Tasmania - Wineglass Bay

In an attempt to get out of the city and into some nature, I joined a guided tour to the Freycinet National Park in order to see the iconic Wineglass Bay (which consistently ranks in the top 10 beaches).  The van came to pick me up at the ungodly early hour of 7:00am, we picked up the rest of the travellers, and were off. 

One thing that I really enjoy about these little day tours is that they stop off at places that I normally wouldn’t if I were driving myself.  And you get some local background information.  About an hour outside of Hobart, we stopped at a little roadside rest stop which had a great view of Maria Island.  In its previous life, Maria Island had been a convict settlement, and a cement plant (don’t ask me why they decided a concrete plant on an island is a good thing – particularly since there is no bridge), but now it’s a national park – and biologists and animal scientists are using the island to create separate colonies of healthy populations of animals.  Apparently the goal is to study these populations, and if diseases break out on the mainland, hopefully the animals on the island will be quarantined.  Sadly this plan came to fruition after the Tasmanian Devil populations have been decimated by a contagious cancer.

Maria Island in the distance.

A nice little look out over the countryside - yes those are grape vines.

Back in the van we all went, and onward we drove until we got to the National Park.  The sun finally came out, but let me tell you – I was glad that I’d bought a jacket in Melbourne, as the wind coming off the water was so cold.  Up the “mountain” we hiked, until we got to the lookout.  The view was absolutely stunning – I could see from a distance why the bay ranks in the top 10 consistently.  Time for some pictures, and then the clouds rolled in and the rain came down, ruining any plans to continue down for a swim.

The "mountain" we had to hike to get to the lookout.

Cool Rock formation.

Wineglass Bay.

Not to let a little rain ruin the rest of our trip, we continued on, doing a coastal walk to a special “secret” place that our guide knew about.  Up a hill, down a hill, climb over this rock, now over this rock – by the end of the hour long hike, I was thinking this better be a really good secret place.  Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a cave – one that was discovered by our guide when him and some buddies went “fishing” and were too intoxicated to drive home afterwards.  I don’t know how they found it, but it was a pretty neat experience.

Ocean Scenery on our Hike

Crawling into the cave

And back out again.

Afterwards, it was back into the Van to drive out to the final lookout.  If you squint your eyes, and use a lot of imagination – you can almost see Antarctica.  Almost.  Not really, but it’s nice to imagine.  No wonder it was so bloody cold.

Looking back towards Wineglass Bay.

There are seals on the rocks.

Squint.  Really Really hard.

Megan's Scary Scary Night in Hobart

As my sister Sarah can attest – I don’t do scary.  I don’t like scary movies, and I’m really not a fan of horror books (I read Pet Cemetery and it haunted me for weeks).  So it really didn’t make a lot of sense for me to sign up for the Battery Point Ghost tour in Hobart, but in my quest to step outside my box, I signed up – promising myself that I’d keep an open mind (and telling myself that if it got to scary, I could always leave).  And besides, it’s not like I really believe in ghosts.

I met my group in the evening down in the Salamanca Square at the Salamanca Bakery.  I had been a little pessimistic about the entire evening as it had poured rain for the entire day, but just as I was getting to the bakery, the clouds broke, and a rainbow lit up the sky.  I took it as a good sign.

Let me just say that it was probably one of the best tours I’ve ever been on.  It was a wonderful way to walk about a neighbourhood, and learn the history of the area – particularly the seedy history of an area.  From housemaids impregnated by clergy, to the poltergeist house, to the church tower where a convict was hidden by a cleaning girl, each site that we stopped at had multiple stories to be told.  I don’t want to say too much, because if anyone ever goes, I don’t want to ruin the experience. 

Does it look like the church tower is leaning?  Because it isn't.

It's apparently haunted by a poltergeist.

You'd never know it from looking at it, but apparently this used to be a whorehouse with quite a reputation.

