Offshore Again...

Well, we are back in Tasmania, on my retirement trip that we booked back in January to use up  one of my long service benefits. We wanted to do a few things we were unable to do when we visited in March last year.

We left Auckland relatively early on Thursday, arriving at Hobart around 11:00. The descent and arrival were turbulent, resulting in a go-around, but we landed on the second attempt. Immigration, baggage claim, customs and car rental were quickly resolved and we were on the road for Strahan before noon. There was a spattering of rain as we headed west on the Lyell Highway and as we climbed up through the rugged areas the rain became more persistent. Then, as we climbed above 600 meters, the temperature dropped dramatically to 3 or 4 degrees C and the rain became snow flurries. As we climbed even higher to 800 meters, west of Derwent Bridge,  the snow became heavier and was settling making for a pretty scene, but thankfully not heavy enough to impede our progress too severely.

After a tiring four hour drive we made it to Strahan. The last time we were here it was blue skies, 30 degrees C and sunny, but not this day - it was leaden skies, raining a little with a very cold SW wind roughing up the harbour.

After dinner in a nice restaurant beside the water, we returned to our hotel for a drink beside the fire then an early night. 

The weather improved over night and the day dawned clear, but still pretty cool.

Our main activity for the day was a cruise on the MacQuarie Harbour taking in the harbour entrance then up into the Gordon River 35 KM to the south. There was still a bit of rain around, but most of the trip to the harbour mouth was fine, although that sharp Sou'Wester called for a coat, scarf and hat. The harbour entrance is difficult, with 700 meters of shallows on the eastern side and a navigable channel just 83 meters wide on the west. In early says it was a treacherous entrance for the ships hauling timber as winds from the Southern Ocean roll in creating huge swells. A former colleague of mine encountered this when he sailed around Tasmanian few years ago, when after entering the harbour they encountered swells so great that they were stuck here for a week - there much worse places in the world to be stuck, mind you.

The entrance channel from outside the harbour.

Our stealth-like catamaran took us south, zipping along at the rate of 25 knots, to the mouth of the Gordon River, a UNESCO World Heritage Area and the tourism jewel in the crown for this region. What a stunningly beautiful and peaceful place this is with a broad mix of fauna, including the famous Huon Pine, the timber that was the basis for most of the early industry of the area.

We travelled some 12 KM up the river to a landing site where we could leave the boat and walk through the dense forrest.

Her indoors has wisely taken the cruise upgrade that not only gave us "business class" seats on the upper deck by also an excellent lunch, with drinks, served as we exited the river.

Next stop was Sarah Island that served as a penal colony for 12 years - and what a harsh place it would have been too - before becoming a shipyard. It is in ruins now but the general layout is able to be seen.

Then it was back to Strahan for a rest before dinner. After which we climbed the 76 steps back up to our hotel on the hill for a drink as the sun dipped.

Day three, Saturday, saw us on the road again, heading for Burnie on the north coast. It was a relatively easy two hour drive through some stunningly rugged and beautiful country. Despite the forecast of rain, we had a gloriously sunny day. On the way we paused for lunch and to visit the Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden, an eleven hectare garden with ornate structures and lakes carefully and  constructed and maintained by a team of volunteers. Many of the Rhododendrons were in bloom and the vale was awash with colour.

We spent a couple of hours wandering along the trails and watching three platypuses in one of the lakes. 

The platypus disappears again!

After dinner we wandered down to the esplanade to watch the penguins come ashore as darkness fell.

Sunday, day 4, was a slow day  in Burnie. There wasn't much open in town, but we did get to walk along the esplanade again and saw a pair of juvenile penguins before rain set in just after noon. 

We returned to our apartment looking out over Bass Strait for lunch.

Bass Strait - mainland Oz lies 200Km beyond the horizon

The rain stopped shortly after 2:00 PM and we ventured out into the town again, but it was still very quiet so we stopped in a local pub for a while before returning to the apartment. We considered a walk down to watch the penguins return, but the return of the rain put paid to that thought. 

Today, Monday, day 5, saw us leaving Burnie for Launceston, taking a small detour to Beauty Point where we visited a platypus and echidna centre where we could see a number of rescued animals...I never knew that the male platypus is venomous.

 Very grainy image (a common issue with digital zoom) of a male platypus

Echidnas are strange little creatures that womble around - wombling seems to me to be the best way to describe their movement - quite happily amongst us humans.

After a picnic lunch we drove on Launceston for a bit of shopping, a couple of drinks by the river and dinner.

So five days down and half the trip gone.