Friday, October 2 The motel bus picked us up promptly at 4:30am for our 5:45am flight. We checked in and Rory's luggage was 3kg overweight, but Rick's was under so we didn't pay any excess fees. Our seats were way in the back of the plande and we hope we never have to sit back there again. We arrived on time in Sydney for our transfer flight to Hobart (capital of Tasmania). Rick wasn't feeling well after the flight, so we didn't eat anything. We were a bit late taking off (an oddity for Qantas) and arrived in Hobart at 4:15pm. We got our luggage, found our way to the Budget Car Rental desk, and received a free upgrade to a Kia Rio. Good thing, because we don't think the 3-door Hyundai Getz we had reserved would have been big enough to hold our luggage. After stopping to have Budget fill the tank, we proceeded with Google Map directions to our apartment in Lenah Valley (just northwest of Hobart city). The directions weren't the best and we found ourselves in the middle of the city at rush hour. Luckily we found the "i" which was still open after 5:30 and got straightened out.

Our apartment turned out to be one of the best we've had in our travels. It's a 3 bedroom completely equipped,in excellent order, and very clean. The apartment sits on a high hill overlooking one of the bays. The views are gorgeous. The surrounding hills are covered with high-end homes, reminded us a little of Sausalito in California. We found the local Coles and stocked up on groceries--we'll be here for at least four nights and plan to have breakfast and dinners in. We were pretty hungry, since we'd skipped both breakfast and lunch. Rory put together a fine barbequed chicken dinner. We'd turned on the electric bed pads, so the bed was nice and toasty and we were aleep almost immediately after turning in. (Temperatures in Hobart were in the low 50s during the day and high 30s at night, so a warm apartment and warm bed were appreciated.)

Saturday, October 3 There's a huge crafts market every Saturday at Salamanca Place. We slept well, had breakfast, and were out by 8:30. Rick had mapped our route into town and we arrived at the markets without getting lost. We found a place to park and spent the better part of five hours roaming the 300+ stalls. We had a terrific lunch at Mezethes Greek Taverna, lingering over grilled snapper dinners, some local wine, and a cookie for Rory. The markets closed at 3pm--probably the best markets we've ever been to, then we wandered into St. David's Park (formerly a derelicts cemetery) and then along the wharves and docks of Hobart's waterfront. We returned to Salamanca Place and were astonished that there was no trace of the market, except for the vehicle picking up the "no parking" cones. We satisfied a sudden sweet tooth by stopping for a slice of cake and a cup of coffee (milk for Rick). Then back to the car for the drive back to the apartment. We've got a frozen pizza for dinner, but I don't think either of us is particularly hungry!

Sunday, October 4 Woke up to a beautiful day--sunny and cool. We lost an hour's sleep last night, as DST began at 2am. Our original destination for the day was Port Arthur, an elaborate historical site depicting the convict history of Tasmania. We never made it. Once we'd driven across the Tasman Bridge and passed the airport, we encountered some of the most beautiful countryside we've ever seen. The whole state of Tasmania appears to be one large photo op, and we found several places to stop and just gawk at the natural wonders we found.

We followed the A3 road and turned onto the A9 at Sorell. At Eaglehawk Neck, we turned off the highway to our first stop--a lookout point above Pirates Bay, where we enjoyed the view over green farmland down to a secluded cove with mountains along the opposite side. (Photo Op #1) We were intrigued by directions to "Tesselated Pavement" and followed a winding road down from the overlook. Tesselated Pavement turned out to be natural flat rock formations that looked like large cobblestones.. They formed a flat expanse that looked like pavement, hence the name. (Photo Op #2)

One of our goals for today was to visit the Tasman Blowhole, the Tasman Arch, and Devils Kitchen, a trio of natural rock formations along the eastern coast of the Tasman Peninsula, a short diversion off the A9. "Short" describes the distance from the A9, not the amount of time we spent. All of these sites are in Dootown. (This is a real town, like Humpty Doo and Cocklebiddy, if you've been following these journals from the beginning....) There must be a local ordinance that people have to give their houses names that include the word "doo". We passed "Love Me Doo", "Didjeri Doo", "Much A-doo", "Dr. Doolittle", "Doo Drop In", and dozens more. We continued through Dootown to the Tasman Blowhole--a narrow inlet through a tunnel cave that ended in a shallow gorge. (Photo Op #3) Before moving on, Rick had an ice cream sundae with choc bits, nuts and strawberry syrup. (Hey. it was almost lunch time!) Rory had a choc chip cookie. Rick's choice was far the better one.... Next stop--the Tasman Arch, the carpark for which was directly in front of it. This was one of the most impressive natural rock formations we've seen. (Photo Op #4) The arch spans a deep gorge. You just stand there and gawk. There's a track that winds around the other side to an point overlooking Waterfall Bay. Another 15 minute hike led to Devils Kitchen, an even deeper gorge between sheer sandstone cliffs (Photo Op #5)

