Sunday 2 February 2014

Two heads in Tasmania

Posts from this trip are not going to be in any proper order....... I am still struggling with the technology a little. My miraculous card reader that was supposed to enable me to load photos onto my 1st generation I pad ( no camera ), has suddenly stopped working. So photos up to the end of the Tasmania leg of the trip can be posted.....but Melbourne and New Zealand will have to wait until I get back home. Oh well, I try hard not to get stressed by things over which I have no control !

So..... We left Perth on Australia Day......the day when Australia celebrates the arrival of the first fleet. Aboriginals call it Invasion Day. The press was full of debate about whether Australia day is a good thing or not. A compromise being suggested is that a celebration for all Australians about being Australian could be held on another day...... Thus not celebrating the taking of land from the first peoples. It has certainly added an interesting aspect to our trip to see this being debated. It hasn't been too hard to work out which newspapers are the ones we would never buy back home, and which we would trust !


We were delighted to see this kookaburra at such close quarters....in the Botanical gardens in Perth, on our walk to the open air cinema, on our last night in Perth.


Mark, relaxing on a bean bag, designed for easy viewing of the film at the open air cinema. 

On arrival in Tasmania, with tons of dirty washing, we were looking forward to using a washing machine we knew would be in our previously booked apartment in Hobart. We then discovered we had booked a hotel room  in an apartment hotel...... So, no washing machine. Mark asked if we could access one somewhere in the building, and 2 minutes later we were upgraded to a beautiful apartment, with views of Mt Wellington......and a washing machine !


Hobart Harbour

Hobart is lovely. Some of the older buildings are great......with ornate iron work, and beautiful Victorian facades. ( Must remember that the term Victorian, over here, means someone from The state of Victoria, I got very confused when a trivia question on the cricket scoreboard in Melbourne asked who was the First Victorian cricketer to score a century in a 20/20 match......hmmmm, I thought, surely they weren't playing 20/20 before 1901. I thought it had been invented just a few years ago. )


View from Hobart's Botanical gardens

The Best bit of our Tassy stay was probably the boat trip we took around the Tasmanian Peninsular. The scenery was incredible...rock formations I could only imagine, demonstrating the movement of the rocks and water over millions of years. We saw albatross.......dozens of them. They are so graceful, except when they land and try to take off.....it looks impossible. So, sensibly, they spend most of their lives in the air......apparently staying on the wing for the first 3 years of their life....they sleep whilst flying, they hardly flap a wing. They took my breathe away. I made no attempt to take photos of them....I was much too busy watching them.


We saw dolphins, who were clearly playing with the boat. They were right next to the boat, closer than I have ever seen them on previous " dolphin watching" trips. As the boat was so small, we really were at their level. We also saw huge colonies of male seals......huge brutes, basking on the rocks, building up their fat layers, to be the biggest and most attractive to the females who were apparently basking somewhere else.....waiting for the fat boys to arrive.





I will return to this trip again, but before I sign off today, I just want to mention having 2 heads. 


There is a wonderful art gallery in Tasmania, called MONA........containing the largest privately held modern art collection in the southern hemisphere. In the information leaflet about the stunning gallery ( architecturally, content and setting....all stunning) it says Tasmanian citizens can have free entry on proof that they are from Tassy...... Showing they have 2 heads. Apparently this is an Aussie joke.... People from Tassy have 2 heads. 


Approaching MONA by boat ( called the MONA Roma )

There were 2 English heads that could not have enjoyed being in Tasmania more. Why we thought 4 days was enough, I cannot imagine. 

15 comments:

  1. Dear Janice, you appear to be having a great time in Australia, and especially Tasmania. It is really quite a special place, to which I would love to return. Your cruise looks fantastic, and I'd love to do that one too. And then there's MONA which was not there when last we visited. Have to get there too! Absolutely fabulous photos of the rocks and seals, and how wonderful to see all those albatross. Continue having fun!! xxxx

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    1. Yes Patricia, you must go to MONA, it is stunning. An English couple we spoke to onto he way back found it too "in your face", but Mark and I loved it. Tasmania needs more than a 4 day visit. I think it is shame that many tourists, like us, just tag it onto their trip thinking they can explore it in a few days. I would love to spend much longer there.

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  2. Dear Janice - how wonderful to have seen the Albatrosses. I always think of them as being rather a mystical bird and love the way that they pair bond for life.
    The geology in Tasmanian looks fascinating - glad that you are having a wonderful time.

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    1. I was very excited about the albatross ( es)...... Not sure about the plural of albatross, they are incredible. J

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    1. No doubt.....so far every day has been brilliant....am loving it.x

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  4. Wonderful photos. I love the Kookaburra and the seals. The one of the cliffs with the caves at the bottom taken from the sea looks very like the southern tip of Corsican at Bonifacio. The trip of a lifetime. Enjoy!

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    1. I was really pleased with kookaburra, he posed for ages, so it wasn't too hard ! X

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  5. Thanks for sharing all the wonderful photos.I think you know how I would love the wildlife ones.I too would just have watched the albatross.The trip sounds wonderful and I am looking forward to more blog posts on it.

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  6. I have yearned to see a real kookaburra since I was a little girl, singing the song about a kookaburra sitting on an old gum tree. A delight to see one through your lens here, Janice, as it is a delight to see your posting. Your photos are breathtaking, and what interesting points of view you are experiencing during Australia Day, reminding me of those who would like to abolish Columbus Day here, for similar reasons. Enjoy the rest of your trip.

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  7. Hi Janice,
    What a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing it with us.
    Of course if you haven't managed to see everything you now have the perfect excuse to return! X

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  8. Your photos are fantastic (and your knowledge of cricket amazing - to me, anyway!)

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  9. Looks like the most wonderful visit! Stunning scenery and you both look so well and relaxed.
    You revived my Pilger passion in your first blog and I wasn't sure if FR knew his stuff - he certainly wasn't aware of all of it but we now have Pilger almost 24/7. It does sound as though a different sort of debate is at last going on at last around Australia Day.
    Hope the rest of the holiday goes as well and that you can continue to take more amazing photos - we'll wait!
    Axxx

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  10. What a wonderful time you're having and your photos take my breath away...I am so envious xxx

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  11. Such fantastic photos, Janice, especially of the wildlife and those amazing rock formations. It sounds like you're having the most wonderful time - enough material for a dozen blog-posts once you get back to your computer. Happy travelling. :-)

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