Today we had a refreshing swim before heading off to Launceston. On the way we stopped at Derby, a small town for a bite to eat. We also went very close to a big fire. We could see all the smoke and even the reddness from the flames! When we got to Launceston we went to Cataract Gorge. We took a ride on the chair lift, it we was really fun and had a great view!

  
One last swim before we go.

  
Interesting old bank building in Derby along the way.

  
There are lots of bushfires in Tassie. We saw this on our way, there were 4 helicopters bombing it with water.

  
A Pea Hen with her chicks crossing the road at Cataract Gorge.

  
An Echidna at the Gorge.

  
The Chairlift at the Gorge.

  
The Gorge, hard to believe it is in the middle of the city (Launceston).

  
A pool at the Gorge – this shows the British ideas of turning the Gorge into a leisure park back at the turn of the century.

  
A Bennets Walaby with a cataract at Cataract Gorge!

Tess  
 

After a lazy morning dolphin spotting we drove out to The Pub In The Paddock for lunch. The pub was built in 1880 and is famous for its ‘beer drinking pig’! It was a lovely meal, although very filling! However, somehow, we all still had just enough room in our tummies for a bit of cheese tasting down the road at Pyengana cheese.  Some of the cheeses had been aged for 32 months! We drove around for a bit after that, visiting a few short walks and lookout areas. From a place called The Gardens (given the name by an explorers wife for its many native flowers, that we didn’t see) you can see the whole Bay Of Fires! Then, we had a glorious afternoon at the caravan, just reading and relaxing! Mum made some lovely hamburgers for our tucker. 

Jury is still out on this bird, we are not sure what it is.

  
A juvenile Pacific Gull, it really is amazing how they change as they grow into an adult bird.

  
Pacific Gull adult.

  
A giant stingray we saw while we were having breaky.

  
Mum on the beach – still in her PJ’s!

  
The whole beach to themselves! Oh, except for the giant Stingray and the Dolphins.

  
Binalong Bay.

  
A crayfish boat at The Gardens.

TARA

We had a short drive to a lovely campsite on the beach in The Bay Of Fires Conservation area. We set up then drove into town to get supplies for our two days with no power! When we got back I went for a swim then a while later Dad and I went for another swim. The water was really cold and the waves were REALLY strong! Even dad couldn’t  stand up when they went past! It was like a ride at wet n’wild! For dinner we had some yummy pesto pasta.  

A free camp right on the beach, good weather – perfect!

  
Too rough to surf.

  
It was hard to stay standing.

  
A lagoon at our camp site.

Tess

Today we had breakfast before driving to a winery. The wine tasting building was very old, they had a lot of information about the man who lived there last, he didn’t use his electricity even though he had it. We then went to another winery for lunch. Tara and I shared pizza and fish and chips. We then drove a short time to Bicheno where we set up the caravan before driving out to a water hole for a swim. It was lots of fun!

After dinner we walked down to the beach where we watched the Penguins come up out of the water! Even though it was dark and could hardly see it it was still lots of fun!

  
Breakfast before we hit the road.

  
French toast with bacon and maple syrup.

A young Dusky Robin.

  
Wine tasting at Gala Estate Wines.

 The view from Devils Corner Winery.

  
The Devils Corner Winery was all made out of Containers.

  
A swim at The Douglas Aspley National Park Waterhole.

  
  
Bicheno

  
Afternoon tea!

  
Penguin spotting on the rocks at The Blowhole in Bicheno.

Tess

After stopping at a bakery to have a quick bite to eat for breakfast, we made our way into Freycinet National Park. Over the next five hours we completed an 11km circuit walk and swam in two absolutely picturesque beaches – Hazards Brach and Wineglass Bay Beach. At Wineglass Bay, there was a very friendly wallaby. The whole walk was lots and lots of fun, but we were all quite tired by the end, so we had an early dinner at a cafe called Saltshaker in Swansea.

  
We came across a Bennets Walaby on our walking track,

  
Hazards Beach.

  
A swim in Hazards Beach.

  
Lunch at Wineglass Bay with a little friend.

  
The beach at Wineglass Bay.

  
Tess and Dad in for a swim.

  
Wine Glass Bay from the lookout.

Tara.

We arrived at Swansea in the late morning, and then drove on to Ross. At Ross we had a lovely lunch at a lovely bakery, where mum was finally able to have her scallop pie! We walked around Ross and had a look at the lovely old bridge, then went back to Swansea. We have a great site, right on the beach, but the wind! It was positively ghastly! It was so windy that we couldn’t eat outside, so for the first time in many years, we ate our dinner inside the caravan! 

  
Ross Bridge

  Spikey Bridge near Swansea, built by convicts. 

 
  
Our view from the caravan at Swansea.

Tara

Today we went to Maria island a place that has no cars or shops. We had to catch a boat there and take all our own food for the whole day. We started with a walk to the Fossil Cliffs. There are lots of big rocks with fossils of sea shell aminals that lived 280 million years ago. The walk took about 2 hours. We then stopped for lunch before doing another walk to the Painted Cliffs. This one had a beach on it. This walk also took about two hours. The island has had many uses in the past including a convict settlement, vineyard, cement works and now a national park. There is a lot of wild life on the island. We saw four wombats and lots of pademelon.

