Jan. 8

It was time to say good-by to our home away from home on Bruny Island. We have rented a car for a couple of weeks to see how we like driving in Tasmania. Pip takes us to get our car at the airport. We wait while Don gets the keys from the rental counter. Upon his return we watch him as he searches for the car that matches the key. Upon finding it we watch him get in on the passenger side, whoops. Hoping that no-one is watching he slides to the drivers side. Pip and I get a laugh out of that maneuver. After loading up the car with our gear, Don again proceeds to get in on the passenger side instead of the drivers side. We are going to have to work as a team to concentrate on left side driving. We wave good by to Pip as she wishes as well. We have driven on the left side before so hope the memory of that will we return. Don will be driving in Tasmania and I will be driving from the passengers side. (in words only) Our mantra soon. becomes Stay Left.

We made it to our first stop with no problem. Don only turned on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal once.

Our first stop is the Westerway berry picking location. We soon have our containers and head out to the beautiful plants. We have been told to taste the berries to make sure we like what we are picking. We like those directions.

And then the blackberries.

It was a great berry picking day! It was even made better by the berry ice cream. We will be going past this place again and look forward to more picking.
The berry picking place is at the intersection of the road we need to take to go to Mt. Fields National Park.

Mt. Field is known for the potential of seeing a platypus. After getting a campsite we check out some places on the river that runs near the campground. The platypus generally comes out early morning or close to dusk. We will be back later.

There are some trails near by that will take us to see some waterfalls. We can see why people like to visit this place. the falls are close by and the trails well maintained.

On the way to this falls, we pass by this sign.

When heading back to our campsite we see an echidna meandering around the fields.

Apparently they have great smelling ability, but not so much visual.

After dinner we head out to the spot that we had scoped out earlier and begin our saga of sitting and waiting.

Within 5 minutes a platypus swam by us. A goal for this trip has been accomplished! We aren’t surprised by its size as we had done some research on them before. Even so it seemed quite small. We stayed there for a while watching it surface and dive down. We watched for the tell tale bubbles that surface when it was underwater.

Not a great photo, but the best one we got.

It was starting to get a little dark so we headed up to where the Glow worms are located. We kept our flashlights off so that our eyes adjusted to the darkness. Lots of little lights glowed in the dark among the trees. Definitely a worthwhile walk.

Back at our tent a pademelon and her baby kept us entertained till we zipped up the tent. A 10 plus day!

Jan. 9

We wake up to a lot of jumping noises out of our tent. When we carefully unzip our tent we are surrounded by several pademelons and numerous babies. It was great fun watching them interact with each other.

After breakfast we headed up to our spot on the river to hope to see the platypus one more time. We were not disappointed when one surfaced very close to our feet. After about an hour of seeing it several times, it finally darted down the river and out of sight. We thanked it for its presence.

Back to camp we looked forward to our breakfast of fruit and cereal. These campsites are great, They have hot water for washing dishes and covered picnic shelters.

The activity for the day is to do a loop trail, checking out more waterfalls and finding the tall tree trail. The water falls always hold one spell bound as one watches the never ending water droplets plunge down the rocks.

On the way to the tall trees trail, we pass a sculptured tree trunk and a forest of tree ferns.

The trees along the Tall Tree Trail are Swamp gums One tree was over 235 feet tall and at least 400 years old.

We got back to camp early afternoon after about a 5 mile hike. We decided to go check out the visitor center and then head back to the berry farm.

The evenings activity included a hike to our spot along the river. Unfortunately a fisherman had taken over this section of river so it was doubtful that we would be seeing any platypuses.

Jan. 10

Today we plan to visit the Wall! Several friends have highly recommended it. Before leaving the campsite, we head one more time to check out where we have seen the platypus. We saw it shortly after we had arrived to the river. This morning its antics inluded rolling over and it seemed to just be enjoying the morning. After hanging out in the pool it headed down stream and so did we. We packed up, watching the pademelons one more time.

This is the only photo we have of the Wall, Taking photos once one enters the museum is not allowed.

The following description is from the website.