By the time we'd finished at these three sites, it was about 12:30. Our next stop was the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park. We arrived about 40 minutes before the next Tasmanian Devil feeding. We had time to roam around the park and saw several of the little black creatures, three of which were in a brand new area that had opened yesterday. The devils are endangered--there's a type of cancer that has afflicted the wild population. There is a concerted effort underway to isolate healthy devils and trap and eliminate infected animals. If the effort doesn't succeed, they will be extinct within 15 years. No animal with the disease has survived. We witnessed the feeding and had to laugh. These must be the cutest and stupidest animals anywhere. The feeder threw several chunks of raw meat into their enclosure. Instead of going each for his own piece, they fought over the first one he threw. Finally they realized there was more than enough to go around, but that didn't stop them from going for one another's food. Following this entertainment, we left the park for lunch at The Mussel Boys Cafe for another fine meal. We wanted to get back to the Conservation Park for the 3:30 Free Flight Bird Show. By now it was obvious that we weren't going to get to the Port Arthur Historic Site. We'd rather spend our time with animals, birds, and natural sites anyway! We were entertained by a gallah, a corella cockatook, a tawny frogmouth, and two falcons. Following the bird show, we wandered among the caged birds and the kangaroos and wallabies wandering free.

We'd had a long day. The drive back to the apartment took about 90 minutes. By now we've gotten our bearings on the local highways and city streets. We had some laundry to do (the apartment has a washing machine) and eventually ate dinner in (pizza). We had a great day and look forward to another one tomorrow before we leave Hobart on Tuesday morning.

Monday, October 5 Heading south again this morning. It's cloudy and raw and looks like it could rain any time. Initially we thought we'd go all the way down to Lune River and ride the Ida Bay Railway. We quickly changed our minds, deciding on the Tahune Airwalk, 29km west of Geeveston as the farthest south we'd go. Just south of Hobart city we turned off the A6 to Mt. Nelson. At the end of the Mt. Nelson road we found a carpark at the Mt. Nelson Signal Station. Just beyond the carpark we were greeted by some of the finest views of Hobart and the Tasman Peninsula, where we'd gone yesterday. We explored the Signal Station and read about the semaphore system that was once used to signal ships. The book of signals was the size of a dictionary. No wonder it was replaced by the modern nautical flag system; one flag for each letter of the alphabet and one for each decimal digit from 0-9.

From Mt. Nelson we returned to the A6 and continued south. We drove along the Huon River, from which this area (the Huon Valley) gets its name. The scenery was a breathtaking as yesterday's: mountains to the west, the river to the east, lush green farmland. It seemed like a cross between Maine and Northern California, with a bit of Ireland thrown in for good measure. We found that it takes longer to travel a specific distance in Tasmania than it does to drive the same distance in, say, WA; probably because the roads are windy rather than straight and level, and because the scenery is so spectacular you want to stop at every turn. (We'll have to keep this in mind as we continue our travels around Tasmania.) We passed through small towns (Huonville, Franklin, and Port Huon) before reaching Geeveston. The latter is a very picturesque little village where woodworking is practiced by many artisans. There are life-sized wood carvings of many noteworthy people from the surrounding areas and many of the shops and houses are made of elaborately carved wood as well. Turning west at Geeveston, we proceeded along a narrow 2-lane road, up and down through the forest on the way to the air walk. We stopped briefly to visit the Lookin Lookout and took the 20 minute Keoghs Creek walk along a boardwalk trail through the forest. The forests are dense with tall old trees, many covered with moss, huge ferns, and winding tramped down trails.

