Australia 3

And so back on the mainland I spent a couple of days in Melbourne. A visit to cousins (second and second once removed!) for lunch and some wandering around the big city. Certainly a lot to see and do, plenty going on - especially on a Saturday night!

Street Sculptures

Old and new in Melbourne

Silhouette in the excellent Melbourne Museum First Peoples section.  Kwatkwat man Tommy Mcrae painted the original in the C19. He recorded early encounters with the Europeans. Here the ceremonial dancers turn to towards each other in anticipation as a ship approaches.

More old and new

Next I took the train from Southern Cross station up to Wangaratta. Time passed quickly chatting on a variety of topics to an English girl on her gap year and an older Australian gentleman. After the 2.5 hour journey I was met by my old friend Jackie. Probably hadn't seen each other for ten years. We worked together in France in 1987. Several days of good food and wine ensued.

Like a good tour guide Jackie took me out for the day. We did a couple of walks around Mount Buffalo. Below the view back towards Porepunkah where she lives. 

Bush fires have cleared the view around the Horn. Here looking towards the Cathedral and the Hump.  (No doubt they have far older names too).

Alpine everlasting

Bright is the local town and a popular tourist destination. Thriving place with lots of shops, cafes and a bookshop. I took a short walk along the Ovens River and learned a bit about the gold mining history of the area. After the initial hand workings and sluicings big machines were built to strip the land and sift out the remaining gold. As a result the soil is pretty thin.

Then it was back on the train for the 7 hour trip to Mossvale, just south of Sydney. Here I stayed with my mum's cousin Heather who was a wonderful hostess and tour guide. Managed quite a lot of wildlife spotting: echidna (spiny anteater), wombat, kangaroos, water dragon, huntsman spider, leeches and various birds including lyrebirds and black cockatoos.

View to the coast from the Drawing Table Rocks

Tiger leech that had latched on through my sock

Landscaping along the road and some drystone walling by Richard

Heather took me to Boderee National Park on the coast where we met this very unfazed kangaroo.

Murray's Beach where the water was actually warm

Huntsman Spider in the house, the size of my hand - we managed to catch it in a box and set it free.

And so my month in Australia was at an end. Heather and I finished with an evening of watching Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story. Hopefully she will see some otters next time she is in Shetland! The it was back to Auckland and down to Invercargill for more kiwi adventures but fewer exotic animals.

Australia part 2

 Some more from my time in Tasmania:

Leaving the beaches and dramatic coastline of the Tasman Peninsula I headed north west through the centre of the island. Stopped here at this little shop and post office.

Very dry but good for getting the harvests in. There is a lot of irrigation here. Some is clearly from underground pipes and also from overhead machines. Farmers have their own reservoirs. Talked to the lighthouse guide on. Bruny Island (who is a local farmer) and he said it had been a fairly typical year. Saw plenty of sheep and cattle on the drive and a lot of hay. Soft fruit and tatties too.

The open road. Stopped near here at a couple of historic sites. Would have been a very busy place at one time. Lots of families, strong community with shops and services. Now very quiet, big farms, fewer people.

Great Lake. There are a lot of hydro electric schemes here and associated dams.

Tasmanian hen (rail), not as daring as the NZ weka but I did spot a family of them hanging around the campground.

Farmers enjoy their bale art here too! I drove to Smithton, a small town near the coast in the top MW corner of Tasmania. From there took a couple of day trips - this one to the coast near Arthur River:

The next day I drove down into the Tarkine area of ancient callidendrous (beautiful tree) rainforest, myrtle beech and tree ferns:

Leaf

This is the Trowhutta Arch and sinkhole, 20m deep, technically known as a cenote. 

More farmer art

Central highlands

I then headed south to Queenstown, a slightly down on its uppers ex-mining town now with some trendy galleries.

From above Queenstown, early morning

Iron Blow Coppermine

Mining landscape

From Queenstown I drove eastward to the beauty of the Lake St Clair in a National Park:

Sorley at Shadow Lake

Boardwalk

The next day I headed back south east and took the ferry across to Bruny Island. The Neck joins the 2 sections:

Adventure Bay where I stayed at the Captain Cook campsite. He did indeed visit to reprovision here with Bligh as his sailing master. Bligh would also return to get supplies as master on a later voyage.

Outside someone's house

And across the road memorial to a local minister

Cape Bruny Lightstation

Similar problems with marine litter

View from lighthouse. The longest serving keeper was here for 37 years!

Mailboxes at the end of a side road on Bruny Island

After a night in Hobart I took the bus north Devenport where I could see the ferries passing out the hostel window. Took the Spirit of Tasmania II across to Melbourne. A 10 hour journey, very calm on this occasion. Much bigger than the Northlink ferries and also built in Finland.