Postcards from Tasmania - March 2003
The excitement began in the boarding lounge, when we discovered the rock group Kiss was travelling on our plane.  They were performing with the Melbourne Symphony - all in full makeup!  Peter Criss, the drummer, told us he was a bit anxious about the performance.  After all, they usually just played with each other, and this time they had the whole orchestra, so they couldn't ad lib.

Our friends John and Elwyn Adams met us at the airport.  It was delightful to see them again, and to discover that after twenty years (we met them in 1980 in Hong Kong) the four of us still got along well and had so much in common.

John and Elwyn showed us around Hobart for the rest of the afternoon, including a trip to the top of Mt. Wellington, the peak overlooking the port town of Hobart.  At left are John and Elwyn at a viewpoint halfway up the mountain.
On Friday, we took a plane to Melaleuca, a remote airstrip in the untouched Southwest Nat'l Park.  Our guide and pilot, Matt, said that it had been months since the water was so calm as to provide the beautiful reflections of the mountains and wilderness. Melaleuca is the only breeding place for the endangered Orange-Bellied Parrot, pictured above at a feeding station near the airstrip.  The parrots breed here, then migrate to the mainland of Australia to hatch and raise their young. Saturday took us to the Tasman Peninsula at the southeast corner of the island, where the ruins of the Port Arthur penal colony remain.  Much of Tasmania's early history revolves around the prisoners who were sent here from England, often for petty crimes like stealing bread for their families.  Nowadays it's a mark of status to be able to trace one's lineage back to a convict.
Dave's SCUBA trip almost got cancelled due to strong northeast winds, but they calmed at the last minute.  Unfortunately, he forgot the cable for his strobe, so he wasn't able to take pictures.  Dave and his dive buddy John from England saw a banded sting ray, various invertebrates, and most exciting - the weedy sea dragon, which looks like a cross between a seahorse and a piece of seaweed.

Sunday John Adams took us for a "bushwalk," out to Cape Surville on the Tasman peninsula.  The trail was blazed by "hard way" Hopkins, and was challenging to follow.  The views of the geology and coast from the point were worth it.  At left, John arrives at the end of the trail.
On Monday, we joined our group for a four day backpacking trip on the Freycinet Peninsula on the east coast.  The trip began with a boat ride from Coles Bay, past rock islands covered with sea birds. A pod of local dolphins gave us quite a show, riding the bow wave of the boat, then leaping out of the water on both sides. After lunch on Schouten Island at the southern tip of the peninsula, the group walked along the beach and through the rainforest to our campsite at the end of Cook's Beach.
The sunset that evening was spectacular. The next morning, we split into two groups.  The larger one climbed Mt. Graham on the way to the next night's campsite, while the smaller group walked along the beaches around the peak. One of our guides, Tom, was an expert in animal scat.  Of particular fame is that of the wombat (above), which is cube shaped so it will stay perched atop rocks, marking the animal's territory.
Tasmanian plant life is amazingly different from what we see in America.  Many of the trees are eucalypts - we think of a single kind of Eucalyptus tree, but there are dozens of varieties.  The Tasmanan rainforest is filled with other plants.  Some, like ferns, look normal, while others like the tree grass pictured above, are entirely unfamiliar. Tasmania is known for its abundant wildlife.  As we walked through the rainforest and along the beaches in Freycinet, we saw numerous wallabies (pictured above), and signs of many other animals - wombats, Tasmanian devils, pademelons, quolls, etc. Our final evening was spent in relative luxury at the Friendly Beaches Lodge, an eco-friendly building.  Here the group enjoyed warm showers, good food, and real beds.  Our final day's walk was an easy hour long stroll along Friendly Beach, which was strewn with hundreds of tiny "Blue Bottle" jellies, also known as Portugese Man o' War.
On Friday, while driving to Strahan on the west coast, we stopped at Mt. Field Nat'l Park (after lunch at "The Possum Shed!").  Mt. Field had numerous pademelons (above), which are marsupials smaller and more timid than wallabies. Mt. Field also is home to Kookaburra birds, which are not native to Tasmania but are thriving after being introduced from the mainland.  They're called "laughing" Kookaburra due to their long, complex call, which must be heard to be believed, but laughing is as good a description as any. Driving further towards Strahan, Karen spotted this mother and baby wombat by the side of the road.  Wombats are incredibly cute.  They have no natural predators, so they are generally slow, ambling, docile creatures.  They're also nocturnal, so these two are probably a little sleepy as well.
In Strahan on Saturday, we took a cruise up the Gordon River, then boarded kayaks to paddle its waters.  The weather was typical for Tasmania - changable.  It may look like a beautiful sunny day... ... but 30 minutes later it was hailing!  After paddling for a couple of hours through mixed rain, hail and sun, we stopped for lunch, and this time the term "rainforest" seemed totally applicable.  The sun peeked through enough for a picture. Changeable weather makes for beautiful rainbows.  On the way back, we visited Sarah Island, another penal colony with a reputation for being hell on earth.
On Sarah Island, our docent, John, (is every male in Tassie named John?) explained how much of the colony's reputation was in fact at odds with the architecture of the ruins.  The true story is far more interesting.  The colony started with the intent of being the place convicts would fear being sent, with brutal punishments, meager rations, and hard labor chopping the native Huon Pine.  But the ambitions of the warden, supported by a minister who saw that brutality did nothing to rehabilitate the repeat offenders sent here, turned the labor camp into a factory for ships.

