Trip Report Contents
Day Three: Driving Cross-Island (Here comes the sun)
Quick Summary: On the only
sunny day of our trip, we visited a wildlife refuge where we met Tasmanian
Devils, wombats, and koalas, and fed kangaroos, and drove across the island to
Strahan.
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Wednesday was the only day we were
on Tasmania that we actually got to really see the sun, full on, and for the
day. It was really glorious, even though
it was way too hot.
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| Downtown Hobart |
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| Downtown Hobart |
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| The sun does actually shine in Hobart, sometimes: looking from our hotel, out across the "skyline" to Mount Wellington |
So Long, Hobart; See
You In a Few Days
We had a quick breakfast in Hobart before loading into the
car and heading out to our first stop, the Bonorong Wildlife Preserve, about a
half hour outside of central Hobart. The
drive to Bonorong gave a little glimpse of the natural beauty we would be in
for that day, with mountains, lakes and rivers, and a beautiful sky.
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| In the car, headed out of Hobart |
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| From the car, on the drive to the wildlife refuge |
Communing With Kangaroos
The visit to Bonorong was
certainly one of the highlights of our trip. At the reserve there are
species native to Tasmania, like wombats and Tasmanian Devils, and also
non-native animals, like kangaroos and koalas.
We planned our visit to
coincide with one of the two tours offered each day. The tour was
informative and worth making the effort to participate in. The docent
explained what the animals’ natural habitat is like, what sorts of things they
eat, and discussed the viability of the native species.
The Tasmanian Devil is in
grave danger of becoming extinct very, very soon, owed to a contagious facial
cancer. They are passing it via mating and/or when fighting over
food. There is no known cure and the outlook is not at all good, in spite
of efforts being undertaken, like creating a sort-of firebreak line to stop the
disease’s progress and moving a non-infected group to an island.
Admission to Bonorong includes
a small bag of food to allow visitors to feed the kangaroos. The fact
that they were there I initially found silly, since they’re not native to
Tasmania. I was quickly won over, though, after letting a few of them eat
out of my hands and petting them. It was a fun and memorable experience.
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| This was the first we saw of the wildlife refuge. Sadly, we had no room in our luggage for kangaroo shit |
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| Point taken |
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| A view from the refuge |
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| First wombat sighting. Its full cuteness is not really visible here |
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| Koala, resting, which is pretty much all they do |
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| Koalas |
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| Wallaby |
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| Wallaby |
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| Wallaby, foraging |
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| Kangaroos, flopped out all over the place |
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| Kangaroo, at the drinking pool |
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| More kangaroos, lounging |
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| Kangaroo eats from Philip's hand |
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| Philip, standing among the kangaroos |
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| Kangaroo gets its head scratched |
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| Kangaroo flop area. Looks like an opium den for marsupials |
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| Wombat: just about the cutest animal I've ever seen |
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| The wombat was tired and could hardly stay awake |
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| "I'm just going to close my eyes for a minute while you talk." |
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| Wombat, relaxed and at rest |
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| Tasmanian Devil poses |
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| Tasmanian Devil |
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| Tasmanian Devil |
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| Tasmanian Devil at rest |
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| Close-up of the Tasmanian Devil's face |
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| Tasmanian Devil, resting and waiting to be fed |
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Another wombat; one can never get too much of the wombat
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| Me, feeding a kangaroo from my hand |
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| Me feeding a kangaroo. It looks like I'm feeding two, but I was feeding that poor little one in the left of the photo when the other one came up and kicked her out of the way. What he got in this photo is all I gave him: nothing worse than an aggressive kangaroo and I don't condone it! :-) |
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| More kangaroo feeding |
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| Kangaroo poses for a pic. Note the claws on his back legs. Ouch! |
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| Another kangaroo in a state-of-relax (from what I could tell it was their default mode). Note its claws |
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| Kangaroo says "I'm ready for my close-up now." |
Quick Lunch Stop in New
Norfolk
We loaded back into the car to
continue our trek westward. Feeling a little hungry, we stopped into the
only real town between us and our final destination, which was still some four
hours away. New Norfolk was a dead little town, but we did manage to find
food, even though it was a pretty unsatisfying lunch of sandwiches. It
wasn’t great but it would hold us until dinner in Strahan.
