On the fifth day we went for a 5 hour hike in the Freycinet Peninsula, which passed by Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach. The path to Wineglass Bay consisted of a series of somewhat steep rock steps which scaled and descended a mountain, passing by large rounded rocks and vegetation which reminded me of Magnetic Island (further North in Australia). Wineglass Bay had a beautiful long, white sandy beach and turquoise waters, similar to Abel Tasman in New Zealand. The next stop, Hazards Beach, was less calm and pristine, but nice nonetheless, and was covered in seaweed and shells, including large oysters broken open by seagulls. The next 3 hours consisted of a fairly flat loop around the mountain and back to the starting point, which was somewhat dull due to the fact that the trail led through the bush and views of the ocean were seldom, but we made it more exciting by stopping to climb some of the large round rocks off the trail.

That night we drove up to Bicheno, which is home to a large colony of penguins. About 1 hour after sunset we walked along a path through the woods, just above the rocky shoreline. We were really excited to find a few penguins here and there, up on some rocks or waddling along the path. We followed a few down the path until we reached the end, which met the rocks along the shore, and were stoked to see a very large group of penguins gathering on the rocks! More and more gathered as we watched motionless from the path, and then they started to make their way up towards us! We made sure to make no sound and move no muscle, but we didn’t realize we had formed a wall across the path! They came right up to us, looking quizzically (I’m sure they were thinking “What?? When did these trees sprout here? What is going on???” or something like that). A couple even pecked at Henry and Geoff’s shoes! They stood in front of us for about 10 minutes looking confused, while others went back down towards the ocean to stand with another group. I counted 17 penguins at one point. They were less than a foot tall and mostly black (including their beaks), besides little white stomachs. They were CUTE! Finally, I decided they probably were waiting for the path to clear before returning home, so I stepped to the side and Henry followed. Sure enough, a small line of penguins started to slowly edge their way past us, and then scurried into their nests in the bushes. It was an AMAZING experience.

The next day we drove up the coast to St Helens, and then further North to see the Bay of Fires, which disappointingly wasn’t as exciting as it sounds, although it was another very nice stretch of long, white beach. There were a lot of free camp grounds along there, so I can imagine it’s great in the summer. Then we followed the “Trail of the Tin Dragon”, a VERY windy road (so fun to drive on) which wound up through the mountains and pastures in the interior. The sights were GORGEOUS, and views were plentiful. The road was surrounded by forests of large fern trees and other jungle-like deciduous trees. Very green sheep pastures filled the valleys between rolling hills covered in forest. Along the way we stopped at a dairy farm to taste a variety of delicious cheeses, and hiked to a waterfall.

Late afternoon we arrived at our final destination, Launceton, the second largest town in Tasmania. It was a bit strange and industrial, but had a gorgeous gorge surrounded by green forests with nice walking trails right through the middle of the city. We walked along the river and across the suspension bridge for a while, and saw a ton of kangaroos and wildlife. The hostel we stayed in that night had some really strange characters staying in it…3 of which were living permanently in our 8 bedroom dorm. Upon entry it smelled like dirty socks, and sure enough to the left were piles of one old crazy dude’s laundry (and picture frames of his son, and other belongings) and to the right were about 12 pairs of socks hanging to dry on another guy’s bunk bed. Weird. We were thankful to leave the next morning, to catch our flight out of Tasmania. So…a bit sad to be leaving Tasmania. Our close encounters with nature on this island really made for an unforgettable trip, and I would love to return one day in summer season.

I wasn't originally going to create a blog for this short trip to Tasmania after my conference in Melbourne, but we have so many good stories - I simply must share them! :) Here it goes... So far having a really amazing time in the southern island off the coast of mainland Australia. Traveling with a somewhat random group of friends/work colleagues (Jen, Henry and Geoff), and it’s turning out to be great! We are all quite easygoing and outdoorsy, and seem to be up for anything in any weather! A perfect group for exploring rugged Tasmania with its constantly changing weather patterns! So far we have seen pouring rain, sun, sleet, snow, hail, and major wind storms! It’s Tassie’s fall right now – probably around November, so the weather is a bit on the cold side, but at least there are no tourists around, so we really feel one with the wilderness here. The rest of Australia says that Tasmanian people are two-headed, which is a joke referring to the in-breeding they assume must happen on the island after years of seclusion from the rest of Australia. So far everyone has been really laid back and nice though, and we haven’t seen any two-headed people yet ;).