About the Wall.

On the 1st of March 2005 in one of the most beautiful parts of Tasmania I set out to undertake sculpting a wall that would be 3 meters high and over 100 meters in length.

The material would be Huon Pine.

Through an often arduous at times but also immensely satisfying journey and over a decade and half later I welcome you to visit what is simply known as The Wall.

Sculptor Greg Duncan

When the doors closed behind us we were ushered into the sculptured work of Greg Duncan. It is hard to describe the details of the work that he has created. As we started at the beginning we progressed thru stories told about various eras in

Tasmania. We paused ofen marveling at the scenes he created. There is a book called The Wall that shows some of the panels.Here is a photo from the book.

We were glad that we were able to take as long as we wanted. The more one stood and looked the more the sculpture came to life. Glad that we took the advice of our friends to go see it.

Our next stop was the Franklin River which is a well known river for technical white water rafting. We walked down to a suspension bridge that goes over the river.

If we had a permit we could have continued hiking to Frenchman’s Cap. The far end of the bridge is as far as one can go without a permit.

We got gas in Queen town before heading to Roseberry. There are major signs of mining surrounding Queenstown. It has gone thru several boom and busts eras. A train which is a big tourist draw for the town is not operating due to a track being destroyed. The town has seen better times. We stopped at the grocery store, glad that we didn’t need much as the options were quite limited.

If the weather permits tomorrow we are going to climb Mt. Murchison.

We made our way to Rosebury to hopefully check into a campground that we had read about. It was more of a trailer park, but after contacting the owners, we were given a site near the offices, The mountain that we are planning to climb tomorrow can be seen at the distance. It is covered by clouds so we are hoping that tomorrow will bring clearer skiers. the mountain has a reputation of being often covered by clouds.

Jan 11

When we awaken, there is a light rain falling on the tent and clouds cover the mountain. The weather forecast is for clearing skies so we take that as a good omen and decide to have a leisurely breakfast hoping the skies will clear, The trail head is about 30 minutes away on a very twisting road. This area is also seems depressed as a lot of the stores are closed.

We miss the trailhead and have to backtrack. Parking is just along the road and there are no other cars here. The start of the the trail is obscure. This isn’t an easy hike so apparently it does not see a lot of usage. We start off in the woods and the hike immediately goes up hill.

No views yet, but there is an easy to follow trail

As we head out of the forest, the view becomes more spectacular, but the mountain is still covered in clouds.

The trail is well marked with signs and cairns

We head up this gully, one of the guides that we had read, talked about a rope to assist thru one section, but it was gone so we carefully climbed upwards.

We are passed by two hikers. It is the first time for them to climb this mountain as well.

The clouds lifted as we summited.. It was a difficult climb!

We lingered for awhile at the top appreciating the beauty our our surroundings.

Heading back down in the distance we could see the mountains in the distance that we had hiked by when doing the Overland Track.

Back to our campsite we met one of the camp hosts who said that we should check out one of the tallest water falls in Tasmania which is near here. We will plan on checking it out tomorrow , but tonight we are ready to head to bed. It was a good day!

Jan. 12

We were up early to go check out the trail that we had been told about yesterday. Our mountain that we climbed yesterday is shrouded in clouds, but by the time we left our camp the clouds had been replaced by clear blue sky. Hikers climbing it today will be in for a treat. We were one of the first cars at the trailhead to walk to the falls. It is about 6 miles round trip and follows an old tram way that was used for mining.

After yesterday’s mostly vertical hike, we are appreciating the low angle graded trail.

The destination for the hike this morning is Montezuma falls, one of the tallest falls in Tasmania.

We pass numerous sites that have remnants of the mining era.

The description at the front of the mine shaft

Soon we are the falls and take advantage of the suspension bridge that gives you a good view of the Falls.

On the way back to our car we encountered many walkers that were headed to the falls. An easy path to a beautiful falls makes this a popular hike. There was even a tour bus. We were glad that we had hiked early and had the falls to ourselves. Close to the trailhead we met a park ranger who was carrying a stuffed orange belly parrot. She was the ranger on the trail to give out information about the area. She was impressed that we had actually seen this bird.

