Australia
St Georges Square

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    • Day 24

      Nörgelig nach Launceston

      October 25, 2022 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

      Um 5 Uhr weckt mich mein Wecker in meiner Schlafliege (Ich hab' Urlaub! 😥)
      Umziehen, Frühstück, von Bord gehen, Shit ... Regen

      Was als leichter Regen begann, regnete sich schließlich ein.
      Straßensperrung auf meiner Route nach einigen km. Ein freundlicher Pickup-Fahrer meinte aber mit dem Rad käme man durch. So war's auch.
      Ich hatte die Straße dann über viele km für mich.
      Nach der Baustelle stieg die Straße ordentlich an. Nach einer gefühlten Ewigkeit war ich oben. Der Regen hatte etwas nachgelassen und ich habe schon mit dem Gedanken gespielt, die Regenhose auszuziehen. Hier beginnt das Tamar Valley. Scheint eine Wetterscheide zu sein. Jedenfalls wehte mir ab da der Wind mit Macht ins Gesicht und trieb immer neue Regenschauer heran. Zudem hatte ich mich von "Tal" ins Boxhorn jagen lassen. Es ging nicht bergab sondern weiter bergan. Nachdem ich zuvor bereits eine kurze Pause mit einer Handvoll Nüssen im Stehen unter einem Baum gemacht hatte, fand ich jetzt einen Unterschlupf zum Verschnaufen der wenigstens trocken war: Kriegsdenkmal mit Vereinsheim. Toilettenhäuschen. offen. Nicht lauschig aber Schutz vor Regen und Wind. Vorräte leer gegessen: Nudelsalat, Kekse, Schokolade, Wasser. Man nimmt's wie's kommt. 😏

      Ab da war das Schlimmste überstanden und es ging bergab. Aber der bis dahin schwache bis nicht vorhandene Verkehr nahm zu und da waren sie auch wieder, die Roadtrains. Hier mit Holz beladen. Ein Truck transportiert einen halben Wald ab. Die voll beladenen überholten mich. Schlimmer waren die leeren, die mir auf der eher engen Straße entgegen kamen. Deren Sog riss mich jeweils fast vom Rad

      Ach ja, Landschaft 🤔
      War auch vorhanden, aber ich war mit mir beschäftigt und meinem Selbstmitleid ob des schlechten Wetters 😏
      Also zu sehen gab's hügeliges Farmland, Schafe, Rinder und ein mürrischer Radfahrer 🙂

      Ausgedehnte Pause in Exeter in einer meiner geliebten Bäckereien. Warme Bude. Draußen hat der Regen aufgehört. Ich bin immer noch nass bis auf die Haut. Aber es ist ja nicht kalt. Deshalb ab jetzt wieder besser gelaunter Radfahrer. Noch 25km bis Launceston. Angeblich eben. Müsste zu schaffen sein.

      War's dann auch. Radeln entlang des Tamar River, später dann auf Schnellstraße mit breitem Seitenstreifen. Trocken bei steigenden Temperaturen bis über 20°C aber weiter stark bewölkt. Der letzte Abschnitt hat dann mit dem Vormittag versöhnt.

      Heute Backpacker-Hostel. Einfach. Sauber. Günstig.
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    • Day 1,992

      St Helens/Wineglass Bay

      November 6, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      We woke up to another fine sunny day, which was good as we had made plans to leave early and drive south to Freycinet National Park. We had been looking forward to seeing Wine Glass Bay and completing the circular walk via Mt Amos lookout, Wine Glass Beach and Hazard Bay which starts at the National Park car park near Coles Bay.
      Today is the Tasmanian spring Bank Holiday, " Recreation Day" so we had anticipated that the roads would be busy. We hardly saw a soul on the roads and arrived at 10:15 ready for our breakfast before the walk.
      The walk took us up the side of Mount Amos to a lookout over Wineglass Bay, named by a French sailor working for Napoleon B under orders to survey the coastline. There are many more French name references in the area, however MacLean Bay would not be one of them - this we passed just north of Bicheno.
      The lookout is reached by a steady incline and many stairs - Alan counted over 450- and the views at the lookout were worth the effort. Walkers are then given the opportunity to return to the car park or take the 1000 steps down onto Wine Glass Beach. The 1000 steps were spread over a walk of about 2km so it did not seem too arduous. Karen could not resist having a paddle in the clear water on the beach. Moving on we passed over the ithsmus to the other side of the headland, passing an internal lagoon before dropping once again to a beach. On this stretch an echidna popped out of the undergrowth in front of us and had a little rummage on the pathway. We stopped for a snack at the end of the beach before taking the long walk back upon a very undulating landscape through the bush and woods. We did not count all the steps up and down taken over the 15km walk but it must have been about 3000. We arrived back at the car park quite weary and headed off to the Marine Fishery where fish based fare was on offer.
      The food was tasty and plentiful - a bowlful of moules mariniere for Karen and fish and chips for Alan. Afterwards we drove back into Coles Bay to try the local Ice Cream. All in all a full and enjoyable day
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    • Day 19

      Launceston

      January 31, 2017 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

      Heute sind wir in Launceston - es ist die zweitgrößte Stadt auf Tasmanien und eine der ältesten Städte in Australien. Hier stehen auch heute noch gut erhaltene alte viktorianische und historische Gebäude. Uns ist aufgefallen, dass die Fronten (wie so oft in Australien) mit billig wirkenden Vordächern versehen sind...Read more

    • Day 155

      Schnabeltier, Schnabeligel, Schnabel...

