9 March
Yesterday and today we have been on the trail of waterfalls. Yesterday we made it to Halls Falls in the Blue Tier area. Nice walk included a stop at the falls and then on to a rocky area above the falls and then up to an old weir (dam) which was built as part of the tin mining process in the early 1900s. Whoever built the trail had fun labelling natural objects including a green haired maiden (big rock covered with Kangaroo fern) and my favoite was the "old man of the forest".

Halls Falls

Old man of the Forest
looks like "men" to me

they claim only one man

We also did some exploring around the tin mine area where we found a man made tunnel used to move water. Pretty impressive since it was through granite.

THIS carried water???

spotted on walk
anyone know what it is?

From Halls Falls we drove on to the St. Columba falls which some say are the highest in Tasmania at 90 meters. They were impressive. The walk through the rain forest was amazing.

St. Columba falls

rain forest

We then headed out to Ralph Falls - 20 kilometers away. Good quality gravel road with a few pot holes should have taken about 30 minutes. Wellllll 90 minutes later finally found us at the carpark for Ralph Falls. The road was a good one - when we could see it through the fog and drizzle. Luckily we were able to find a sheltered level spot just behind the carpark to spend the night. This morning we got up and walked to the falls which were the nicest of the three and really neat shrouded with early morning fog. Walking the trail was very eerie since it was still foggy. We later walked the trail again when we got to see the falls in full sun. It was amazing how much the landscape changed on our 45 minute walk.

fog shrouded falls

little guy watching us walk the trail

the landscape went from this

to this

to this

to views like this

the falls in full sun

We spotted this guy watching for lunch on one of our walks. We couldn't believe how close he let us get before taking off.

raptor watching for lunch

We found this really cool memorial park where they had planted trees after WWI - one for each man lost in the war (from the area). A number (10?) years ago the trees had grown and aged to the point where they we unsafe and the city was going to cut them down. Instead they carved them.

WWI memorial trees preserved

Echidna spotted on ride

12 March
So, Trox went for a ride late this afternoon and I was sitting inside Bunyip reading when someone's cell phone started ringing and kept ringing AND got louder and louder. Finally I looked outside to figure out who's bloody phone was playing the gawd awful song and out in the turn around at the end of the road was an ice cream truck! WOW! How cool was that?! AND! it had soft serve ice cream cones! YIPPEE!

spotted this BIG pig (hog?) along the road
he had 2 or 3 chicken friends

17 March
The Ides of March has come and gone and now it is St. Patrick's day. For the last few days (week maybe) we have been dawdling along the central east coast. We made it as far south on the Freycinet Peninsula as the roads go. Trox hiked up to the top and over to the Wineglass Bay. What beautiful water this is on both sides of the peninsula. The water is crystal clear and some beaches such as honeymoon bay have virtually no currents and are like swimming pools (although a little cold). And the beaches are wonderful to walk along.

shells along the tide zone

walking along the water

lighthouse on Freycinet Peninsula

honeymoon bay

Wineglass bay

Last time we were in St. Helen's we met an elderly (82) man traveling TAS by himself. He (John) was a delightful gentelman. Trox and I went out for a wonderful meal at a "fancy" restaurant - The Blue Shed - and John joined us. It made the dinner even more special to share it with him and his stories were wonderful to listen to. He and Trox solved all the world's problems the next morning over coffee.

We are now getting ready to leave the Freycinet National Park and head further south as we work our way down south towards the Tasman Peninsula and from there we may head north again.

Someone warned us that return tics on the ferry were hard to get on short notice so last time we had internet I booked our return tics. First date I could get was 18 April so that's when we have to head back to Melbourne. That leaves us a little over 4 weeks to finish TAS - we'll see.

18 March
We made a detour into Hobart and now we have a generator again! A brand new one in a box!! Hopefully this one will work better than the first one. On the drive into Hobart we stopped at a place called Spikey Beach with a Spikey Bridge built by convict labor.

Spikey Bridge

We are going to leave Hobart and head back east to Sorell and then south onto the Tasman Peninsula towards Port Arthur. From there - who knows.

21 March
We haven't made it beyond Sorell yet but will be heading further south today. The last few days have been lazy - don't do much type days. We spent time doing laundry, shopping, and restocking things like pancake mix. We also found a charming little town - Richmond - that we both enjoyed traipsing around. It is home to the oldest bridge (convict labor) in TAS still in use and some very old churches and buildings and cemeteries. There were lots of birds under and around the bridge.

St. Johns Catholic Church
oldest Catholic Church still in use in TAS

Little Pied Cormorant (we think)

some kind of duck?

this kind of duck came in all colors!

the oldest bridge built in 1823

22 March
Late yesterday we pulled into Fortescue Bay Campground. What a pretty site. The view from our spot last night was nothing great but this A.M. we moved to a site that is up and has a nice view of the bay. We will stay here at least 2 more nights. Last night we had a visitor on our roof who would dearly have loved to come in . Luckily Trox got the roof vent closed before he (a opposum? - probably) found it. The weather is supposed to turn windy and wet later today. Our location will give us a good view as the storm comes in. The new generator works great!

This morning Trox went for a walk and spotted a green Rosella who was happy to pose for his picture. The other day in Hobart he managed to photograph a whole flock of Eastern Rosellas feeding on something yummy on and under a log.

yes, I'll pose (a Green Rosella)

two of 'em!

Eastern Rosellas feasting on something

THIS is a Robin!

We had a visitor this morning to our new site. We aren't able to identify one type of wallaby from another but the Pademelons are easy to id. Their face is a little different than the wallabies and they are tiny - a litle bigger than a bunny.

Wallaby visitor