Our rendez-vous with Taaaaaaaaaz

Tasmania !!! Here we come !!!

After spending 2weeks on West Oz, we took a flight to Hobart, the state capital of Tasmania.

The evening at Perth airport we decided to rent a car for our 6days in Tasmania. We finally got lucky as we rented a relatively "big" car for a good price. We thought that if we had to spend a night in the car, in this one it would be not comfortable (for sure) but feasible. Actually we read that the weather in Tasmania was quite unpredictable … and, after spending just few days there we agreed ! Actually when we arrived it was sunny, warm, … and when we left … well you will see! But this terribly variable weather also explains the so different landscapes we could look at! I have to say, now we just landed in New zealand after 5weeks in Australia, Tasmania is the state of Australia that I preferred.

So, ok, we landed in late morning in Hobart, pick up the car and went shopping! We should buy a tent, a good jacket for the expected rains, material for cooking, … well all the necessary for camping!

So we stopped in the city center and when we came back to put more money in the parkmeter, guess what … Santa Claus already passed by the car and brought us a 35dollars fie for the 6MINUTES DELAY! :-s

So, as I had the opportunity to speak with santa claus himself, he told me he couldn't do anything at that moment for me but I had to take advantage of it to make more shopping! So, it's what we have done. And finally, the "taxes" deduced at the airport when leaving Brisbane for the camping material we bought  was used to pay the fie.

Now, what are we doing ??? Hmhm, let's go to the Freycinet National Park and its Wineglass Bay known to be one of the most beautiful bay worldwide. As we arrived late in the afternoon and we were dead of our short night, we decided to report the visit of the park for the next day. We stopped in a free camping zone called "friendly beaches".

When cooking the sausages for dinner, our attention was attracted by a noise coming from our tent. So we went closer and … two tasmanian devils were there :-). They look cute, but as all the pictures I saw before were showing that :

I told Seb not to go to close … and the time for me to take the camera they escape … but still WE SAW TAAAAAAAZ :-)

Next morning we went to see the famous Wineglass Bay, and ok, we have to admit it's really beautiful! Don't you agree?

Later we took the direction of the Bay of Fires, close to St Helens. There we stopped for a short beer degustation ;-) but as beers are really expensive compared to the price we are used to pay for them we didn't get drunk ;-) And, actually we still had to go to the camping on the bay :-s

As the day before we were fighting with mosquitos when cooking, we decided to have diner before sunset. So arrived at the camping, we set and started to cook. It's at that moment that made a very important discovery : when sitting on a bag, check it before, just in case there would be a small box of pepper inside! I think most of you knows, but since that moment Seb has major problems to sit down :-s

The bay of Fires is called like this because of small "plants" growing on the rocks close to the sea. just have a look at them, they are ON FIRE! ;-)

On the way to Launceston, we stooped to waterfalls :-) and, as you can notice, we also took our revenge on mosquitos ;-)

We arrived in Launceston in the afternoon on a saturday, so all tasmanian were there to enjoy the river and the swimming pool. The gorges are really beautiful, but they were also crowded, so we didn't stay that long. After a short walk we continue our drive to the Craddle mountain. We stooped at the kentish camping park for some rest (not that much actually, because it was starting to get really cold during the night … and we couldn't sleep that well :-s).

Next morning we finally enter the Craddle Mountain National park :-) Well the weather was not very good, just have a look at the picture of the weather forecast (wednesday 3rd of December) :

But still, we were wearing a lot of clothes and very good jackets to protect us from the wind. The walk started very well! The landscape was SPECTACULAR even under the rain.

But, of course, Seb decided to make the walk a bit longer … I was not really against the idea if the walk was as it was before : well indicated and on easy paths but it was not the case :-s I had knees problems starting again and my hands were completely frozen because of the cold and the wind … so impossible to keep my hands on the walking sticks. I was not even enjoying the landscape which was really beautiful because I had to pay attention to all my steps. So, I can tell you that during 2hours I hated Seb! But, at the end I managed to get a massage in compensation ;-)

As the night had to be very cold, we finally decided to go to a hotel in Queenstown for the night (Empire hotel). Having a good HOT shower, Sleeping in a bed, in a room with a heater :-) that was a VERY good idea! As when we woke up the next morning it was raining ice!

Next step, crossing the Craddle mountain National Park to go to St Claire Lake. The weather was pretty bad … but finally we got lucky as when we had to stop for every lookout, the rain or snow stopped for a wile :-)

We stopped by a beautiful water fall and then by St Claire lake. Take a look at the picture, we first got rain, and then snow! Difficult to imagine that 4days ago it was 30-35degrees! That's Tasmanian Weather!

When we arrived at St Claire lake, we had lunch in the car hoping the snow would calm down, and it does :-) so we decided to have a short walk in the forest close to the lake, but the snow started again! And, 10minutes later, the sun came back! then snow started again! De bonnes giboulées de Mars quoi!

As the weather was so "Perfect", we finally decided to spend our last night inside the car. It was not the best one, but at least we slept a bit … we just had to switch on the motor 2-3times during the night to heat up the car. When we woke up, we went for the very last walk in Tasmania in the Mount Field national park. We met a lot of wallabies there! But they are much shyer! We couldn't approach one of them … As you can see it was still very cold (No, no, no my nose is not red because of alcohol drinking, but just because it was 1degree that morning!).

Then it was already time to go back to Hobart :-( So, let's go! At least we will maybe win few degrees there … I should have told you before, but Tasmania is the state of the black swan … you can see few of them on this picture.

When we arrived on Hobart, the weather was OK, so we decided to go on the Mt Wellington from where we should have a GREAT few on the city! But, when approaching we realized that a stupid cloud was sitting on the mountain :-s and when arrived at the top, it was snowing again! So the great vew … was very limited :-s. At least, when going down we could see a bit better the city.

Here stops our adventure in Tasmania. it was short, but so GREEEEEEEAAAAAATTTTTTT!