Tuesday 3 September 2013

Tasmania In Short

Well, we are home and unpacked and back at work and Tasmania seems like a far away memory !  OK that may be a little melodramatic and the memory of Tasmania is not that far away but going back to work yesterday, sure made the end of our holiday more of a reality !!!!!

We had a great time in Tasmania.  After staying the night in Launceston and driving through town and some of the suburbs, I said to A that it reminded me of the poor cousin of Australia.  It looked quite run down, the lovely old buildings looked like they could do with lots of maintenance on them.  We could not believe the number of homes for sale - through out the whole of Tasmania - lots and lots and lots.  The only place we saw some really nice looking houses was in Hobart.

We drove a total of 3,525kms in 16 days.  Our itinerary turned out to be this :
Day 1 - Gold Coast - Melbourne - Launceston
Day 2 - Launceston - Cradle Mountain
Day 3 - Cradle Mountain - Strahan
Day 4 - Strahan (cruise on the Gordon River with a stop off at Sarah Island)
Day 5 - Strahan - Hobart
Day 6 - Hobart (Salamanca Markets)
Day 7 - Hobart (MONA and all the way through the Huon Trail to most southerly road in Australia)
Day 8 - Hobart (town and Cascade Brewery)
Day 9 - Hobart - Port Arthur
Day 10 - Port Arthur - Swansea
Day 11 - Swansea - Freycinet
Day 12 - Freycinet - Deloraine (via St Helens)
Day 13 - Deloraine - Port Sorell (via Great Lake and Bothwell)
Day 14 - Port Sorell - Cradle Mountain (via the north west coast as far as Stanley and The Nut)
Day 15 - Cradle Mountain
Day 16 - Cradle Mountain - Launceston (via Great Lake - again !)
Day 17 - Launceston
Day 18 - Launceston - Melbourne - Gold Coast

We had booked accommodation as far as Hobart and then just looked each day at how far we would get to see where we should look for accommodation.  Unfortunately, A cannot relax and do nothing so if we got as far as we planned by early afternoon, he would 'suggest' we go further !!!  We would generally find somewhere to sleep about 5-6pm, and then we would be off to see whatever we could see before we lost all light for the day !  While I loved every minute (OK - maybe not actually every single minute - but certainly most of the minutes we were away), it was very tiring to be living in and out of suitcases / hotels / driving and in and out the car going to see the sights and try not to miss out on anything that we came across.

Some of the high-lights of our time there :


Seeing the snow on Cradle Mountain (just a pity it rained, washing it all away !!)


The scenery - some of the most amazing scenery I have seen in our country and very similar to NZ (there were daffodils and crocuses all over the place)


Driving in the snow on the way from Cradle Mountain to Strahan


Standing in the snow on Mt Wellington (sadly it melted before it hit the ground)

 
The climb up to be able to look down on Wineglass Bay


Seeing the tiny little lambs frolicking in the paddocks
 
 
Seeing wombats IRL
 
 
Cataract Gorge was in full flow and looked amazing
 
 
Lunch at The Hungry Wombat - the best burger I have ever tasted (and not because I was hungry !!)
 

Salamanca Place (where they hold the markets every Saturday)


The beautiful sandstone buildings - especially in Hobart

 
Staying at Blake's Manor - so quaint


Seeing the Great Lake
 
We were absolutely amazed at how many places we went to where we had to pay for parking - I began to feel like it was a real money making racket !!!  In Campbell Town - a little town on the east coast - there were 2P parking restrictions - I bet there aren't that many people wanting to park there so why restrict the time that they can park there ?  I just didn't get it.

I will be posting a more detailed blog of our time in Tasmania and will let you know once that has been done.  In the meantime I am joining in with Jess from Essentially Jess for #IBOT.

Have the best week and take care !

TFTD : Be miserable.  Or motivate yourself.  Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice - Wayne Dyer

45 comments:

  1. Wow looks like you had an amazing time, I am looking forward to seeing more of your trip as we have Tassie on our to do list!! Thanks for making me want a burger at 9am!!

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    1. Sorry about the burger - honestly, I am not a burger person by any stretch of the imagination, but it was delicious !!!
      It definitely should be in everyone's "To Visit" list.
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  2. How cute is that lamb??!! I like that the snow landed on your head but melted before it hit the ground. For some reason that's funny...to me, anyway. And you know my stand on wombats, so we've covered that.
    Hope you are back into work and the humdrum routine of non holiday life...planning the next one?

