Back in Launceston

Morty's Food Hall

Got back into Launceston Thursday afternoon. Here it is Sunday morning already and I'm not sure I could say how I have spent the intervening time. I guess that's what it means to be on vacation.

Dinner Thursday night at Morty's Food Hall. Hard to describe. It's like a food court, except that it's not in a mall, not overrun with kids on cellphones and you can get wine and beer. I went for grilled trevalla (a kind of fish) from the restaurant that was a combined fresh fish / pizza place.

Aurora Stadium on the right. The old railroad tracks divide the grounds, and UTAS is just out of sight on the left.

Did nothing in particular Friday. A much needed car wash to get the layers of road dust and grime off my poor little car. Explored the park along the opposite side of the North Esk River. It holds Aurora Stadium, home of the AFL Tasmania Hawks. Also the Launceston campus for UTAS (University of Tasmania). Also the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.

UTAS school of Architecture and Design

Inside the school of Architecture and Design

Friday night went to see True Grit. $16 for a ticket and $10 for popcorn!

Saturday just went driving in the hills around Launceston.

Looking forward to Sam's arrival!

Best spuds in Tasmania!

Watch Where You Step

Look what I found in the bathroom of my cottage in Marraweh!

Turns out there are scorpions in Tasmania, although apparently uncommon enough that many people don't even know it. Not to worry -- stings are painful but not fatal (apparently like a wasp sting).

You can see it better if you click on this to enlarge.

I found this one as I was doing my final search for forgotten items as I prepared to leave and head back to Launceston. His pincer was caught between the baseboard and the floor in the bathroom. I had actually noticed something there on the floor my first day but hadn't paid attention. I gently loosened him using a scrap of cardboard, and he thanked my by going into full attack mode.

Learn all about wood scorpions at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cercophonius_squama.

The Edge of the World

Head west from Tasmania and you won't hit land until you reach Argentina -- by some accounts, the largest uninterrupted expanse of ocean on the planet.

West Point State Reserve. At high tide, these rocks become an island.

Food for thought as I explored the west coast south from Marrawah all the way to the end of the road at Temma.

Spectacular, and like no ocean coast I have been to before. No good way to describe it -- I'll just post a bunch of pictures.

The gravel road follows the coast, but a fair ways inland. There are several side roads that branch off towards the water and I tried every one of them.

I was struck by the fact that in these huge expanses of land I saw no other people.

Weathered boulders protrude from the surrounding brush.

In places the vegetation is low-growing, maybe to protect it from the wind. If you turn your back to the ocean and look inland, you can almost make yourself believe you are back on the Central Plateau.

The beach at Bluff Hill Point.

Marker in the town of Arthur River.

Lots of Sports in Australia

Cricket is the big one right now. Australia lost the Ashes Cup Test series to England earlier this month, but is clobbering England in a rematch of sorts, the ODI series which started just about when I arrived. They are actually playing right now. All the matches are on TV and radio, although I'm watching a Pakistani video feed because there is no reception here in Marraweh. The Australian women just won their Ashes Cup Test seriies against England today. Local cricket continues too, but with disruptions coming from callups to the national team.

The Australian Open tennis tournament continues. Live radio and TV coverage here. Every business you enter always seems to have the Open showing on TV.

The Tour Down Under, kind of like Australia's Tour de France, just wrapped up. No live coverage I could find, but radio updates on the hour. Lance Armstrong's final international competition.

The National Basketball League is in full swing.

Australian Football League teams are in pre-season training right now. Some teams are doing flood cleanup as part of their training regimen -- moving sandbags, shoveling mud, etc.

The Socceroos are working their way through the Asian Cup. They killed Uzbekistan 6-0 today in the semi-finals. Too bad the games are on so early, because I have missed all of them so far. The A-League is well into its season.

Of course there is horse racing. Some radio stations carry all races live -- cutting from track to track to track across Australia as different races start. (This just in -- the Hanging Rock Cup raceday was postponed because kangaroos were grazing on track and wouldn't leave.)

And there has been a surprising amount of coverage of Sydney's 10km wheelchair race, and of the Australian team's performance in the International Paralympic Committee world athletics championships in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Happy Australia Day!

January 26, Australia Day. I guess you'd have to call it Australia's 4th of July. Except it's different. Where the 4th seems to be mostly an excuse to barbecue, drink and shoot off fireworks, Australia Day seems to truly be a celebration of of Australia itself -- and what it means to be Australian. 

Numerous local civic celebrations. The one in Sydney is being broadcast live on ABC (Australian Broadcast Corporation). Lots of stories about and interviews with Australians talking about their lives, their communities and their country. 

Lots of talk about the floods, but even with this the mood is upbeat. Not a lot of people feeling sorry about themselves, but rather a testimonial about Australians helping Australians.

Google's logo for Jan 26, in honor of Australia Day.

Mole Creek to Ann Bay (Marrawah)

Left Mole Creek for Marrawah this morning, but first a detour into Mole Creek Karst National Park. Once again out of farm country, up, up winding gravel roads to emerge on the top of an open plateau.

Pulled off at Devil's Gullet. From the small parking area a boardwalk trekked off into the bushes, emerging at a metal platform bolted onto the edge of a cliff staring into an abyss. Views back to the Central Plateau and off to Cradle Mountain.

Devil's Gullet

Backtracked down the mountain, then off on backroads through farmland and forest before emerging on the coast at Devonport.

