24th October 2009

We were up early and headed for the Tahune airwalk. Along the way we stopped at West Creek Lookout, a very pretty view.There are lots of Stringy bark gums here; Stringy bark's loves to burn, they hold onto their dead branches, they dangle strips of bark, and on hot days their leaves give off flammable gas. Gum trees need to burn to reproduce, strange but true.





In this picture there are Golden Sasafrass, which you can use the bark of to make beer, Blackheart Sasafrass which is used to make very expensive furniture and Stringy bark gums.




We reached the airwalk at about 10am, it was raining, but nothing new there. $22 each to get in but well worth every cent. This was a fantastic experience and one not to be missed.



The forest airwalk is 597 metres long and high above the ground, a great bird’s-eye view.



At the end of the walk there is a cantilever suspended 48m above the ground. Here you get a great view of the confluence of the Picton and Huon Rivers. I was scared on the cantilever because it bounced and moved from side to side.




After the airwalk we took the walk to the Huon river & Picton river swinging bridges, my knee's were starting to play up so Glenn found a stick for me to use as a shillelagh.





Huon River Swinging Bridge & the Huon River.


Picton River Swinging Bridge & the Picton River.


I now know that I do not like swinging bridges!
But I am happy that I crossed them both.





We then tackled the long walk back.
On the way we saw these strange green mushrooms.







This Huon pine tree is only 70cm tall but is actually 70 years old. Huon pine only grows 1mm every year, it takes 500 years for a tree to fully mature.





It was time to leave Tahune and head to Port Arthur.


Earlier that morning on the way to the airwalk we saw a sign that just said BIG TREE - 1km, which we laughed at saying "they're all big trees", but now we where more curious and decided to take a look. WOW! They call this tree the "Queen Without A Crown", she is a swamp gum and stands 87 metres tall, she is 6.2 metres in diametre and weighs 405 tonnes! She is the only tree to have survived the 1914, 1934 and 1967 fires. It was impossible to get a picture of the entire tree, but this shot gives you an idea of her size.

When we arrived in Port Arthur we lashed out on a cabin and booked a ghost tour for that night. The ghost tour was only $20 each, great value. The tour was creepy and very entertaining, I loved it and I was hoping I would see a ghost, but I didn't.





Around our cabin there were lots of friendly little potoroos, Glenn fed them sustain cereal which they loved.





The last thing we saw on TV that night was a report saying that tourists were giving Australia the flick because it's too expensive, we just looked at each other and nodded. Everything is so expensive over here, attractions, accommodation, food, petrol, everything! Wherever you go there is someone holding their hand out for something.

23rd October 2009

Today we went to the Cadbury factory in Claremont. Glenn spat the dummy that we had to pay $7.50 each to get in, but they did give us chocolates and boxes of Cadbury roses at the door, yummo. The chocolates here are so cheap! I had no idea how much mark up is on chocolates when you buy them at the supermarket.

There is no tour of the factory, just a dvd of the chocolate making process and a lady giving a talk on chocolate molds who only wanted to talk about her lawnmower, sigh, so we left.



They have lots of souvenirs here, mostly toys from their ads, like the drumming gorilla and the chocolate people, all very expensive. They had a beautiful purple hoody, but at $60 I thought I would give it a miss. I just bought a couple of postcards.



From here we went into Hobart, I don't know what it is about this place, I have been here a few times but I just can't warm up to it. I spent hours in the library going through rolls of microfiche and finally found the passenger list for "The Caroline" 1828, and I also had my hands on a copy of "The voyage of the Caroline", a book I have wanted to read for ages. Unfortunately for me you can't borrow this book and it was way too big to read in a couple of hours. Whilst I was at the library, Glenn bought a new battery for the car, Yippi! Now we can have the doors open and the tailgate up etc. without worrying that the car won't start. We then had Hungry Jacks, which was as pewky in Tasmania as it is in Victoria and headed south to the airwalk in Tahune.




We got to Geeveston and met some lovely people who were having the opening night of their pizza parlour.






One bloke said he would rent us a cabin for the night for $25. OMFG! When we saw the disgraceful, stinky shithole in the middle of what looked like a tip we left and went to the backpackers. I set up the car while Glenn got our money back. Had a great 8 hour sleep.