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    1. The lambs were too cute - A got jack of having to stop every time we saw them because I wanted to squeal about seeing more lambs !!!!
      The snow melting before hitting the ground was funny to us - we were like to little kids in the car park with the snow - am sure that seasoned Tasmanians thought we were daft !!!
      For sure we are planning the next one - may have to be a shorter one as we have promised to take the old people along the Great Ocean Road - but then it is Canada/USA.
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  3. Tasmania is so beautiful! You are so good for not booking all your accomodation, it is better to be sopntaneous than structured but nothing beats peace of mind of knowing where you are sleeping. It looks like it was cold!

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    1. LOL - I was a lot better at being spontaneous this time !! In NZ I got antsy if it wasn't sorted by about 2pm- whereas sometimes it was 6pm before we found where we were staying - thankfully we didn't land up in any dodgy places but that may have been something to do with the fact that there weren't many tourists around when we were there !!!
      Have a great week and good luck for your run on Sunday !
      Me

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  4. I can definitely see similarities to NZ! Can't wait to read more about it, because it's a place Mike and I would like to visit. Maybe not in winter though! And yes, in and out of the car and hotels and suitcases is totally exhausting! We won't make that same mistake again I don't think! x

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    1. It truly is a lovely place to visit. I think in summer it would be good as well although you would have to fight more tourists than we did.
      Next time maybe try to have more 2 or 3 nights at one place instead of changing nearly every day.
      You'll really enjoy it - I know. So many walks to go on - if I wasn't so overweight and with my dodgy knee, I'm sure we would have walked more, although don't know if we would have had the time !!!!
      Have the best day - see you tonight !
      Me

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  5. Oh my gosh... when you write it down in cold hard kilometres that is a very long drive ! I love the pic of Cataract Gorge, I can just imagine the roar of all that water... just magnificent! Must be time to plan your next trip.. I wonder where you will wander ?
    xx Lisa

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    1. I didn't realise just how far we had driven until I looked at the speedo on about day 10 !! The waterfalls and the gorge certainly were loud - there had been heaps of rain just before we got there so the falls were all flowing really well. We even got to see a platypus at Liffey Falls !
      Yip - for sure we are planning the next trip !!
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  6. Aww. I love that little lamb. I really want to get there one day. It looks very idyllic. Glad you had a great time.

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    1. The lambs were too cute - A got a bit jack of me squealing every time we saw some !!!!
      I think if we had done it a tad slower it probably would have been idyllic - the word frantic comes to mind to describe our trip !!!
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  7. Tasmania is the only state I have not been to in Australia. I think I balk at it because it is so bloody cold and we usually travel towards the sun in winter. Even though we do get time off in Summer, we have never thought of it. Maybe we should.....
    Loved the photo's too.

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    1. I am sure that it would be lovely in the summer - you would just need to battle the other tourists. We pretty much had most things to ourselves - sharing with not many others - at the Platypus House, it was just the two of us and the tour guide - it was fantastic !!! We just love looking for snow which is why we have been to NZ and Tassie in winter !!!
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  8. What a huge trip! I'm very jealous, I LOVE Tasmania. We've been there twice and I've been to most of the places you visited. We stayed in a lovely old place in Launceston which was an old manor house turned into apartments, it was all in period right down to the furniture. Cascade brewery looked spooky to me. Loved Cradle Mountain, we stayed at the lodge. I can't remember having to pay for parking everywhere though? My favorite is definitely Port Arthur, the history is absolutely amazing.

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    1. Isn't it just amazing - such a beautiful state !!!
      Cascase brewery was good as was the Boag's Brewery in Launceston. I also loved Port Arthur - I found the history so fascinating.
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  9. Wow, Wineglass Bay, Cataract Gorge and the Great Lake look amazing - I'd love to go to Tassie one day! And you got so close to a wombat too ... how cute!!

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    1. They were amazing - so glad we got to go there. At the Platypus House we had an echidna sniff our shoes and then walk over them - it was so cute. WE just couldn't take photos as it was inside and you can't use a flash because it damages their eyes.
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  10. Looks like you guys had an amazing time away. You took so many gorgeous pics, can't wait for more xx

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    1. Thanks Beck - we did have a fantastic time !!! Will let you know when I have got the other posts done and pics loaded.
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  11. Looks like you guys had an amazing time away. You took so many gorgeous pics, can't wait for more xx

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  12. Looks like you need a holiday after your holiday - wow that went fast L - and how cute to see a wombat! Love spring lambs - thanks for sharing :)

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    1. That is exactly right - I certainly felt like I needed a holiday when I got back - if only A would learn to relax !!!!!
      The wombat and the echidna we saw at Platypus House were so cute - he sniffed our shoes a few times and then walked over our feet. It was just A and I and the guide so it was really good !
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  13. Sounds like you might need a holiday to get over the holiday. That is a fair amount of kms you clocked up. Love Tassy - have been there 3 times now. Great place for a driving holiday .... so much to see and do. It really is geared up for tourists.

