Cassie testing the bridge at Cataract Gorge in Launceston
me in front of the Cataract Gorge in Launceston
Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park
The three sisters (self-dubbed)
I was literally less than a foot away from this wallaby and her joey but thought better than to extend my hand to pet her.
Our classy bed and breakfast was right on the bay.
I went to Tasmania with my friend from work, Cassie. We spent three days touring the east coast, then met up with some other girls for the weekend. We arrived in Launceston at 10:30AM Wednesday, had a quick walk around Launceston, went to a café called Relax for breakfast, and headed to Launceston’s sole attraction, the Cataract Gorge, with the world’s longest single span chairlift. We bypassed the chairlift as it was crackling and creaking along and less than impressive, but the gorge was beautiful, the result of earthquake movement.
We drove onto Freycinet National Park, where we hiked up to the Wineglass Bay Lookout. The drive was “scenic”… there are NO signs anywhere in Tasmania. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but we drove (I drove) 40 km beyond our turnoff before we realized we were headed in the wrong direction. The good news is we had the delight of driving through Ross, a very quaint historic town. A slight detour never hurts. Wineglass Bay is touted as one of the top ten beaches in the world. Deep blue and turquoise water rolled into the silvery sand coastline. Apparently the sand is so clean that it squeaks below your bare feet as you walk along it, as it would on a gymnasium floor. The beach was offset by mountains and jagged rocks. I think the unusual thing was to enjoy both the beach and the mountains in a single experience. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough daylight to make the trek down to the beach, and my quads were probably thanking me for that. Our hike to the lookout was only 1.5 hours return, but I was regretting my personal training session from the day before, where I had done three sets of 20 squats. Cassie had a deep appreciation for the nature and took lots of artistic photos along the way, of the banksy men in the trees, the fire spitting caterpillars, and the swirled tree trunks. I spotted a wallaby hopping across the trail in front of us and swiped a picture with me within 5 meters. Then, we came across a wallaby with a joey in its pouch at the bottom of the trail. I could have pet this thing, we were so close. We also sighted an echidna crossing the road.
We went to the only viable dining venue in the area for dinner that night – the local pub which felt much more like a veteran’s cafeteria than any kind of bar or restaurant but the food was surprisingly good. We spent the night at a swank bed and breakfast with a view of the bay. We cozied up to the furnace after hot showers with hot tea and magazines and fliers to plan our next day’s adventure.