Next stop this morning is Strahan

An interesting sign to welcome us here. Strahan is a popular destination for people wanting to explore the bays and beaches of the area. It is also where rafters coming down the Franklin River will get picked up.

Picking up rafters is why we are here. A student of ours that we had met on a course in Baja lives in Australia and had told us about the boat called the Stormbreaker. We had made a reservation to take this boat on an overnight cruise to pick up a group of rafters. The trip is scheduled for tomorrow. Unfortunately we havent been able to make contact with the owners to confirm the trip. ( later we discover that their messages had gone to junk mail).

We check out our campsite for the night and then head to the water to see if we can find the boat that we have scheduled a trip on for tomorrow. We find the boat but no one is around. Nearby is the site of a play called The Ship that never Was.

We decided to purchase tickets for the nights performance.

It was an interactive play with the audience. There were two actors performing many parts that told about how convicts on a nearby island stole a ship that they were building and sailed it to Chile. It was quite entertaining and we learned more about the history of the convicts.

While waiting for the play to begin, we took a nearby walk and saw these two birds.

Our plan for tomorrow is to be packed ready for an overnight and show up to the boat before noon. We hope that the trip is a go. The weather is looking great.

Jan.13

We were up early and hoping that our emails would contain information about our trip today. Alas there was none!

Being on the positive side, we packed some clothes for an overnight trip. We would be ready if it was a go.We headed to the dock and didn’t see any signs of people. Our original information was that the boat would leave the dock around 1;00 so we planned to check in around 12;00 and hope that we would meet the owners of the boat. With some time on our hands we decided to check out the Huon Pine market. There was a lot of products made by a variety of people showing the beauty of Huon Pine.

We also checked out a nearby Huon Pine mill.

Beautiful wood! This is the wood that the sculpture used for the Wall.The museum that we had visited several days ago.

After a quick bite to eat, we headed to the dock and there was the activity of a boat readying to leave the dock.
We quickly gave introductions and were told to go get our gear and the boat would leave shortly after. It looks like it is going to be a go. Later we learned that all the messages confirming the trip was in our junk mail.

The weather is sunny and the seas calm. It is a great day for a cruise. We will be heading up the Gordon River and then take a dingy ride to see where the Franklin River flows into the Gordon.

The Stormbreaker has been picking up rafters for many years,. The boat was sold several years ago and the new owners are continuing to pick up rafters. Sam and Kelly were our captains today,. The Stormbreaker was built by two families to sail around the Pacific with their kids. There are berths at each end with a room of bunk beds in the middle. We had the stern berth which was quite roomy.

There was a sail that was raised, but mostly it was a day of motoring.

We passed by a salmon fish farm where Sam works. He told us a lot about his employment there.

A couple of fur seals were basking in the sun.

Considering this is a rain forest we feel quite lucky to have a sunny day. Sam and Kelly have grown up in Strahan and share their background with us. They tell us all about the Piners(loggers who logged the Huon pine.) It was a difficult career cutting the Pine trees and getting them to to the water.

When we arrive to a dock by the river, the kayakers are there. They are organizing their gear and will board in the morning. Meanwhile Don and I take a short hike to a waterfall and then Sam takes us for a dingy ride up to the mouth of the Franklin.

The Franklin River is on the low side so we stop before we get to the last rapid on the river. The reason for this river being so technical is that when the rain falls the river can rise rapidly and it is quite rocky.

In the 80’s there was a blockade by kayakers and boaters protesting the damming of the Gordon River. Sam showed us the location and said the blockade got lots of press, but the main reason that the river wasn’t dammed was that elected officials were changed.

After a dinner of chicken, salmon and fresh garden vegetables, we had a relaxing evening before heading off to our berth,.