Cape Barren Geese.
  
  
  
  A Pademelon.

 
Wildlife was abundant.  

Two fat Wombats.
  

Kelp Gulls.

Spot the wombat and the pademelon!
 

 
   
  

The Fossil Cliffs

  
  
  
  
Having a little relax!

The Painted Cliffs.
  

Tess

Today was what one might refer to as a ‘rest day’. Mum, Tess and I started the day scowling through the shelves of Harvey Norman, searching for a new kettle after our old kettle decided to stop working! For lunch, we went to the Cole River Farm Cafe, which was rather scrumptious! In the afternoon, Tess and Dad went to the Maritime Museum, and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Just as an added interesting note: Today we met a man who is staying in a cabin at our caravan park. This man is from the remote and somewhat isolated town of Whitehorse, Canada. He comes over to Tasmania in our summer (Canadian winter) to work as a fire bomber, that is, flying a fixed wing plane and dropping water on fires!

  
A little bandicoot that came to visit us near our caravan in Hobart (Cambridge).

Tara

We started the day early hoping to get breakfast on the way to the car ferry to go over to Bruny Island. We failed over and over again getting breakfast. First we thought there must be a maccas as on the way, no. Then we thought there must be a cafe on the ferry dock, yes there was and it had a big flag out the front saying breakfast so we walked over but it was closed! We then went to the island and went to three different cafes all closed! We then gave up and went to catch a tour boat! Turns out there was a cafe there at the office but the ONLY thing on the menu was blueberry muffins so we had that! We then caught the boat it was very fun. We saw lots of caves in the cliffs and a big blow hole! Later we saw a big number of seals! It was amazing but the seals had a very bad smell. We then had a look around the island before only JUST making it onto the ferry. We had to park on a very strange angle to fit in. We then went back and had a light dinner.

  
On the boat.

 
A blowhole from a cliff on Bruny Island.

 Four Shags on a rock!

  The granite cliffs of Bruny Island. 

  Lots of Australian Fur Seals.

  Soooo cute!

  We saw lots of caves.

  A view from the lookout on the neck of Bruny Island.

  Two happy campers.

  Two very happy parents!  
Tess

Today, we visited Port Arthur. We were lucky enough to go on three different tours.

1. Isle Of The Dead tour: we boarded a boat that took us across some water to a very small island. This island is where they buried everyone, convicts and free settlers included. But, whilst the fact that they buried one and all on the same small island may appear to indicate a rather even, fair and unbiased society, this was not the case. They still found a way to seperate the different ‘classes’ of people. The good, important people were on the higher side of the island (perhaps just that little bit closer to heaven?), and the bad convicts on the lower (perhaps a little closer to hell?). We all found the tour to be extremely fascinating and eye-opening! Our tour guide was actually a descendant of one of the men buried on the island!
2. Introductory Tour: this tour took us around the main part of the settlement. We learnt about the main buildings and was has happened to them thus far. It is, really, just because of the tourists that the buildings are so well looked after these days.
3. Point Puer: Point Puer was where all the convict boys, aged between 9 and 17 went. There were up to 700 hundred boys in an area of 2.5 acres. The idea was to keep the younger ones away from the influence of older convicts. However, in the end, a lot of the teachers and people in charge on Point Puer were ex-convicts. Boys were deemed useless and girls useful, hence why the girls were sent to the female factory to become servants, and the boys just left on Point Puer.

On the way home, we stopped at the naturally Tessellated pavement, Doo Town (where most of the house have names like Doo Drop Inn, Doo you?,  Doo I?, Doodle Doo, Gunna Doo, Can Doo, Toucan Doo, and many more!). At Doo Town we also had Fish ‘n’ Chips for dinner at the blowhole!

 On the way to Port Arthur, we had to stop when they opened up the road to let a boat through!

 This is the main building of the Port Arthur settlement. This building was actually built to be a wheat mill, however it proved to be a rather unsuccessful venture, and closed within a year of opening. Then it became storage for supplies needed in the settlement. Interestingly enough, the bars on the windows were not installed when it later became a convict gaol, but they were put in while it was a place of storage to keep the supplies in and the thieves out! When it finally became a gaol, they had solitary confinement sells down on the ground floors. Basically, the way it worked was that they had the worst prisoners down on the bottom floors, and the ‘best’ prisoners on the top. The top floor had many more privileges. Towards the end of the convict settlement era, the grounds became somewhat of an Old People’s Home because all the convicts that had spent the most part of their life there had no where else to go.

 The convicts were not supposed to have headstones, so most of the headstones and memory stones or head stones of more important people.

 Pacific Gulls – juvenile

 Pacific Gulls

 A White Faced Herron having a bad hair day
 White Faced Herron having a good hair day.

  The beach at Puer Island looking over to The Isle of the Dead.

 Point Puer

 Tasman Arch

 Some more magnificent coastline!

 A crayfish boat

  Fish and chips from the “Doolicious” food Van at Doo Town.

 Don’t pat the puppy!

 Look who’s in the dog house now!

 Hodded Plovers on the beach at Eaglehawk Neck

 Tessellated Pavement at Eaglehawk Neck.

Tara