Melbourne-Tassie Holiday 2011 - Day 11

After brekky we jumped on the Southern Outlet and headed down to Huonville. I wanted to use my expensive tourist pass to obtain a free jet boat ride. The weather was quite variable and some of the hills were a bit too much for the car on the way. Weird roads in Tassie too. Gotta really pay attention to where you are going and which lane you need to be in.

Visited Huon Jet Boat Company. We were the only customers which justified my decision not to make a booking. They even waited a little longer in case anybody else turned up. Which they didn't. Still had to pay $10 ea instead of $72/$49. Needed to throw on a few extra layers of clothes and a life jacket as it was going to be cold. They waited for the rain to clear, and made reference to a snow front, before taking us out. Our driver was Andy and he gave us a great ride. We went some 12km upstream at speeds of 75-80 km/h. There were a number of high speed spins and bumpy rapids to go over. We really enjoyed ourselves and The Boy even asked for extra spins.

I planned to look through Huonville for arty things but there didn't appear to be any of those kinds of shops. So I ended up driving straight out of the place. Next stop - Mt Wellington.

Didn't take long to get back to Hobart, as the roads aren't bad, but the road up the Mountain isn't quite so good. The drive up the Mountain is over 10 kms long. I was worried about the car hire agreement which states that the car can't be taken above the snow line. We stopped the car at The Chalet, 1000m above sea level, and walked a fair way up the road. Enough snow for us to have a snowball fight. I copped a few hits to the back but The Boy got a nice one to the face. It snowed during our walk.

After finally seeing a car come down from the summit which wasn't covered in snow I had confidence to drive to the top. Actually, the road was still dry so there wasn't much to worry about.

The summit was very windy with snow falling. I collected some snow in a bottle and had a look at the observation area. Hobart started disappearing from view quite quickly as another blanket of cloud made its way over. Great view though.

The 10 kms descent took about 18 minutes. Drove around Hobart, through Battery Point and into Sandy Bay so that I could do some shopping for lunch. Back to the Signalman's Cottage for some hot chook. The afternoon was one of TV and napping. At night we looked at the city from the lookout on Mt Nelson.

Frozen sign atop Mt Wellington

Melbourne-Tassie Holiday 2011 Photo Album No.2 - Photos 153-200.

Melbourne-Tassie Holiday 2011 Day 10

Took some fruit for breakfast. Drove to Port Arthur to visit Remarkable Cave in the Tasman National Park. It's a long cave that the waves have carved out. Didn't stick around for long. Drove across the isle to view the convict coal mine. Spent most of our time at the barracks and the cells of solitary confinement. Couple of other toursits out there but it feels a bit remote. Put $10 of fuel in as the fuel guage was getting low very quickly.

Also dropped in to Tasmans Arch, Devils Kitchen (both better viewed from the boat yesterday) and The Blowhole (not on song). The lookout provided a great view. Had fish and chips and squid and chips, and ice cream, at the Doo-Licious van. Being nearby Doo Town it, the name, makes sense. Nice meal.

Filled up the car in Sorrell and headed over to Richmond to search for Zoo Doo Wildlife Park but took the wrong road initially. Found it but it hadn't been signposted too well. For a major tourist attraction I was disappointed that that was the case. There weren't as many animals to view/feed as Tasmania Zoo but we got to hold a snake, feed emus, ostriches and a camel from the safari bus and there were white lions and tigers on display. The feeding of the Tasmanian devils was funny as one of the devils kept attacking the bucket where the food was being held. Lions weren't interested in feeding which was a bit disappointing.

Back to town for a walk around to photograph all of the old buildings and Richmond Bridge - the oldest bridge in Australia which dates back to 1823. Had a drink at the bakery.

Quick drive into Hobart but took a wrong road and missed the city centre. Drove around for 10 minutes or so and then decided to head towards Mt Wellington before turning off at Mt Nelson where our accommodation was situated. Accidentally had to turn off and follow the Southern Outlet. I did notice a sign regarding Mt Nelson later and it turned out, by a complete fluke, that I had struck the correct road. At the top of the mountain was our accommodation - The Signalman's Cottage B & B. Our hosts, Georgie and Loic, were very nice and Georgie gave me a mud map to Sandy Bay to find some dinner and do some shopping. Ended up buying souvlakis @ Mykonos.

Very interesting to see Hobart disappear from view because of cloud and reappear a few minutes later. Not a great deal of off street parking available in Hobart, due to the city being built in the time of the convict and horse and car, and it makes driving around more difficult also. Quite a few one way streets and not much level ground either.

Tasmanian Devil at Zoo Doo Wildlife Park in Richmond, Tasmania.

Melbourne-Tassie Holiday 2011 Photo Album No.2 - Photo 98-152.