ANZAC Weekend in Tasmania

Well, we finally made is to Tazzy and we quickly learned that it would have been 100% better to go last month when we had originally planned. It was COLD. Once you get to Tasmania there is nothing between you and that freezing arctic air. It would have been like going to Toronto on Halloween for an outdoor hiking adventure. Not unlike ourselves we tried to fit in 3 days what people usually do in a week. That said, it was an amazing adventure.

You may have noticed from the footy posting that blogger has recently updated their offering so now we can put multiple pictures in one entry. YAY! That will allow me to better illustrate our adventure. If you want to see the whole lot of pictures, go to the link below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lissmurr/Tasmania

We arrived in Tasmania on Saturday morning. We flew in Lauceston and drove up the northern coast of the island state. It was dark and rainy, so we didn’t see all that much. In our journeys we went through a small town that claimed to be the platypus capital of the world so we took a short bush walk (Australian for hike) through the sanctuary. Still rain, but no platypuses (platypi?) which I must say was mystifying to me because I thought for sure they were mammals so I would think they’d have to show themselves when they came up for air. As you can see, we were still having fun.

On Sunday our plan was to hike through Cradle Mountain to Dove Lake. On our way up to the mountain, we stopped at Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary. We knew we had to see some Tasmanian Devils sometime on this trip. So we paid $16 each for entrance into the sanctuary. As soon as we handed over the dough it began to down poor. We were committed to seeing the devils though, so we ventured out. As we were walking, we saw plenty of kangaroos (who by the way were huddled under the trees staring at us like we were crazy), but NO DEVILS. I understand they are endangered and quite rare now a days, but you would think if you pay to go into a reserve you would see them.


By the time we got to the mountain the weather had gotten so bad that hiking was out of the question so we decided to see the sites by car in a 7 hour drive (on the left side of the road) through the mountains. It was treacherous to say the least. There was a very real moment when I skidded into a turn and we almost went over the edge. As we came out of the mountains at sunset, the views were amazing.

On Monday we arrived in Hobart and went to Mount Wellington. The terrain was like none we’ve seen before.

After the day outdoors we went to Cascade Brewery for dinner before our flight back. There was no food, but enough beer to go around and make the flight home a delightful one hour nap.