Leaving the walk, we completed our drive to the Tahune Airwalk. This attraction was similar to the Treetop Walk we took in Walpole, WA three years ago. The metal airwalk is supported by huge metal poles connedted to the walkway by strong guy wires. The walk is quite stable, until you reach the cantilevered platform that extends over 40 meters out over the forest and the Huon River. With several people "out on the limb", the walkway sways and bounces a bit--you've got to hang on tight! It takes about 45 minutes to do the airwalk. Then there's the second walk through the forest which includes crossing the Huon River on an extension bridge (that sways pretty well, which is why you cross with about 10 meters between each person) and then the Picton River on another one. This walk takes another 45 minutes. By the time we were done, it was just after 2pm. Rather than stop to eat, we headed back toward Hobart so we could visit the small village of Margate before the "Margate Train" closed at 4:30pm. Along the way back, we stopped at every pharmacy looking for Vaseline lip balm. Rory found this when we were in Australia three years ago, but can't find it in the US. We found two pharmacies that had it, but could only get 6 tubes total. We'll probably be looking for more over the next ten days.

The main (and probably only) attraction of Margate is the Margate Train, an old steam train that has been converted into retail shops: second hand bookstore, barber shop, lollipop.candy store, two antique shops, and the Pancake Train. We had delicious pancakes and coffee here, relaxing while we watched the rain pour down briefly. We took the "back way" from Margate, passing through several towns along the River Derwent, through the "rush hour" of Hobart, and back to the apartment. We've had three of the best days of our trip in Hobart. We're looking forward to what we'll see over the next 10 days. We both agree, that if we come back to Australia, we'll spend a lot more time in Tasmania.

Tuesday, October 6 It's raining lightly this morning as we leave our apartment in Hobart at 8am. We'd like to make it all the way to the northwest coast late this afternoon. Wynyard looks like a good spot, and we'd like to spend 4 nights there. It seems a seaside stay would be very relaxing and there is quite a bit to see and do there. There's a bit of early morning traffic, but we're north of the city and heading farther north, so it's not too bad. Within about 90 minutes, we're about 7km west of Westerway at the site of Russell Falls. The rain had stopped and the sun was out until we got to the park entrance to the falls when the rain started again. Fortunately, it lasted only about 15 minutes. We took the footpath (rather than the paved path) through the surrounding forest. If anything, this hike was even better than yesterday's Keogh Creek walk. The downed trees were covered in a velvety green moss; the tree ferns taller than yesterday, and, after a 15 minute walk, we arrived at the falls. There has been an unusually large amount of rain in Tassie this year and the falls reflected it. We stood in awe for a few minutes then took the footpath, boardwalk steps, and muddy path up to the top. When we arrived at the summit, we encountered some good news and some bad news. The bad news: we couldn't see all the way down; the good news: a short walk further revealed Horseshoe Falls. These falls were not nearly as high as Russell Falls, but the setting was quite beautiful.

Heading back along the paved path, we passed some members of the Queensland Field Hockey Team. There's a field hockey tournament this week in Hobart. Each Australian State and Territory is represented by 6 age group teams (all adult). These women looked to be in the 45+ age group. They recognized us from the Tahune Airwalk yesterday. We asked if they'd ever heard of Beth Anders (US Olympic Field Hockey Coach and a friend of ours). Not only did they know who Beth is, but at least one of them had read her book. We spent almost 90 minutes here and left ahead of the two tour buses. We were heading for Queenstown and possibly Strahan. The road to Queenstown turned into a driver's challenge through the mountains. Along the way, we tried to find a place for lunch, but the only place we could find that was open was playing host to a tour bus full of people and we didn't want to wait. So we continued on to Queenstown. When we finally got into town off the winding mountain road, we realized we wouldn't be spending much time here. It's a silver mining town and unlike other mining areas of Australia, not much has been done to rehabilitate the mined out areas. The town itself looked pretty grim, but we did find a place for lunch. After asking a couple of locals, we finally found the "i". Although it wasn't an official "i", the lady running the office was kind enough to let us use the phone to call up to Wynyard to make a booking.

