Tasmania: Freycinet National Park

26 Mar 2011 11 Km Hike – Wineglass Bay & Hazards Beach Circuit Blue skies, welcome back.  Best way to celebrate?  Get out of this ding-dang van for awhile and go for a hike.  It’s not that we don’t still love our van – we absolutely do – but we’ve really all spent too much …

More

Tasmania: Rain Drops Keep Falling

23 to 25 Mar 2011 Hadspen to Ross to Bicheno to Freycinet National Park A few days ago I wrote about the rain, wishing the weather would turn for the better.  It didn’t.  “Yup, there’s been five inches of rain in the past 36 hours.” “I reckon it’s the worst flooding in 40 years.”  “It …

More

The Missing Day

23 Mar 2011 The twenty-third of March.  This is a day that did not exist for us last year, lost in transit over the Pacific Ocean somewhere between Honolulu and Sydney.  It’s crazy to us that a year has gone by since we left Seattle behind.  Cliche, I know, but it went so quickly in …

More

Tasmania: Gowrie Park to Hadspen

22 Mar 2011 Which is more humane: to squish the icky bug into the window or to roll that same window down while speeding along at 100 km/hr (60 mi/hr) to let it “fly away”?  In the former scenario, the bug may see the oncoming shadow of my Rough Guide to Tasmania and think nothing …

More

Tasmania: Penguin

20 Mar 2011 “Do we have any booze on-board?” This is what I want to know as we plant ourselves at the local caravan park in Penguin. The oceanside setting is outstanding and I am looking forward to searching town for the giant-sized fiberglass penguin the guide book has promised us, but I am a …

More

Tasmania: Stanley

19 Mar 2011 There was a disturbing clatter as my camera dropped from the van’s passenger seat onto the concrete curb below.  This was followed by an intense inspection of the LCD screen on the back, noting a few minor scratches but nothing that couldn’t be lived with.  This was then followed by an intense …

More

Tasmania: Banana Mystery Solved

16 and 17 Mar 2011 To Strahan and On to Cradle Mountain National Park To tell by the tone of the produce manager’s voice, one would think that EVERYONE knows that the reason bananas are so outrageously priced in Australia right now is because they come from flood-ravaged Queensland.  Everyone but us Yankees, I guess. …

More

Tasmania: Lake St. Clair National Park

15 Mar 2011 13 km Hike I could see my breath in the campervan this morning.  This is not good.  Better than saying I could see my breath in the TENT this morning.  But still not ideal.  Last night we were shorted again on a power site, this time not of our doing.  Who knew …

More

Tasmania: Mt. Field to Lake St. Clair National Park

14 Mar 2011 Let’s review something that happened last night before moving on to today’s activities.  That would be our trip to the Scorpion House, previously known as the Ladies restroom.  Now I’ve discussed in more than one blog my thoughts around campground toilets (as they are pointedly referred to here) and how they can …

More