Jan 14

The rafters were on by 6 and we were headed back to Strahan. The conditions were the same as yesterday. It was fun taking to the rafters, We discovered that one of the rafters was from Whitehorse, Canada and we had mutual friends. The boat was a change of pace from what we had been doing. It is always good to be on the water. The boat ride went quickly with no wind or waves against us. Our plan is to drive back to Lake St. Clair and camp there tonight. On the way thru Queenstown we do a couple of short walks. One is looking at the large pit mine. The water is bright blue at the bottom. I am sure that there is lots of toxicity in the water. We drive to Lake St. Clair and walk to the campground which is located on the shores of Lake St. Clair. We see Josh the ranger who had given us information about the South Coast Track. We tell him that the track was great and thank him for the useful information.

Jan. 15

The sun rise on the lake was beautiful this morning. We thought that we might see a platypus , but to no avail. Onward to Mt. Fields National Park. We were able to get the same campsite that we had before We took a walk up to the falls again and saw this bird in the trees.

Black and yellow tailed Cockatoo. They sure can screech!

Back at the car we were entertained by one of our favorite birds, the Superb Fairy Wren

After dinner we head up to our favorite platypus site and once again were able to watch one. Glad that we made this a stop. Tomorrow we are headed to the Tasman peninsula.

Jan. 16

Our destination for the day is the Tasman Peninsula, We will have some traffic to deal with, but the last several days of getting used to the left side of the road should help. There are a lot of things to do and see on the Tasman. The weather is forecasted to be rainy for some of it so unless that forecast changes we are not going to take a boat rider excursion.

At the first stop we check out the tessellated pavement. It consists of siltstone rock that was formed over 300 million years. The rocks were fractured by the earth’s movements then due to erosion and the presence of salt crystals, and sediment deepened the pattern. The Tasmanian sea’s waves are continually eroding it more. The first photo is from the top as we look down on it.

We were fortunate that the tide was lower,
Nearby it is Eaglehawkneck. There are buildings here that were used during and after the convict era. One starts getting a feel of what it was like to live during this time period.

Some of the convicts had a pretty rough life. At this point there is a narrow piece of land that was the only way convicts could escape. A series of chained dogs were strung along this land and helped to alert soldiers of escaping convicts.

We drove to an area along the rugged coast that had a hike above the sea. The area gave us an appreciation for the rugged shoreline.

We plan on purchasing a two day pass to visit Port Arthur Historic Site. We need to go by it before going to our campsite for night. There is several hours before it closes so the next stop of the day is there.

The idea behind Port Arthur was to make an attempt to build a new society on the labor of convicted prisoners. It opened in 1830 and was closed by 1877. During its operating time it was used as a timber gathering operation. The sawn logs were then used as a building supplies for government projects. This was also the place that convicts who didn’t abide by the rules were sent for punishment. The punishment was brutal. Some convicts were as young as 11 years old. some convicts were rehabilitated and released as free individuals.

Through out Tasmania , one can easily tell which buildings were built by the convicts.

Today we took a ride around the bay and were shown various locations of convict activity. We plan to come tomorrow and spend most of the day here,

Jan. 17

With all the rain in the forecast, the numbers visiting Port Arthur was diminished. It was a good opportunity to check out the presentations. Our first one was at the penitentiary. The presenter had 15 minutes to give an hours worth of information. If we had been seated he probably would have gotten a standing applause. It was a great way to get a feel for what it was like to be a convict here.

The penitentiary had 4 floors. The lowest one had cells that one could barely lie down. Their legs were chained to the walls. As one went up the punishment was less severe and by the top floor convicts had books and more freedoms.

Our next stop was the Commandent’s house. It would have been considered very nice with beautiful furnishings. Most officers didn’t last long here. By noon the rain was pouring down. We were glad that we had brought our umbrellas.

On a hill far away from the center of the establishment was the secret prison. Here prisoners were kept in 23 hours of solitude with the Bible as the only book to read. The convicts were able to walk in a small exercise room for one hour and always wore a mask. They went to services in a church in small cubicles. These were designed so that they could never see another person. On the walls of the secret prison were photos of different men in charge who had varying opinions of the treatment of the convicts. There were definitely stories of the convicts going mad in the secret prison.

