Tasmania in images

Just a few (well a few more than a few) pictures from our trip to Tassie.
I think this beach is called Spiky Beach. It's near Spikey Bridge, so that's what I'm calling it.














Looking out to Wineglass Bay from the Cape Tourville lighthouse.














A Wallaby beside the carpark at Friendly Beaches (which aren't friendly at all, because you can't swim there.)














Just call me the Wallaby Whisperer. I talked to him and he sat up and listened.














Yep, this is a sign in Bicheno, warning that penguins cross the highway and to watch out for them.














Jetty at St Helens.














Methinks the person who designed this sign didn't really think about what it would look like when it was done.......or maybe they did.














Peron Dunes near St Helens



















They're very tall, very impressive and a bugger to climb back up once you get to the bottom.














This was our accommodation in Launceston. It's a new hotel, converted from a convent. We stayed on the third floor (of course, because we arrived late at night, tired, hungry and with bloody heavy luggage....). I sorta hoped it was haunted, but it wasn't.















A lavender farm where it seems I may have picked up some sort of major allergy that caused my eye to look a bit like a cyborg for a few hours. It was rather disconcerting and warranted a rush visit to a doctor. The cyborg look doesn't suit me. Really.














This is Cradle Mountain from the top of Mt something-or-other next to it, which I was brave enough to climb. Several mountain goats stopped me on the way up and tried to tell me I was nuts, but I perservered. The pics don't do it justice. The video is better. I just haven't worked out how to get it on here yet.














Cradle Mountain and Mt something-or-other from Dove Lake, at the bottom.














This little guy is an Echidna, which is a native Australian mammal. It's also a monotreme, which means it lays eggs. The echidna and the platypus are the only mammals that are monotremes. Who ever knew reading my blog could be so educational? It's not the best photo because he was trying to hide. Click the pic to enlarge it and you should be able to see him watching me with his little beady eyes. Again, the video is much better.














This is Ocean Beach near Strahan. The dirty, stained colour of the water is from the tannins (plant derived metal ion chelators, for those who care to know) that leach from nearby Tea Trees.














Quite odd to see sea water this colour.



















Port Arthur historical prison site. Very old. Very haunted. We didn't see anything when we were there, but we did get bad feelings from one particular building. Check out this photo. Gimme your opinion on what you think the white shadow in the bottom left hand corner is... ?














Devil's Kitchen at Eaglehawk Neck.



















Looking out across the Southern Ocean from Remarkable Cave, Port Arthur.



















Tessellated Pavement, a naturally occurring rock formation, at Eaglehawk Neck.














From the top of Mt Wellington in Hobart. Despite T's driving skills and my confidence in him, I was convinced we were going to go over the edge of the cliff on the drive to the top. Thankfully, I was less sure of our impending death on the way down. And yes, that's clouds you can see below where I'm standing. The person who decided it was a good idea to make the top of that mountain a tourist attraction was just sick! If I'd have known about the drive up before we actually started to drive up, I would have hidden under the seat.














This is the bridge into a town called Ross. It was built by convicts and the stone engravings were done by two convicts who were given their freedom in return for the amazing work they did on this bridge. And I'm relying purely on the fact that I have a good memory when I relate that. I think that's the story anyway.














Opium poppy fields. They're everywhere. Nothing much is stopping anyone parking by the roadside and pickin' a few flowers for the dinner table.














Execpt these big ole scary signs every now and then.














Bales of hay. Just because the shot came out alright. I'm sure T's photos will come out much better though.














The following few pics are from a little town called Penguin. 'Nuff said.








































































This is a little disconcerting.















The beach at Penguin.















This is a sign next to a barge crossing at the Pieman River. To get from one end of a particular route down Tasmania's west coast, you have to take this barge. Methinks the person who put this sign together had a good sense of humour.



















The surf beach at Marrawah, which is almost Tasmania's most western point. The surf here was some of the biggest I've seen and there were guys, er crazy folk, out there surfing in it.





























This little Wallaby was obviously on the payroll at Lake St Clair National Park. He was just sitting in the carpark posing for photos for tourists.














Lake St Clair. Pity it was overcast that day.














Lake Bunbury, just east of Queenstown, on the edge of the World Heritage listed wilderness. The clouds were amazing, so we had to do the tourist thing and go out on the bridge and take photos...and set off a trend for other tourist folk to do the same. Funny how the guy with the tripod always attracts attention from other click-happy people.














Since you've had visual overload and I'm sure you're bored, I won't waffle on. Wanna know anything else? Ask me in a comment and I'll respond in another post.

It's good to be home...well sorta... Not so good to be a few thousand kms away from T again...