Tasman Peninsula (Tassie Days 9, 10, 11, and 12)

The next morning we packed up our things again and by 10am we were driving down the coast of the Tasman Peninusla. After a quick stop for gas, groceries, and ice, we pulled into a little bakery for a couple egg and bacon breakfast pies and toast. I'm always a little nervous ordering anything with bacon in it (it's quite different here), but the pies were extremely good. After breakfast, we turned off the main road towards Fortescue Bay, where we'd be camping for the next two nights. The road to the campsite was a long gravel and it took us a good 25 minutes just to get there.

After setting up the tent, we packed up a small lunch and set out on the trail to Cape Huay. I must admit that I was tired that day, and I had expected that the hike would be relatively flat and easy. Indeed, it was not. It was a long series of steep hills, and I couldn't help but whine a bit along the way.

It was so worth it. The trail ended atop a beautiful cliff wall jutting out into the cold Tasman Sea. After taking a few photos up at the top, we found a spot somewhat sheltered from the wind for our picnic. No sooner than a minute after we began to head back to camp, Matt ("Eagle Eyes") spotted a whale breaching in the distance. We began to see other movement in the water. It appeared to be two adult whales with their calf. We sat there watching and photographing the whales for at least 30 minutes before hiking back to camp.

We were famished by the time we got back so we snacked on a few crackers while attempting to get our fire going. The fire was only half successful though because the wood was damp (I was annoyed that the ranger had sold us damp wood in the first place). As the sun began to set we took a break from the fire and walked out onto the beach and explored Fortescue Bay.

Dinner was simple that night: good ol' Kraft Mac n' Cheese. Between the two of us we had no problem scarfing down two entire boxes. Disappointed in our fire, which still hadn't picked up, we got cozy in the tent and read our books for awhile.

The next morning we were planning on touring Port Arthur, a historical prison settlement and also the site where a massacre took place in 1996. Well, whenever I go camping, it's inevitable that I look like a ragamuffin/schmata most of the time (as in anytime after the first 12-18 hours). Since were were going to be in a civilized museum-like atmosphere in the morning and surrounded by others who had likely showered in the previous 24 hours, I wanted to clean up a bit and look somewhat respectable. The bathroom facilities at Fortescue campground were pretty limited so I snuck into the bathroom at Port Arthur with my bag full of toiletries and makeup and a clean change of clothes. I felt like a total bogan at the time brushing my teeth in their nice museum bathroom, but I felt great afterwords.

Port Arthur was beautiful and not quite as eerie as I had expected, but I do think part of that had to do with the beautiful weather we had that morning. The guide on the walking tour was fantastic and very informative; the boat tour later in the morning was not as interesting. Afterwords we spent maybe another 30 minutes wandering the ground and called it a day.

Before lunch we stopped to see Remarkable Cave. We picnicked for lunch (ham and brie sandwiches and salt and vinegar chips) at Palmerston Lookout, which had a gorgeous view of the hills and coastline.

After lunch Matt came up with a great idea to try to find some dry wood we could use for kindling our fire later that night. On our way down from Palmerston Lookout we pulled over on the side of a gravel road to search for wood. I was a little worried we'd find a tiger snake, too, as we tramped around in the grass. We didn't, but we did find heaps of big dry sticks, which we tossed into the trunk of the car, hoping that no one would notice.

That afternoon we decided to stop in the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park even though we had been lucky enough to see Tasmanian devils in the wild at Cradle Mountain National Park. This time, though, we'd get to observe a feeding. We had some time to kill at the park before the feeding began, so we wandered around a bit. We caught the second half of a great bird show, which Matt participated in by allowing a falcon to zoom between his legs.

We spent the remainder of the time in the kangaroo park. There were so many roos and wallabies, and tons of joeys. They were adorable. I could have watched them for hours...

The devil feeding was extremely educational. The devils may look sweet at first, but they're incredibly ferocious and a sight to see when they're feeding - particularly when two are fighting over the food. They screamed and howled and fought over every last morsel of the food.

Back at camp we watched one more gorgeous sunset on the beach at Fortescue Bay. Our fire turned out much better that night with the stolen dry wood, and dinner was a messy but delicious meal of sausages and onions.

The next morning was an early one. We were up by 6:15 and on the road to the Eaglehawk Neck Dive Center. As Matt drove I put together a couple PB&J sandwiches for breakfast. We arrived with plenty of time, which gave us plenty of time to get all our cold-water gear together.