Our last presentation of the day was at the medical officers house. The two doctors who lived there were in charge of the health of the convicts as well as the people who lived there. Needless to say there really was not much of medical assistance there. The ratio being 1 doctor for 1500 plus individuals.

By late afternoon, the rain continued to fall and most of the tourists were gone.

When we returned to our vehicle we found this Huntsman spider on the car door. Later we learned that they like to enter cars and hide behind sun visors giving passengers quite the scare when they emerge, We were able to convince this spider not to enter our car. Their bite can be painful. They are also known as Giant Crab Spider.

Jan. 18

We have been enjoying our stay at White beach Campground. It is a short drive to the various locations that we have been visiting. There is a nice indoor kitchen and an indoor sitting area. After a hardy breakfast we headed off to check out Remarkable Cave.

There is a long tunnel that was created by the power of the waves

Several years ago, if one timed it right, one could walk through this tunnel. It sounds like there were too many close calls and the way to get to the tunnel is now blocked off. The first photo is taken from a view area.

On the other side of the road is the trail to Mt. Brown passing by Crescent Bay.

Crescent Bay. We headed down to the shore to get a better view.

The trail to Crescent Bay is well maintained.

We wanted to climb to Mt. Brown which started off to be a good trail but then was an meander heading up rocky faces. Not a bad view at the top.

Returning to camp we developed a plan for the next couple of weeks, plus we started thinking about our travels to Japan. We took a short walk and saw a new bird.

Jan. 19

You could say that this was finally a full day off. we did not go anywhere! It was rainy and windy for most of the day. Most of the people in the park also left as the weather was not good for doing outside activities. Some of the campers left large quantities of food in the kitchen. It added to our food supplies! Don took a long nap and I took a long walk on the beach.

Jan.20

Up early to head away from the Tasman Peninsula. Due to the weather we didn’t get to do all the hikes here, but increased our knowledge of the convict era and were awed by the stunning coastline. First stop was the airport to exchange out our rental car. Renting a car has been great so the plan is to rent one for the rest of the time we are here. Our destination for the day is Richmond. Richmond again has convict history. There is a jail here as well as the oldest bridge built by convicts in 1823.

The town is busy with many tourists visiting the small shops and eating at the many restaurants. By 5 the town closes down and most of the businesses are closed. We had picked up some bagels and delicious apricots. It was a fine dinner.

A walk down to the river made for some bird watching.

American Coot.

Tonight we are staying at the Richard’s Arms Hotel. It was built in the mid 1800’s and it definitely has the feeling of being old. The bathrooms are down at the end of the hall shared by the other occupants. Fortunately there were two and we never had to wait to use the bathroom. After having spent most of the nights here in a tent we are enjoying the feeling of fresh sheets. Tomorrow we head to Maria Island.

Jan.30

After several overnight hiking trips(check out Maria Island and Freycinet National Park) we are back on the road system checking out more parts of Tasmania. Having a car was a great way to visit small towns and out of way places that would have been difficult using public transportation.

We spent last night at the Bicheno campground. It is full on summer here and the campground is full. It is more of a trailer park with a row of tents. There is a nice kitchen and other facilities here. It is another windy night, with our neighbors having to reinforce their tie downs. Both of our camping neighbors are on extended travels so the conversation is interesting. The campers next to us tell us that we should go check out the blowhole at a nearby beach.

Glad for that piece of info. There is a blowhole and plenty of rocks with orange lichen. It was a scenic place to have breakfast.

Our quest to see a Tasmanian Devil in the wild has not produced any results so we are off to the Nature World Center. The Tasmanian devil has developed a cancerous growth on their cheeks and their numbers are dwindling. Several of the parks and nature centers are trying to increase their numbers in a healthy population of Devils.

We check out this park and they had about 47 Devils to observe.

They were much smaller than we had anticipated. The animals were separated by sex and ages.

One of the presentations was feeding a group of young males. Half of a hip and leg of a kangaroo was brought into the Devils. As soon as it was laid in front of them there was a feeding frenzy. The Devils will gorge when there is food and live off of their fat when there isn’t. They didn’t seem to mind that here was an employee standing right next to them while they ate.

