February 10-11, 2023
“I'm able to actually choose places to go which have intrigued me for the last god knows how many years, and Tasmania's always been one of those places.”
- Robert Plant
We have been working our way north in Tasmania. It is bigger than I thought. The Island is about the size of Ireland or, closer to home, West Virginia. The population is around 500,000. It is more mountainous than I expected , particularly on the west coast. The mountains are not huge, but big enough to sport winding two lane roads that slow your progress considerably.
It is also littered with road kill. Although we have not seen a single kangaroo , we have passed at least a dozen or more carcasses by the side of the road. Its a little odd after seeing deer, possum , and raccoon strikes in the US to see an obvious kangaroo body on the side of the road. So they are out there somewhere.
We are in Evendale, a town just outside of Launceston. Tomorrow we will leave for Melbourne and begin exploring the mainland. As we prepare to leave I have a few odds and ends from our last days in Tasmania.
Evendale is like a town frozen in time. The buildings here date from the late 19th century. Stately small white structures with multiple rose gardens line it’s short main street. In the waning hours yesterday we visited a lively pub and watched the massive thunderhead clouds in the distance. This was the home of a well known landscape artist , John Glover. It is also the home of an annual ‘Penny-farthing Race’ which will take place next weekend! Unfortunately we will miss it. These 1870 era bicycles are prized here and the idea of seeing them racing with period appropriate costumes sounds amazing.
The local garden club was having its flower competition and wineries surround the area.
On advice of our host we drove into town to see "The Gorge". Launceston is a mid sized city just north of us and hosts the airport. It is located in rolling hills and next to a large boulder strewn river canyon. What nature itself could not provide, Victorian era Tasmanians could. They turned the area into a public park complete with hiking trails, a swimming pool, and gardens to stroll through on hot days.
We drove into the peninsula that is the home to Freycinet National Park. Before getting into the forest we encountered classic Australian bush like these fly overs
The bride is called "Spikey Bridge" and was built by?......You guessed it, convicts.
On the way near a popular winery we saw cars pulled over with people looking skyward taking pictures.
This is what they saw. These are unedited photos.
These are iridescent clouds. They are rare and caused by the southern sunlight passing through high thin clouds composed mostly of water droplets.
Freycinet National Park is a popular destination for locals to camp and hike. The two main highlights here are the lighthouse, which is no longer in use, and Wineglass Bay.
Despite the comely sounding name and reported beauty of the bay, it has nothing to do with the coast being in the shape of a wine goblet. In the early 1890’s this peninsula was a major whaling center. It was in these waters the Southern Right Whale migrated to breed. How did they get the name ‘Right’? They swam slowly in coastal waters, floated when dead, and yielded large amounts of oil and baleen.
In the bay the carcass was dragged and butchered. The resulting blood would stain the entire cove the color of red wine. This is the reason for the bay’s moniker.
A basic fact of biology of large mammals, be they buffalo or whales, is that they reproduce slowly. If you kill them beyond their ability to propagate you wipe them out. This nearly happened. Fortunately in 1935 hunting these whales was banned. In the decades since, their numbers have slowly improved.
With the gory history in the past, the park has become a nature showcase. Magnificent granite edifices. Coastal She Oaks, Eucalyptus, and White Kunzea trees that give off a honey scent were dense and gave they forest a jungle feel.
We knew it might rain the day we went. So we put on our warmest clothes and thin rain slickers and pressed on.
The walk to the Wineglass lookout was farther and steeper than we knew. We soldered on through the mist and stopped at various lookouts to enjoy the moody atmosphere the woods in the warm light rain.
We passed numerous hikers on the trail, everyone grinning in our common dampness as we climbed the hill. We knew it would be misty but we hoped for some clearing as we climbed to the lookout. The reported view was well worth the effort!
After about 45 minutes, we finally reached the apex of our journey. This is what we hoped to see -
This is what we actually saw -
Yet, it was one of the best hikes I have ever had. Here I was in the wet glistening forest among smokey teahouse blossom trees in full bloom with her; my beloved girlfriend.
As we would stop to catch our breath the rain would gently hit her face and she would smile that incredible smile of hers.
Here, in the mist and warm rain that was soaking through to our clothes, I was with the most beautiful woman in the world on the far side of the planet.
And it was absurdly romantic.
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