After another 2 1/2 hours of mountain roads, and about 15km from Wynyard, Rick noticed a car behind us flashing its headlights and signaling to pull over. We couldn't imagaine what this might be about (not police), when a woman got out of the car and walked up to us. She thought we might be her friend(?) Hans, who she expected to be driving in from wherever in a blue rental car similar to the one we were driving. We meet Aussies in some pretty strange ways! Anyway, we arrived at the Leisureville Caravan Park (really, that's the name) and checked in. Our cabin is about a third the size of the place in Hobart, not nearly as well equipped, and the same price per night. But at least it's got electric blankets and the heat works. We set out to pick up a few groceries and find a place to eat. Rory picked out the Buckaneers Seafood restaurant, but at 7:15, they were about to close. (Go figure) Jeremy, the owner, offered to fix us a take-away dinner of lightly battered scallops and prawns. We took him up on it and headed back to our cabin for dinner. Rory did the travel research for the next few days and we'll begin exploring the area in the morning.

Wednesday, October 7 Our cabin is only marginally bigger than a medium-sized mobile home, but it's comfortable enough. We were up and out by 9am heading for the "i". The three volunteers there were more than happy to tell us about the various sites and attractions in and around Wynyard as well as Stanley (to the west). We followed the printed map of Wynward they marked for us, starting with Fossil Bluff. We drove north out of town about 2km and followed the signs through a beautiful residential neighborhood. The homes here were a mix of styles, most of them with elaborate flower gardens. We could only estimate their values, but most must have been at least $1 million-- with views of the sea, probably more. We parked overlooking the Bass Straight, and walked down onto the beach. No one else was there. We roamed the beach, picking up interesting stones, and taking in the scenery. Table Cape was facing us to the west. There was a path up the hill to the east leading to the Fossil Bluff lookout. At the top we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the coastline east to Burnie and beyond. Directly below was a seaside 9-hole golf course. While Rory watched the birds, Rick watched the golfers on the par 5 hole immediately below us. Again, no one else was there; until we were joined by a retired couple from Victoria, north of Melbourne. Lyn and Vern were traveling around Tasmania in their motor home. We chatted a while and they invited us to take a look at the motor home. On the way down the hill, we encountered a little wallaby on the steps. She sat there long enough for Rick to get her photo and then hopped off the path into the underbrush. We spent a bit of time talking about the motor home, why they chose it, how they liked it. (We're gathering info in the event we decide to get one of our own.)

We exchanged cards with Lyn and Vern and set off for Table Cape and the Table Cape Tulip Farm. The road to the cape passed by the farm. Although most of the tulips had been harvested, there was still a rainbow colored hill of red, yellow, white, orange, black and violet tulips. The lighthouse at the Table Cape Overlook was closed to visitors, so we retraced our path until we turned off in the direction of Boat Harbor Beach. It was about lunch time and we'd spotted a sign for Jolly Rogers on the Beach. A beach cafe sounded good to us, and this one was great. Boat Harbor Beach is a small cove overlooked by several tiers of homes. The cafe was right down on the pure white sand. The food was excellent and we lingered watching two small boys playing in the sand and on a colorful McDonalds-style climbing gym. Rick even took a quick power nap before we paid our bill and set off for Sisters Beach and Birdland. We found the former (not too impressive), but not the latter. Apparently it no longer exists and hasn't for about 6 years; no one has bothered to take down the signs.

We returned to the cabin after stopping briefly in town so Rory could check out the second hand clothing shops. Lyn and Vern had told us where we could watch the little penguins come ashore. About 6:00, we headed east to Cooee Point. We were pretty sure we'd found the location as there were several burrows that had been constructed by the local penguin centre. It wouldn't be dark for a while, so we drove into Burnie. Burnie is a substantially bigger town than Wynyard. We saw a sign for the Burnie campus of the University of Tasmania and went off to see if they had a bookstore where Rick could buy a t-shirt. We found UTAS, but no one around to ask about a bookstore. Maybe we'll come back.

We went back to Cooee Point, parked the car, and waited. By 8:15 there was still no sign of the penguins. It was getting pretty cold, so we gave up and drove back to the cabin. Tomorrow we'll head further west to Stanley and beyond.

