Whistle-stop Tour Tasmania!

I recently spent five wonderful days with friends Michelle, Serge and Claire from Lyon in France, showing them some of our fascinating state.

Day 1

We left Launceston and headed south to Hobart. Our first stop was Ross and the Tasmanian Wool Centre where we viewed different types of fleeces and saw many beautiful woollen products. Then it was on to Oatlands to see Lake Dulverton and the Callington Mill followed by lunch at The Oatlands Pancake Shop.

Serge is a fan of all things 'train' so from there we drove to Glenorchy and spent a couple of hours at the Tasmanian Transport Museum which has a fabulous display of old trains and engines, fire engines and buses. A visit to Mount Wellington is a must and we had perfect weather for incredible views of Hobart from the top. Dinner that night was at the quirky Drunken Admiral Restaurant on Hobart's waterfront following a drink at the Grape Wine and Food Bar at Salamanca Place.

Lunching at The Oatlands Pancake Shop with Claire and Serge

At the Tasmanian Transport Museum with Claire 

The view from Mount Wellington

Claire, Serge and Michelle on Mount Wellington

Hobart waterfront

With Michelle at The Drunken Admiral

Day 2

Our first stop was the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary at Brighton where we saw a huge range of Tasmanian animals including Wombats, Kangaroos (which Serge and Claire hand-fed) and Wallabies, Echidna, Tasmanian Devils, Quolls and Koalas. We also saw lots of birds including the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos, Corellas, Galahs and Kookaburras - and a Blue Tongued Lizard.

From there we drove to Richmond to see the famous Richmond Bridge, Australia's oldest and some crafts including beautiful Tasmanian timbers. We lunched at Czegs' Cafe and then drove to Frogmore Creek Winery to check out the vineyard. Finally we walked along the sand at Seven Mile Beach and collected some beautiful shells.

That night we had pre-dinner drinks at the Atrium Bar at the Grand Chancellor Hotel and then dined at Mures Lower Deck.

At the Richmond Bridge with Michelle and Serge

On Seven Mile Beach

Day 3

We left early this morning and drove to Tarraleah in the Tasmanian wilderness where we took in the amazing views of the Hydro. On to The Wall in the Wilderness at Derwent Bridge followed by a very 'Aussie' lunch of meat pie, cake and tea at The Hungry Wombat Cafe.

From there we drove up to Miena and stopped for a photo opportunity at The Great Lake, then to Deloraine for lunch at the Deloraine Deli. Our final destination was Cradle Mountain that afternoon with dinner at the Cradle Mountain Hotel.

At Tarraleah

At the Great Lake

Serge's turn to drive

Views from one of many lookouts on the road

Day 4

When in Cradle Mountain, one has to hike the Dove Lake Circuit and this we did after visiting the Wilderness Gallery adjacent to the Cradle Mountain Hotel and seeing wallabies in the wild. The hike took us about three hours and although the weather was inclement at times we took lots of photographs including several of a fantastic rainbow that arced right over the lake.

On our way back to the visitors' centre we stopped at Ronny Creek and walked a few hundred metres along the Overland Track to see wombats in the wild. Lunch was at the Cradle Mountain Cafe at the visitors' centre and after a restful afternoon we dined at the Tavern at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge.

Claire and Michelle in the Ballroom Forest

Dove Lake Circuit

On the start of the Overland Track

Rainbow over Dove Lake

Playing 'Pool' with Serge before dinner

With Michelle at Peppers Cradle Mountain Resort

Day 5

We drove to Sheffield and saw this year's Mural Fest entries as well as previous winners. We then drove through to Launceston stopping at Elizabeth Town Cafe for morning tea. At Launceston we headed straight to the Cataract Gorge where we walked amongst the peacocks and took in the beauty of the gorge.

From there we visited the Queen Victoria Museum at Inveresk where we saw the Railway Workshop and more Tasmanian animals (the taxidermy variety). Then it was on to City Park to see our resident macaques before lunching at Cube at Seaport, and then finally home.

What a wonderful five days!

