Monday 27^th February, 2012

In the morning I went to Taroona to visit the Shot Tower. This sandstone tower was once used to manufacture gun bullets. As reward for the many steps I could enjoy the view to the sea and the surrounding landscape. My next destination was MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. Everybody I met was enthusiastic about this museum. I inspected the different objects until late afternoon. Some of them were even from Swiss artists. As I still had some time, I went to the Alpenrail. Here a Swiss made his dream true and created a paradise for his model railway. The railway is laid out in front of the scenery of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau (the three main mountains of the Bernese Alps). I learned that the father of the owner emigrated in the sixties to Australia. Back in Hobart I brought my car back, now I can sleep longer tomorrow.

Sunday 26^th February, 2012

My Sunday excursion led to Bruny Island which the locals like to call little New Zealand. As in New Zealand there are two islands, but here they are connected with a foodbridge. Also the vegetation is not the same. On Bruny Island there are white wallabies as one day albino wallabies escaped. As they could not be caught again, they mated with normal wallabies and now there are white ones which are not albinos. At pleasant 25° C I went to the meeting point. The air was weirdly misty. The guide told many things about the region when we went by bus to the island. The said that yesterday someone made a camping fire. This was not allowed due to danger of bush fire. Promptly the fire got out of control and led to a rapidly growing bush fire north of Hobart. I saw the smoke cloud already yesterday when I was on Mount Wellington. It looked like when I am looking at the nuclear power plant in Gösgen out of the window at home in Olten. I already thought then this looks like a bush fire. Now they hope that the rain predicted for tomorrow will eliminate the fire. Now back to the tour. With a ferry we went to the islands. First we saw a fish farm in the sea. Here young salmons are raised in containers. From time to time fresh water is added. This should resemble the natural cycle of the salmons. On the island a small part of the fishes get smoked, the rest will be sold. Many inhabitants live from sheep. They export merino wool. Another income are cherries. There is a huge plantation of big cherries. They mostly get exported to the USA. Another interesting detail I learned. In Tasmania there are three wind power stations and many hydropower plants. If Tasmania produces much energy, it is transported to Victoria (the state where Melbourne is). To do this there is a cable on sea bottom connecting the island with the mainland. If Tasmania is lacking water and cannot produce enough electricity, it gets it from the mainland. Now my tour continues on the south island. First we enjoyed tea and muffins, then we went slowly to the boat landing stage. When everyone was in the boat ginger pills were given out against motion sickness. As I get fast motion sick, I took my own pills before. They were small rubber boats and so we could get very close to the cliffs. We saw many cliffs and caves. To make sure that we did not get bored, the boat got quite rapid in between. Our destination was a seal colony. It was funny to watch these animals while sunbathing or playing in the water. On the way back we also observed birds flying and then diving into the water. Back on the land we enjoyed a salad for lunch. After a short stop at the seaside it was time to go back. At the ferry I had already to wait for more half an hour as also other people wanted to leave. Here I enjoyed the sight to the sea and watched the sky which got more and more misty. I went directly back to Hobart after the ferry brought us back to the mainland. It was good to make that tour today as it was still 35° C when I was back. To finish off: this was not my day. First the toilet door in the Pub fell out of the hinge and in the evening in my room the window was falling down. Good luck as nothing happened to me, I just had to change the room.

Saturday 25^th February, 2012

In the morning I drove to the blow holes. They should actually blow water high up during high tide, at least so I imagine a blow hole. It happened nothing, maybe it is because it looked a bit decayed. I enjoyed a bit the coast and drove on. As I am now on the road since a month and I am a bit fed up with packing and unpacking the backpack, I decided to stay the last few days in Hobart. As it was Saturday, I could visit Salamanca Market. There were many stands selling food, souveniers, bits and pieces. The atmosphere was accompanied with live music of different styles. Today was the warmest day this month, the thermometer climbed up to 39° C! To get it a bit cooler I drove up to Mount Wellington. The view was brilliant as the sun did its best. Now as I surrounded the island once I have now a better imagination as last time. I made a short hike up to the summit, accompanied by the sound of the crickets. I realised that there are different species and I could even take a picture of two of them.

Friday 24^th February, 2012

Punctually at um 8:30am I entered the time machine which brought me to the year 1830. Tasmania was still called Van Diemen's Land and in Port Arthur logger camps were build where convicts had to work. Starting 1833 repeat offenders from all Australia were moved here. At 1840 more than 2000 convicts, soldiers and civil employees lived in Port Arthur. After the transport of convicts to Van Diemen's Land ended in 1853, mainly convicts with psychical or physical illnesses stayed here. 1877 the camp was closed and many building abolished or destroyed by bush fires. A few houses got sold and a small town named Carnarvon developed. The stories told about this place led to the first tourists coming at around 1920 to see the ruins. Hotels and shops opened in the area and the place got renamed again to Port Arthur. End of April 1996 another tragic chapter was added to this historical place. A spree killer shot 35 people and another 19 got hurt. Next to the ruin at the place of the massacre there is a water filled block. I examined the compound in detail and is it was imposing what all happened here. After the visiting all the buildings I drove towards Remarkable Cave. According to two maps there should be a gravel road, but it was paved until the end. What did I learn: do not always believe the map! I wend down to the caves and could see how a bit of water flushed back and forth. It was beautiful, even if it just was low tide. Then I continued to White Beach. Here I made a long walk along the beach and enjoyed the turquoise water. I visited the coal mines as I did not yet have enough Tasmanian history. Here the convicts had to mine coal and also here there were ruins to visit. On the way to the mines I saw an old friend: a black and yellow bird. As I later learned this is a cockatoo. Konrad and I saw already one in the Wilson Promontory National Park. My way led to Taranna. Here is the first animal park in Australia to give the visitors an understanding of the Tasmanian devil. As I reached the park the local birds got introduced. Soon the eastern quolls got fed. Eastern quolls look like cats, but are related to the Tasmanian devil. It was funny how fast they found their hidden food. There was still some time until the feeding of the Tasmanian devils which I was waiting for. The park also has kangaroos and wallabies, but those I did not visit as I like them more outside in the wild. The feeding was rough, they get the meat and fought about their food. That is the reason for their name.

Thursday 23^rd February, 2012

When I brought back the key of the caravan, the lady at the reception apologized for not entering my name to the booking table. Now my trip continues further southwards. In Richmond I stopped, there are a few things to see. I visited St. John, the oldest and still used catholic church in in Australia. Directly below the church is the oldest bridge in Australia. It was constructed between 1823 and 1825 by convicts. In Richmond there is also the oldest prison of Australia. I visited the buildings. In such a cell I would get claustrophobia. I continued after getting food for myself and petrol for the car in Sorell. At Dunalley I had to stop as the bridge was turned away to let a ship pass. Then I drove to Tessellated Pavement. Here the sea salt broke the rock and so created slabs. Further I visited the natural rock arch Tamar Arch. From here I hiked to Devil Kitchen, a formation of heavily fragmented rocks. When walking along the road I met a huge lizard. Back at the parking I drove to Port Arthur and visited the ruins of the prison. The compound is very big and there are 30 historical buildings to see. I started with a small boat ride to the Isle of the Dead. Still on the sea it started to rain and there was a strong wind. As it was already late afternoon, I decided to go to the accommodation. The entry is valid for two days and so I will come back tomorrow. In the evening I observed parrots breaking nuts. That looks quite funny. A short walk on the beach ended my programme for today.