Before it was closed, Sarah Island became the place convicts wanted to be sent, for here they would learn the skills that would lead to a life of relative luxury.  The horrible living conditions were transformed into a fine stone dormitory (ruins pictured at left) when the warden decreed that to give a full day's labor the men needed a good night's sleep.  For a time, Sarah Island was the most productive shipyard in all of Australia - in fact its production record remained unsurpassed for over 40 years after its close.
From Strahan on the west coast, our travels took us to Cradle Mountain Nat'l Park in the central highlands.  Cradle Mtn. is a beautiful mountainous area; unfortunately the peak (pictured above) is hidden in clouds 330 days of the year. Nestled among the tundra are mosses, grasses and other plants forming little "Japanese gardens" like the one pictured above. Cradle Mountain, like much of Tasmania, is home to the Echidna, or spiny anteater.  Echidnas are one of two egg laying "monotreme" mammals, the other being the platypus.  This fellow ambled among the grasses, poking his snout into the soil to gobble up insects, oblivious to our presence.

Although it's the end of summer and Tasmania like the rest of Australia is experiencing a drought, there are still waterfalls flowing in the bush. Koalas aren't native to Tasmania, so they're only found in wildlife parks.  Chris, the docent at the park we visited, was incredibly knowledgable about all the marsupials.  He explained how these koalas are free of the Chlamydia bacteria that infects most of the mainland stock. The spotted tail quoll is a carniverous marsupial that fills the ecological niche that cats do on the other continents.  They are hunting carnivores, and even like to play with their food.  Since they're noturnal, it's rare to see them outside the animal park even though they're common in Tasmania.
Yes, we did get to see Tasmanian Devils.  Chris explained that most of their reputation is myth - rather than viscious animals they are even tempered scavengers.  They acquired the name "devil" because the early convicts (who were generally rather religious) never saw them, but heard their odd growling scream which they use when negotiating a pecking order to divide a carcass.  This sounded to the convicts like the snarl of Satan himself. One of the most elusive animals is the other monotreme - the duck billed platypus.  They live in streams and ponds, nocturnally diving for tadpoles, crustaceans, and worms.  They're about 8-12" long, and very shy.  Chris at the wildlife park directed us to a bridge under which a family of four platypus live. It's our next to last night in Tasmania, and above our lodge is the beautiful Mt. Roland, shown here in the afternoon light.  The two weeks have gone by in a flash - there's so much to see here still.  "Wish you were here!"

Love,

Karen and Dave

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