I keep forgetting to tell you about the little towns in the north east, their houses are right up to the road side like in some English villages. We have not found this in the south.
Also, you do realise I write this usually a week or two after we have been there. We do not have a wi-fi connection all the time and we rely on sola and driving to give us battery power for the fridge and charging camera batteries and computer.
There are blackberries all over Tasmania so of course when walking we eat some.


Bruny island

Ferry crossing only 20-30 minutes and you stay in your car for the trip. We get there for the first crossing at 9.30am , while we are waiting we ring and book a cruise around Bruny Island and into the southern ocean. South Bruny island is the last place Captain Cook visited in Australia before his death.
When we get off the ferry, our first stop is a cheese manufacturer offering cheese tasting. When we pull in we find a cafe` and only 5 cheeses to taste. We were given the tiniest piece to try , no bigger then my thumbnail. We ordered a piece of camembert and a french style matured in Huon pine boards, then came the surprise ,the price, my god they know how to charge, more than my expensive organic goats milk cheese . We had this cheese for lunch it was nice but not that nice. Would have rather spent money on something else, better stick to the budget from now on.] 
 
Bruny is made of two islands joined by a piece of land called the' Neck' , in places only wide enough for two cars, ocean each side. We drive to south part just past the neck to a camp because we want to go back to the neck for the fairy penguin rookery. The walk is only 3 km each way, which we do in the afternoon as there is also a lookout on top of the hill.
 
 
Larry decides to go back after dark, not me I can't do that walk again. I get a bit worried when he is not back by 10pm because he has not got a torch, so I go walking down the road with the big torch then think he may come back via the beach so go back. It is very dark , no moon light and he walks part road then along the beach how he finds the path which brings you out opposite camp , I do not know. He finds a dead seal on the beach no live ones but sees penguins.
We move further south and go to Mavista reserve walk. This is apretty good dense cold rain forest walk for 45 mins, no platypus , some birds. We head further south to Cloudy Bay and walk along the cliff tops looking down to a surf beach, which we were to camp at , but it full of young surfers so move on.
We go to Jetty beach, we were going to stay here a couple of days anyway This is a couple of kilometres from Cape Bruny lighthouse.It is in South Bruny island National Park. Walk around to next bay and back find another dead seal on the beach.
 
 

We go on our cruise to the southern ocean on a 12.5 metre Naiad powered by3 low emission 4 stroke outboards. The boat is open with forward facing seats so you get this oversized heavy orange raincoat that has to go over your head, so no long opening to let water in. It goes to your ankles nearly so you can seat on it and not get wet.
We see what the power of the southern ocean has carved into the cliffs. The cliffs are 272m high made from Jurassic Dolerite formed 160million years ago and are some of the tallest in the world.
 

We drift up to what is called “breathing rock' where water rushes into a undersea cave and when full the pressure causes an explosion of water upwards quite high. We pass through a narrow gap which has been carved by the ocean, the waves make it a bit of an exciting trip.


Travelling to the point where the Tasman sea meets the southern ocean and on to The Friars . A group of rocks used as a seal haulout.


On the way back we pass a sea bird feeding frenzies with gannets, shearwaters,cormorants and a couple of albatross.
We spend the next night at our first campsite so we can get an early start and be on the early ferry back to mainland Tasmania.

When we get of the ferry we head to Hobart and visit the Cadbury chocolate factory. This was established in 1921. We watch a video and presentation of how chocolate is made and sample the various stages and finished product. Yes we buy some, grandkids there might be some left when we get back.
We had planned to stay in Hobart at the showgrounds but it not that nice for the same price as the caravan park out at the airport after the discount for members, so thats where we go. Nice hot showers, cook in their camp kitchen, have toast. I have not had toast for awhile as we can not cook toast camping.
In the morning we drive out over the Tasman Bridge and head for Port Arthur and the Tasman Peninsula.


We stop at Eaglehawk and the Tessellated Pavement. A natural rock formation eroded by the sea making the rocks look like tiles.

 

We walk along the highest sea cliffs in Southern hemisphere sea more sea caves and a natural blowhole.