Suez to Greece

Cruise 2 Day 11 – Suez Canal

A canal was originally excavated between the Nile River delta and the Red Sea around the 13^th Century BC but was neglected on and off for centuries before being re-excavated in 1859. The current Suez Canal opened on 17 November 1869 at a cost of $100 million. An international convention signed in 1888 allowed all nations to use the canal, without discrimination, in peace and in war, but this didn’t stop nations quibbling over it for decades. However now, around 7.5% of the world’s sea trade is carried via the canal which is 163 kms long.

Today we are second in a convoy of 21 ships heading north and 11 ships are heading south on the first of two passages - all in all, 58 ships will traverse the canal today.

The land on the port side of the ship is fenced in brick along the canal just metres in from the water’s edge. Among the green vegetation, properties consisting of flat-topped mud-brick looking homes are surrounded by healthy crops. Every few kilometres a cylindrical-shaped sand-coloured watch tower breaks the fence line and in the distance brown sandy mountains so synonymous with the Middle East stretch the length of the canal.

Then there are the towns with their modern homes and high-rise apartments as well as the odd mosque and luxury resort. We sail past one densely populated city, half of its hundreds of multi-storey brick buildings appearing unfinished or empty. Now and then the canal breaks into two lanes to allows ships to pass and then we see banks of sand on both sides of the ship, and along with the enormous barges and container ships we are literally ships in the desert.

During our 10 hour voyage up the canal, cruising at 8 knots, we pass two large lakes, the Little Bitter and the Great Bitter. And we sail under the Al Salam Peace Bridge, at 3.9 kms long, the longest single-span bridge in the world with a top height of 70 metres. On the starboard side of the ship the sand stretches on forever. Occasionally there are buildings, even the odd town, but mostly there is desert, and it is all so fascinating!

The city of Suez

The channel with ships heading south

Memorial in the shape of an AK47

The halfway mark

Al Salam Peace Bridge

Still using horse and cart

One of many cities we passed

Port Said, the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea

Cruise 2 Day 13 – Piraeus, Greece

Today we chose to see Piraeus instead of the capital, so we took a ‘train’ to the city and walked the old port area. Unfortunately it was Orthodox Easter Monday so most businesses were closed but there were plenty of coffee shops and tavernas open. We discovered Piraeus has some lovely homes and apartments, and some very expensive boats moored in its harbour.

After an hour or so we stopped in at the very modern Gazi College café for a very strong Greek coffee. We followed this up, after a walk through the city, with calamari and taramasalata whitebait, and a delicious glass of Greek wine in a lovely outdoor setting at the Belle Amie taverna.

Around Piraeus

 

The very modern Gazi College Cafe

Bell Amie Taverna

Our transport for the day

Celebrating Kevin's birthday back on board the ship at QSine Restaurant

Cruise 2 Day 14 – Katakolon, Greece

Having seen the ancient city of Olympia previously we decided to stay in Katakolon, and what a great decision. We walked with Terri, John (and Kevin) into the village, one of the most picturesque we’ve seen since the Greek Islands. Right on the water, it is packed full of interesting well-presented shops selling a huge variety of reasonably priced goods.

A visit to the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology was a must and what a fascinating place it was. The ancient Greeks used all manner of pulleys, gears and chains with water and fire to create cutting edge technology like clocks, wine pourers, music boxes, measuring instruments, farm machinery and even defence weapons. Fascinating.

We lunched at a taverna right on the water and were serenaded by a guitarist and piano accordionist as we enjoyed outstanding local Greek food and wine. Then we shopped ‘til we dropped and came back to the ship carrying bags of goodies.

The weather in Greece has been amazing; around 21 degrees with blue skies and lots of sunshine, perfect for getting out and mixing with the friendly locals. And we couldn’t leave Greece without adopting one of their beautiful little donkeys so Dionysius (Dion for short) now joins Caramel on our journey.

The Museum of Ancient Greek Technology

Enjoying coffee in a quirky coffee shop

Around Katakolon

Caramel with Dion (Dionysius)

and with Kevin!