Where the Devil is Tasmania?

Tasmania is a state in Australia – yep, they have states. Tasmania is an island at the southern tip of Australia which puts it at the farthest point in Australia from the equator. It still seems weird to me that in this part of the world, the farther south you go the colder it gets, , does that make any sense to you? In fact Tasmania is just shy of being closer to Antarctica than it is to the equator.

Anyway, having had your geography lesson for the day, let’s leave it at that we went from lows in the 80°s – highs of 104° in  the Outback to lows in the 30°s – highs in the 60°s in Tasmania. On top of that, we changed time zones again – no wonder I’m confused…

To add to the confusion, we rented a car here and THEY DRIVE ON THE WRONG SIDE!!!! Plus the roads are very narrow. Tom did all the driving, and I did most of the white-knuckle gripping of the armrest and gritting of the teeth. I’m proud of Tom – not one scratch or dent (on the car).

But on with the trip, we stayed in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, at a great little place called Graham Court where we had a small apartment and cooking facilities – back to home cooked meals, yea!!! Hobart is what I would call a large sprawling town. It is hilly, green and lovely with pretty little houses and flowers in the yards, along the roads, in the meadows… serene tranquility (except for when we were driving).

We spent our first full day at a place called Huon National Park. Huon is a type of pine tree that grows in this area and has beautifully grained wood that they use for building everything from ships to salt and pepper shakers. Huon National Park is a mixed forest – evergreens, deciduous trees (including gigantic eucalyptus trees), ferns, mosses, etc. – lush and fragrant.

But one of the best things that this park has is The Tahune Airwalk!!! This was soooo cool! The airwalk is a long (1800 feet to be exact) walkway, but not just any walkway, this one rises to an average of 65 feet above the ground and to 156 feet above the river at the cantilever (that’s the arm that sticks out over the water without any support from below, eeeeek!) and wanders through the treetops. It is awesome! We walked along taking in the views and marveling at the scenery from above. It was fantastic.

The Tahune (Aboriginal for “peaceful place by running water”)Park also has miles of trails and we spent the morning hiking around and enjoying the sights and reading about the history, the flora, and the fauna of the area.

We took a leisurely break for lunch at the visitors’ center where we dined on salad and Bushman’s Beef Pie, delicious!

By the time we had finished, the sun had peeked through (I forgot to mention that Tasmania is one of the wettest places in Australia) so we rushed out to do the airwalk and many of the trails again. After about 6 miles total, we decided that we were pretty much spent so we left this peaceful place by running water and headed home with lovely memories and lots of pictures.