This would be our first experience diving in cold temperatures. I think it's safe to estimate that all of our other diving has been in water temperatures around 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 23-27 degrees Celsius. This time it would be 55 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 14 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures like this require either dry suits or hard core 7 mm wetsuits. For us it would be 7 mm wetsuits (you need special training to use a dry suit so that was our only option). We've never worn so much gear - a 7 mm thick onesie, an extra vest, booties, and a 7 mm head cover - and unfortunately we don't have photos of how silly we must have looked. Since it was our first experience with 7 mm wetsuits, the dive shop owner suggested we test them in the pool at the dive center just to get a feel for what they'd be like during the dive. It was there we realized there'd be no dive master there to dive with us. Nope. We were all on our own on this one. Luckily we've had a decent amount of diving experience and have done a few dives sans dive masters. Had we not, these dives would have been pretty daunting.

There were three others on the boat with us - one guy who had logged over 700 dives and was out there to dive with his super duper dive camera, and the others were a couple of Irish dudes who didn't have a lot of diving experience. We worried a little about them.

Along the way to our first dive site - which turned out to be Fortescue Bay - we saw a few humpback whales and a bunch of dolphins. It took me a few minutes to get up the courage to actually jump into the water there but eventually I couldn't wait any longer and in I went. Well, imagine jumping into 14 degree water. The cold was piercing as the water flowed into my wetsuit. Matt seemed to handle it better than I did, but that's no surprise. The wetsuit did do the trick though, and within about 5 minutes I was warm enough to enjoy our surroundings.

Fortescue Bay was the site of a giant kelp forest which quickly became one of my favorite dive sites. The kelp was incredible and it was worth going through the initial pain of the cold temperatures to see. It was like nothing I could have imagined. We saw a small shark swimming around, but most of what we saw was the kelp.

I lasted about 35 minutes before I found myself too cold to keep diving. During our surface interval we got a hot cup of soup and small chocolate bars (yum!) and the guide took us to see some seals on the nearby rocks.

After our surface interval things went a little downhill for me. I had forgotten to take a dramamine that morning and I was starting to feel a little queasy. I always feel better once I'm in the water, so I didn't waste a lot of time jumping in for the second dive (Waterfall Bay). I did feel better, but what I didn't feel this time was warm. This time my body couldn't warm up the water in my wetsuit quickly enough and after about 10 minutes I had to call it quits. It was a shallow dive (about 10 meters), and we were diving with the two Irish guys so Matt tagged along with them while I headed back on the boat. While Matt was not thrilled about me surfacing without him, he had an amazing dive and managed to see the elusive leafy sea dragon. It was such a lucky find.

After a stop back at the dive shop for hot showers and a cup of coffee we set off toward Hobart, where we'd be spending the day and a half of the trip. We were so hungry after the dive (diving really does work up an appetite, especially cold water diving) so we stopped at Barillia Bay for take away oysters and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. We found a good picnic spot on Seven Mile Beach, ate oysters and drank wine, and watched the airplanes come in for their landings at Hobart airport.

We spent the last two night in Hobart at the Astor Hotel, which was a funky old-style (but very nice) hotel. We had a wonderful hot shower and went back to Fish Frenzy for their famous chowder and fish 'n' chips. The sunset was beautiful. Afterwords we got a few scoops of ice cream and fell asleep watching the movie Chocolat in bed. I was in heaven. (A couple things for our own memories: quirky Tildy at the Astor Hotel, the Batmobile Boat.)

Having reached the end of our Tasmanian adventure, we opted to sleep in that next morning and have a leisurely breakfast in the hotel. I spent several hours working in the morning and afternoon while Matt went to the movie theater to see Where The Wild Things Are, which he gave two thumbs down. After his movie he picked up some Indian take out food which we noshed on in the room. I finished my work by the end of the afternoon so we had time to drive up to the top of nearby Mount Wellington before the sun set. The views of Hobart from the top were super, but it was insanely windy up there!

As you can imagine, two weeks of our adventure trip had turned the car (and our suitcases) into a disaster. Our car was brand new, too, and at least I was convinced Avis would charge us if we returned the car full of sand, mud, and crumbs. We luckly didn't have too much trouble finding a car wash where we were able to give the car a quick vacuum and rinse. It was good enough. Back at the hotel before dinner, we re-packed our bags to get ready for our flight home the next morning. It was a big endeavor. For example, because Fortescue campground didn't have much in the way of facilities, our dishes from the other night (recall onions and sausages) hadn't been properly cleaned. Matt had to pull a big bogan move and clean out our dirty dishes and pot in the sink of the shared bathroom of the hotel. :(

Our last dinner in Tasmania was spent at a modern hip pizza joint at the Salamanca Market area called Cargo. The pizza and caesar salad rocked, and we topped it off with a scoop of gelato. The next day was a long one home. We went to the airport mid-morning and flew to Brisbane. We had a 5 hour layover, so we took the shuttle bus to the outlet stores near the airport and did some much needed shopping. The sales were almost too good to be true, and I thankfully picked up a few new things to add to my wardrobe. Matt didn't, but I think he was okay with that. Our last flight home from Brisbane to Townsville was uneventful, and as you can imagine, we crashed as soon as we got home. It was good to be home.