Tasmania - Central

We arrived at Launceston and was surprised to see how big it was (maybe even bigger than Hobart) - it seemed to be quite industrial. It had the Tamar river going through it and our lovely modern apartment (well done to Amy for getting us such exquisite accommodation) overlooked Cataract Gorge - if you ignore the factory rooves in the foreground!

I saw that there was an opportunity to see the only blue penguins in Australia just 1/2 hour up the road at Low Head and both Anne and I seized the chance. We arrived just before dusk and it was extremely windy and cold but we didn't care, we were very excited to see them come out of the sea and go to their rookery. We could not use flash or white light to see them as that would stop them from coming out so the guides used orange light which sort of cancelled out their blue colour. Only one penguin comes out first as they check out for danger before the others follow. When they do come out of the sea they spend quite a lot of time preening and oiling their feathers ready for the next day. We sat their for 2 hours waiting for them to approach us but they were taking their time! Eventually the coach loads of people had to leave and that left 5 of us and a guide - what a treat............ the little buggers came up as soon as the crowds had gone and we had a ringside seat - it was amazing. I could only do video as the light levels were too low and also my camera had difficulty focussing but here are some highlights

The beach where they came out

Anne and I braving the weather

On the way home we talked about how lucky we were to see them up so close and how we were looking forward to seeing Cradle Mountain the next day .........................

Our trip to Cradle mountain was going to be a long one - 2 1/2 hours each way. We had found a leaflet that said there was a lake nearby which took 2 1/2 hours to walk around so we grabbed a picnic lunch and set off. Anne had set the satnav for St Clair Lake so everything was under control. The closer we got to our destination, the worse the weather got - grey, cold and wet! We arrived about midday and went up to the reception to pay for the entrance fee which varied depending on what you intended to do. I said to the man that we had a car, were here for the day and intended to take the 2 1/2 hour walk around the lake. He corrected me saying that the walk was 6 hours, we were a bit suprised but thought nothing of it as he showed a little map with a 2 hour walk on it that would satisfy our needs, at this point Anne said  'but we will still see cradle mountain wont we?' to which he replied 'nope!'   'well why not?' said Anne, 'because it's a 3 1/2 hour drive north' he said with glee. Well at this point they had to scrape me up off the counter as I was laughing so much. Anne was mortified that she had got the wrong lake but looking on the bright side there was a TV monitor in reception showing Cradle mountain covered in thick cloud so we wouldn't have seen it anyway. We ate our packed lunch under shelter because it was torrential rain and set of when it had stopped. According to the information leaflet we could see duck billed platypus in Platypus Bay so that was something to look forward to - except when we got there they were in their burrows as they only come out at dawn and dusk! I didn't see any birds either or wombats in fact apart from having a walk by a lake the only thing that happened (quite frequently) was rain, but we did have a good laugh. On the way home - just to lift our spirits an echidna decided to appear on the roadside which was lovely to see

There was an aboriginal walk part way along the lake which had this sign - it made me very sad as apparently there are no native aboriginals in Tasmania as they were all murdered by the British and I am truly ashamed of my ancesters and would like to profusely apologise on their behalf