On to Taranna and the Tasmanian Devil conservation park,that has a good breeding population of cancer free devils, we also find quolls. They have a tunnel leading into a boy devil enclosure that ends with you standing with your head in a see through dome at ground level. This dome was in need of a clean so none of our photos turned out. We were eye to eye with the boy who kept turning around and showing us he was a boy.


Down to the Port Arthur and the preserved convict settlement from the 19 century, this is World Heritage listed.


We spend the night at Fortescue Bay National Park next to the beach. We have wallaby visitors late afternoon and possums in the annex at night tipping things over. They managed to get under the bottom in a little bit where the ground was not level. 
 

The only place we have seen live seals is off Bruny island ,we do find a dead one washed up on this beach, they are supposed to haul out along this coast.
We are heading up the east coast from here next is Freycinet coast and wineglass bay.
We head the coast road up to Triabunna Bay, nice drive mostly dirt and gravel road through forest and close to the coast. We find an echidna crossing the road but no wombats and definitely no devils. We stay the night behind the Triabunna Bay hotel , you just have to put a gold coin in the fire fighting collection box.
This is where you get the ferry to Maria island. No cars allowed you walk or push bike. This island was also a convict island which was then turned into a nature preserve.

It is the long weekend and the camp at Mayfield Bay is already full, we spend the night at the edge on the roadside, so we can still walk to the toilets. Not good though, cars passing all night, but there are others here too. We move early to the Freycinet National park and find mix up in our site and spend the first night at Moulting lagoon, an area set aside for conservation. But they allow duck shooting March to April, and while we setting up we here bang, bang, ah well have to stay some where , all other camps full in the area.At least tomorrow we get into National park camp and have hot showers. It looks like rain so we decide to put the tarp across the top, this takes the both of us and as we are doing this I look around to see a large Tiger snake pass. Neither of us could let go tarp to get camera, finally mange to get to one only intie to get its tail disappearing in grass.

We first visit Cape Tourville lookout and lighthouse. You get to lookout to sea and at a couple of rocks called The Nuggets. These have nesting birds and yes some seals on them. You need binoculars or zoom lens on camera .
 

  If you look the other way you see Wineglass Bay.
The next day we go to see Wineglass Bay. There are no roads in , you either take a boat or walk.
Wineglass Bay
You drive to a car park then walk to the lookout first, this is a 1 hour walk and steep. When you get there take pictures and sit awhile ready for the even steeper walk down to the beach at Wineglass bay for a swim. We start down but some of the rocks we have to clamber over are going to be too much for me to get back up. The only other alternative is a 4 -5 hour walk out the other side of the beach , which is not so hard, and as we had not planned on this it is not an option. We do not have enough water or food for this. So Larry does the 1.5 hour walk down to beach and back, I return to the lookout to wait for him. He finds the return up from the beach hard too, so we both have a slower walk back to the car park.


 

We get back to camp and have a nice swim and then an even nicer hot shower.
 
 Baby metallic skink found in shower
We are heading up the east coast to St Helens and the Bay of fires.
We stop at Bicheno for some shopping and to look around, then go to Douglas Apsley National park to see the gorge and waterhole. Decide it is a little cold for a swim . The water is crystal clear and very inviting, some other people had just got out, but no too cold for me.

Camping here is walk in and we can not as no other tent so we stop at Lagoons beach for the night . Another mistake as two bus loads of kids about 12 yo turns up and camp beside us. We did get part of the day quiet as they left to go with there boards to a safer beach, but no camping there. We do try to find a place to swim but there is too many currants and undertows. The buses return at 7pm and from then on only noise so we move early next morning and are not our usual quiet selves packing up.
It had been a very cold windy wet night and some of their tents were a little the worse for ware. The teachers had no control over them and they did as they pleased, passing through our little space so we had no peace. We like peace and quiet these days to listen to birds and see things quietly.

We stop in Scamander and walk around a forest reserve. They have the tallest white gums in the world here.
We stop at Humbug Bay conservation area at the Dora point camp site for a couple of days of walking and swimming and snorkelling . It has flush toilets, a cold shower and separate little camp sites like most national parks, it is good.We have only 10 days left so the decision has to be made what we want to see and which way we go to do this.