Our Last Week in Tasmania

So what else did we get up in Tassie? After leaving the Tasman Peninsula we made our way up North to Freycinet National Park; this park is mainly known for its excellent beaches, amongst them Wineglass Bay, aparently one of the top ten beaches in the world. This beach is only accessible via a 2hour walk up a mountain and then back down to the beach. Most people (precisely 250,000 per year!) only make the way up the mountain overlooking Wineglass Bay. Unfortunately we got woken up by thunder and lightning that day so a hike up a mountain in a tunderstorm wasn't very appealing to us. After re-shuffling our plans and checking the weather forecast for other parts of the island, we decided to drive on to Launceston (175km away).

In Launceston we visited the Cataract Gorge, a beautiful gorge and river only 20min walk from the city center. Afterwards we did a tour at Boag's Brewery including a beer and cheese tasting at the end. People in Hobart and the south of Tassie love their Cascades whereas 'Launcestonians' prefer Boags - after tasting both and visiting both brewerys we're taking Boag's side. Funnily enough, Boags was the first beer Stefan bought when arriving in Australia, so it was probably meant to be :)

Cataract Gorge in Launceston

The next day we made our way to the Bay of Fires on Tassie's North East Coast. The drive there was beautiful, on a winding road through an enchanted rain forest, very, very picturesque. The weather at Bay of Fires (which is actually not a single bay but a series of beautiful beaches with very white sand and orange boulders) was so so. The photos below look a lot better than it actually was...

Bay of Fires

Orange boulders at Bay of Fires

A bit of rain and quite some wind kept us from staying there longer so we drove on to Freycinet again where the weather looked a lot better than the day before. We didn't wanna risk waking up to rain again so we made the hike to the Wineglass Bay lookout straight away - and were finally rewarded with a beautiful view of the bay.

Wineglass Bay

The last few days in Tassie were spent around Devonport and the Tamar Valley, tasting some fantastic seafood, visiting lighthouses, brewerys, ciderys, berry farms, etc. Everything very delicious...

Cruising the Tamar Valley

The last night we spent at Narawntapu National Park, not far from Devonport and the ferry terminal. While cooking dinner we already were surrounded by lots of kangaroos and wallabies and finally we also got company by a wombat eating his way through a bit of grass not far from us. We then went on a walk to the beach where we again spotted a wombat. So very cute!

Wombat :)

Sunset at
Narwntapo National Park

We're now back in Perth to welcome Erwin and Uli who will spend the next two weeks with us and who will help us finish all our food and drink supplies. We'll then try to sell as much stuff as possible including our car, will rent out the house and will fly back to Melbourne, where Wookie then van is waiting for us.

BREAKING NEWS: Marlene wins Tasmanian Open by one stroke

The first round of the All Australian Grand Slam Minigolf Open 2014 was held at the magnificient Waterfront Minigolf Park in Devonport, Tasmania, today.

After a good start over the first 9 holes Stefan was in the lead by 4 strokes and looked very strong. Like in so many rounds before though the 13th hole seemed to be the turning point where Stefan lost his form and some silly mistakes soon saw Marlene in the lead. She could extend this lead to 12 strokes up to the 17th hole. Everything seemed decided when Marlene went for the tee shot on the 18th.

However, in Minigolf (Putt-Putt as correctly called in Australia) everything's possible and so it came to a thrilling end of this championship round. Marlene had her worst hole of the tournament, two penalty shots for leaving the course, several missed puts left her with 13 strokes for the hole. However, on this challenging dog leg right Par 4 in a franatic and courageous effort Stefan still played a Birdie and lost by only one stroke overall.

What a dramatic end to such a marvellous Golf day here on the banks of the Mersey River. Marlene was victorious and secured herself the first trophy of the National Series in the Tasmanian Open.

Tasmanian Open

Round 1 of Australian Championships

Position  Player Name    To Par    Total

1             Marlene           +  9        70

2             Stefan              + 10       71

Penny Farthing Championships - A Photo Essay

By great luck we spent last Saturday around Launceston and therefore visited the 'Evandale Village Fair" which is also host to the Annual National Penny Farthing Championship. It was a great event as you will see from this photo essay:

Penny Farthing or Highwheelers, a little rusty but still in use obviously, at least one day of the year.

Many different events where held during the day starting with a slalom event, a slow race (where the last over the line won in a 25 meter 'race', a relay, a biathlon where riders had to run one round between cycling and many more.

