Tasmania

We went on a long weekend holiday to Tasmania once Sean's big work project was up and running and he was allowed to leave Sydney for a bit.  The kids had not even been in school for an entire week of Term 3 before we took them out for the trip.  Luckily, Aussie schools do not seem to be bothered by kids missing school to take family holidays.  If the kids are not missing more than 10 school days at a time, I don't even have to let the office know.  I just have to tell the kids' teachers what days to not expect them at school.  Carter's teacher actually told me it is better to take trips outside of school holidays because the touristy locations are not as busy.  This seems kind of cavalier attitude to me as I am used to American schools where children strive to have a perfect attendance.  I have discussed this with other Australians and they tend to believe that children learn as much by traveling and seeing the world as they do sitting in a classroom.  I have to admit, I think they have a point.  

On Friday, October 11th, we flew to Hobart, Tasmania.  For a flight that took a little less than 2 hours, the climate seemed dramatically different.  I knew that it was going to be chilly in Hobart; the weather forecast stated highs to be around 12-14 degrees Celsius (53-57 degrees Fahrenheit).  Yet, it felt a little silly to be packing sweatshirts and jeans while burning up in Sydney where it was 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).  I did not go so far as to pack a heavy jacket and I regretted it once we got there.  Remember, those were the HIGH temps, not what the temperature was all day.  Plus, once the sun was obscured by clouds, and the wind got really blowing, it felt tremendously colder than that.  After all, it is the gateway to Antarctica.....

The blue dot is Tasmania (or Tassie in Aussie lingo); all the white at the bottom is Antarctica.

Chillaxing on the plane to Hobart

We flew out of Sydney at 9:30 in the morning and got into Hobart about 11:30.  We had a funny thing happen to us when we were picking up our car rental at the airport.  There was one other couple in the car rental place.  I noticed the woman was wearing a KU sweatshirt and they were speaking with an American accent.  I couldn't help myself; I asked them where they were from.  Wouldn't you know, they were from Kansas City!!  In fact, the woman even worked at Hallmark and knew who Sean's mom was (Sean's mom worked at Hallmark for 40 years).  This is definitely in the top 10 for crazy coincidences that have happened to us while traveling.  

Anyway, we got our car, had a look around Hobart, and then began the 3 hour car ride up to Launceston.  We had heard that the Tasmanian countryside was absolutely gorgeous, but it is one thing to hear about it and another thing to see it.  We were slowly going up in elevation for the first half of the trip.  Finally, we broke over the crest of a large hill/mountain and the view of the countryside below was breathtaking.  We tried to take photos, but Sean had forgotten his big camera, so I don't think the iPhone photos do it justice.  The sun was trying to break through the clouds right about this time.  I'm not sure what it was about the sunlight, but it made the colors around us POP.  For example, the grass was this intense green color that I have only seen when someone plays with the settings and saturates the colors in a photo a bit too much.  In Tasmania, that is just the natural color. 

We flew into Hobart and drove up to Launceston.  We went a little further west than the most direct way so that we could get into the mountains a little bit.  

We were so glad we chose that route.  The first part of the drive was kind of boring, but the view at the crest of the mountain was totally worth it.

After checking into our hotel, we headed into Launceston to check it out and get some dinner.  Launceston is a pretty town set in Tamar Valley.  It is the second largest city in Tasmania (after Hobart) with a population of around 100,000 people.  A cajun/creole restaurant popped up when we were searching for places to eat on TripAdvisor.  We have not always had good luck trying food like this in Australia, but the restaurant got good reviews and it seemed like it would hit the spot.  We were surprised to find this on the table when we sat down.....

To find out, the owner was originally from Springfield, Missouri.  He came out and spoke to us while we were dining.  It is always nice to meet a fellow Missourian so far away from home.  Seriously, what are the chances that we would meet so many people from Kansas/Missouri in one day in TASMANIA?  I can count on my fingers how many I've met in a year and a half living in Sydney.  It is amazing who you run into when you feel as though you have traveled to the end of the earth.  It is just a friendly little reminder that the world is really not as large as it seems.

If you ever find yourself in the Launceston area, you should check this restaurant out.

We all slept very hard that night as none of us had had a very good night's sleep prior to departing for Tasmania.  We woke up on Saturday refreshed and ready to take on the day of traveling.  The morning air felt very crisp and fresh.  We opened the windows to take it in and this cute duck came up to greet us.  I suppose the ducks have gotten a little used to hotel visitors giving them their breakfast.

We traveled across Tasmania towards the east coast on Saturday.  Instead of going the short way, we followed the coast for a little bit up to Bridport and then cut through the rainforest to St. Helens.  Then we followed the eastern coastline down to Bicheno. We found some nice little towns and stopped at a couple of wineries along the way.  One of Sean's favorite activities is driving on windy little roads through gorgeous scenery.  Tasmania did not disappoint.  The mountainous rainforest was his favorite, but I really enjoyed when we hit the east coast.  I could not get over that there was so much stunning coastline just to be enjoyed by grazing sheep and the occasional passerby.  

