Tassie Tour

Hello Friends!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Easter and ate lots of chocolate!

Earlier today we returned home from our Easter trip to "Under Down Under" aka Tasmania. We have heard from most people that Tasmania is abundant in natural beauty, and our trip allowed us to see it all. We started in Hobart and headed up to Bicheton - a very old, remote town, but very nice. There was a stop along the way to see Coles Bay and Wineglass Bay, where we saw nice mountain top views of all the surrounding, very blue, water.

After we headed out of Bicheton we began our trip up to Launceston, which involved a stop at a wildlife reserve. At this reserve they had a number of kangaroos just roaming about, free for

petting and feeding. And what trip to Tasmania would be complete without a close encounter with a Tasmanian Devil? They are very cute little creatures, even when they are devouring the remains of a bird... which we also saw.

Later that afternoon we stopped for lunch and a walk along the beach at the Bay of Fires. As legend has it, from out on the water the bay often appeared to be filled with fire as the Aborigines set up camps all along the beach.

We then headed over to the west coast which is rich in rain forests, waterfalls, unique trees (both due to their size and species), and mountains. We went on many hikes and nature walks, breathing in the crisp air and of course, enjoying the sights. And as is almost customary with every guided tour, we headed to the beach - Ocean Beach, which boasts a 30 mile coast, some massive waves and the closest to South America you can get from Tassie.

Just behind this beach are 30 and 40 meter sand dunes which we had the opportunity to climb up and take in the views from.

On the drive back across the middle of the state we passed through one of the major National Parks in Tasmania and stopped to take a small walk to the mouth of the Franklin River (where Mount Franklin bottled water is from). Our next stop was at Lake St. Clair; the deepest lake in Tasmania. While it was very beautiful, it looked very similar to Northern Ontario so we made a quick trip to the lookout and back.

Next we took a bit of a longer walk through a more tropical rainforest that had some of the tallest and oldest trees in Tasmania. Jeff was able to stand inside the trunk of one of the trees that had fallen over. This particular species begins to 'die' from the inside, creating a hollow trunk.

Five days sure seems like a short time, but it was long enough for us to make a few new friends. A teacher from Brisbane (Angela), and a couple of others who also live in Brisbane but originate from Italy (Priscilla) and Poland (Michael). After our tour finished, we ran into them by complete accident twice in a matter of 12 hours while in Hobart... no, it's not a very big city! It was nice to have a little company to enjoy the last part of our trip!

Now that the trip is over, it's back to reality. Leah got an email from Sydney Uni informing her of her next placement at St. Joseph's Hospital in Auburn which is in Sydney's Western suburbs, about 30 minutes away. It will be 3 days a week for 6 weeks starting June 21st. As for me, school holidays are still on next week so I'm planning to continue to take it easy and maybe just take care of things around the apartment.

Hope you're all well and we'll be in touch soon!

Jeff and Leah

xoxo