Even the kids had there own events but there also races for the over 50, 60 and 70 year olds.

The highlight though was the National Championships event in the open class. It became really serious and riding four rounds of, I would say about 400 to 500m.

I was really impressed by these guys racing along with only one gear. You could see how demanding it was. The Championships were won by a New-South-Welshman.

But it was definitely more than a race event, not everyone was as serious. Some of the bikes were really old and the owners where happy to show them off. These guys are members of the Queensland historic bike club.

The locals brought out their old clothes and showcased them in a parade which was also great to watch.

There was a pipe band and a brass band playing throughout the day but for these guys there is of course nothing better than a parade to show off their skills (Dudlsack rocks!)

The locals obviously loved it. It seemed like it was their carneval day and who doesn't like to get in the middle of all this fun?

In the end, lot's of prices were won and there was even a 'Consolation Race" at the end of the day where everyone could participate who hadn't won a medal yet, not many were left by that time :-)

Tasman Peninsula

After leaving Hobart we went on to the Tasman peninsula, further east of Hobart. It is home to Port Arthur which used to be a high security prison for second offenders of British convicts being sent out to Australia. One of the main reasons why the Australian colonies started was to be able to send out convicts as the british prisons were full. Tasmania, being one of the first settlements, got the biggest share of convicts. For Port Arthur more importantly, whoever committed another crime while being in Australia was then sent to the worst one, in Port Arthur. It was a penal colony, all convicts were here to penalised for what they have done, by hard labour chopping trees and building ships as well as the hardest prison circumstances one can imagine. 

Port Arthur Prison

The Tasman peninsula was chosen as it was close to Hobart but nearly impossible to escape from. The prison was closed in 1877 already and many of the original buildings burnt down or the bricks were used by locals afterwards to 'support' their building projects (as you do). However, it is still a very impressive sight, this is also supported by being granted World Cultural Heritage status by the United Nations as part of a number of convict sites throughout Tasmania.

We did the classic walking tour and a little cruise to learn about the history of the place. Furthermore, we signed up for a "Ghost Tour" which was held in the darkness wandering around the sights and remaining houses or ruins. We didn't really know what would happen on a Ghost Tour, maybe they'd make up some lighting shows or holograms of ghosts but none of this happened. It was simple a story telling tour about the local ghosts roaming around the site. As soon as three people have seen the same ghost and have written that down the guide would then tell this story. For us this was a bit of humbug but well, you can't deny that many people do claim they can see ghosts and there is certainly an industry being created around clairvoyancy (is that how it's called?). Our guide for example had seen many ghosts and him telling all these stories and his experiences made it quite interesting. However, no one in our group saw a ghost during the tour. Marlene and I suspected it was because of us, why would any ghost show if two disbelievers show up..? Anyway, it was fun and well worth it I believe.

Afterwards we made our way to the North-East of Tasmania. Before leaving the Tasman peninsula we visited a Tasmanian Devils Centre (practically a zoo with mostly Tassie Devils). They are facing a hard time at the moment with more than half of the population in Tasmania (and therefore worldwide) having died of a strange facial cancer, Centres like this are built around Australia to protect the devils from extinction. The Tasman peninsula has an important role to play because being so remote and only connected to the rest of Tasmania by a small isthmus. In a few months the peninsula will be announced free of this cancer and then the devils have a great chance of inhabiting this part without the cancer spreading among them, hopefully it works.

Further north we visited some of the natural wonders of the peninsula, great coastal landscapes as they are abundant in Australia but again and again great to experience.

Art on the trip around the world - MONA in Hobart

Our second week in Tasmania we started off with some culture & the arts. We visited the MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) on Monday morning. It is the largest privately funded museum in Australia, opened only in 2011. It is owned by David Walsh and you can see straight away that he put a fair amount of money into this museum. The interesting part about his story is that he made his whole fortune from gambling. Quite strange in my point of view but it obviously worked, he developed a gambling system and made millions betting on horses and other sports. It doesn't really matter how he earned his money but he is now giving a lot back to the community and his home town Hobart. He created a major tourist attraction. We were once again surprised by the amount of tourists that we encountered on our visit to the museum, it was packed to the rafters.