Second day of driving.  We left Launceston and went northwest to George Town.  We went over to Bridport (it was in the area from George Town to Bridport that we stopped by some wineries).  We spent the afternoon going down to Scottsdale and then headed east through the forest to St Helens.  The last leg of the trip was down the coast to Bicheno.

One unexpected stop we made.  How can you see this sign and not find out what it is?  

This is the Batman Bridge.  To find out, it is named that just because it is on the Batman Highway.   It was a pretty cool bridge though.

Plus, it led us to this place; Marions Vineyard.  We stopped at a couple more wineries that day, but this one was by far our favorite.

We stopped at Bridport on the north coast for lunch.  It was a very sleepy little town, but we caught a couple of glimpses of the beautiful coast before we headed into the rainforest.

We saw this awesome rock painted into the cliffside right outside Scottsdale.  Wonder if it has any specific meaning or if someone just thought the rock looked like the face of an animal........

One of the lovely valleys while driving through the rainforest

This photo shows some of the brilliant green grass.  If this is how green it is when it is cloudy, I  can't imagine what it is like on a sunny day.

Windy roads like this are one of Sean's favorite things in life.  He would have enjoyed it even more if we had been in a sports car, but he had to make do with an SUV.

Ferns like on the right side of the road in this photo were all over in the forest.  

The view from Little Plains Lookout

This is the second time we have been stopped on an Australian highway waiting for dairy cows to cross the road at milking time.  It took me back to my childhood and I had to stop myself from jumping out and herding the stray ones back into the pack.

We made it to St. Helens on the east coast.  The kids had a chance to get some energy out on a playground by Georges Bay.

Aubrey smiling even though the wind was about to blow us away.

Look at this beautiful coastal land; the home to thousands of sheep.

We reached Bicheno that evening and settled in for the night at a waterfront hotel.  It was already dark when we got there, so we couldn't enjoy the view at that time.  Sean got up the next morning and took a sunrise walk along the beach.  He got some fantastic shots.  

The kids and I missed the sunrise, but went out to the beach later in the morning.  

We had planned to visit Freycinet National Park on Sunday.  It contains Wineglass Bay, which has been voted by several travel authorities as being one of the world's top ten beaches.  Part of what makes Wineglass Bay so spectacular is that it is very secluded and you have to walk into it.  The Wineglass Bay lookout is about a 45 minute walk up a steep incline and then there is a steep descent down to the actual beach.  I only know this from the brochures I read though.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us.  It was a rather cold, gray day and it was even spitting a little bit of rain.  In addition, Aubrey was complaining of ankle pain from landing on her foot wrong while at the playground on the previous evening.  It just wasn't our day to try this walk.  So, we opted to see as much of Freycinet Park that we could without doing quite so much walking.

This was a much shorter walk to a lookout by the lighthouse.

This may not quite be the Wineglass Bay lookout, but it was still spectacular.

Carter at the foot of the lighthouse

Aubrey and I doing what normal people do while hanging out at a national park; practicing our disco dancing.

Her ankle really seems to be bothering her, huh?  

Another little bay that we walked to, Sleepy Bay.  We loved the turquoise water!

We found this little wallaby in one of the car parks.

Then, we saw the little joey in her pocket!!  How cute is that!?!

When we had gotten our fill of Freycinet National Park, we set off towards the Hobart area.  We found this little beach along the way at Mayfield Bay.  Even though the weather was not really cooperating with us, we could not get enough of Tassie's natural beauty.

We didn't have much time, but we decided to make a detour to see Port Arthur on our way to Hobart.  Port Arthur is Tasmania's top tourist attraction and it felt as though our trip would not be complete to at least stop by it.  The drive into Port Arthur was very interesting in itself because the area around the town had been devastated by bush fires the previous year.  We had seen areas of burnt trees throughout our trip around Tasmania, but it was nothing like what we saw going into Port Arthur. It was amazing to see an area that looked completely burnt, then an area that looked fine (where the fire jumped over), and then another severely burnt area.  Granted, we were coming through almost a year later, so there were also many new buildings and the beginnings of regrowth in the burnt areas.

On Sunday afternoon we drove from Freycinet National Park to Port Arthur (the red pin).  That evening we drove back into Hobart.

We pulled into Port Arthur at 4:00 in the afternoon.  It was too late to take a traditional tour.  But, there was a late afternoon entry option at a reduced rate.  It actually was a perfect option for us since the kids would have been bored with a long tour.  We had more fun touring the grounds on our own and getting a feel for the area.  It was absolutely fascinating.  The grounds are so beautiful, but it was such a brutal place.  

