Australia 2012

This is the first blog from Australia. Travel on this trip has been a little different than my trip to South Africa. We flew out of LAX on a Qantas Airbus 380-800.  One of the nicest planes I have ever been on. We were sitting on the upper deck in fold flat business class seats.  So far we have stayed in three five star accommodations, Melbourne's 3 year-old Hilton South Wharf, Freycinet National Park's Lodge, and Candle Mountain Chateaus. I haven't had to cook a meal, wash dishes, do animal counts, or clear roads. There is actual heat in the rooms and glass in the windows and no mice.

We arrived in Melbourne on Easter Friday one of the biggest holidays here and almost everything was closed. We still had a good time at the Royal Botanic Gardens which was just a short walk from the hotel.  After a couple of days in Melbourne we flew into Hobart.  I didn't know that Tasmania celebrated a five day Easter holiday.  Hobart was closed up so tight that they even rolled up the sidewalks downtown until Wednesday. So we headed out to Mount Field National Park. Rained started to fall so there are only a few pictures to share.

A nice rainbow before it poured on us.  There is a very faint double rainbow that I actually didn't see until I put this picture on the computer.

Mount Field National Park has a nice rain forest, beautiful falls, and large trees.

On Monday we drove out to Freycinet National Park. This park in on a peninsula about two hours from Hobart. Here are a couple of sunset pictures from our first evening there.

A few sun spots in this picture but I still like it.

Similar shot without the sun spots

 Next I thought I would take you through a day by pictures.

I started the morning about a hour before sunrise. This is an early morning moon picture from Sleepy Bay.

The sun began to turn the few clouds in a nice rosy color. Past rains provided a nice stained path to the sky.

There is a nice orange lichen on the rocks in Tasmania. The day is still young the sun is not quite above the horizon.

Finally sunlight provides a nice contrast between the orange lichen and the blue sky.

Early morning reflection at Sleepy Bay.  After returning to the Lodge for breakfast Kathy and I started out on our walk to Wine Glass Bay.

Wine Glass Bay Overlook. Unfortunately it was a cloudy morning and the true beauty of this location isn't apparent.

Kathy and I walked down to the bay to check out the beach.

This Wallaby came to check us out.  I took this picture with a 17-40mm lens and it's not cropped.  After this picture was taken Kathy and I walked across the isthmus to checkout the other shore and Hazard Beach.

Hazard Beach is pretty in it's own right but not as protected as Wine Glass Bay. I think I could capture most of the isthmus walk with one word, "ugly."

Kathy waiting on the photographer to finish taking pictures.

A beautiful cove near Hazard Beach.

 

 

After an eleven kilometer grade 4 walk we headed to Coles Bay to capture the sunset. The hills across the water are called the Hazards.

We arrived just in time to see the sun sink into the far shore.

Now it was time for a quick shower and some dinner.

 After a couple of days at Freycinet we drove over to Cradle Mountain National Park and a little colder weather.  We arrived two days too late to see the snow.  But it was still pretty cold, overcast, and windy. Here are a few picture that I took on a very long day in which we walked two of their half day walks and a couple of shorter walks.

Cradle Mountain is the tallest peak across Dove Lake. Fifty mile per hour winds made sure their was no chance for a reflection. After sunrise Kathy and I began our first half day walk, the Crater Lake Circuit.

A view of Cradle Mountain from Lake Lilla.

We continued our climb to Crater Lake and Lake Lilla start to shrink.

I didn't think Crater Lake was too photo worthy on this day, not to say I didn't take some.  But Crater Falls was very nice.  After walking up hill for a few hours it was nice to be on a down hill stretch.  This path surprised us because we were walking through a lush rain forest after just dropping down from a mountain pass and alpine lake.

We saw a wombat from the board walk just as we were completing our first walk.

After a quick lunch we began our second half day walk, the Dove Lake Circuit.

Cradle Mountain from the Dove Lake Circuit.

They have these amazing palm trees in Tasmania that grow in this cold climate. We heard from a park employee that they only grow here and in a part of Chile.  The paths in every national park in Tasmania are amazing.  Some were nice board walks with chicken wire across the boards so they aren't slippery and others had hand laid stone steps.  But you know photographers like to get off the beaten path so I talked Kathy into climbing a trail called the Rock Face Trail.  Which had no stone steps, no board walks, and in some places a very steep uphill climb.

Red fungi growing on the side of a tree along the trail.

We made it up to the top of the Rock Face Trail.  Dove Lake is behind us.

Waterfall out of Lake Wilks with Cradle Mountain in the background.  The Beech tree in the foreground is the only native tree that has colorful leaves in the fall.

 

 

 

 

This is Dove Lake and the Boat House. We are just about back to our car that we left eleven hours earlier. Kathy then told me she wasn't getting up for sunrise the next morning.

Kathy barely survived our walk at the Cataract Gorge just outside of Launceston. We completed eight of Tasmania's 60 Great Short Walks in six days. Tomorrow we are off to Melbourne on a 6:30 am flight to start our Great Ocean Road drive.

Kathy has been sleeping for a few hours now.  Time for me to join her.  But before I go I need to say happy birthday to our wonderful daughter Elizabeth.  Talk to you soon.