This museum on the one hand is a collection of a little bit of old art but mostly new art with lot's of installations and new art forms such as film and technology. Most of it could be described as weird, strange or however you want, it is quite an experience. Secondly the museum is definitely a great piece of architecture on the inside and just for this worth a visit. 

Let's have a look at some of the interesting exhibits: One of the most talked-about pieces is the 'cloaca machine' by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. It's a machine that mimics the human digestive system. It is fed, it farts and it poos, and even if you don't get to this piece of art during the feeding or pooing times you can certainly enjoy the strong, disgusting smell. Much like in a bush toilet at a camp ground of one of the great Tasmanian National Parks (don't get me wrong, the National Parks are great, but bush toilet is bush toilet, a Plumpsklo halt, as we say in Austria).

Another piece that I found very interesting was the "Fat Car", mostly of course because it's from an Austrian artist but it also drew lot's of attention by the crowd. A Porsche with Vienna licence plates, boasted up by foam making it.. well, a fat car. Erwin Wurm has created a few of those and obviously wants to bring attention to the obesity problem in the world.

Both Marlene and I enjoyed another installation with 30 TV screens showing 30 different people singing a whole album in karaoke style of Madonna at the same time. You can see one person per screen but it feels like you are confronted by a choir. Firstly the artist has deliberatly picked hard core fans in various outfits, state of minds and believes (as I would put it). Therefore the over an hour lasting sing-a-long of 30 people to Madonna songs becomes a funny, eye-catching experience. It actually makes fun of these hard core fans or basically of the fan culture and devotism to pop stars.

In total we only spent half a day in the museum although you can easily make it a full day exploring everything in detail. We definitely think it should be on the To-Do list whilst in Hobart. We were satisfied by what we had seen and experienced but also had enough art for the day. On we went to Barilla Bay Oysters where we enjoyed, once again, a dozen of freshly shucked oysters, what a culinary delight.

Tasmania - Week 1

On Sunday, February 9th at 9am we boarded the 'Spirit of Tasmania', the ferry departing from Port Melbourne to Devonport on the North coast of Tasmania. A little scared by my previous experiences onboard the Kangaroo Island Ferry (which only took 45min!) I (Marlene) popped in a couple seasickness pills to make sure the 10 hour (!) ferry trip wouldn’t become a nightmare. I’m glad I did as the sea indeed was very rough and moving around on the ship was quite a challenge. Therefore we tried to stay where we were - very close to the ship’s main bar ;)

Tasmania's Coast Line

Tasmania’s written history starts in the early 1800’s when the first convicts were shipped to Van Diemen’s Land (as Tassie was known back then). The first prison was built on Sarah Island on the West Coast, which closed when Port Arthur prison opened. Van Diemen’s Land was the most feared destination for British prisoners; such a terrible place that once convict transports were stopped it changed its name to Tasmania to get rid of its bad reputation.

But enough history for now, what did we get up to first? Well, we started our island exploration counter-clockwise, first stop the Northwest Coast with Burnie, Wynward Bluff and The Nut in Stanley, an old volcano. The climb up there was VERY steep but the views from the top absolutely spectacular!

On top of The Nut

The next day we visited the so called Edge of the World near Arthur River, which apparently has the cleanest air on earth as the sea here stretches uninterruptedly all the way to Argentina.

Against the wind at the Edge of the World

Stoked by so much fresh air, we reached Cradle Mountain National Park in the early afternoon; Cradle Mountain National Park is Tasmania’s ‘alpine’ heart with its highest peak (1617m) and deepest lake (200m). The weather this day was just fantastic, warm and sunny, no cloud in the sky (see our blog cover photo as proof) which is very unusual for that area we got told. While in the Cradle Mountain region we did a few shorter walks, spent a day canyoning the Dove Creek Canyon (AWESOME fun!!) and we also climbed Marion’s Lookout (1200m – higher was physically not possible after the canyoning).

