December 2025 – Georgie and Rod's Grand Adventure

We stayed at Coles Bay as a stopping off point for Freycinet National Park. It was just a caravan park cabin, but it did the job. Next morning, in celebration of Georgie’s birthday, we hopped on a cruise boat that took us around the harbour to the amazing and (very rightly) famous Wine Glass Bay. The coastline there is mostly comprised of harsh pink granite boulders that have magnificent bright orange lichens growing over them and lovely white sandy beaches. Very, very pretty. Along the way we saw a large white bellied sea eagle and its massive nest, as well as several seals lounging about on rocks and lolling carelessly in the water. But probably the best bit was having a pod of dolphins swim alongside the boat, showing off for us. We were also lucky to see an albatross flying by, which was quite a treat.

After returning to shore we visited the Freycinet National Park and walked up the ‘reputed’ 200 steps (actually, we counted 340 steps) to view the stunning Wine Glass Bay from a different angle, this time from the high picturesque saddle of the Hazards range. The walk was a bit of an effort, but the view was well worth it.

To finish off Georgie’s birthday, and as a treat for her dinner, we drove up the coast to Bicheno and indulged in scallops (she loves ’em) and a lobster roll at a café that had been recommended to us. Yummy, and of course, expensive. But she’s worth it.

The next morning we woke up in a quiet beachside town with a view from our verandah of the beach, the river mouth, and four pelicans lounging on the sand bar. It was a great start to the day because the Sun was shining and the temperature began to reach a civilised 24 degrees (!!!), something we were very happy about indeed, considering that the temperature had barely risen above 10 degrees for the past 3 weeks.

Driving westward, deep into central Tasmania, we visited ‘The Four White Knights’, the tallest white gums (Eucalyptus viminalis) in Australia. Over 91 metres tall and located in the Evercreech Reserve. Those gorgeous trees are really stunning and excessively huggable, and we have the photo to prove it. We have been in the presence of gargantuan trees quite a bit lately. It’s all very humbling.

Although the temperature was warm, the swirling gusty wind was blasting through the tall tree tops, tossing them about and bombarding us with the roar of a swirling tempest. It was very energetic and exciting. The trees certainly weren’t whispering to us that day!

On the way to our next stop, we paused quietly on a random bridge crossing a little creek, all in the vague hope of seeing a platypus, and…. lo and behold, there was a beautiful specimen, twice the size of our tiny northern platypuses. We were so mesmerised by the fantastic viewing of this elusive creature that we didn’t take any photos! With big grins plastered on our faces, we felt our travels were now complete. Or so we thought…

Buoyed by this brilliant experience we followed the long rough dirt road to Mathinna Falls. After a short walk through mostly dry, but pretty eucalyptus forest we arrived at an extremely beautiful and rewarding waterfall. That was lovely.

Very much on our to-do list was the drive up ‘Jacobs Ladder’, a winding steep dirt road with multiple hairpin bends curling around crumbling precipices, up up to the very top of Ben Lomond, the 2nd highest peak in Tasmania (the highest being Cradle Mountain, which we did visit). The incredible raw crags capping Ben Lomond, and the untouched forests around their bases were an absolute delight to see and experience. Up on the rocky tors the blustering, surging wind gusts almost blew us off our feet, so we had to hang on tight to the rails at the lookouts. So exhilarating!

The plants that grow at those high altitudes under such harsh conditions look like aliens! Alpine plants are wonderfully weird.

All day, at each of the beauty spots we had visited, we had been the only humans there. A few cars passed us on the roads, but not many at all. However, we did have the delight of sharing these mossy forests with multiple pretty birds, another echidna, delicate skinks, dancing flying insects (but no mozzies!), and of course that delightful platypus, but not another person in sight. We had them all to ourselves, which was pretty special. Unfortunately Georgie did take a leech away from one of the forest walks, and is still suffering a bit from it.

Staying in Launceston for a couple of nights in a converted nunnery, we set off early to view Cascade Gorge. It is a site that is close and accessible to the city, and quite an attractive rocky gorge in itself. We gratefully experienced another sunny day without jumpers (mostly), riding the cable chair to the walking paths on the other side of the gorge. A plethora of peacocks and a few wallabies and pademelons were strutting about – as well as lots of other people too.

Next we popped in to the Queen Victoria Art Gallery. Wow. There were some fabulous art pieces there, brilliant nature photography, wonderful paintings and charcoals, but our favourites were the stupendous jaw-droppingly astounding hyper-realistic sculptures. Unbelievable.

We staggered out of there a little stunned, then drove a short distance to the Launceston Motor Museum. That was fun, with lots of cool old bikes and cars from our youth. Plenty of memory lane stuff for Rod. There were also some much older, well restored fine vintage bikes and cars.

Then we chased up the whereabouts, then happily devoured with gusto, our last meal of scallops with sweet potato chips, sitting on the marina deck on a sunny afternoon. Yum.

And so finishes our latest Grand Adventure. It’s off back to the land of warm toes and minimal exoskeletons of clothing now.

On this memorable trip we have been graced with the presence of fabulous wildlife, dwarfed by immense and thriving gargantuan trees, blown away by beautiful seascapes, and experienced crazy weather – Georgie built a snowman for goodness sake! We even caught the legendary warm day!