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    1. That is exactly right - such a great place for a driving holiday. Everything is relatively close together - so much so we were able to go to Cradle Mnt and Great Lake twice !!!
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  14. Welcome back!

    Great photos and it sounds like you had a great time! I remember I was really struck by all the daffodils when I was there about this time 12 years ago too. It looked really cold - colder than when we were there!

    Can't wait to hear more of your adventures in upcoming posts :-)

    visiting today from #teamIBOT xxx

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    1. Thanks Janet - yes, that was one of the things I noticed - daffodils and crocuses growing everywhere - alongside the road, in paddocks - very strange !
      We had a couple of days where temps got up at about 12 or 13 but most of the time we were in single digits !!
      Have a great week !
      Me

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  15. Wow! Looks like you had a really good time! I love Tasmania. We did about the same trip as yours a few years ago so I understand what you mean about this kind of trip being tiring.

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    1. Thanks Rita - it's a great trip - just tiring when you are in and out of hotels / cars / suitcases !!!
      Have a great week !
      Me

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  16. Wow, what an epic road trip! The daffodils and the lamb make me homesick for NZ, in fact I think I've read before that Tassie is very similar to NZ in terms of climate and scenery. The wombat not so much tho! I'll have to show Miss 6 the wombat pic tomorrow, she's a huge wombat fan :)
    #teamIBOT was here

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    1. LOL - the wombats were so cute !! We saw a Mom and a baby on the side of the road.
      The lambs were just too cute - A got jack of my squealing every time I saw some !!
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  17. Glad to hear you guys had a nice trip. I like to get someone and then spend the afternoon exploring and relaxing. Taking it all in.

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    1. LOL Annaleis - then you better not going travelling with A !! Lots of sight seeing and walking and going to places - not so much time for relaxing !!
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  18. Oh wow looks like a fantastic time! Can't wait to hear more.

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    1. Everyone should go to Tassie at least once - it is so worth it !
      Have the best week !
      Me

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  19. Tasmania is lovely..you bought back many fond memories of out trip.
    Glad you had a lovely time :-)

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    1. Thanks Jen - it is a beautiful place to visit. Not sure I would like to live there - although there is heaps of acerage to choose from !!!
      Have the best week !
      Me

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  20. What an incredible trip! Tasmania will always hold a special place in my heart, a very dear friend lives in Hobart, so I think I will always find reason to visit the tiny little island. Love that pic of the wombat! How big was he! Thank you again for coming out last night, really loved catching up x

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    1. Of all the places we visited, if I had to live there I would live in Hobart - it is a lovely little city.
      That was the Mom wombat - there was a baby wombat a little further off the road but she wasn't letting us anywhere near her baby.
      Last night was lovely - so good to put faces to names and feel the connection.
      Enjoy the rest of your holiday - hopefully we can catch up next time you are up on the coast !!
      Me

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  21. I loved every minute of Tassie too, we stayed from farm stays to flash hotels, with a plastic tub of rations in the boot. That hike to wineglass bay was a killer, and the view when we first spotted the great lake was breathtaking. You've made me want to go back ASAP! Port Arthur was great, but a little creepy, did you do the ghost tour?

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    1. I loved Port Arthur - no we didn't do the ghost tour. We got there at about 10.15 and left at 4.45 or so - exhausted from walking for so long !!!
      But I agree - it was a little creepy - even in the light of day !! Did you go to the Isle of the Dead ? That was interesting too.
      Have a great day !
      Me

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  22. Tasmania looks beautiful. Your partner sounds a lot like my Dad, more content with just driving until we get somewhere instead of slowing down and taking it all in!

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    1. Make no mistake - we stop off all the time - most little shops, any water falls, scenic lookouts - we do them all !!! I think he just doesn't know how to relax !
      Have the best day !
      Me

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  23. Full on trip, but it sounds amazing! I would love to explore Tassie one day, but it might take me a while to convince Boatman who hates the cold!

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  24. Wow L, your holiday seemed to go so quickly!! It looks like you had a fabulous time, and your photos are just beautiful.
    John would love us to move to Tasmania as he loves the cold, but I just couldn't handle it, Qld gets cold enough for me, haha. xx

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