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Tasmania 2024: Day 5 Hobart
After breakfast on Tuesday, we wandered down to the port and took a Historic Hobart Cruise. We took a seat out on the top deck, looking backwards, and the boat pulled out, heading north up the Derwent River. There was commentary as we went. We went up past Government House and over into Rose Bay, passing under the Tasman Bridge. In 1975 a bulk carrier hit one of the pylons and brought down a large section of the bridge. Twelve people died, seven on the ship and the other in four cars that plunged the forty-five metres into the water. Luckily, the collapse was confined to the span between the…
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Tasmania 2024 Day 4: Hobart
This post continues my recap of our trip to Tasmania. See previous posts: Day 1, Day 2, Day3. Monday 26th February. Our friend picked us up at 8:30 a.m. for a little outing on Kununyi/Mount Wellington. G and our friend went trail running while I did some hiking. I snapped a photo of the trail map so I could find my way back, and we all headed off in different directions. G and our friend ran the Organ Pipes circuit while I walked to Sphinx Rock. After admiring the view, I kept going and circled down to O’Grady’s Falls, then continued until I hit the Fingerpost Track, which was a…
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Tasmania 2024 Day 3 – Devils, Spectacular Coastline, Back to Hobart
G and I woke up reasonably early on Sunday to pack up and head out to the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo while our friends had a more leisurely morning. I can’t remember seeing a Tasmanian Devil before, so we wanted to take this opportunity to see one. The Devils are endangered due to roadkill and a contagious facial tumour. The Devils on the peninsula are tumour-free and protected by a devil-proof bridge on one of the crossings from the population in the rest of Tasmania. We saw these two brothers get fed, which was wild. They fought for the piece of meat, and then one ran off it with the other…
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Tasmania 2024 Day 2 – Tesselated Pavement and Port Arthur
Today G and N went off for a long run about 10 mins drive away in Murdunna while S and I had a bit of sleep-in before heading to the Tesselated Pavement. These rock formations are formed by movement along fault lines fractured the siltstone and erosion has deepened the pattern. Pan formations (more weathering within the formation) form closer to the high tide mark where they dry out more and salt crystals have more chance to form. loaf formations form further out where sea water channelling through the cracks weathers them more quickly. It was a highish tide that was rising when we went which meant coming back we…
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Tasmania 2024 Day 1 – Flying, driving, Eaglehawk Neck
We flew out of Tullamarine mid-morning on Friday. The flight was delayed by 30 minutes but G has access to the lounge so it wasn’t too much of a hardship. There were clouds most of the way over Tasmania but once we started our descent we got a good look at the environs of Hobart. I was shocked by how brown the countryside was. Once on the ground, we could see how crispy the vegetation was. Normally Melbourne would look like that by the end of January, but this year, with all the rain, we’ve stayed green so it was a shock to see Tasmania so brown. Most locals we…
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I’m back … and a teaser
We are back from our holiday in Tasmania. We spent the first weekend on the Tasman Peninsula, then four nights in Hobart before returning to the Tasman Peninsula with the Tasmanian Walking Company for the Three Capes Walk. Everything was so good, but the hike was the highlight of the trip. The highest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere, cloud forests, a test of nerves for myself on The Blade, all complimented by comfortable beds, yummy food and good wine. I plan to give a blow-by-blow rundown, but in the meantime, here is a little teaser … We arrived home yesterday and now I need to work my way back…
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K’Gari: Kingfisher Bay Resort Part 2
You can read part 1 here. Monday we started our day walking south from the resort following the McKenzie’s Jetty High tide route. This track goes up and over the headland through the bush, passing the Southern Great Sandy Lookout and out through the dingo fence to the beach. We also passed through what was left of the old Commando School. McKenzie’s Jetty was built for the logging trade and some of the pylons and rusted machinery are still on the beach. We also saw lots of dingo tracks on this section of the beach. Along the beach were expanses of “coffee rock,” made up of sand grains weakly cemented…
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K’Gari Island – Around Kingfisher Bay Resort
We stayed four nights on K’Gari at the Kingfisher Bay Resort. The highlight of our trip was the Beauty Spots Day Tour, but the other days we enjoyed some quieter activities around the resort. There a number of short walks and a variety of ranger-led activities. Sunday morning we took the Beerillbee Track which winds up through the bush above the resort to the Great Sandy Northern Lookout. We then exited the resort area through the dingo gate, selecting some stout branches to ward off any dingoes and headed down towards Dundonga Creek. There was plenty of birdlife through this area. Once down at the creek we headed towards the…
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K’Gari: 4WD Beauty Spots Day Tour
K’Gari (Fraser Island) is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is the largest sand island in the world. The World Heritage property covers 181,851 hectares and includes all of K’gari and several small islands off the island’s west coast. It is the world’s largest sand island, offering an outstanding example of ongoing biological, hydrological and geomorphological processes. The development of rainforest vegetation on coastal dune systems at the scale found on K’gari is unique, and the island boasts the world’s largest unconfined aquifer on a sand island and half of the world’s perched freshwater dune lakes. K’gari has exceptional natural beauty with more than 250 kilometres of clear sandy beaches…
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Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Yamba, Byron Bay
Our third night out of Sydney was spent in Yamba. We arrived mid-afternoon, and after settling into the motel, we went for a walk along the river to the beach and picked up our friend on our way past the caravan park towards the beach. The following day we left for the Gold Coast via Byron Bay. This was the last actual day of our road trip holiday. The Thursday involved sorting out the car and was a work day for Hubby (visiting clients) and I (paying bills), before we went with the business partner to Noosa. ACTIVITIES Yamba, we only did a walk along the river. At Ballina, we…
