April 28 Hobart to Eaglehawk Neck and back to Melbourne

We stayed at the Grand Chancellor Hotel on the wharf in Hobart.  Magnificent place that we would highly recommend and will stay at again if we get this way.  The views were superb, the staff friendly and very helpful and the breakfast was one of the best I've ever had.

The breakfast was a buffet.  Everything on it was high end and interesting.  Cheri got and egg white omelette with HOT peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms with a smoky flavor - sublime!  Right next to the chef station was a fresh honeycomb. It looked so interesting that both she and John tried it.  Cheri generally doesn't like honey (as most Tiggers do not!), but this, oh my, it was nectar of the gods!!  Sweet, subtle, and addicting!  The coffee was French press and you could have as much as you want: a rarity in this part of the world!

Clearly, well fed, we headed off to the Tasman Peninsula for more scenery and another hike.

The Tasman Peninsula is another great national park with nice coastal scenery and walking tracks.  On the way we stopped at a place were the tide was low to catch some reflections and bird shots.  A man was hauling out a giant squid.  Turns out they leg their eggs and then head to sea to die, but the portal to the sea has been closed for hundreds of years.  The squid seem to still be programmed to go that way, so they die in the cove.  Another group was there to buy it for dinner.

We hiked to Waterfall Bay and enjoyed the scenery.  It was warm enough that Cheri zipped off her legs!  After the hike we stopped in Doo town for some local seafood from a van.  Popular spot!

We then headed towards Port Arthur and on the way found a Tasmanian Devil conservation center.  We'd been looking for devils in the wild, but because the cancer has taken 90% of them, we had had no luck.  This was our last chance to see the devils and oh what sightings we had!!  They fed them as we entered the place and we learned alot about them as well as got to shot them!  We went to a second enclosure and there were two more devils.  They were quite active and the light was even better for shooting!

After they fed the Tasmanian Devils, they fed kangaroos & wallabies & pademelons!  In fact, we got to feed them too!  And to touch them - so of course, as I am sure you can imagine the big kid in the group was right in there with all the little kids feeding and petting!!  Kangaroos are very soft and like their stomachs scratched. 

From there we went to the bird show.  They had several cockatoos and two frog mouths.  We had never seen a frog mouth before, what a bird!!

By then it was 4:15 and time to head for the airport and back to Melbourne.  A nice Indian curry and to the airport.  Back into Melbourne around 9:30 P and off to bed to prepare to return to work!  

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Tasmanian Devil

Tasmanian Devil

Tasmanian Devil

Kangaroo

Frogmouth

April 27th - Maria Island cruise and walk then Hobart

Got up early and had a marvelous brekkie at our B&B. we were planning to walk for 4-5 hours on an island with no food, so breakfast was supposed to be the major meal.  We had booked the Maria Island Ferry for a 10 am crossing.  So off to Tribunna.  Being Sunday, we listened to Mark Shepard on the way down. 

We arrived early and went into talk with the Visitor Center people.  We learned that there was another company going out that offered a cruise as well as a crossing,  that was what we originally wanted, but the company we booked with wasn't offering it that day.  So after some debate, we decided we wanted to switch companies, but we couldn't get a refund for the first one.  At that moment, two people showed up wanting tickets on the Ferry we had tickets for and it was sold out.  Divine intervention?  We offered them our tickets, they ought them and we bought the tickets on the cruise we wanted.  Wow!  Meant to be.  Plus, it was a gorgeous blue sky day!

The boat and crew and passengers were great.  The crossing was about 30 minutes.  We no sooner got on the water and we found our first pod of dolphins.  The boat whisked around and we were playing with them!  Shoot, shoot, shoot!  We saw our first albatrosses of the trip.  We dropped a  group got off on the island.  Six of us stayed on board for the cruise and were treated to amazing sights!

Maria Island is made up of three distinctly different kind of rocks...sandstone, limestone and granite.  We started in the sandstone portion and saw their painted cliffs.  Then off to the limestone where they have something called a green waterfall that is limestone dripping down the outside wall...it's like being in a cave with stalagmites, but nit being in a cave.  Amazingly, after seeing the cavelike formations outside a cave, the skipper took us into a cave, boat and all!  We saw two sea eagles at the enterance.  The were lots of cormorants aka shags in the water and on the rocks. 

