The land of the devil and just what is a quoll??

As this was the 4th trip to Australia I wanted to get off the East coast and head somewhere else.  My sister agreed and planned a trek through the southern part of Tasmania!  Woohoo...I was going to the land of the devils and wombats and Cadbury Chocolate factory!

The airport was so retro it was cool.  I feel odd that I can say retro - when I mean: we could bring water into the airport, we didn't have to take off our shoes AND there were people in the waiting area who were NOT getting onto the plane - there were family members seeing each other off!  *sniff*

Kim says peek-a-boo

 In Tazi we first went to a little place called Snugg.  Oh, wait, to get there we rented this way cool camper van thingie.  I think the USA should hop on this trend for rental cars.  Maybe they do and I don't know it - but we rented this minivan that came equipped with a fold out bed, table, portable plug in refrigerator/cooler/freezer thing, stove, folding table, tea kettle, pots, pans, plates, towels, camp chairs, flashlight and bedding.  Basically everything you'd need to car camp which is what we did for the trip.

 So in Snugg we camped and went to Hastings Caves because of my silly fascination with going under ground.  It was a tourist cave so no crawling on hands and knees, but it was still pretty to see the formations and all.  We saw some cave crickets, worms and fungus.  Also, the history of Australia is so cool because of it being a penal colony, so even the story of discovering the cave was kinda cool.  Lots of poaching and illegal harvesting of things in this country.

Quoll

We went to Lake St. Clare where I got to see a quoll up close and personal along with a ring-tail possum and potaru and other sundry creatures.  Saw me a platypus in the most placid lake - stunning!  I believe I saw a dead wombat and quite possibly a Tasmanian devil on the road.  The roads throughout the state were soooooooooooo windy - very curvaceous!

We went to Port Arthur which was a prison back in the day. We did the night tour.  There really is NOTHING there except

 this abandoned ghost prison.  It was super creepy and I really enjoyed it.  The guide was kinda funny at times and the stories that were told were way interesting.  I wish we could have stayed longer to learn more about the prisoners.  You can do a day tour too, but the night tour was sufficient and extra scary.

We went to Wine Glass bay - which was beautiful.  A nice short hike to a wonderful overlook to see the shape of the bay and then you could 

hike down the steeeeeeep slope to the bay.  We did not hike to the bay because there was so much else to do (hike would have been 5 hours).  AND it would have only really been worth it if it had been warm enough to go swimming.  As it was, we were in sweaters and jackets even on the hike.  

 

We went to Biechno where you can see the fairy penguines come up onto the beach at night.  You aren't allowed to photograph them so the tour company provides photos if you want to see what they look like.  But they are little birds that waddle up and out of the sea each night.  They are noisy (as most penguins are) and will sometimes walk across your feet if you are in the way.  But this is only observed during breeding season.  When I was there they were a little more cautious. 

We made it to Richmond which has the oldest standing church in Australia and a bridge that was built in 1823.  Quite the storybook town.  Lots of wood crafts in Tasmania.

  

We went to the Salamaca Markets in Hobart along with a quick stop at the cadbury factory.  No, did not go into the factory though I wish I had now.  They charge $7 but its not a real tour.  You watch a DVD and thats about it.  They don't even give samples!  We also went to the Royal Botanical Gardens which was a pleasant surprise.  We had time to kill before our flight and wanted to do something that didn't cost money.  Basically, figure at least $25 for any activity and at least $25 for every night to camp.  So, it was refreshing to have something that didn't cost and was still interesting to see.

Tasmania had some strange signs, like their speed signs.  When leaving a village or town, instead of just posting the new speed limit that you should follow, they would post the speed limit you no longer had to follow.  So it would be a 50 with a circle cross through it.  It seemed like they never posted the proper speed limit, rather the speed you don't follow anymore.   It got confusing because I kept forgetting what the  previously posted proper speed was.  Those were posted so infrequently.  However there were HUGE signs that said all speed limits are 90 km unless otherwise posted.  No one went 90 km/hr - and the roads were freaking curvy.  I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of this even thought it is so very memorable...the impact from it anyway.

 Is that car running up and over a kangaroos feet? or is that kangaroo lifting the car?
No standing???? no standing on either side?  So is floating OK or sitting - maybe we have to dance??

All over they have these signs with a circle cross thing over a S.  Much like our No Parking signs with a P and the circle cross over it, they use the word Standing and letter S.  No Standing = No Parking.  How the heck would you figure this out???