Day 30: 2/10/12 Day 2 Tasmania
Slept until about 1am last night and then I'd say I woke every half hour after that- I don't know why!
The tour guide collected me in the morning. There are 14 people on the trip, but not everyone is on the 5day tour- some shorter, some longer. There's 4 Japanese people- a couple in their forties about and two girls in their 20's or 30's I'd say. There are four from the Netherlands- one woman in we thirties who was visiting her brother in Tasmania and a girl in her twenties that's on an internship in Sydney and her parents. There's a mother and daughter from Texas that are living in Perth. There's a woman in her 30's from Israel, here on a holiday and finally a couple in their sixties I'd say from Southampton. A very varied mix of people!!
Theres a Cadburys chocolate factory in Tasmania which we could see across the Derwent river when we left Hobart. If I had time in Hobart I'd be visiting that! I'd also like to go to Port Arthur where the main jail was, but our tour isn't going there.
We passed Mt Wellington which Hobart was built under. It was founded in 1804: the 2nd oldest city in Australia after Sydney. It still has old buildings.
The island was calledVan diemens land- Dutch saw it first and named it after some Dutch guy. It was Called that until 1856. In 1803The French were exploring along the east coast. The British were afraid they would take Tasmania so they sailed down quickly and claimed it using French gunpowder (as they forgot their own) for the 21 salute
Theres Lots of water in Tasmania compared to the rest of Australia. The River Derwent is quite wide near Hobart and it supplies 60% of the water on the island
Convict labour was used in Tasmania until 1853- they built bridges and railways and mre. The English sent prisoners out here as their jails were full thinkinh that they wouldnt come back and while they were there they could build the place.
The Island is 1% of Australians landmass, but contains 12% of its water. The guide likes to call it North and South island, rather than mainland.
There are 18 national parks here and a third of the island is reserved area. It has a Temperate climate. Theres very little flat ground, lots of hills. Also, interestingly, there Hardly any flies as it is too cold (Its not even as cold as Ireland- how do we have flies?)
We passed a factory called Norske Skog which is a paper mill and makes half of all Newspaper paper in Australia
Long ago, in Norfolk island (between Brisbane and Auckland) the Brits used wood for masts of ships- they couldn't get the tall wood in many places. The Masts however weren't great so they stopped making them. They had sent Convicts there to make the masts. They now had nothing to do so they sent them to Tasmania and set up a town called New Norfolk. They Worked hard to build houses and grow crops- there were no sheep or cattle. There was very little food and they thought they would have to abandon living on Tasmania altogether. The Convicts were given guns to kill kangaroos n wallabies in an effort to get food but they never came back. As they had gunscould take over towns. Bush rangers also had free reign.
In New Norfolk we passed the Oldest pub in Australia, but I barely saw it as he said it when we were already phased it!
The whole island is Very green with lots of trees and bushes. Some of the trees are really tall and some of it has really dense forest.
In some areas they grow hops. They grow on vines along a string. You could see lots of stakes and strings ready fir planting. They have a hops festival and hops experts come to taste the beer- like wine tasting! The hops is used in Tasmanian beers and German beers. We Stopped for photo looking down a valley where there were lots of stakes for hops.
Then we drove to Mt Field national park where Russell Falls is. The nearby town was called Russell but people were getting confused between it and the waterfull so they changed it To Westerway!
In the 1880's and 1890's Hiking was a rich mans pastime- they got a train to the park. Only me hiked, women couldn't be seen to do it and hoop skirts wouldn't allow it. Poor people were too busy trying to make a living and didn't have the time or money to go hiking.
At the national park, the driver/guide let us off at a trail and told us to follow it to the car park, which was going to be about 40 minutes away. Initially we were on the Tall trees walk- one was 79m high. Tasmania has the tallest flowering plant in the world which could possibly be eucalyptus???
The Walk through the forest was pretty with lots of moss and ferns- perfect area for fairies in films!!
Then we got to Horseshoe falls which was exactly what it says on the tin- waterfalls in the shape of a horseshoe (ish).
Then we got to Russell falls. This was much more impressive as it sort of had two tiers. These falls seem famous enough and are on stamps and pictures. This area seems to be a National park since 1917.
Then we went back driving again!
In Tasmania, 80% if their power comes from water. There are 6 dams. The Rest of the power comes from wind. There is a Pipeline from Victoria if it is needed.
The names of the towns are British, swiss, German, French...Lots of influences!