We took a flight over from Melbourne after the conference on Friday, and Henry met us at the airport with our fancy SUV rental car. We then raced out to try to catch the sunset at the top of Mt Wellington, which was supposed to be spectacular. Unfortunately we had our first taste of poor Tasmanian signage (and we didn’t have a good map), so we ended up getting lost for at least half an hour, and didn’t make it to the peak of the mountain until much later. The crazy weather at the top of the mountain, and the animals we saw darting across the road in the dark (kangaroos, wallabies, possums, etc) were totally worth missing the sunset though! The top of Mt Wellington was much higher than we realized, and very rugged and windy. It was also starting to snow HORIZONTALLY. We got outside at the top at one point in some of the craziest wind I have ever experienced. It was hilarious.

We stayed in a very cool hostel in Hobart with a hammock and bean bag chairs, Where’s Waldo (or “Wally” in Oz) books, as well as a huge pet husky who roamed around and sat on the couch. Best. Hostel. Ever. Next morning we went to a cool market, and then drove down to the Tasman Peninsula. We were a bit behind schedule, and didn’t arrive at the Cape Huay (supposedly a 4-5 hour hike) trailhead until 2:30…2.5 hours before sunset. The sunset unfortunately cuts a lot of our days short, and it is unwise to drive at night because of all the wildlife. So back to the hike…despite the rainy weather and the fact that we only had 2.5 hours of daylight remaining for a 4 hour hike, we set out anyways, with our best rain gear and flashlights. We got absolutely soaked, but the stunning basalt sea cliff views at the end were totally worth it. You could walk right up to the edge and look 100 metres straight down into the ocean – very trippy. There were also some solitary, towering narrow sea columns which rose out of the ocean between two sets of cliffs, called the Totem Pole and the Candlestick, which are apparently very popular with climbers. We ended up completing the hike in 2 hours and 45 minutes! Amazing that we are all very fast hikers! It was just starting to get dark when we returned. It wasn’t until later in our bunk room that we discovered our passports were all waterlogged and ruined!

 The next day we went on an absolutely amazing 3 hour cruise around the Tasman Peninsula. We started in Eagle Hawk Neck and made our way down the coast to Cape Huay. The water was incredibly wavy, with 5 metre sea swells that made the entire journey feel like an AWESOME roller coaster ride. We were all stoked and felt that we got way more for our money :D. We passed amazing sedimentary rock cliffs with archways, caves and waterfalls. And then something amazing (and somewhat rare) happened – we were surrounded by a huge pod of dolphins!!!! They swam in/around/under our boat for 15 or so minutes. It was absolutely incredible. We encountered them a second time on our way back as well. I was thrilled, especially since I have never seen dolphins before!! At the base of the Cape Huay sea cliffs there were some lounging sea lions (or seals?), and we saw one little guy launch himself off the rock into the water. It was also very cool to see the sea columns from the water, and the huge waves crashing against the cliffs. Meanwhile, albatrosses with huge wing spans flew overhead. A poo-covered rock nearby was covered with black and white cormorants. A tuna fishing boat was attempting to reel in their catch, but were intercepted by some cheeky sea lions who thrashed around with the hooked tuna, taking chunks of meat while albatrosses and seagulls swarmed overhead to snag their own piece of lunch. It was quite a hilarious scene!! We were amazed that the fishermen could reel any tuna back to the boat without chunks missing, but they did manage to get a few full ones!! On the way back we stopped for some soup in a quiet bay, where we saw 4 of the 200 remaining white bellied eagles of Tasmania, and one of their nests (which apparently can way up to 1 ton). Unfortunately the water was too rough to continue all the way up to Port Arthur (and go inside the sea caverns :( ), so we returned to the starting point. The trip was just an amazing experience though.