Port Arthur was originally called Van Diemen's land by the British when they began transporting criminals there in 1833.  It was where the hardest of the convicted criminals went, as well as those who were re-offenders after arriving in other regions of Australia.  It had the strictest security measures in the British penal system.  The prison used the "Separate Prison Typology" which focused on psychological punishment as opposed to physical punishment.  So, instead of whippings, they would focus on things more like solitary confinement.  One of the buildings is called the Separate Prison.  Within the Separate Prison, prisoners were hooded and made to stay silent.  It was supposed to make them reflect upon their crimes in order to make them change their evil ways.  Unfortunately, this caused some of them to go insane.  So, the asylum was built right next to the Separate Prison.  It was said to be such a horrible place that some prisoners committed murder just so that they, themselves, would be put to death to get out of the place.  Britain ended transportation of criminals in 1853.  The prison eventually closed in 1877.

It is now a World Heritage property and is well maintained.  Many buildings had been ruined by bush fires in the past, but some of the buildings, like the Separate Prison, have been completely refurbished.  

Looking out at the grounds of Port Arthur from the Visitor Centre

The dock at Port Arthur

Going through the prison buildings 

The round building is the guard tower built towards the top of the hill.

The hallway in the Separate Prison.  Each doorway was a separate prison cell.  There was a fire lit at the end of the hallway.  It had a very spooky feeling.

The courthouse

I would not take these judges too seriously!

The church; the insides and roof were destroyed by a bushfire.  

The inside of the church

Aubrey and Carter in the gardens

I included a couple of photos that Sean took of flowers in the gardens.  As I stated earlier, the grounds really are beautiful.  It is so hard to believe that it was a place filled with so much misery.  

We left Port Arthur around 6:30 that evening.  I was a little jealous of all the people who were arriving to take the ghost tour that started a little later.  The kids are not quite old enough for something like that, so we continued on to Hobart, which was about an hour and 15 minute drive.  We stayed in a lovely hotel in downtown, the Hotel Grand Chancellor.  We were blown away when we got into the room and saw our view of the city and Mount Wellington.

View from the front of the building

View from our room.  Mount Wellington is the peak completely covered in clouds in the left side of the photo.

When we got up on Monday morning, we saw that Mount Wellington had a snowy top.  It does get snow on it occasionally, but we were not expecting this at all.  We had a scrumptious breakfast at a little cafe and then drove up to the top of the mountain.  Some of the roads had been closed earlier in the morning due to the snow, but they had luckily just reopened a few minutes before we got there.  The views were gorgeous.  However, it was a little cold considering that the wind was really blowing (probably straight from Antarctica).   This is when I really wished I had packed our heavier coats.  Instead, we just had to layer up.

Aubrey at breakfast

Carter at breakfast

Family photo at one of the lookouts on the drive up Mount Wellington

Wow!

Yay!  We made it to the top!

We drove back down the mountain and visited Cascade Brewery, which is Australia's oldest continually operating brewery.  The original building, as shown below, is definitely an imposing structure.  They also have a very modern bar and restaurant area.  We did a tasting of the beers and ciders and they were really quite good.   

In the afternoon, we went to see Mona (Museum of Old and New Art).  It was founded in 2001 by a Tasmanian millionaire, David Walsh.  I have heard that it is absolutely amazing, but I also heard that it had some very graphic, adult art that may not be suitable for a 5 and 8 year old.  Since we had heard so many different opinions, we decided to go and see for ourselves and make the final decision about whether or not to go in.  It did seem like a very cool place. However, the information lady told us that there were no areas of the museum that could be specified as "PG" and there were very mature pieces of art placed throughout the museum.   She recommended that we still go through the museum because the kids looked easily distractible.  Anyone with children can tell you that anytime you expect your children to behave a certain way, they usually behave exactly the opposite.  And, I know how curious my two children are.  So, we decided that we would just be enjoying the museum from the outside.  

The entrance into MONA

An iron lace concrete truck

Carter and Aubrey having a dance party on an outdoor stage.  They loved playing around with these little hand seats.

We drove back into downtown Hobart and walked around Salamanca Place and Parliament Square.  Salamanca Place has some lovely little shops and restaurants.    It is supposed to have a wonderful market on Saturdays, but were there on the wrong day.  We ended the day by getting some famous Tasmanian seafood at Mures Lower Deck on Victoria Dock (the dock right in front of our hotel) and then heading back to the hotel for a swim.  We were all ready for some R&R time after 4 days of non-stop action. 

An interestingly named restaurant giving homage to Tasmania's convict heritage.  I especially like the plough on top of the awning.  Convicts at Port Arthur were sometimes used as plough teams to break up new land.

Chilling at the pool

Tasmania is thought of by mainland Australians as a "backwoods" kind of state.  There are jokes about how Tasmanian residents are inbred bogans.  (Bogan definition: Australian and New Zealand slang for an individual who is recognized to be from an unsophisticated background or someone whose speech, clothing, attitude and behavior exemplifies a lack of manners and education.)  In reality, it is an amazing state with stunning landscapes and views not offered anywhere else in Australia.  Most of the people we met were not unsophisticated.  Instead, they just seemed to represent the part of a society that wants to get away from it all and live a simple life in beautiful surroundings.  Everyone we came across was extremely friendly and welcoming.  This definitely made the list of one of our favorite trips Down Under!!    

Bye Tassie!  We will miss you!