We Stopped at a supermarket then in the middle of nowhere and were told to buy something for lunch. The shop didn't have much to offer! Even when w got something, we weren't given any time to eat it- so everyone just ate on the bus throughout the day!
On the island there is a Plateau at the top, around it is very low. It was Pushed up with plate movement or sonething.
We passed meadow type areaswith weird browny greeny grass, like small pampas grass. The guide was saying how rainwater passes through the roots of the grass and makes the water brown. I was convinced he was calling it Butt grass but later on I saw it written down and it was actually button grass!
When Europeans arrived they found the Tasmanian tiger which is now extinct since the 1930s. They were killed as they thought they were killing the sheep, they never proved that they were!
One of the mountains is called Mt Olympus as the explorer, Governor franklin, had a Greek wife
We stopped for toilets at the Hungry wombat cafe which I thought was a great name for a place! It was really in the middle of nowhere though!
Then we got to Lake St. Clair. It was a lovely view as the sun was shining right down on it. It is the Deepest lake in oz. It was left after a glacier. The First Europeans got here in 1836- governor franklin and his wife lady jane- she got 4 convicts to carry her in a chair!
Next stop was to take photos of some mountains-King William range- nicknamed the pyramids.
Then we saw another waterfall- Nelson falls. Another nice walk through a forest. On the information board there was a picture of a guy that lived in the next house long ago playing his squeezebox- so they obviously brought accordions over!
There used to be a lovely pink quartzite lake/beach nearby but the government built a dam and flooded the area so that you can't see the beach anymore. In the past the Politicians didnt support conservationism really as mining, logging, hydro electricity all create more jobs than conservationism. Now they are more concerned about the environment. The Gordon below franklin dam which the government proposed to build caused lots of controversy in 1979. The Other government party in 1982 promised to make it a world heritage area if elected. Laywers said it was a project of state significance so it could go ahead anyway. People protested and 1200 arrested. It had interest from countries all over the world and in 1983 there was a ruling for no dam.
Obviously this was a penal colony. The Convicts could work for the government or settlers. Working fof settlers was easier. Port Arthur was the jail they were sent to for secondary punishment if they misbehaved! So convicts just tried to do their time and behave, hoping they would be rewarded. Indeed the government did give out free land. Some convicts ended up very rich while lesser criminals were still poor in England. Burberry was one of these guys. He ended up owning 6 properties and there is a lake named after him.
We passed through an area which used to have a Mining town with 1000 people in the 1900s. There is practically Noone here now- only about 3 houses. There was Gold here and when it was gone they discovered copper ore. They had to bring in experts to show them how to mine it. In the other part of the island there are also other minerals- zinc, tin, lead and silver.
The whole area was mined and we saw a huge Hole in the mountains from mining which is now full if water. Lyell was one of the main owners of the mining industry in this area.
Charles Darwin came here in 1822. Lyell was one of the co authors of his famous book. Because people believed he was being sacreligious, the Low mts are named after darwins followers and the higher ones after his critics.
Next stop was a lookout over Queenstown. The Southampton man wasn't impressed at all and made out we shouldn't have gotten out of the bus!! Around Queenstown they burnt trees to burn the rock and concentrate the copper when they were mining. Now it is just bare rock. Sulphur was burned off and now no more vegetation is growing.
The Houses in Queenstown are from the 1920s, mostly look like Galvanise. Mines in this area are down from 44 to 1- which still keeps the town open. All copper is exported.
After that we passed Queenstown international airport!! It was literally just a strip of Tarmac- they have taken down the buildings!
The bus journey is quite boring as all you can see is trees, trees, trees! I don't think I've ever seen so many trees! There aren't even houses to be seen. The bus is fairly stuffy aswell so everyone we sat in it everyone fell asleep! The guide seems to know a lot about the area but he has a really boring voice and seems a bit away with the fairies sometimes (he doesn't seem to know much about what well be doing the next few days)- which doesn't help people to stay awake!
Then we got to Strahan. It is a fishing/tourist town and seems tiny. It used to be a port for export. The guide drove passed the few shops so we could see it- it's no bigger than Moylough, with very few houses around!
Our accommodation is here. I'm sharing with the Israeli and the Dutch which is grand! We had a barbecue cooked by the woman of the hostel- who actually set the barbecue on fire! It still tasted nice though!
Then I went to a common area to use the Internet. There was no one there! Then went back to the room and read before going to sleep!
It was a nice day- the waterfalls, lake, forests, etc were all pretty but I was on the bus looking at trees most of the day! Just average so - hoping tomorrow is better!