And so we have returned from another amazing corner of the world - Tasmania! Tom and I have always wanted to visit the little island just south of mainland Australia. We booked a seven day road trip for the last part of the holidays and returned Sunday evening just in time for me to return to work on Monday. We rented a car and took off to the east coast of the island straight off. We stayed in holiday park cabins the entire time which was great because we had showers and kitchens to make our travels a little more comfortable.
Our first adventure was to Wineglass Bay (which Tom and I both agreed could be the name of a bay in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie). Alta had wanted to go as soon as she had seen the picture of it at the Launceston Airport. We hiked up to the lookout, and then the kids and I ran/hiked down to the beach. It had beautiful white sands and a little wallaby that visited us while we put our shoes on to head back up the trail. The next day we traveled up the coast a bit to the Bay of Fires. This is a part of the coast that has an orange lichen that grows on the rocks. We played on the white sand beaches and the kids and Tom went swimming. Along our way up to the north coast of the island we stopped at Sea Horse World, taking an amazing tour where we learned all about sea horses! We then made our way to Cradle Mountain where we got to do some real hiking (ahhhh!) in the mountains. We did a hike that was less populated than the one around Dove Lake and managed to see wombats! Tom and the kids took the shuttle bus back to the car from the trailhead and I walked the 6km back. It was so nice to be out in the wilderness alone and just before sunset! On our way back to Launceston to catch our flight we took the kids to their first cave where we had a great tour and learned all about stalactites and stalagmites. Here are some soundbites from the trip: 1. We listened to the entire Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince audio book while driving through Tasmania. 2. If I was a ghost, I'd live in Launceston. That town just has the feel of a town that's meant to be haunted. 3. While many cars in mainland Australia are white, we noticed that Tasmania car color tends to be royal blue! 4. Tasmania is the capital of roadkill! It is everywhere! 5. Seahorses can change colors, but they can't turn blue or green. 6. Tasmania rocks seafood -fresh oysters and muscles. Yum! 7. Penguins can be seen on land an hour before sunrise, and an hour after sunset. We'll bring our headlamps the next time we go scouting for penguins. 8. Tasmania has leeches too. 9. Stop by the Iron House brewery and distillery when you go to Tasmania. Alta broke the mirror top of a table there and so far they haven't sent us a bill! I'll buy their beer and wine again if I just don't have to pay for that table! 10. There are only about 400,000 people that live in Tasmania, but on any given day there are 1 million people on the island (because of all the tourists.) 11. We added some new animals to our list of animals that we have seen here including the Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo, wombat, Forster's Kangaroo, Copperhead snake, and pandemelon. 12. After a week listening to Harry Potter, Tom and I found ourselves walking down the lighted streets of Launceston with a 9 year old 'wizard' and a seven year old 'witch' yelling "stupify" and "expelliarmus."
1 Comment
Naomi
4/24/2017 18:01:50
What a great adventure. I just looked up info on wombats. I discovered they have backwards facing pouches (so dirt doesn't get in while digging), they have cube shaped poo (the picture was from Cradle Mt. where you were) and a group of wombats is called a wisdom!
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AuthorThe Liljemark's enjoy exploring the world. This blog chronicles our adventures. Archives
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