First we went to MONA the museum of old and new art. From Tara, Mum and my point of view it was very …”different”. Dad liked most of it even though he said he couldn’t really understand the meaning of some parts. Tara, Mum and I skimmed through a couple of rooms before heading to the café! Later we went to the wharf and had some very nice fish and chips for lunch before going to the Female Factory. The Female Factory was a convict prison for women. Other than one, all of the buildings are no longer there although the big stone walls separating each yard are still there. Each yard had a purpose. One section was for solitary confinement, this was also broken up into 2 sections one was the completely dark no noise one which was for a more severe punishment and the other part was cells that had a little light, but while in them, the convicts had to pull apart big pieces of rope with their hands. Their hands would eventually become raw, blisterd and infected.

 This was a trampoline at MONA that for some reason gave us two bodies in the photos.

A big sculpture at MONA. 

 This was a wall of water at MONA it squirted out words!!

The Cascade factory.

Female Factory.

Tess

Today, we started the day off with a fantastic 5km run or walk – the Cadbury Marathon (well, we did the 5k, but…). The run started out the front of the Cadbury Factory, weaved its way through the nearby golf course, and came to an end at the back of the factory.  Perhaps a little ironically, in each finishers pack, there was a block of chocolate. This was arguably the best part of the run! However, we all thoroughly enjoyed the run itself! After the run, we made our way to Richmond, a lovely old town on the outskirts of Hobart. There, we strolled the streets, browsed the shops, sipped on Nutella Milkshakes, and stuffed our faces at the pub for lunch. We visited the beautiful old bridge, built in 1823 by convict labour and the miniature old Hobart town. At a scale of 1:16, the miniature model depicted Hobart Town in the 1820’s. It took three years to build, and was mostly based off actual town plans and maps of that time, really quite amazing!

Tara 

The start.

  
The track – we did the 5 km one.

  
We did it!!

  
The things you do for chocolate!

  
The Richmond Bridge. Oldest bridge still in use in Australia.

After a quick breaky we went to see The Wall In The Wilderness at Derwent Bridge. It is a big wooden wall carved with many animals and people etc. It is 100 metres long made by one person, it has been going for ten years and is due to finish in 15 months. Sorry there are not photos we weren’t allowed to take any of the wall. We arrived in Hobart and went to see the Salamanca market before going back to the caravan for chicken satay.

Tess

After a quick breakfast on the beach near our caravan, we headed off to Strahan to catch the cruise boat! The trip was very exiting we learnt  a lot about the history of the bay and Gordon river which is in a World Heritage area. We had  2 stops on the way one was for a half an hour rainforest walk which was very beautiful and the other was on Sarah island an which they sent convicts to in the olden days. There was still old wrecks of buildings such as the individual isolation rooms, well they weren’t really rooms they were the same dimensions as coffins!

We had a yummy lunch then headed back to land! After a longish drive we arrived at lake St Clair and had Kelly pasta for dinner!

  
Breakfast with friends on the beach at Strahan.

A lighthouse near Hells Gates.

An 80 year old Huon Pine in front of a 500 year old Huon Pine. A Whitey Wood tree on the left.

It was a very drizzly day but the scenery was still lovely. It rains 300 days per annum on average here.

On the boat.

 A photo taken from Sarah Island.

One of the relics on Sarah Island.

 Skimming stones on Lake StClair. We are now at the other end of the national park, you can just see Cradle Mountain peeping up the back.

 Lake StClair

 Gerard and Tess  contemplating life.

 Tess’ artistic photos from Sarah Island.

Tess

The fog still hung heavy and low around Cradle Mountain National Park as we hitched up the van and drove out in the wee hours of the morning. We stopped in Rosebury, a quaint but in many ways deserted town, for a quick breakfast. It had not yet passed midday when we arrived at Strahan, our final destination for the day. We were lucky enough to find apon our arrival that the previous occupants of our site had already departed. We had a lunch that really was nothing to write home about, therefore I will not go into any detail. In the afternoon, we found our selves walking through an area that somewhat resembled the Sahara Desert with two tabogans trailing along behind us. However, it was not the Sahara Desert, funnily enough, it was the Henty Sand Dunes! Situated just 10 kilometres north of Strahan, the Henty Sand Dunes provide a thrilling natural playground! At first, we struggled to find a dune that we were able to slide down, but eventually, on the advice of our next door neighbours from the caravan park who we happened to bump into at the dunes, we came across a very steep sand dune. The prospect of sliding (or rather, plummeting) down it was rather daunting at first, but after our first go, we found that we didn’t slide as fast as we were expecting, but it was lots and lots of fun! We finished the day off with seafood at a local cafe and then a game of Cluedo back at the van!

Tara

  
Tara was first to brave the sand dune. She is the spec down the bottom.

  
It was so hard to climb back up, we could only do it a couple of times.

  
This is Tara walking down after she pushed Mum off the edge in her tabaggon.

Today we started off with yummy bacon and eggs for breakfast then walked to the visitor information centre to get a bus pass into the mountains. While in the line for the bus we ran into a family from Elphinstone! When we reached Dove Lake in the mountains and we went for a very long walk which was rather hard. We then came back and had a BBQ for dinner.

  
Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake

  
There were some very steep ascents and descents on our long walk.

  
The scenery was spectacular. This photo is of Twisted Lakes.

  
We walked all around Dove Lake and we were very high up.

  
Three happy walkers with Mum lagging behind!

  
A beautiful place to walk around.

Tess

First up today, we packed up the caravan and headed off for breakfast at House Of Anvers in Latrobe. From there we went on to a cherry farm where we tasted and purchased some absolutely divine cherries!! We arrived at Cradle Mountain in time for lunch and then a drive around. Along the way, we picked up a few brochures and what not that would help us plan our day for tomorrow. After a lovely dinner of pesto pasta at the caravan, we went down the road to the Tasmanian Devil Park where we went on a night feeding tour. We all found it extremely interesting and exciting to see the Devils up so close.
   
   
We started the day with a “light” Belgian breakfast at the House of Anvers Chocolate Factory.

  
A pademelon came to see us at our caravan site in Cradle Mountain.

  
A wombat we saw on the side of the road.

A Tassie Devil at the sanctuary.

Tara

4:30am: Left home.

9:10am: Set sail on the Spirit of Tasmania

7:30pm: Arrived in Tasmania.

8:00pm: Kebabs for dinner.

  
Packing up day – weather made just a little bit difficult!
  
The ship docked in Devonport.
  
Tess

Home! We had our last English breakfast today before catching a taxi to the airport. The taxis here are a lot nicer than at home! The flight home wasn’t as long as the way there which was good! We left London at 1.30pm Friday and finally got home to Elphinstone just after Saturday midnight! It is very cold at home.

Tess

A big travel day today! After driving back into Paris and dropping the car off, we took the Eurostar train from Gare Du Nord to London St Pancreas. The train ride took about 2 hours. It was really exciting going through the tunnel under the English Channel! Then it was an hour on the tube to get to Heathrow airport, then a 15 minute taxi ride to the hotel! 

   
 
Tara