Thursday, October 8 Another gorgeous day greeted us: sunny and clear, if a bit cool. We set off for Stanley, about 57km west from Wynyard. About 15km before we reached the town, we could see "The Nut", a plateau that rises about 143 metres (over 325 feet) above the town and is reachable by a walking path or a chair lift. We figured it might be chilly at the summit and opted to roam the picturesque town before taking the lift up. Stanley's resident population is just a few hundred people, but it's geared for tourists. The main street of town is lined with restaurants, cafes, gift shops, etc. We wandered into Touchwood, a combination of gift shop, cafe, and guest cottages. The owner, Kathy, reminded Rick of Meg Ryan. When he mentioned it, she admitted that he wasn't the first to comment about it. The shop specializes in locally made, high quality wood products. Rory bought Rick a pen made of local blackwood as a belated birthday gift. Kathy invited us to take a walk through the cafe and wander the grounds outside the cottages. Before we left, Rick insisted on having his picture taken with "Meg". We debated just who made whose day!!

We wandered up and down the main street, stopping in several of the shops. Just outside the Chocolate Shop, Rick struck up a conversation with a man in a Geelong footy jacket. Actually he struck up the "conversation" with the man's cocker spaniel, Cane. Cane's owner, Graham, had just moved back to Tassie from NT. We told him how much we loved Tassie, and he asked us not to tell anyone. We guessed he feels about Tassie the way we do about Columbia-- keep it from growing too fast. His daughter came over to talk. She teaches drama in Sydney and was interested to learn of Rick's foray into acting. She introduced herself as Therese Bean, which makes her dad Mr. Bean! Imagine, meeting Mr. Bean and Meg Ryan in the same day in the same small town!!

By now it was almost noon, so we headed to the chair lift, bought our tickets and rode up to the top. We'll have lunch when we come back down. The views from the top of The Nut were fantastic: beach coves, gentle surf, lush green farmland, rolling hills with mountains in the background. We got off the lift at the top and walked the path. Every way we looked was another photo op. We wandered to the opposite side of The Nut and noticed a family standing around looking at something in the high grass. It was an echidna--we hadn't yet seen one in the wild. He was pretty active, but everytime one of us moved, he started burrowing. We watched it for a while--he'd move a few metres, we'd close in, he'd go back to burrowing. We watched him for about 20 minutes, then let him wander off into the bush. After taking the chair lift back to the car park, we drove back into town and decided to have lunch at Touchwood. We enjoyed the food and the views from the cafe. Afterwards we chatted with Kathy some more. Rick promised to email her the photo of the two of them. We plan to come back again tomorrow and we promised to bring one of our cards. We want to see the Seaquarium and visit a couple of shops that were closed today.

We drove back to Wynyard in time to pick up the 12 tubes of lip balm Rory had ordered yesterday. We can't get this particular brand in the US and Rory was stocking up. After a brief stop at the cabin, we drove into Burnie and visited the "i". We were interested in where the Burnie Penguin Centre was. We got the directions and realized we'd been there last night, but didn't drive into the parking area far enough to find it. Since the fairy penguins don't come in until after dusk and it was only 6pm, we stopped for something for dinner and drove back to the cabin rather than sit around in the car and get cold. We returned to the Penguin Centre after 7:00 to discover that there would be a penguin talk at 7:45 and that we would probably see some little penguins. We stood around on the boardwalk on the "human" side of the fence and waited--getting colder and colder by the minute. Finally someone noticed a penguin huddled under some dense shrubbery, and then a pair ouside a burrow nearby. This pair appeared to be making little penguins!! We saw two more, and decided it was too cold to wait around any longer and drove back to the cabin again. We were happy for the opportunity to warm up and have some dinner. All in all--another great day! We do love Tasmania!!

Friday, October 9 Another nice day and we decided to go back to Stanley. We arrived before 10am when most of the shops and sites opened, but we managed a coffee and delicious muffins at Touchwood. Kathy came by--she was unable to download the photo Rick sent her so we promised to resend it. We chatted for a while, left her one of our cards, and promised to touch base now and then via Skype. We walked down the street to "Sticks and Stones and Shells and Bones", the shop that had been closed yesterday, then on to the Seaquarium. Our Nut chairlift tickets from yesterday got us a 10% discount on admission. The Seaquarium was small, but the dozen or so tanks housed several varieties of fish and crustaceans including giant crayfish, lobsters and crabs.

We left Stanley in search of a big lunch; Rick had a yen for a steak. We reviewed several towns on the northwest coast in the vicinity of Wynyard as a potential site for lunch. We drove through Burnie and on to Penguin (really) and then to Ulverstone. Our guidebook adverised that the Furners Hotel had the best steaks on the north coast. Unfortunately it was after 3pm and the kitchen was closed until 6:00. We wandered across the street, through a car park, and found the R.A. Cafe (no kidding; our initials!). Rick got his steak, Rory had a great caesar salad with a dozen shrimp, and we watched the Keno drawings on the closed circuit telly. After lunch/dinner, we drove back to Wynyard to get packed up (we leave here tomorrow) and plan out where we're going next.

