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Tasmania, North West and North East

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Finally!!! Third time lucky. We finally made it to Tasmania. The visit to Tasmania was planned for the last 2 trips already. Our trip to Tasmania was beeing delayed due to the fact that we found so many beautiful places that we liked a lot and kept staying longer then planned. On 4th of November we now boarded the ferry "Spirit of Tasmania" which brought us after a 14 Hour journey from Melbourne to Devonport. Altjhough we had a very quiet trip, the rolling and swaying of the ship was still clearly feelable. A good deal of the trip we spent in the ships cinema which is located very low in the hull of the ship. Here the swaying and rolling wasn't as big.

The next day we stocked up on vgetables and none perishable foods and then headed for the Westcoast of Tasmania. Tasmanien is roughly as big as Belgium and the Netherlands together and is inhabited by aroud 500'000 Tasmaniens. Mainly the North-, East- and Southcoast are populated. The Westcoast is pretty rough and partly inaccessible. Starting from Craddle Mountain a number of Nationalparks are building together a World Heritage Area which almost represents a fifth of the islands area. This World Heritage Area can mainly be explored on foot through through walking tracks that will take several days to complete. In total 40% of the area of the Tasmanian island is protected by Nationalparks and Reserves.

Our journey led along the Northcoast to Smithton in the West and from there to the Arthur Pieman Reserve and along the Western Explorer Highway to the South in the direction of Corinna. The Landscape is hilly and very green, pretty similar to the Emmental at home. Its use is mainly for agriculture. It was a welcome change once not to have to drive such long distances from one attraction to another. Alone the weather was a bit of an annoyance. The temperatures at night were often below freezing point. They required us to purchase a thick wollen blanket and thick socks to stay warm throughout the night. In order to do so, we travelled back to Devonport to purchase them. We took the opportunity to have slides developed until our return in around 2 weeks to board the ferry again. This time we headed East with the destination of the Mt. William Nationalpark, home to Tasmania's largest Kangoroo, the Forrester Kangoroo. We as well discovered beautiful and lonely beaches like the Bay of Fires. Some of them lined by white and fine grained sand dunes of up to 50 meters height and several kilometers long.

In Bicheno we then met our first Tasmanian Tiger, although not in the wild, but at the Natureworld Wildlife Sanctuary. These Animals are nocturnal and very shy of people. They are actually quiet pretty looking animals. The probably grow to the size of a Basset dog. But one shouldn't mess with his temper or even worse with his teeth. The Tasmanian Tiger has a very strong and powerful jaw that is only second to that of a big shark. He is developing around 300PSi of biting preasure. That is roughly equal to 8 times the tyre preasure of our Landcruiser. This enables him to simply bite through bones of up to 8cm diameter. He definately needs this tool, since he only lives of carcasses of deceased animals he finds.

A deffective gas burner forced us to seek a new jet. Therefore we had to travel to a bigger town. We decided to drive to Launceston and to visit some attractions along the way. First we visited the Meadstone Falls. We almost steped on a perfectly camouflaged Tigersnake basking in the sun on the walking track. We could only hardly convince here to move of the walking track and to let us pass. In Tasmania three kinds of snakes are known, the Tigersnake, the Copperhead and the Whip Snake. All these species are poisonous and usually move out of the way, so that people don't normally see them. With deep temperatures (below 16 degrees celsius) they go into hibernation and can hardly move at all. Next we the paid a visit to the worlds largest flowering plants in the Evercreech forest. These are some 90 meter tall Swamp Gums (Eucalypt Trees). They are hardwood and grow to an age of approximately 400 years. Only Californian Redwoods grow taller. They are of softwood and don't flower. The so far tallest registered Redwood Tree measured 112 meterswhereas the tallest registered Swamp Gum grew to 98 meters. Via the Mathinna Falls we then reached Launceston.


Our Ferry to Tasmania, the "Spirit of Tasmania" Melbourne Skyline from the Ferry Stanley: Old Lighthouse Stanley: Historic Building Camping in the Rain near Arthur River
The westcoast at Gardiner Point Driftwood thrown on the Rocks A giant Moth witha a 10cm Wingspan Strong Winds are shaping the Landscape Sarah Anne Rocks
Sarah Anne Rocks Driving along the Western Explorer Highway The Pieman River at Corinna Landscape around Savage River Landscape around Savage River
Mt. Williams NP: A Forrester Kangaroo Mt. Williams NP: A white flowering Balgo Mt. Williams NP: Wild Iris Mt. Williams NP: Larc Beach Mt. Williams NP: Larc Beach
Mt. Williams NP: Larc Beach Mt. Williams NP: The first warm day in Tassie for us. The Lizards go out too. Humbug Point Reserve: Dora point Peron Dunes at St. Helens Peron Dunes at St. Helens
Peron Dunes at St. Helens Typical Country House Natureworld in Bicheno: Tasman Devil Natureworld in Bicheno: Tasman Devil Natureworld in Bicheno: Pelican
Natureworld in Bicheno: Wombats On our Walk to the Meadstone Falls we almost stepped on this Tigersnake Meadstone Falls The Gorge at Meadstone Falls Pink flowering Bushes along the walk
The Tigersnake still where we left her 2 hours before Still soaked from last nights rain Evercreech Forest: Sir Vim, the tallest White Knight. )3.8m high Swamp Gum Evercreech Forest: Manfern Evercreech Forest: Sprouting Fern
Evercreech Forest: Rainforest Scenery Evercreech Forest: Rainforest Scenery Evercreech Falls The leftovers of the Timber Industry Mathinna Falls
Driving through the Woods near Mathinna Landscape near Launceston Landscape near Launceston
Our Ferry to Tasmania, the "Spirit of Tasmania"
Melbourne Skyline from the Ferry
Stanley: Old Lighthouse
Stanley: Historic Building
Camping in the Rain near Arthur River
The westcoast at Gardiner Point
Driftwood thrown on the Rocks
A giant Moth witha a 10cm Wingspan
Strong Winds are shaping the Landscape
Sarah Anne Rocks
Sarah Anne Rocks
Driving along the Western Explorer Highway
The Pieman River at Corinna
Landscape around Savage River
Landscape around Savage River
Mt. Williams NP: A Forrester Kangaroo
Mt. Williams NP: A white flowering Balgo
Mt. Williams NP: Wild Iris
Mt. Williams NP: Larc Beach
Mt. Williams NP: Larc Beach
Mt. Williams NP: Larc Beach
Mt. Williams NP: The first warm day in Tassie for us. The Lizards go out too.
Humbug Point Reserve: Dora point
Peron Dunes at St. Helens
Peron Dunes at St. Helens
Peron Dunes at St. Helens
Typical Country House
Natureworld in Bicheno: Tasman Devil
Natureworld in Bicheno: Tasman Devil
Natureworld in Bicheno: Pelican
Natureworld in Bicheno: Wombats
On our Walk to the Meadstone Falls we almost stepped on this Tigersnake
Meadstone Falls
The Gorge at Meadstone Falls
Pink flowering Bushes along the walk
The Tigersnake still where we left her 2 hours before
Still soaked from last nights rain
Evercreech Forest: Sir Vim, the tallest White Knight. )3.8m high Swamp Gum
Evercreech Forest: Manfern
Evercreech Forest: Sprouting Fern
Evercreech Forest: Rainforest Scenery
Evercreech Forest: Rainforest Scenery
Evercreech Falls
The leftovers of the Timber Industry
Mathinna Falls
Driving through the Woods near Mathinna
Landscape near Launceston
Landscape near Launceston
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Last Updated : 14th of November 2001


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