Probably the most terrifying part of the evening was the entrance to the tunnels that run under the Princes Park.  These tunnels were dug when Hobart was settled, and used as the storage areas for the ammunition for the cannons used to protect Hobart from invasion.  Hanging out in a small dark area – not my most favourite thing to do, but it was incredibly interesting to hear about how the soldiers spent their time, and the resident ghost who likes to make his presence known to young girls.  Two of the girls on our tour say they felt something while in the tunnels.  Me, I kept taking pictures of the walls, trying to get some of the centuries old graffiti.

The entrance to the tunnels.

They tell me that the spots are "orbs" or spirit energy.  Hmmm.

While I had a great time on the tour, and I didn’t get that scared at all (basically because I was too interested in the history of the area and the stories that could be told), afterwards, on my walk back to the hostel, by myself, with nothing to distract my mind from what I’d heard, I started to get a little nervous.  And then, as I was making my way through my rambling centuries old hostel back to my room, I started to spook myself.  So maybe, just maybe, I do believe in ghosts after all?

The Blue Mountains

After heading back to Sydney with Erica and Stefania (a couple of Italian girls that we met in Adelaide) we decided to head up to the Blue Mountains for a couple of days of bushwalking.  After a two hour train ride from Sydney, we departed the train in Katoomba, our jumping off point.

After dropping our bags off at our hostel (as I’m now starting to resent every single item in my backpack), we headed down to the information centre to get some guidance on what walks we could do, and what sites we couldn’t miss.  Needless to say, the walks and sites are endless – which means I may have to make a return visit before I depart Australia because we couldn’t see it all.

The most photographed site in all of the Blue Mountains is the “Three Sisters”, a rock formation easily viewed from Echo Point.  The local legend is that the Three Sisters was created when a sorcerer turned three beautiful sisters into stone to protect them from the advances of three men.  Unfortunately the sorcerer died before he could reverse the spell, and there they rest.  Luckily it was sunny and clear, and I was able to get some decent pictures.

We did a quick walk in along the cliff face to the Katoomba Falls.  What was supposed to be an easy walk was turned quite challenging by the rain that had fallen the day before, turning parts of the path into a puddled, muddy mess.  Made even more challenging by the wearing of flip flops rather than actual walking shoes.  Lesson learned, and it was a good thing.

As an aside, that isn’t a smoky haze covering the mountain range.  The Blue Mountains are named the Blue Mountains because of the blue haze that is given off by the oils in the abundant eucalypt trees in the gorges.

The next day, we set out on our really long hike, consisting of the Prince Henry Cliff walk, to the waterfalls, then down from very narrow and treacherous steps (a lot of very narrow and treacherous steps), along the bottom of the cliff face for 4km through a temperate rain forest, complete with ferns bigger than me, and rocks turned completely green with moss and lichen, until we came to the Furber Stairs – 1000+ stairs of pure torture back up to the top.  Silly me – I didn’t charge my camera the night before, and as a result it died about 1/3 of the way through our voyage, so I’m going to have to go back and get some pictures – in particular of the leeches that live in the forest.  They’re particularly adept at climbing up shoes and latching onto the first piece of skin they can find.  Gross.

Megan’s Most Favorite Day So Far aka The Barossa Valley Wine Tour

As many people will attest, I enjoy the occasional glass of wine (or bottle).  White primarily.  I’ve never been able to develop a taste for Red.  So, when Chrystal and I settled in Adelaide for a spell, the number one thing on my list of things to do was a tour of one of the wine regions that surround Adelaide.  So, even though poor Chrystal is not a fan of the wine, she gamely agreed to come with me on a wine tour.

We boarded the bus in the morning, not really knowing what to expect, given that neither of us have ever been on a wine tour before.  We booked through a company called Taste of Barossa, which is a small operation, with incredibly personal service.  The plan was to stop at four Cellar Doors – McGuigan, Peter Lehmann, Langmeil, and Murray Street, with lunch included on the patio at Peter Lehmann.