Our next stop was the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, where we saw a number of native animal species and some feedings. First we got to feed the kangaroos (3 different species). It was really amusing because they all swarmed you, and often even grabbed your hands with their claws (it didn’t hurt, but felt very cool actually). You had to pay careful attention to the joeys because they often got shoved out of the way by the bigger ones. One small, dark, shy female – the Padimelon species (which I think roamed our holiday park at night) – had a newborn joey who poked his tiny little head out of his mother’s pouch once in a while. I didn’t notice it until I got down really low to feed the mother. It was really amazing to see. Then we saw one of my favourites – the Tasmanian devil. A very cute but ferocious little carnivore. They look almost like little black bears, and some have white stripes across their chest. They generally eat animals that are dead instead of chasing live animals. We saw three little guys fight over a large hunk of meat. Sometimes one would grab the chunk and run laps around the enclosure, while the other 2 followed in pursuit. It was hilarious! The guy who worked there and did the animal shows was very passionate about them, and told us all about the horrible facial tumor cancer that is killing off the Tasmanian devils. It is 100% deadly and is transferred through bites, which happens on a regular basis. Very sad, but the conservation park is attempting to breed them in captivity so the species doesn’t die off.

Afterwards we made our way (getting lost again due to poor signage) to Remarkable Caves, located by the amazingly rugged Cape Raoul coastline. The weather was very windy and wild, which created huge waves that crashed into the rocky beach. We walked down a footpath just behind the cliffs. A long tunnel-like cave connected the ocean to an opening with a viewing point, where the rocks were coated in a thick milky substance, and pieces of white sea foam floated through the air. We were very startled to find that the tunnel channeled huge waves through to our viewing area, and when they came crashing through the opening, we got soaked!!! I have some very funny videos of this. Our back sides were all coated in this milky sea water by the end. Unfortunately we were still wet on the drive back to the grocery store on our way home, when we heard a metallic sound, followed by some rumbling…of course, my luck, a flat tire. And not just any old flat tire. A 4 inch long metal rod managed to puncture not only our tire, but our metal RIM as well! We (Henry) changed the spare in the dark in the pouring rain, and who shows up to lend us his head lamp - the guy from the wild animal park!! The next day we stopped in Hobart on our way north to grab a new spare, and boy did it cost us. I won’t even mention the price on here, it is so atrocious. Boo hiss.

Today we drove up the coast to Coles Bay, and encountered very different vegetation and weather. The south was like a very dense, rugged rainforest with towering cliffs, while the east coast was warmer, with white sandy beaches, deciduous trees and rolling grassy hills, and the occasional vineyard. Since the slight hiccup set as behind schedule, we didn’t make it in time for our planned sea kayaking tour, and we were able to take our time meandering up the coast. We stopped at a number of beaches (where I collected shells :) ) along the way and explored a bit. Once in Coles Bay, Jen went for a run, while the rest of us explored some of the Freycinet Peninsula National Park. We saw a lighthouse and walked along some paths by the coast. The vegetation was very unique, with low lying shrubs and Canadian Shield-like rocks, cool spiky green plants and red rock coastlines. We climbed a few things…including the lighthouse, and rocks along the beaches in Sleepy Bay. We followed a path into a quiet bay which had large round sandstone rocks with hollowed out sections that you could climb into and sit in. Very cool. On our drive back at dusk, we saw the silhouette of a possum on a branch high up in a tree. Shortly after, a crow rapidly flew at it, nearly attacking the possum and scaring it out of the tree. It just managed to grab on to the branch with its front claws, preventing what could have been a fatal drop! What a crazy scene! So thus far Tasmania has awed us with its rampant wildlife and untouched nature. We look forward to more hikes and exploration to come.