Drove on to Burnie, where I stopped for groceries. Tomorrow is Australia Day -- big holiday and it sounds like some businesses will be closed. Not sure if restaurants or groceries will be open. Safest to just buy a few days' worth of food just in case.

Forecasts of rain turned out to be correct as I continued west along the coast. Nothing too heavy. I'd love to get enough to rinse the dust off of my poor car.

More of the view at Devil's Gullet

Just past the town of Marrawah, Ann Bay is beautiful. After winding through gentle hills the road falls down onto a green farmland plain, partitioned by hedges and small stands of trees and bounded by the ocean. My cabin sits slightly up the hill looking out over the green and blue.

Where else but here?

Closest yet to seeing a platypus.

First glimpse of Ann Bay.

Central Plateau to Mole Creek

My first stay in Launceston is at an end. I have to leave my house for three nights. So I am on the road. Today I took a round about route to Mole Creek, driving south from Launceston then back north across the Central Plateau.

The Central Plateau rises out of the farm lands.

Once you are up there, the terrain changes. Windy! And cold. Alpine vegetation.
Looking here at Pine Lake.

After dropping off the plateau again, you are now quickly into rain forest.

A really big tree.

I stayed at the Mole Creek Holiday Village. A great place! Here is my cabin.

It Turns Out Cricket Actually Makes Sense

I can't believe it, but I have become a cricket fan.

Good thing too, because it is everywhere around here. The Australian team is hosting a seven match series against England. Tasmania is closing in on the championship of the national domestic league. And Launceston fields a strong side in the local league.

David Hussey bats in the 30th over. He saved Australia's bacon with a 68 not out. 

I actually found myself RUSHING HOME FROM MY DAY TRIP YESTERDAY so that I could catch Australia's innings against England on TV.

Ben Lomond National Park

Another day trip Sunday, this time to the east. It doesn't take long to get out of Launceston -- in just a few kilometers the city is gone and you are out in farms and forest. Ben Lomond National Park isn't far, maybe an hour out of the city.

To enter the park, you need to pay a registration fee. You write information on a registration envelope, put your money in, and drop it in a slot at the entrance booth. Only problem was, I didn't have anything to write with. So I found a sharp stick and poked it in the mud, and used this crude pen to scratch out my entry time and license plate number. I kind of worried they would find and expel me, but in the end I hardly saw any other people and no one in any kind of official capacity.

Once in the park, the road climbs through the trees and it becomes more and more barren.

Finally the trees stop altogether and the road approaches and then climbs switchbacks up what at first glance would be an unnavigable cliff.

At the top, the mountain isn't a mountain at all but a vast, open plateau. Very alpine -- you can tell that this is covered with snow for much of the year.

There is a small ski slope here, and a small village -- largely abandoned in the summer.

A barely-marked trail leaves the road and winds towards the summit.

There are houses up here! Small cabins, apparently privately owned, and somehow grandfathered into the national park.

Very cold here in the wind. Very isolated. At first glance it seems desolate -- until you look closely at the alpine vegetation scrabbling out a living underfoot.

I scrambled across rocks to the summit (although hardly any higher than the surrounding terrain). Then realized it was cold and remote and there was no one around for miles. A broken ankle here I suppose could prove fatal -- I worked my way very carefully back to the car.

The road eventually finds a way to make it to the top of this.

The view down from "Jacob's Ladder." The road is steeper and scarier than it looks here.

The trail to the summit starts out well marked,.

Lonely at the top.

House in the middle of nowhere.

Subtle colors in the alpine vegetation.

Moss. And a stick.

Day Trip to the North Coast

Breakfast of yogurt, toast and eggs (tried to make coffee -- what a disaster -- but that's another story). Made hotel plans for my break from Launceston while I ate. Tried to do it by email but to no avail. But then I realized I could use Google Voice -- which was somehow strange, because it means I am actually calling Australia as an international call from the US.

Anyway, this done I managed to hit the road by 10 AM for a trip to Tasmania's north coast. Felt good to be driving. Kind of had a route planned out but abandoned it at the first fork in the road. Towns of Beaconsfield, Greens Beach, George Town, Low Head, Lulworth, Weymouth.

Peekaboo view of an inlet off the Tamar River not too far from where it empties into the ocean.

Sailboat in the grass. I thought this was funny, but I guess it's not that unusual because after I saw this I saw more of them up and down the coast. 

The beach at Greens Beach. I mentioned that it's summer here, right?

Hooded Plover

The mother tried to lead me away from the nest. See her? About a third of the way down and about a third of the way in from the left.

But I found it anyway. If you look closely you can see one newly hatched chick and an unhatched egg.

Path down to the penguin nesting area at Low Head. But they only come in from the water at night, so there was nothing to see.

Coast + tourist destination = light house

The beach at Low Head

I can't pass light artillery without stopping for a picture.

My first live marsupial. (It's a wallaby.)

First Few Days

It's hard to believe I'm in my third full day here. What have I done? It's hard to remember -- but not much yet, I'm thinking.

Wednesday I spent the morning just walking around exploring the city. Moved into my house in the afternoon.

Thursday I explored my neighborhood, and took a hike up the Cataract Gorge (a Launceston city park).

I was going to head out into the countryside today, and possibly spend the night on the road, but somehow just never seemed to get around to it. Tomorrow, then!

Lots of pedestrian malls in the downtown.

Yes, there are lots of old buildings.

The King's Bridge. See the stairs off to the right?

These are those stairs on the right hand side of the bridge. They are steep and go up, up, up!
They come out a block from my house.

The Tamar river, not far from the King's Bridge.