      March 2, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Nach einem kurzen Abstecher zur schönen Bay of Fires fuhren wir auf der North East Route in Richtung Launceston.
      In Beauty Point machten wir beim Platypus-Haus einen Halt. Hier gibt es eine der wenigen Möglichkeiten, Schnabeltiere und Schnabeligel von Nahem zu betrachten.
      Die Schnabeltiere waren hauptsächlich im Wasser unterwegs und paddelten und plantschten umher.
      Die Schnabeligel waren da schon zutraulicher und wir konnten uns direkt neben sie setzen. Während sie etwas zu essen erhielten, konnten wir sie von Nahem beobachten und sie kurvten zwischen unseren Beinen umher.
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    • Day 179

      Platypi & Kilkenny

      November 29, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

      Yesterday was another epic day. After I checked into my pod, I visited the Platypus House. They have both platypi and echidnas, the only two monotremes in the world. I saw a few echidna along the gravel roads, but I won't be anywhere to see platypi in the wild, so this was the next best thing.

      After I got back to the pod--which is most awesome--I stopped by the Plough Inn, then The Irish. They had my favorite beer, Kilkenny! Yummy! Around 21:00 a young man got on stage with a keyboard, a guitar, and a microphone and proceeded to bring the house down. Better yet, thanks to my hash shirt, I met a former hasher and he connected me with the local kennel. Trail is this evening!

      Now I'm eating lunch before walking to the pier for a Tamar River Cruise. Should be great despite the mostly cloudy skies.

      So long [for now] and thanks for all the MONOTREMES. ✌️
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    • Launceston

      December 20, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

      A quick stop in Launceston to visit Charlie's Dessert House which Mischa had been hanging out for. Very decedent and everyone full afterwards. Luca managed to just avoid disaster when trying to tackle his, knocking it over and just losing a bit of the milk shake.Read more

    • Day 41

      Wasserfall & Launcestone

      February 21, 2019 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

      Mit einer Wanderung zu einem weiteren Wasserfall startet unser heutiger Tag, danach geht es für uns für einen kurzen Zwischenstopp in die zweitgrößte Stadt Tasmaniens - Launceston.

    • Day 4

      Launceston

      February 24, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Today we headed from Swansea to Launceston. This is only a couple of hours drive straight through but we took our time and found a few interesting things on the way.

      First stop was a small town called Campbell Town. One thing I have noticed about Tasmania is there is a lot of convict history and Campbell Town was a prime example. Originally there was a creek running through the town but they decided they wanted to change the direction so they had the convicts build a bridge and then dig a channel to reroute the creek so it ran under the bridge.

      More recently the town established a convict trail of bricks that showed the name, ship, and crime of Tasmanian convicts. The trail ran up and down the Main Street. There were a number of convict era buildings in the town some with cells in the basement.

      After Campbell Town we headed on to Evandale. This is a classified historic town and we just happened to be there when the Evandale town fair was on which meant they had penny farthing bike races around the town. Classic! They had speed races, slow races, slalom races, biathlon races, novice races, and lots more. There was a Japanese bloke there who is apparently a TV star in Japan so he had an entourage of camera people filming him in a couple of races.

      The other thing to note was there were a lot of people with the surname McClintock who obviously live in the town as they were competing and seemed well known.

      We then headed up to Launceston. Once again lots of old buildings and lots of hills. We quickly found our Hotel, had lunch, and went to find the big attraction in Town - the Boags Brewery. They run tours of the brewery with tastings so we were keen. It was an interesting tour and some nice beers with cheese.

      After the tour we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and headed back to the hotel.

      We only have one night in Launceston, tomorrow we are on to Cradle Mountain.
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    • Day 4

      More snow - Derwent Bridge to Strahan

      November 15, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

      We woke to see everything covered in snow and were glad our car had been parked under a carport overnight. We did a quick visit to The Wall in the Wilderness, which is a 100 m x 3 m wooden sculpture that has taken over 11 years, 7 days a week to carve. Photos are not allowed, but if you’re ever in the area pop in because it is amazing.

      Next, stop was Lake St Clare where we had planned to do a short hike. Until we got there and it was about 1 degrees and covered in snow. Dashed out for a quick look at the lake. Graham was feeling especially brave and hit me in the back of the head with a snowball.

      Ok, there are a LOT of waterfalls in Tasmania. We stopped a couple of times and after getting out the car the rain/snow/cold weather made us realise we don’t need to see them all. At one stop this sweet little bird landed on the bonnet to warm up. I don’t blame him!

      The final leg was driving a stretch called 99 Bends. Driving 99 Bends in the snow was an exciting experience! I asked Graham to slow down and he said “yep, no worries” and continued on at the same speed.

      And here we are in beautiful Strahan. It was worth the 99 corners to get here.
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    • Day 3

      Low Head Penguin Tour

      December 15, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

      Tonight we took a trip to Low Head to see the Little Penguins swim out of the water and waddle into their rookeries. We heard the songs the males sung to the females in an effort to mate and saw what happens when unsuccessful with the female kicking the male out with a nip on his tail feathers!! And then he tried it on again with the same result!! We saw baby penguins and heard the babies call to their parents, they sound a bit like some of the night birds that we have at home.

      It was so adorable and I'm so glad we got the opportunity to see them 💜💜💜
      🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧
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