Last of Tassie

So soon--with so much still to see--we had to head back to Hobart. After visiting the massive Saturday morning crafts-and-food Salamanca Market...

 

...it was time to say a fond farewell to my parents, who were off to the airport, America-bound.

SR and I still had two more days on the island, so from our list of half-a-dozen places we hadn't yet seen but wanted to, we chose to drive straight west from Hobart, to Mt. Field National Park, for a lovely hike among its waterfalls and enormous eucalypt groves.

Then we decided to drive clear to the end of that road heading west. Well, to the end of a couple of roads. First we turned off the Gordon Dam road and took a gravel road nearly 40 kilometers south, into Southwestern National Park...

...to the road's terminus at aptly named Scott's Peak...

...and the totally amazing 360-degree view from there.

After camping down there, with wild quolls darting around my feet after dark...

...we went to the terminus of the main paved road, all the way to the Gordon River dam. Not sure if you can spot it in this picture, but there are people rappelling off the top of the dam, down to the river side, which is so far down you can't even see it in this picture--apparently the longest commercial rappel in the world. Yikes.

We also stopped for a view of Pedder Lake, which is actually many times larger (due to another dam--there are about four in this area) than the original Pedder Lake that is now buried far beneath the artificial version. Hard to reconcile the loveliness of the scene with the bitter environmental debate over the dam(s) that created it.

Very glad to have gotten a small glimpse of the very wild, unpopulated southwest of the island, we pointed the car back to Hobart for the last time, with a quick stop back in Mt Field National Park for a walk around alpine Dobson Lake.

Now it is our turn to depart Tasmania, with a still-to-see list that means I will just have to return here someday. Certainly won't be a chore, as I'll be sighing over the beauty of this place for a long time to come.

Cradle Mountain to Strahan

While my dad continued golfing, my mom and SR and I went to check out the northwestern part of Tasmania. The approach to Cradle Mountain National Park...

 

...was nearly as beautiful as the park itself. Felt great to take the 2-hr hike around Dove Lake after the long drive from Bridport.

At dusk, the animals starting coming out to play, and we got our first sighting of a live, wild wombat (as opposed to the road kill version we'd seen previously).

After that first sighting, we started wondering how it was possible we'd never seen a wombat before, as we must have seen a couple dozen that evening. They were EVERYWHERE. Of course, it helped that we stayed at Cradle Mountain for a nighttime animal tour, during which we went to an animal refuge to see the Tasmanian devils feed--and also saw a quoll feeding.

From Cradle Mountain, all the way out to the west coast, and the town of Strahan, which was dripping in Huan pine handicrafts.

My favorite part of the Strahan visit: seeing the beach at Hells Gate (the very narrow entrance to the very enormous Macquerie Harbor, plus Ocean Beach...the end of the line in Tasmania, next stop Argentina.

Freycinet to Barnbougle



Gosh, it's too bad the scenery is so lousy in Tasmania.

 

From the Tasman Peninsula, we headed north along the coast to yet another stunning peninsula and accompanying national park: Freycinet. Here, the view from our campsite at Richardson Beach, looking toward Coles Bay:

The walk up to the Wineglass Bay lookout was also more than worth the huff and puff!

Though we decided not to hike down to the beach at Wineglass, in favor of leaving enough time to take the long (coastal) route north. This was also well worth it, as it left us time to stop at St Columba Falls, the highest in Tassie.

And then, finally, make our way to Barnbougle Dunes, where my parents were scheduled to play some golf at the world-class course there. I wouldn't know about the golf, but I can confirm that the beauty of the setting is indeed world-class.

I especially loved the resident black swans that could usually be found either in the stream near the bridge to my parent's hotel, or in the adjacent field, mingling among the cows.

 

Also recommended: the drive from Bridport to Launceston via Scottsdale, which curves over a mountain pass where we saw these adorable echidnas both times we drove the road. They were totally unconcerned with people and would walk right over your foot if you didn't get out of the way.

 

Hobart

At the end of the wedding festivities, we boarded another plan and jetted away from the mainland...

 

...to the wilds of Tasmania!!
Our first stop was the capitol city of Hobart, with its lovely port, mountainous backdrop...

...and relatively new, world-famous, avant-garde (avant-gaude? maybe) museum-like-no-other, MONA. We took the ferry to the museum from the city center, so that even our approach was artful, you could say.

There were so many interesting and bizarre exhibits--a waterfall of sorts that spelled words:

--and a sculpture made entirely of ash from burned incense, which is slowly disintegrating in front of visitors' eyes:

--and my favorite, the trampoline (maybe I'd be more of a museum-goer if they all had trampolines!):

My father, who usually speed-walks through museums and then waits outside impatiently for the rest of the group, was actually the last one to leave. We had to practically drag him out of there as he was checking to make sure *he hadn't missed anything* (no joke).

This day also happened to be my parents' 40th wedding anniversary AND my dad's birthday. The museum apparently left him in such a great mood that later, walking along the wharf, when I asked to take a picture of him and my mom in honor of their anniversary, he surprised the socks off her and did this:

Held the pose for an impressively long time, too, to make sure I captured the moment on film. Happy anniversary, guys!