Saturday, October 10 Another beautiful, crisp, clear day. We left Wynyard by 8:15, heading east to Wyena and the Red Rooster Farm Stay. Rick had found this place on the internet back in January. It looked like a nice place to spend a couple of days--it's in Wyena, which isn't even on most maps; but Google maps found it just fine. So he used Skype to call ahead for two nights booking. A bit more than half way there, we passed through Exeter. Saturday is "market" day and there was a big flea market across from the "i". Rory found a couple of bargains and we headed off to Beaconsfield and the Mine and Heritage Center.

If you go back and read our journals for Australia from 25 April thru 9 May 2006, you can read about the mine disaster that occurred there and the miracle rescue of Todd Russell and Mark Webb who had been buried alive for 2 weeks. This had been a story that was reported all around the world. We were eager to see the active gold mine and whatever exhibits about the incident they might have. The center is quite well conceived. There's plenty about the history of mining in Beaconsfiled, including old shafts, machinery, and other equipment. Most interesting to us was the exhibit dedicated to the "Great Escape" of May 2006. There was even a replica of the cage the two miners had "lived" in for 14 days that the visitor could "try on". It gave us "chills" to relive this event complete with TV news footage and newspaper front pages, which followed the story right up until the two miners walked out of the mine.

After a quick lunch, we crossed the Batman (not Bat Man) Bridge and continued on to Wyena, stopping briefly in Lilydale for some bread and wine. We found the Red Rooster without difficulty. Wyena is 5km off the B81 along a winding gravel path. As we pulled into the drive and parked the car, we were greeted by Joey and Benny (the two dogs) and PC, the peacock. Michelle and Howard own the farm. Only Howard was home to greet us and help us get organized in the cabin, which is everything their website says it is. We spent some time talking with Howard and throwing a stick for Benny to fetch (about 30 times; he never gets tired).

As it was only 4pm, we decided to explore the local area. We headed to Bridport, thinking we'd eat dinner there. But there wasn't much to choose from. Instead we walked the beach for a while, then headed to Scottsdale. Again, nothing much there, but we did find a place for dinner, before driving back to the Red Rooster. When we got back into the cabin, we found Howard had stoked up the fire in the wood stove and left a fresh loaf of homemade bread. We spent the evening relaxing in the nice warm cabin. No internet service available out here, so we'll have to wait a couple of days to update the journals on the website.

Sunday, October 11 We slept in this morning to begin our last week in Oz.. Rick went out for a walk around 8am. Benny greeted him when he returned and Rick had to play fetch with him (about 15 throws this time). Rory made french toast for breakfast, using the bread Howard had left us--yummy! About 10am we left for Launceston and the Sunday market. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania (pop. 71,000) after Hobart (pop. 201,000). What we found was the last day of the Launceston Dog Show. We wandered about like we belonged there, making friends with corgis, border collies (and about 8 puppies), samoyeds, golden retrievers, and King Charles spaniels. For a dog lover like Rick, this was paradise. One of the breeders told us about the Evandale market, so we drove the 20km to check it out. Evandale is a cute little town, but the markets, though extensive, didn't compare to, say, the Salamanca Market in Hobart. We wandered the main street of the town, then headed back to Launceston.

We'd decided to have our main meal at lunch and had found a brochure for the Jailhouse Grill at the cabin--good steaks!! After lunch, we were able to fire up the computer from the car in Launceston and check email. Having satisfied our hunger, we set out to satisfy our never ending thirst for natural beauty. Just at the western edge of Launceston center city is the Cataract Gorge. We followed the signs and arrived at the south (lower) carpark. There's a small fee to park because, as we found out later, you can actually spend as much time as you want here--no entrance fee, We did pony up A$12 each to ride the world's longest chair lift across the gorge. On the opposite side, we got off and walked along above the gorge to several lookout points. Retracing our path, we stopped for ice cream at the Gorge Cafe. We could have taken the chair lift back, but decided to take the walking path back and cross over the gorge via the suspension bridge.

