The West Coast - Tasmania

We did a huge driving mission of a day to get out to the West Coast, woooohooooo, we've really been looking forward to seeing this part of Tasmania. First stop was Strahan, via Queenstown, then on to Granville Harbour.

Granville Harbour is so beautiful. As we drove towards the Coast (for those of you who were at our wedding), its the Aussie version of 'Bull Creek, Otago, NZ'!! It is just stunning here, about twelve people live here full-time and the rest of the population visit on weekends...

... took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up at Bull Creek!

Granville Harbour, West Coast, Tas

Playing on the coast

 

West Coast sunset

West Coast sunset

hangin on the rocks, West Coast

Land of the Giants - Mt Field National Park

We visited the Land of the Giants Campground and the Land of the Giants Walk in Mt Field National Park, which is great.

The forest is dense with trees, ferns and moss, so lots to talk about with the boys and the trees made all sorts of letter shapes (homeschool was covered for the day). Some of the eucylyptus trees (aka 'The Giants') are around 75 metres tall, the first branches are at around 35 metres - huge, it was pretty exciting for the adventurers.

Land of the Giants campground - playing by the river

The Land of the Giants Campground

Land of the Giants campground - a local Pademelon

Land of the Giants Walk

The Giants

Bushwalk

A fallen Giant

Frankie found a caterpillar at the campground and after some research at the National Parks office we found out it was The Emporer Gum Moth.

We left the West Coast, heading inland and stopped off on the way to do the Nelson Falls Walk.

Nelson Falls

Nelson Falls Walk

Hobart - Tasmania

We went back to Hobart to visit the Sea Shepherd, however the Sea Shepherd had unfortunately left town the week before, so we:

• had lunch on the harbour at Fish Frenzy,
• visited the Hobart Museum and Art Gallery, and
• rode our bikes to the Botanical Gardens - this was a great afternoon adventure for the family.





Botanical Gardens - Hobart





Botanical Gardens - Hobart





Climbing trees in the Botanical Gardens - don't know that this is socially acceptable behaviour!

The Huon Valley - Southern Tasmania

We headed to New Norfolk for the Huon Valley Annual Autumn Festival, highlights were:

 

• the fairy playing the harp
• the drummers
• punch and judy puppet show
• beetle family acrobatics



this fairy could sing so beautifully



drumming is always a hit with the boys - they are in front row

The Acrobatic Beetle Family

We had a few days to check out the local area, orchards (mostly apples), farms and cafes. We camped by the Huon River and the boys tried their luck at fishing (no joy for boys today)...

Fishing by the campsite

Dinner by the river

Shearer boys at the park

Cockle Creek - South Tasmania

Cockle Creek is the end of the road for Tasmania - most southerly point. We had a day visit here and it was very wet, so we walked to the whale sculpture at Cockle Creek, then headed into Geeveston to the local library to escape the rain.

The end of the road sign to right

Boys at Cockle Creek

Whale sculpture at Cockle Creek

Bruny Island - Tassie

We crossed on the car ferry (very exciting) to Bruny Island for a non-stop wildlife adventure ...

on the car ferry

 We stayed on South Bruny Island and did the Tasman Cruise on a pearla of a day, saw seals, dolphins, sooty oyster catchers, albatross, muttonbird, caves, blowholes, and a breathing cave, pics below....

King riding a lama - rocks on right - if you have a good imagination!!

boys on the cruise

dolphins racing the boat

seals hangin out on the rocks

We also went adventuring around South Bruny Island to the lighthouse, we saw a penguin waddling up the beach one night, and we found a great coffee spot called 'the hot house'. Here are some snapshots of our few days on the island.

catching crabs on the beach

catching crabs on the beach

South Bruny - view from the lighthouse

South Bruny lookout





Bicheno to Port Arthur - South East Tasmania

From Bicheno we headed south to Freycinet National Park. It was a wild and blustery day so we only stopped for a quick walk up to the Wineglass Bay lookout. 

it was so freezing, we are walking with a blanket here..

We kept on driving south (via Hobart to have a sneak peak at Salamanca Markets - favourite item of the day was a crocheted dress - watch this space!!)...

Salamanca Markets


Then on  to Port Arthur to visit the Port Arthur historic site - a world heritage place. We walked through the remains of the penal settlement, including the prison, church, and surrounding cottages which was originally established for rehabilitation of the convicts of the colony of Van Diemen's Land. 

Port Arthur Historic Site



the convicts

 Whilst there we saw a performance called "Strange Fruits" which was a musical aerial act where performers are perched atop five-metre poles, swaying among and playing bells and drums (part of the ten days on the island festival).

Strange fruits -

We found a cafe along the way at Nubeena called "Lucky Ducks Cafe" so we stopped in there to meet these  guys who were lovely and sent us on our way with a loaf of freshly baked bread.

fiveluckyducks at the Lucky Ducks Cafe

We stopped in at the Sorrell Fruit Farm and the fruit was delicious... Real yummy strawberries, apples and we tried our hand at some corn too. Left there with plenty of food, heading towards Bruny Island.

strawberry fields in background

we were singing as we did this.... shake, shake the apple tree....

proud of our goodies - yum

Check out the next generation of BMX Bandits, these pics were taken at the caravan park, the boys are loving the adventures xx

BMX Bandit # 1

BMX Bandit # 2