We spent the day today exploring the Tasman Peninsula, southeast of Hobart. The Peninsula juts out into the South Pacific Ocean about 60 miles from Hobart. The A9 highway runs the length of the peninsula, right along the seashore most of the time to Port Arthur, an old convict settlement on the south end of the peninsula. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was much better than we expected.
We left Hobart around 9:30 this morning and the first stop was the "Tassellated Pavement State Reserve" near the town of Lufra. The tassellated pavements are a natural rock formation that cover a couple acres of the beach at Lufra. To the eye, they look like cobblestone pavement, with rock fractures running in straight lines and parallel with one another, resulting in blocks of stone up to about 24 x 36 inches or so. Take a look:
The Tassellated Pavements are located in Pirate's Cove, pronounced 'pee-right', which was really pretty:
The next stop down the coast was at The Blowhole, which was at one time a cave that has now been eroded away and forms a tunnel under the surrounding cliff face. When the currents are running in the right direction and the seas are rough, water rushes through the tunnel into essentially a sinkhole and then shoots upward with great vigor (or so the sign said!). Unfortunately, today these things weren't all lined up properly and the blowhole was only producing some nice splashes. But, here it is anyway:
The ocean side of the blowhole was actually a little more interesting. Here's a view with waves crashing up against the cliffs:
A hundred or so yards down the coast was Tasman's Arch, another spot eroded through the cliff face:
The next attraction was the Devil's Kitchen, which was another sea cave that has completely collapsed.
We drove on down to Port Arthur, the prison settlement, but didn't stay because it was obvious that it would be a full day to really appreciate the former town. On the way back, we stopped at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, which was very interesting. Tasmanian Devils are in a rapid decline because of a cancer that develops into tumors on their faces, preventing them from eating. They are particularly devistated because their population is small so consequently there is a lot of inbreeding in the wild, which compromises their immune systems. The Government has decided to address the problem by raising disease-free devils in captivity and then releasing them into areas where there are no diseased individuals. At this point, there are only about 50 individuals estimated in the Tasman Peninsula. Anyway, this is what the little darlings look like:
The Park had a lot of other animals that were being cared for and rereleased into the wild if they are healthy and can live on their own. Injured or crippled individuals stay in the Park. We saw many beautiful birds and different animals, too many to list and too many to have pictures of. One though is the Quolls, a little marsupial about the size of a small possum, lots of kangaroos and wallabies, Cape Barren Geese, a Wedgetailed Eagle, Green Rosellas, which look like a large parakeet, and this strange specimen:
As we were leaving the Devil Park, we also saw this in the parking lot. Think you're having a tough day??
After the Tas Park, we headed back to Hobart and climbed Mt. Wellington, which stands about 4300 feet above sea level and overlooks the city and the harbor area. The road up was steep, winding, narrow, and with few guard rails. Most of the way, there was just barely room for two cars. The terrain at the top of the mountain was treeless, rocky, and looked much like the tops of mountains we've seen in the Rockies.
At the top of the mountain is a huge transmission tower that must be about 400 feet high, and you can reportedly see some 90 miles on a clear day. This'll give you an idea of how the view was, although by the time we got there the weather was a little hazy:
The view was spectacular, and you could see Hobart in the distance. The little white dots in the water are sailboats that looked to be running in a regata.
One more...we had commented previously that all the coffee available here is expresso and costs about $5 a cup. Well, downstairs in our hotel, look what we found:
Tomorrow, we're doing some more exploring around Hobart and then on Friday, we're driving up the coast to Launceston, about 100 miles north of here.
More pics to follow!!
Pat's Paragraph..... As we were leaving the Park, the lady who runs the place was bringing a little cloth sack into the main entrance. There was a lady there waiting for her. They opened the sack and there was a baby wallaby! Because of it's weight, (she had been weighing it) they estimated it's age as being 125 to 150 days old. The mother had been killed by a car and they rescued this little 'girl' from her pouch. You don't have to have a license here to raise wild animals and they were going to raise this little baby. Our camera flash would have scared it or hurt it's eyes, so no pictures. The fur was the softest you have ever felt and it was just so beautiful.
The town that is near all the sights today was called Doo. All the houses had names on them: Dr. Doo-little; Diggeree-Doo; Doo It; Mel's Doo House; Doo Ray Me; Wombat Doo-Doo; Doo Sea Doo.... and on.
Wok n' Roll... another store name.
Leaving Port Arthur, there was a sign; Not Eating at 'Felons'? Now That Is A Real Crime.
As we took pictures of Pirate's Cove, we heard our first Kookabura. They refer to it's call as a 'war cry' and then it's famous laugh. We stayed a while just to hear the continual cries. Amazing. Also, we saw an echidna today crossing the road. This is their version of a porcupine but their quills are huge and thick, almost like an armor. He was almost completely across the road so he was in the grass and gone in seconds. Thank goodness because there are a lot of little critters along the road. So sad.