I don’t think that I would have wanted to put my foot next to them

They started eating the meat of the kangaroo and then finished by eating the skin and hoofs. There was nothing left of the kangaroo they had eaten it all. We heard that they do a good job of cleaning up road kills.

We did a short walk around the rest of the park, but we would prefer seeing animals in the wild. They animals all seemed to be a bit sad. Maybe we will get to see a Devil in the wild, but at least we got a good feel for their size and behavior.

Our destination for the night is The Bay of Fires, but first we decide to check out St. Mary’s where there is a well known Health food store. To get there we drove on a narrow and twisty mountainous road. It was quite the contrast from the roads along the coast. The towering trees on both sides of the road were picturesque . St. Mary’s is a relatively small town, but located in the center was the Whole Food Stores. It indeed had a great cafe and some good garden vegetables to buy. After a delicious meal we headed to St. Helens and the Bay of Fire. We are here just after an Australian Holiday, but most of the sites in the park are full. There are several sites to choose from, so after checking out a dismal one that had mostly RV’s we headed down another road and found a site that had been recently vacated. The wind is still blowing, but our campsite is well protected. After setting up camp, we took a beach walk. We can see why this place is visited for its beauty.

We took several walks in both directions from our campsite checking out the blue water and the orange rocks.

Jan. 31

It had been a noisy night with waves crashing along the shore. By morning the waves continued to crash on the shore, but the wind had died. We packed and headed out to an area known for its fruit. Google maps kept taking us on gravel roads, but since we had a rental car, we needed to find a paved one. After several attempts to find a different route, we finally gave up on google and pulled out the paper maps. At lunch time we arrived to the town of Scottsdale. We are leaving Tasmania in a couple of days before going to the mainland and then Japan, We decided to send some items back to the USA. When we saw a post office we decided to stop and see what the method was to mail our items. We had the most helpful clerk. The post office wasn’t busy and she took the time to get out gear mailed. Since our gear had to go through customs, our items that were being sent had to be put into categories. She was amused by figuring it out. Soon our items were boxed up and on their way.

A picnic area outside of town provided us with a place to have lunch. A local wood carver had made this sculpture.

Before reaching our destination for the night, we stopped at Hillwood farms which is a U pick berry spot. The place was huge with more covered areas of plants behind the areas we could pick berries.

When we received our containers we were also told that we should not eat any of the berries. This was so different than the U Pick place that we had picked earlier in our stay where they had encouraged us to taste the berries. The patches were picked over and it wasn’t easy to find many ripe raspberries or blackberries. Strawberries were plentiful so that was the choice that we selected. There were berries for sale at the store there so we rounded out our fruit selection with buying some of those. There were several more berry places in the area so off we went. The first one was closed and as we drove up a road to the second one, we were met by a fire truck. They said that there was a fire burning in the area and we would not be able to continue to the farm. We felt fortunate that we had some berries to eat later.

We had tried to make a reservation at the caravan park in Burnie, but had never been able to make contact. We decided to go there anyway and fortunately they had a place for us. They had a nice camp kitchen and we put our berries in the refrigerator. They told us about the blue/fairy penguin observation location and that we should go there towards dusk. We spent some time in the afternoon cleaning our gear and gearing up for a flight to Melbourne in a couple of days. We had a big bowl of fresh fruit for desert and looked forward to having more for breakfast tomorrow.

As the sun started to set, we headed off to see the penguins, not sure what to expect. This area is a draw for seeing these penguins as the adults return to the shore to feed their young who spend the day hiding out in burrows. There were volunteers at the location to give us an orientation before heading out along a fenced walk way to see the babies and their parents.

First they showed us a stuffed specimen so that we could get an idea of size. Then we received more interesting information about the species. There was a painting of penguins that showed the sizes of the different species. This one is the smallest one.

We had seen three of the species in Antarctica so it was a good way to get a feel for size.