We detoured back to the Red Rooster via the University of Tasmania (Launceston campus). It would be fun to get a UTAS t-shirt, but, on a Sunday afternoon, everything was closed. We'd passed a house that was being turned into a castle on the way into town and stopped to take a couple of photos on the way back.

At the Red Rooster, Rory went to work updating our expenses for the month, while Rick went out to play with Benny. About 20 stick throws were followed by 10-15 tennis ball throws. The dog just doesn't get tired. He was so much fun to play with. Howard and Michelle came out to chat and Rick met Michelle for the first time. They are great folks and Rick made sure to thank them for the bread and for keeping the fire going. We'll be leaving in the morning, heading for St. Helens on the north east coast where we'd made a booking. (Our mobile phone worked just fine from Launceston.) A nice shower and a warm bed will finish off our day.

Monday, October 12 It's cloudy this morning and threatening rain. We had time to throw the ball for Benny about 30 more times, see Leo, the black lamb, and chat with Michelle and Howard before setting off to either Launceston or Scottsdale. At the end of the gravel path from the cottage, we chose the latter. We visited the "i" in Scottsdale and, armed with a list of sites between there and St.Helens, we headed east toward the Tasman Sea.

We turned off the A3 at Legerwood to see the WW I chainsaw carvings. Apparently, there were some trees planted to commemorate war dead from Legerton. The trees were dying and, in order to preserve the memories, the townspeople commissioned a local man named Eddie Freeman who does chainsaw carvings. Using the original tree trunks, he carved several schulptures. In addtion to preserving the memory of the war dead, he created a "tourist attraction", although there is no charge to view the carvings. From Legertown, we drove to Pyengana, site of the Pub in the Paddock and home of Princess Priscilla the beer swigging pig. (Again, we do NOT make this stuff up.) We had a nice lunch and, for A$2, we got two bottles of pig beer. Priscilla was out in the paddock and came when called. She took the beer right out of the stubbie, like a baby taking its bottle. Too funny!! Just up the road from the pub was the Holy Cow Cafe and Cheese Factory where we sampled several varieties of their cheddar cheese. We bought a small slab for toasted cheese sandwiches this evening.

Back on the A3, we stopped at Halls Falls OK, but not great; the forest track walk was good, though) and at a Bric-a-Brac shop (waste of time) before arriving at Kellraine Units, where we'd reserved an apartment for the night. After getting organized and throwing our dirty laundry into the washer, we set off to see the few sites around St. Helens. We drove out to Binalong Bay, supposedly the second most beautiful beach in the world. It is pretty, but we don't know about the rating.... After walking the beach, climbing about the orange colored rocks, and driving around the Bay, we headed back to our apartment for the night.

Tuesday, October 13 It poured last night, but today is a bit warmer (that's a relative term) and the sun is out. This morning we were able to make bookings for our remaining nights in Tassie and had a nice chat with our friends Susan and Ed who are RVing across the US (thank you, Skype). We set off for Campbell Town (a shop we wanted to visit) and Ross (wool center). Neither was terribly noteworthy, but we did have lunch in Campbell Town before heading to Swansea where we'll spend the night. About 10km north of Swansea, we turned toward Bicheno to see the Blowhole. Unlike the blowhole we saw outside of Doo Town a week or so ago, this one was a true blowhole. The surf created variable spouts, some as high as 20 feet. We'd driven through some rain, but it had pretty much stopped by the time we arrived in Bicheno. These small towns along the east coast of Tasmania have one or two attractions worth seeing and once you've seen them you can move on.

So we did--to Swansea and our cabin for the night. It had begun to rain again by the time we got there. While we were waiting for our key, the bloke at the desk suggested we might like to walk along the beach and take the track over the headland. He said we might see the old seal who sleeps on the rocks just off shore. The rain had picked up, so we get organized in the cabin. Rather than sit around, we decided to just ignore the rain and follow the chap's suggestion. We did some shelling along the stony beach and then, as the rain had stopped, followed the dirt track through the woods and along the coast. We didn't see the seal, but we wound up at the 8th tee of the local golf course. On the way back, Rory noticed the seal asleep on a rocky shelf about 20 meters off the path. We'd forgotten the camera (in the cabin), so we went back to get it, hoping the seal would still be there when we got back. He was!! We spent some time watching him and he did the same with us, even as he was lying there with his chin on a small pile of rocks.