Click the pics to enlarge

Red Lichen-coated rocks of Wineglass Bay

Caves and red lichen

Seals

Dolphins

Wineglass Bay from the saddle

Trees and rocks

The White Knights, 91 metre trees

Very huggable says Georgie

Mathinna Falls

The walk back from Mathinna

Approaching the tors of Ben Lomond

Jacob’s Ladder

View from Ben Lomond

Cataract Gorge

Wallaby with tiny joey

Amazing photographics at Queen Vic Art Museum

Hyper-realism sculpture

Rod’s ‘Ultimate Motorcycle’ a Vincent Black Shadow

This one’s for brother Pete, his ultimate car, Falcon 2-door

Hobart was our destination for the next day. Then, having first arrived in the capital of this island state, we meandered up the winding road that took us to the very top of Mount Wellington, a high mountain that overlooks the city. The views were amazing, but the freezing Antarctic gale nearly swept us off the edge as we huddled into our warmest jackets, beanies, hoodies, and double gloves against the bitingly cold rain. The bonsai-like stunted snow gums that we observed struggling to survive at the top contrasted with the much taller trees growing vigorously lower down the slopes.

Then we drove further southward into the hills, through vast areas of depressingly burnt out forests (standard forestry practice), before climbing up into the more protected hillsides. We then took a freezing walk down to the pretty Arve Waterfall in the icy rain, enjoying viewing the weird plant life that somehow manages to survive there, despite the uncomfortably frigid conditions.

On the return journey we became quite excited when we spotted a Tasmanian Devil on the side of the road! Our first (and only) one! Unfortunately he did seem badly beset by the facial tumours that are plaguing the poor species, but we did get a good look at him before he took off into the bushes.

The accommodation that we booked for the next three nights was the poshest and most comfortable for this trip, and with a most decadent breakfast on offer each morning. Sheer luxury. In the morning we caught a bus to the famous Salamanca Market from almost outside the door. The market was most impressive, as almost all of it was real local Tassie produce, with very little (if any) imported junk. There were some great buskers and street performers as well. Luckily the rain held off. Then on to Hobart Museum and Gallery, which was interesting, but not as ground-breaking as what we would experience the next day at the rightly famous MONA (Museum of Old and New Art).

To do the full experience we caught the ferry up the Derwent River to MONA. That Museum is so full of amazing art, everything from Picasso, Pro Hart, Brett Whitely, Sidney Nolan and heaps of new and brilliant artists’ paintings, drawings sculptures and installations, as well as ancient Egyptian artefacts. The whole flamin’ structure was an art piece in itself, spanning multiple floors, spaciously carved out of the beautiful sandstone, and filled with incredible and uniquely original works throughout. There are whole rooms, passageways, and tunnels that are brilliant art gems in their own right.

On the return journey, as we exited the ferry, we saw and heard a pro-stadium rally in the park near the docks. This is a very contentious political issue in Hobart. The AFL (Aussie Rules Rugby) is holding Tasmania to ransom, forcing them to spend billions of dollars on a stadium, when the state can’t afford to fund their own hospitals, housing, and infrastructure due to massive debt.

We had intended on wandering about the Botanical Gardens in the afternoon, but the rain put paid to that idea. Tasmanian rain is so COLD! So we popped in to visit a friend of Georgie’s for a yak, then went back to our comfortable digs to relax.

The next morning, after a sumptuous breakfast, we departed our luxury BnB and went off in search of those ‘big as a wombat’ platypuses again. No luck.

Heading in a generally eastward direction we visited Pirate Bay and the ‘Tessellated Pavement’. Oh my goodness gracious me it was beautiful! What a natural wonder to experience. We will let the photos describe it for you. On the way back to the car we realised that we’d had perfect timing, because over a hundred noisy students passed us on their way down. Rod exclaimed to the accompanying teachers that it was a fantastic Science Excursion, and that he could have constructed a good week’s worth of Science lessons from it. One of the teachers looked at us with a slightly pathetic look on his face and mentioned that they were on Day One of a school camp. Poor bugger! Rod knew only too well how he felt.

After that the Tasman Arch, Blowhole and Devil’s Kitchen were all within cooee of each other there, so we investigated them all.

Continuing on, we drove around the Tasman Peninsula and checked out a quite remarkable cave called Remarkable Cave. It was remarkable, which is why we bothered to remark upon it.

We settled in to the Port Arthur Inn, which we suddenly realised was right next door to the infamous and gruesome Port Arthur Convict Penal Colony. That popular tourist attraction has been the scene of historical bloodshed, murder, sadism, torture, misery, deprivation, untold cruelty and violence. Crikey! We certainly hoped we could get a good night’s sleep!

We read in the news that Hobart has just officially had its coldest start to summer since 1942! What a time for two soft northerners to choose to visit! Brrr!

It was serendipity that allowed us to chance upon a remote Tasmanian Native Plants and Sculpture Garden way up in the hills somewhere north of the Tasman Peninsula. We meandered about the beautiful gardens that volunteers had created, grooving on the fabulous sculptures (we DO like sculptures) that were littered randomly about the hillside. We spotted beautifully coloured honeyeater birds that we had never seen before, petite creatures flitting amongst weird flowering plants that seemed familiar, yet strikingly different. The whole place was filled with rare and obscure plant species that grew alongside weird sculptures. What a treat! Unexpectedly special moments like that make all the expense and effort of travel worthwhile.

Prior to that we had stopped beside a river to watch ripples on the surface of the water that COULD have been those wonderful giant-sized platypuses that we had been searching so diligently for. They may have been fishes, but we can not rule out the possibility of the fabulously enormous and elusive southern monotremes disturbing the calm of the river. Who knows?

Atop Mt Wellington