After the orientation we were told to spread out along the fence. The fence was put there to hopefully prevent predators having easy access to the penguins. Shortly after arriving to the fence we heard the chirping of the babies calling for the parents to come and feed them. As our eyes adjusted to the darkness we could see the adults exiting the ocean and making their way to the burrows. They had to hop over boulders making for a difficult path. If the tide is higher their exit route isn’t quite as difficult. The babies depending when they were hatched had a variety of coverings. One was still covered in down.

Others were obviously older. All were hungry! They let their presence be known by constantly chirping.

Using red lights were recommended to not frighten the young. They were so concentrated on getting food, they didn’t seem to mind all of the people watching them. Seeing penguins is great for tourism here and there is a lot of money being put in this site. There is even a cam camera in one of the burrows that one can watch. We could have stayed longer, it was really interesting.

Feb. 1

We were up close to daylight and I headed down to the camp kitchen. To my dismay all of our food was gone including our berries. That was a big bummer! The other campers were shocked as well. Then one of the campers said they has chased off some young kids last night that were trying to take food from an outdoor freezer. It sounded like they may have been the culprits. Hope they enjoy the berries. We finished packing up and head to a grocery store to buy some food for breakfast. Today we are headed to Narawntapu National Park. It is known for its free ranging species.

As we approached the park the wind’s intensity increased. After reaching the visitor center and checking out some of the displays we headed to the campsites. The campsites were all located on dirt roads and with the wind blowing made for a dusty environment. We drove around looking for a site that might have some protection. There were not many people here, I guess this is not the place to be in the wind unless you are a kite boarder.

At least someone is enjoying the day!

We decided to wait on putting up our tent till later hoping the wind would die some. There were several walks in the area so we put on buffs, sunglasses and hats to keep some of the dust off our faces. It really wasn’t pleasant getting sand blasted so we retreated to the car. Eventually we did get a small break and put up our tent. A rustle in the tree proved to be our first sighting of a possum. They are common here but mostly are nocturnal. It has quite the furry body and was introduced here for its fur. Unfortunately its numbers have increased and has become a pest.

Feb. 2

The wind blew most of the night with some very strong gusts. We had staked our tent out really well and other than being noisy we didn’t have any problems. We were up early and packed up. It seemed like most of the other campers had the same idea. This was not the place to just relax with all of the wind. We headed to a protected area near the visitor center that had an enclosed structure for eating. After breakfast we took a short walk and had some great views of large kangaroos.

The sun was perfect on these male Forester Kangaroos. This species is the largest kangaroo on Tasmania. The mainland has the Red Kangaroo which is even larger. We had hoped to walk a trail this morning to look for birds, but with the wind blowing so hard they were not out and about.

We headed south to the town of Campbell, where we had made a reservation for the night. Our check in time was 3 so we had several hours to explore the town. We mostly explored the inside of the car as the ventures into the town was once again being blasted by the wind. The town has lots of historical evidence of the convict era. In fact our lodging tonight was built by convicts.

The interior and exterior of the building maintained the look of its original building materials. The room had very high ceilings and lots of brick work. Since there are not any restaurants nearby, there is dinner offered. There was one other family there. We both ate dinner at the same time with quantities of food that filled our plates. The family that runs of the hotel. are preparing it for sale. It is doubtful that this lodging will be available in the future. After dinner we took a walk down some country roads and checked out a very old church nearby.

Feb. 3

Today is mostly a travel day to return our car and get picked up by Chris our friend from Bruny Island. First though we are going through an area known as the fruit belt. We are successful in buying some of the last of the Tasmania Cherry crop and more of the delicious apricots. Glad to report that we returned the car in the same shape as when we picked it up. No more car driving until we return to the states. Chris took us back to the island and we spent the evening talking about our adventures as well as spending time talking about our life in Baja. Pip and Chris worked in Baja right after we had departed.

Feb. 4

We awoke to rain on the roof and eventually even put a fire in the fireplace to take the chill off the room. Our goal for the day was to repack our duffles in preparation for the flight tomorrow. We also confirmed some reservations we had made for our upcoming visit to Japan. It has been a great introduction to Tasmania. We have spent over 2 months here and could have spent more time here. We may have to return.