Nothing much on the agenda for the evening. We enjoyed catching reruns of Two and a Half Men on the telly. There's a Swansea outside Columbia where our friends Arnie and Kira live. We'll enjoy showing photos and telling them all about Tassie's Swansea when we get home.

Wednesday, October 14 Even though it's rainy and cloudy, today is going to be a terrific day!! Rick was up early after sleeping rather well. He fired up the computer to find a message from his advisor at USC that he has been re-admitted for the Spring 2010 semester. He will continue with acting classes (Voice and Diction) and possibly Geology. (Our travels have piqued his interest in how the rocks and minerals we've seen were formed and how to recognize them.)

We were up and out before 8am, heading south along the east coast toward the Hobart Airport where we've booked a cabin for our last two nights in Tassie. Just south of Swansea we encountered the Spiky Bridge, a bizarre bridge made of stone with sharp (spiky) stones sticking up along both walls. The bridge was built by convicts in the 1800s. We drove across it!

Continuing south, we stopped along one of those curvy downhill roads to watch a pasture full of sheep and lambs. We were amazed at how the ewes were able to communicate with their lambs, despite all the bleating and baahing among hundreds of sheep. Rick walked up the road to photograph two little ones lying by the fence. Before he could get set for the photo, mama ewe "called" to the two lambs. They quickly jumped up and scampered away toward their mum. How do they know?

Next stop on our way--the town of Triabunna which is aboriginal for "plenty of native hens". It's one of those out of the way places you could easily skip on your way to somewhere else, but we figured we probably wouldn't be back again any time soon... While we were chatting up the two lady volunteers in the "i", a fellow came in with a piece of fresh home made cheese cake for each of them. His name was Richard and he (and his wife) is the owner of a quaint little place called "Girraween Gardens and Tearooms". The two women strongly suggested we go there for coffee which we did. In addition to some of the best coffee we've had in Tasmania, we were blown away by the most extensive private gardens either of us has ever seen. Richard does all the gardening. We would have loved to have seen it in full bloom, but the landscaping and plantings were more than impressive.

We had read that the town of Richmond would be worth a visit. The town is noted for its early 1800s stone buildings, and, indeed, it is a pretty little town. We stopped in a few shops, and ultimately found our way to "Anton's Pizza and Pasta" for lunch. We ordered a veggie (the best pizza we've had in Australia) hand tossed by Anton himself. Nice lunch!! If you ever get to Richmond, Tasmania, stop at Anton's for pizza. From Richmond, it was only about 15km to the Hobart Airport Tourist Park where we'd booked our last two nights in Tassie. The park is brand new; the cabins are very well appointed and quite comfortable. This is by far the nicest of the tourist park cabins we've stayed at . We unloaded the car, in preparation for our departure on Friday morning, and headed into Hobart to do some last minute shopping. Rick was looking for a reversible fleece jacket he'd seen in Stanley (but they didn't have his size), a copy of the book "Bad Ground" (the story of the Beaconsfield mine disaster of 2006), and a UTAS (University of Tasmania) t-shirt. We found the first two in Salamanca, and the third at the Univesity of Tasmania (where else?) student union bookstore. We haven't yet found the Aussie made fleece slippers that Rory has been searching for.

Taking advantage of already being downtown, we drove back to Salamanca, had a drink at one of the street cafes, and returned to Mezethes Greek Restaurant (where we'd had lunch on our first Saturday in Tassie) for a terrific dinner. Afterwardes we drove back to the cozy cabin. We have nothing really planned for our last day in Tassie, but we're sure we'll think of something!

Thursday, October 15 For the first time in a long time we actually slept in. We'll be leaving Tasmania in the morning for Sydney and then home on Saturday, so this will probably be the last journal entry of this trip.

We went back into Hobart late this morning for some last minute shopping. We then went to the wharf area for lunch and noticed that the Sea Shepherd vessel "Steve Irwin" was in port and offering free tours. So we went on one and learned a great deal about the illegal killing of sealife by various countries and what the Sea Shepherd Organization is doing about it. Very interesting--and shocking!! This organization needs our support as the total of all their funds comes from donations. Just click on THIS LINK to learn more.

We've had a great trip. We continue to love Australia and now, especially, Tasmania. We hope to come back again and stay longer.