First stop was the little town of Penguin, and you can see why I had to go there! In the centre of town was a large concrete penguin, and I got a few funny looks as I was taking numerous self-timer shots of me posing with the penguin. Many of the business premises in the town also had their own penguin statues and signs - what a great place in was. I had a little wander, took some photos and bough some postcards and a little penguin for my collection. Unfortunately it was the wrong time of year to see the little penguins from which the town takes it's name: they all head off as it is too Baltic.

Next up was the town of Wynard where the strange coastal feature called table cape, and also some fossil cliffs where many important fossils were found by Errol Flynn's dad (this is true!). Even further along the north coast was Stanley, with another strange rock formation on the coast called the Nut. At both there places I got out and had a stomp up and around the cliffs, not taking the the big jessie cablecar. I had some nice fish and chips in Wynard too. That evening I headed to Devonport, a big town where I though I might meet some people who wanted to head to Hobart. Turns out I was the only one in the hostel, probably in the whole week. I had enough time to do a little shopping in Devonport. As my sandals were too cold and stinky and my boots to uncomfortable to drive I got some cheap shoes. Also picked up some more socks and a CD for the car. I'm sure you're fascinated.

Next day was into the scenic mountains and I got up early and headed for Cradle mountain. Was a bit wet when I got there but decided to do a walk, a circuit of Dove lake, anyway. Was fine until near the end, and the peak of cradle mountain drifted out of the cloud occasionally. But the last half 20 mins I was walking into wet driving rain and really suffered from my lack of waterproof trousers! I dove out of that area through the hills and stopped briefly to look at Zeehan (a dive) before getting to Strahan for a late lunch. Strahan was a bit dead in this season, and the big thing to do is a 4 hour river cruise, which was too expensive, and not at the right times for me anyway. I quick look round the town, and a little museum type thing in the information centre and I decided to drive out to viewpoint near the mouth of Macquarrie harbour. Turned out this was a pretty hairy unsealed road, and the end wasn't really worth it. Then I tried to head out another road to Ocean beach, but the unsealed road was in bad condition and I didn't fancy taking my wee hire car any further down it. I then headed to Queenstown as the hostel in Strahan was closed for the winter so there was no cheap accommodation. On the way the sun came out, and it looked like it would have been a glorious sunset if I'd made it to Ocean Beach and stayed. Queenstown turned out to be a bit of a dive, in an even worst setting. The main local feature being an open cast mine surrounded by barren slopes. I did get cheap pub accommodation here though, and didn't have to spend much time.

On the last day with the car I headed straight to Lake St Clair, another national park connected to Cradle Mountain by the famous overland trek. When I pulled up to the visitor centre it was snowing, so I decided it was not the time for walking, and drove off, heading towards Hobart. I was thinking of heading to Mt Field national park too, but driving past Mt Field I could see a huge wadge of grey cloud right on top of Mt Field though the surroundings weren't too bad. I deliberately drove past the turning, and stopped very briefly in the town of Hamilton (yes Bothwell and the river Clyde were nearby too) and the weather was actually beautiful there, so I decided to go back to Mt Field. When I got near I saw it still had its wadge of grey cloud but I went anyway, and did a couple of walks, to the waterfall (I forget the name) and among the tall trees, which were very pleasant if a little damp. Then I just headed back to Hobart and got there just before 3pm (car was due back by 4pm) and internetted a little before meeting Niall (who I hadn't seen since about 15 years earlier in Scotland) who I was going to stay the night with on the outskirts of Hobart, where he lives with wife, daughter, mother-in-law, three cats and a dog. I had a good night, with some rather large measures of whiskey and was dropped in town the next day and didn't have time to do much before heading for the airport and off to Melbourne.

Photos:

Penguin at Penguin

This is the Nut at Stanley

This is Cradle Mountain, just about visible.

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