We then continued our journey West to Strahan where we boarded a cruise that took us out on the ocean where the Roaring Fourties blow, around Macquarie Harbour and up the Gordon River including Sarah Island (one of the first prisons built in Tasmania) and a rainforest walk. I did look very closely but despite the perfect conditions I couldn’t spot any mushrooms ;)

Stefan as Co-Captain on the Gordon River Cruise

On Saturday, we got up early to first visit Mount Field National Park, Hobart’s local National Park, with yet another walk through lush rainforests to some very scenic waterfalls (and again no mushrooms), and second to catch Hobart’s Salamanca Markets. These markets are only on each Saturday until 3pm and are one of the main attractions in Hobart. At over 300 stalls, you can buy some local produce (cheese, wine, bread, sausages, etc), handicraft but mostly lots of crap really (I’m not a big market fan, would've enjoyed more food less crap). What we did enjoy about the markets though was the nice cool cider in a cafe nearby and the people watching :) While in Hobart we of course also drove up Mt Wellington, ate some delicious seafood at the harbour (oysters, oysters, oysters...) and visited Cascade Brewery (which beers we actually didn’t like too much; we’re definitely Boag’s fans... but more of that in the next blog post).

Russell Falls in Mt Field National Park

Hobart's Harbour

Hobart from Mt Wellington

Sunday was a little highlight for us with a trip to Bruny Island. We took yet another ferry over to the island and then boarded a speedboat to take us around the coast to the most scenic points. Unfortunately the weather was less than ideal with quite a bit of showers and no sun at all – not great for photos :/ The trip itself was pretty bumpy (I did drug myself again, so all good) but good fun; the Bruny Island coast again is spectacular, and as a bonus we also saw lots of sealions and dolphins. We’ve seen so many dolphins in Perth but they’re always a delight, especially when they’re swimming and jumping alongside the boat. On our way back to the ferry we made sure we tasted (and bought some of) the local produce on Bruny, oysters, cheese, jams & chutneys, smoked trout, beer, cider... makes two happy Austrians :)

Narrow isthmus connecting North and South Bruny Island

Getting ready for the cruise

Sealions on Bruny Island

Exploring Bruny Island's Coast Line by Speedboat

Great Ocean Road.. and some more wine!

After more or less safely making it back to the Australian mainland (the rough sea got a tiny bit of much to me (Marlene) our first stop was Victor Harbor. Mainly, to visit the Medical Center day as I couldn't get rid of a nasty urinary tract infection which I've been carrying around with me on Kangaroo Island. If you remember our last post, when we mentioned that we were impressed by the island's toilet facilities - now you know why we got to know them so well... :) The joys of travelling...

Anyway, equipped with some much needed medication we wandered around Victor Harbor which is actually a very nice place, the have a little island where you can do some walks to spot penguins and seals.

The next day led us to another wine region, Coonawarra, where we visited Yalumba, Wynn's (yum, yum, yum) and Balnaves. 

On Friday we joined what felt like a Gazillion Asian tourists cruising the Great Ocean Road. We've had nothing but blue skies the weeks before but of course today the sky was cloudy and not photo-wise not ideal at all. We did conquer all those obsticles (tourists and weather) and had a great day driving along the coast. All in all a very pretty part of the country, nice little towns, great beaches, awesome scenery, we really, really enjoyed it.

Saturday we decided to take a bit of a break from sightseeing and spent the day in Geelong, wandering around the town, along the harbour, enjoying a cold cider, etc AND getting ready for the ferry ride over to Tasmania the next day.

Kangaroo Island

After making our way down through the vineyards of South Australia we have landed on Kangaroo Island. Just 40 minutes off the shore of mainland Australia this island has a lot to offer. Especially wildlife has been thriving here as many "illegal" immigrants like the fox and feral cats have not made it on to the island and thus kept the Australian native animal population intact.

That's how we made it on to Kangaroo Island.

So far we have seen wild kangaroos and wallabies, sea lions, koalas (always a delight for us West Australians ;-) ), a goanna, possums and I have seen a live echidna, Marlene only a dead one on the road :-( There are Koala walks through the Eucalyptus forrests, a tour of Seal Bay, nature walks through National Parks and just lots of wildlife all around. This is definitely one of the great things about Kangaroo Island.

Seal Bay guided walk on the beach

Marlene "finding" a Koala in a gum tree

What has impressed us a lot so far are the facilities that are provided to tourists. There are public toilets everywhere and even shower facilities which are very clean and always equipped with toilet paper, a real treat for people camping in a van like us. You just pay a fee to the "iron ranger" (a booth at the entrance of the camping area) and can camp somewhere in the area close to the toilets and showers (very important for the ladies). This really feels like luxury travel for us after camping in the wild in the Nullabor Desert.

