Heather and Kelly, two friends from nursing school came to Australia for a two week visit, and we had tons of fun! They went to the Whitsundays for a few days while Sarah and I had to work (we will be going when her parents come for a visit at the end of November), and the day after they got back, we headed to Tasmania for 6 days of jam packed fun. We arrived in Hobart around noon, and immediately, with no delay headed to the Cadbury factory for a tour of yummy chocolate making. We enjoyed a few samples, accepted our free gift of a box of assorted chocolates, and then engaged in a ridiculous shopping spree, in which we all ended up with a bag full of chocolates, a purple Cadbury bag at that. It was definitely a highlight, as Cadbury has proved to be my new favorite chocolate. I am dreading the withdrawals I will be going through once I return to the states. We were on our way to Strahan for the night, when we stopped off to do a quick hike to Russell Falls. This was the most amazing waterfall I have ever seen! We got back on the road, and before too long, it had gotten dark, and we found ourselves dodging wallabies left and right. We had a few close calls, but no fatalities...phew!
The next morning we awoke early to get ready for our Gordon River Cruise. This was a 6 hour boat ride that took us in to Macquarie Harbour, through Hell's Gates, on a rainforset walk, past fish farms, and to Sarah Island. The river had a brown color, but we learned that it was perfectly safe even for drinking (we actually sampled it) and we learned that it was caused by runoff from the button grass that was all around. On Sarah Island we got a tour from a very animated guide who told of the history and how convicts from England were sent there in the 1820's. That evening we headed to Cradle Mountain, where it started to SNOW as we got close to the park. We were expecting that it wouldn't be very clear weather (supposedly it rains all but about six days a year, and you can hardly ever see the peak of Cradle Mountain), but it was a pleasant surprise to find snow. We found a pub at a nice Lodge and enjoyed some wine and hot chocolate by the fire, as kids were having snow ball fights outside.
We had planned on hiking the next day around Dove Lake, but even though the snow had melted, it was still very cold, rainy and windy. We took a bus to the drop off point, got far enough to see the lake, and decided we were not brave enough for the 2 hour hike around. We headed back to the visitor center, taking a 30 minute walk instead, and called it a day. We were then off to Launceston ("Launcie") for the night.
The next day we visited Cataract Gorge before taking the "Wine Route" to a couple of vineyards on our way down to Cole's Bay. That night we went to see penguins in Bicheno as they made their way out of the water after a long day of hunting for food and to their burrows for the night. We were told to wear dark clothing, be very quiet, and don't shine lights if we were going to have a chance of seeing them. It happened to be mating season at this time of year, and we ended up seeing quite a few of the cute little penguins.
The next day we did a 5+ hour hike in Freycinet National Park, which included taking a break on the beach of Wineglass Bay. They say this is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, I might have to agree. Tasmania had very strange weather while we were there...most of the time it was cold, occasional rain/hail, and the one night of snow. Every once in a while, the sun would peak out, but then it would soon go back to being cold and rainy. This one day as we were hiking, it was the most beautiful weather, sunny, must have been in the high 70's, and barely a cloud in the sky...perfect hiking weather.
Our last day we spent a short time in Port Arthur in the afternoon before making our way to Hobart for some shopping and dinner. Port Arthur was a larger version of Sarah Island, a compound for English convicts. In the six days we were in Tasmania ,we saw heaps of wildlife...wallabies, a wombat, an echidna, a Tasmanian Devil, penguins and sheep (probably more sheep than people). We spent a lot of time driving as we did a complete circle around the island and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I would recommend to anyone coming to Australia that Tasmania should be a must on their list of places to see. We could have easily spent tons more time there.
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