Blue Tiers and Bay of Fires
Despite the leeches’, having to wade through a creek and
being stranded for 24 hours – our trip was brilliant!
We had 6 days on a walking trek guided by Tasmanian Expeditions in the Blue Tiers
and Bay of Fires (NE region of Tasmania). Each walk was about 8 – 10 km in
length.
We had a number of varied and great experiences:
On 2 of the days we walked through old growth rain forests –
they were truly magical; a fairy land where you expect goblins to appear at any
time. Everywhere you looked there was moss, lichens, tree ferns, running water
and every variety of plant life.
There were of course leeches. We discovered that a little
dab of hand anti bacterial gel quickly removed the critters.
The group consisted of 6 fun people as well as our guide
Aaron. We stayed for 2 nights in the Pub
in the Paddock and the other nights at Binalong Bay.
We had record rainfall in the area for that time of the year
and apart from being drenched and cold, bridges were under water and we were
stranded in Binalong Bay for 24 hours. When we finally returned to Launceston
we witnessed the flooding of the local cataract gorge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtvUMg3vpJg&NR=1
Quite spectacular!
Bruny Island
What a delightful, unspoilt place this is.
After a most enjoyable lunch in Ross, we stayed the night in
Duffys place (Westerway, TAS) and
did a long 2 hour walk through Mt. Field National Park before driving to Bruny
Island in our hired car.
We stayed in the Explorers Cottages at Lunawanna and mostly
went on long, spectacular walks. The last was to Cape Queen Elizabeth and it took
us nearly 5 hours to complete the 16km walk. Others were the Fluted Cape (that
we tackled the HARD way), East Cloudy Head and Mavista walks. Bruny Island has long
deserted beaches, sheer cliffs into the ocean, old growth rain forests and a
rich history (Truginini, Captain Cook etc).
We had 2 memorable meals – seafood chowder at the island’s
only pub and herb damper platter at the Hothouse
Cafe.
We also went on a Bruny Island Cruise that has been voted as
one of the greatest 100 trips of the world. (We are not sure who ran the poll
or who voted) but it was very spectacular. http://www.brunycruises.com.au/
We bought some very rich yummy cheese from the
Bruny Island Cheese Company. Half of it was left on our last day and it was
getting very soft and whiiffey. Not
wanting to leave it behind, we carefully packed it in our bags and I swear
there was a real stink when we quickly collected our bags from the carousel at
Adelaide Airport.
