Even though they have the Devil, Tasmania is nothing like Hell. It’s more like Heaven, and I almost skipped it because of the weather forecast, but it was all perfect!

The weather might have been perfect, but they have some funny things with animals. First of all, they have a town called Penguin, but there are no penguins at Penguin. Then there was this white wallaby, a goat eating out of his nose (he must have been bored), and a Llama in pajamas. But the good thing is, they also have fields with cows, sheep’s, and wallabies with little Joeys ( the newborn ).

Talking about newborns… Then there was Cradle Mountain, which got is name from a person who could see the shape of a cradle with a baby in the mountain. That’s what the bus driver tolled me, but I didn’t see it. Nevertheless Cradle Mountain National Park was really… spectacular.

By the way: At the information center you can get this little brochure with the 60 Great Short Walks (GSW) of Tasmania. It’s really useful if you have a short time span and did not plan your trip, just like… uhh… me. It gives u all the info you need about how to get there and what to see.

I think 5 of these walks are at Cradle Mountain. A lot of them are boardwalks, others are “real”. Some walks are for a couple of minutes, others are for days. And at some walks the sun is shining at others it snows. It doesn’t matter which one you do, you always see wildlife. Some are trying to hide, others throw snowballs in your face. Talking about snowballs…, one night it was 2 degrees in my buzzz.

If you follow the main highway to the south, you pass a few of these GSW’s with really nice waterfalls. My favorite one was Russel Falls. It had a couple of layers of falling water, which I thought was really cool.

Then I arrived in Hobart, which is a nice city with an old harbor with nice old buildings. It’s also a good place to spend the night when you did a couple of the GSW’s during the day. Like the one at Mount Wellington. Which is just 20 minutes away. Be careful with the school kids tough, don’t feed them, they might bite.

This is also the place where I met Karin from Rotterdam (The Netherlands). She texted me when I was in Melbourne if she could travel with me. But because I left earlier to Tasmania, she took the bus to Hobart as soon as she arrived at Tasmania and joined me along the east coast. bla bla bla...

At the east coast you’ve got a few peninsulas. One of them is Freycinet, also with some GSW’s which lead you to Wineglass Bay. A bay that looks like… Yeah, it’s a hard one…

Further north you have some out-of-the-travel-magazine beaches, like Friendly Beach. (Yes Lisa, that’s the same shell on the picture.)

On my way back to Devonport, where the ferry leaves back to Melbourne, I kicked Karin out of the buzzz at Launceston. Then I drove on to Beauty Point, where I went to Seahorse World and this other thing with platypuses and echidnas. The echidnas are so funny, I almost took one back to Melbourne.

The Devil The Devil

Snowy at Cradle Mt NP Snowy at Cradle Mt NP

Friendly Beach Friendly Beach

Check the next page to see the pictures of this story.