Before we knew it we were crossing the sea to seal rock.  On the way we ran into another pod of dolphins.  Shoot, shoot, shoot!  Then we got to seal island and it lived up to its name.  They were all over it and all around it in the water.  The light was that perfect salt water light that I often think of as glory light because you can do no wrong in it!  Whites, yellows, greens, blues, browns and the compositions were endless!

After awhile we dropped anchor and the crew fixed lunch for us.  Smoked Tasmanian salmon, salad, and Tassie cheese.  Delicious!

After lunch, the took us into another cave by boat.  This skipper was really amazing!  Inside of the cave were many colors and at the bottom, just below the tide line was a red.  There was an old er gentleman on the boat who lived on Maria Island in the 60s.  A soon as he saw the color, he told us that he used to be an abalone diver and that when you saw that color it meant there were abalone there.  Shortly there after the skipper told us the same thing.  Pretty cool!  It made his day. 

From there it was back to Maria across bumpy seas and yet again...you guessed it....a pod of dolphins!  This time it was really rough and I have the bruises to show for it, but it was worth every bruise!

We got back to the island and had a walk where we searched for Tassie Devils. They've nearly gone extinct due to a virus killing them off.  The ones on Maria have been spared.  Being nocturnal, we didn't see one.  We did see a wombat with a kid in her pouch, Barron geese, parrots, and a wallaby. 

We're in Hobart now in a spectacular room that overlooks the harbor.  Decided for a seafood tonight.  The hotel recommended the Drunken Admiral on Hunter St.  Absolutely what we had in mind!  Cheri had fresh scallops (with the pink part) seared on a hot rock with a greek salad.  John had the fisherman’s platter also seared with fries and a salad.  We tried some local gin that was surprisingly good in our G+T’s.  John had a chocolate extravaganza for dessert. 

Enjoy!

Cheri & John

Painted Cliffs

Green Waterfall

April 26th - Milky Way on Cressy Beach

Well, the most amazing Milky Way we've ever seen keeps getting better each night.  Hard to believe perfection can get better, but alas it can.  We got into Swansea around 8 PM, checked into our lovely B&B and then headed out to find a dark beach.  Cressy Beach was it!

I am posting a few this morning, but be sure to check back as more will be coming!

Enjoy-
Cheri & John

April 26th Cradle Mountain

It was a wild weather night with wind gusting to 50 km/hr, hail, rain.  The wind blew so hard it forced all the smoke back down the chimneys and filled the place with smoke.  Wow!

Never-the-less, when we pulled the curtains back on the morning, blue sky was breaking.  Unfortunately, that didn't last!

We scarfed down our brekkie and headed to the visitor center to get our park passes and ask for advice on hiking given the weather.  We definitely ascribe to the notion that there is no bad weather, only bad clothes!  We had most of what we needed with us.  After a quick trip to the shop to acquire rain pants for John, wool socks for both and extra gloves for Cheri, we were ready. 

The shuttle bus dropped us off at Dove Lake and the driver advised us to wait in the shack until the snow stopped; it was snowing so hard you could barely see the shack!  So in we went.

About 10 minutes later it cleared a bit and we headed out.  You still couldn't see the end of the lake, but we were ready.  We got about 20 min in and another snow squall hit.  We hunkered down under some trees and waited for about 15 min until it eased.  Quite quickly we were on a path through deep forest at the edge of the lake.  It was magical!   The trees were old and varied.  Lots of mushrooms from red to light brown to orange brown.  Moss, lichens, and little things growing everywhere.  It was still snowing like crazy, but the trees were sheltering us and melting the snow into rain.

For a long while we walked and kept remarking on the beauty, but not shooting it because it was so wet.  Finally, we couldn't take it and out came the cameras!  John more than Cheri. 

As we made out way around the 6 km loop, the weather continued to change continuously.  We shot where we could.  Finally, John got the shot he came for.  The peaks above Dove Lake look alot like Cathedral Peak in Yosemite.  He wanted to shot them here.

Because so much rain-snow fell while we hiked out the way back was like hiking through a river.  The water was running straight down the path.  We finally arrived back where we started and caught the bus back to the visitor center.

Great hike! 

Thankfully they were still serving lunch!  Like two ravenous animals we scarfed our lunch.  Cheri wanted to take a few more shots on the are Enchanted Walk and of course she had all forms of weather!  She did get a shot of the pademelon!

Then it was in the car for a four hour ride to Swansea.  Dinner on the way and the Milky Way again!

Enjoy!

John & Cheri 

Enchanted Walk

Enchanted Walk

Dove Lake

Dove Lake