As we made our way up through the Adelaide hills, I finally saw a Kangaroo in the wild!  We were going too fast to take a picture, but I now believe that they do exist in the wild, and are not in fact a mythical creature like a unicorn.

As we were driving through the valley, I couldn’t help but notice the number of rose bushes planted.  It turns out that this is actually for practicality as well as aesthetics.  Roses are more susceptible to diseases than grape vines, and as a result, the rose bushes were planted as an early detection system for disease. 

The Barossa Valley is known for the red wine that it produces, so consequently, 75% of the wine that we sampled was red.  And I think I’m a convert.  Particularly to the Sparkling Shiraz – which I’m told is an excellent breakfast wine.  (Note to self – bring a bottle home).

I'm finding it hard to put into words what we saw, so here is a sampling of the pictures.

The Whispering Wall - you can stand on one end and have a whispered conversation with the person on the other side.

McGuigan - pretty impressive for a cellar door.

Mmmmmm - so tasty.

A nice walk after lunch to the next Winery.

Ahh - a well cultivated grape vine.

These Grape Vines are the oldest in the world - over 160 years old and originated from Germany.  The 3 acres of vines produce 2 tonnes of fruit, from which comes some very excellent (and pricey) red wine.

Finally mastering the self portrait.

Rose bushes everywhere!

The Great Ocean Road

As one of the people that I recently met in Australia put it “Australians aren’t the most creative at naming things.  We have an ocean road, and it’s a really great ocean road, hence we call it The Great Ocean Road”.  And let me tell you – it’s a really great road.

The Great Ocean Road starts about 400 km east of Adelaide, and winds its way along the southern coast of Australia towards Melbourne.  It’s touted as one of the most beautiful drives in the world, and they’re not lying.  We started early in the morning and made our way along the coast, pulling over at each and every look-out point we came to.  It’s hard to describe the roar of the surf, and the constant mist that hangs in the air.  At the end of the day, you’re covered in salt.  The cliffs are primarily limestone, and the constant pounding of the surf, and the wind, leads to some amazing rock formations.  Sadly, the majority of places where we were able to access the surf, it was too dangerous to swim – not that you’d want to anyway, the water is really cold.

The one rock formation that everyone talks about along the Great Ocean Road is the Twelve Apostles – twelve limestone pillars that stand in the surf.  Except now there are only eight Apostles.  The constant action of the surf has toppled four.  It’s interesting to stop at – every other named rock formation has a small parking area, and some gravel paths for you to access the viewing area.  The Twelve Apostles has its own visitor centre, and the paths are paved.  The viewing platform is grandiose.  And I personally found them to be some of the most over rated formations.  They’re pretty, but I found that some of the lesser visited sites to be more pristine and picturesque.

We continued on up the long and windy road – think right angle turns and switchbacks that make you white knuckled as you manoeuvre your very unresponsive campervan through them.  We decided to camp about halfway through our journey in the Otway National Park at a wonderful caravan park called Bimbi’s.  It is here that we finally saw the fabled Koala.  This resulted in my tramping through the fields and bushes, quite forgetting that everything in Australia is apparently able to kill you.  But I got some pretty good pictures.  And I can’t even begin to describe the growling noise that they make (apparently it’s mating season).

After a chilly night, we continued on down the road to the Otway Lighthouse, which has preserved all of the old buildings and homes used when the Lighthouse was the primary means of guiding the ships around the rocky shore towards Melbourne.  You are able to climb the lighthouse to see the view, which we did.  It was a little disconcerting to climb out and look down and see nothing but the rocky shore below. 

We made a couple of hikes out to some waterfalls, seeing another fabled Australian animal, the Echidna.  They’re primarily nocturnal, and very shy, so it was quite a surprise to see one.

Afterwards, it was a white knuckled ride along the rest of the Great Ocean Road.  The cliffs were on the left side, the long drop down to the open ocean was on the other side.  All I can say is thank god for slow driver turn out lanes, or else there would have been a riot by all of the faster cars behind me.   Next up – wine, wine and more wine.