Remarkable Rocks at Flinders Chase National Park

What else to see and do on Kangaroo Island? Well, we have kept it only to the sealed roads and have seen lots. From driving to the numerous great bays with marvellous beaches, lookouts, National Parks to the Seal Bay Tour as mentioned before and a tour of a sheep milk farm to vineyards. We have skipped driving on unsealed roads, gravel roads (Schotterstrassen) to get to great remote camping spots on even more isolated beaches and bays. There would be lots of lighthouses to explore as well which we are not that interested in anymore after seeing quite a few already in Australia. Furthermore there is lots of activities and adventures that can be undertaken, from quad biking, helicopter flights, paintballing, speed boat rides, wildlife sanctuaries, shearing demonstrations, etc. All what we have done already but it is definitely recommended when you spend longer on the island.

A view from above the "Arch" at Flinders Chase National Park

The scenery is definitely great here and for me the walk through the National Park was the highlight. We stood long and quietly on the side of the platypus waterholes but unfortunately were not lucky enough to see any, they seem to be in a kind of a "summer rest" in their hollows. The sheep milk farm was also something new to Marlene and me which was really interesting. Unfortunately the distillery had closed exactly on the day we had planned to visit it, damn.

Tomorrow we will be moving on again back to the mainland and then into the direction of Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road.

Stokes Bay

Wine regions around Adelaide

A few years ago we had spent a long weekend in Adelaide with a day trip to the Barossa Valley. Despite all the reports of previous travellers we had enjoyed the city a lot and hadn't found it boring as so many others had experienced it. There are a lot of good, interesting restaurants and we found a number of cool, special bars that we really enjoyed.

This time we therefore didn't even drive into Adelaide but found a really interesting route circumventing the city and getting the best out of the many wine regions South Australia has to offer. From Port Germein just a 1.5 hour drive we reached the Clare Valley. Definitely a smaller wine region but well organised with a "Riesling Trail" through the "valley" (Austrians would never call it a valley just because a river is running through a town ;-) ) which can be undertaken by foot or bicycle passing a many of the wineries (nearly as we know it from Austrian wine regions hiking through the vineyards from one Buschenschank to the next). A great way to explore the valley if you have a weekend or longer. From Adelaide the Clare Valley is a bit too far for a day trip but with an overnight stay on the weekend this is a great getaway spot. 

Coming into an Australian wine region we of course can recognise some of the big winery names that we had already enjoyed a bottle or more of during our time in Australia. Therefore our first stop was Knappstein Winery and Brewery. I remembered the boutique beer and also the wine turned out to be very good. We bought a bottle of wine and a 4 pack of beers for our trip. On we went for some more tastings in smaller wineries with a local tasting platter, yummie. The end of the Clare Valley made a trip to a big winery we already had lot of bottles of, Taylors. Architecturally not very outstanding (well if you like the 80ies then yes) but staff was great and I tasted so many wines that I was really tipsy afterwards. Marlene had to drive that day.

The next stop then was Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills, just 30 minutes out of Adelaide and we practically had to drive through Adelaide to get there. Hahndorf was established by 52 German lutheran families who fled from Germany for their religious believes. They named the township after their captain Hahn. This town really feels like entering an old German town and made us giggle quite a lot. Nobody of the locals speaks German anymore, well, 175 years is a long period of time.. 

However, the bars and restaurants definitely offer a lot you expect in a German restaurant abroad. You can choose from so many German beers and we also enjoyed a Munich platter with Kaesekrainer, Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, Kaessler meat, etc. It was so much that especially Marlene is still recovering from it and can't see, smell or eat any sausages until now :-)

We then drove on to find a spot to stay. Preferably we stay on public camping grounds with toilet faciliies. Equipped with an app called "Camps Australia Wide" (the book version is Camps7, numbered consecutively) it is fairly easy to plan your trip. Unfortunately the camp site in a regional park we had picked was not open and so we had to go and ended in the McLaren Vale.

The McLaren vale is close to a magnificient coastline especially on such hot days.

The next day we then stocked up on supplies for our trip to Kangaroo island which started in the afternoon. Again we had to check out some of the wineries that we had known by name. Firstly we went to Rosemount wines which had a market on with lots of stalls which made it a great experience. It was important that everything was indoors as the heat had been impecable for the last two days, constantly over 40 degrees.

Then we visited D'Arenberg and Wirra Wirra, famous for their Churchblock wine which they had a big bottle of out on the car park.

To give you an idea of the tasting experience here is a picture of a "cellar door" where the wine tastings are happening, here at Wirra Wirra.