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What a bargain! But, again, we had no room in our baggage for any
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| "Downtown" New Norfolk |
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| New Norfolk |
Traversing Tassie
Tasmania is not particularly
large in terms of pure distance, but, because so many of the roads are—owed to
the island’s topography—winding, narrow, and with steep grades. So,
driving from Hobart near the southeastern coast, to Strahan, on the southwestern
coast, clocks in at about five hours. Most of the drive is on very remote
roadway. Sometimes we drove for miles without seeing other cars or
people.
The scenery, though, makes for
a splendid drive. In just a matter of a few miles we went through dry,
featureless countryside, through eucalyptus forests, and into lush green
forests. There were mountains, lakes, rivers, and they were all
spectacular.
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| Driving along, not far out of New Norfolk |
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| Rushing river |
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| Central Tasmania |
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| Look out for these things |
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Looking out at a mountain in the distance
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| I loved how vivid everything looked in Tasmania. They're said to have the cleanest air in the world, so maybe that's part of it |
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| Amazing looking stand of trees |
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| More landscape |
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| The lonely, desolate road across Southern Tassie |
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Greens, blues, and black asphalt, the colors of the day
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| Mountains against the blue sky |
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| In this photo one sees the Frenchman's Cap in the distance |
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| Sadly, we didn't have time for a three-day hike. Certainly we would have otherwise. Certainly. Right? |
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| We had been driving through a forest and then, suddenly, we rounded a curve and came out to this: the sky looks so big and the land so expansive. Gorgeous |
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Gorgeous Tasmania landscape
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| Mountains amid the desolation |
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| Rush hour, on the way to Strahan |
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| Wide-open spaces |
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| Panorama |
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Standing above a copper mine
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| A blue lake against the contrasting browns and greens |
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| Taken from upon the pier jetting out above a copper mine, a thousand feet below |
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| Another panorama |
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| Philip, taking photos, high above the mine, and in the wind. Look at the wrinkles, folds, and so forth in his jacket: that is the stark wind billowing his jacket. It was so strong that it was difficult to keep one's balance |
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| Copper mine lookout. That's Philip at the far end |
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| Another of the lookout. Not for those afraid of heights! |
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| The sign signaling our descent from the mountains, down the swtich-back road, into Queenstown |
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| Just out of Queenstown, on the way to Strahan |
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| More mountains and forest |
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| More mountains |
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| Looking at this runway one imagines a tricky climb-out after take-off |
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| About halfway between Queenstown and Strahan |
Arriving Into Strahan
As the drive is through some
isolated areas, on curvy roads, we made it a point to be where we were going
each evening before nightfall. We arrived into Strahan by about 6:30 or
so.
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| "Welcome to Strahan." Indeed. By the time we saw this sign, we were tired of driving and of being in the car, the spectacular scenery notwithstanding |
I had checked out the map and our hotel’s location, so we found it
without any problems.
Strahan’s climate is basically
rainforest. The day we were there the average high was about 60F and we
were prepared for something like that, not the 95F we found upon arrival.
The innkeeper was also not really prepared, as the hotel has no air
conditioning, and she was drenched in sweat. She apologized profusely.
The hotel was located directly
on a cove. Our room was spacious and comfortable.
We settled in a little and
then headed out to the local bottle shop to get a bottle of wine. The
stroll was nice, as this would be the only day of sunshine and we managed to
get some nice photos of the water and the sunset.
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| Idyllic scene from near out hotel |
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| The sun in Strahan: one must enjoy it whenever possible. This was the only real sunshine we experienced in Strahan |
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| Sun sets over the water in Strahan. So beautiful |
Evening at the Hotel
When we checked in, the
innkeeper told us the hotel restaurant was fully booked that night, but that,
as guests of the hotel, we could ask to have a table set on the deck outside
our room. We toyed with the idea of going back into town in search of
food but we gave in to the ease of just going nowhere. I called the
restaurant and told them we wanted to have dinner there. Shortly
thereafter we found the bare, garden table outside our room fully set for
dinner, with tablecloth, glasses, plates, napkins and all, just as if we were
in the restaurant. It was a pleasant surprise. We ordered off the
menu and enjoyed our meal, though me more than Philip, as his pasta was pretty
boring; my fish was good.
After dinner we made it the few
steps back into our room and were done for the day.
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