10/21 - The Drive, a Platypus Walk, and Wooden Boats

10/21/2012 - We extended the drive we did recently and headed down and around the coast.  Weather still 'off and on' to start.

The entire drive... went south from Blackman's Bay to start

We got to a little town called Cygnet and they were having a "Saturday Market".  We bought some herbed goat cheese right from the farmer for 'nibbles' this afternoon.  






The drive to the Hastings Cave Visitor Center was quite muddy and steep... it wouldn't have been bad without the rain, but it made the car a tad slippery.




We missed the cave tour, dang it, but the ranger said we might be able to see a platypus in the stream next to the walkway - so we went on the Platypus walk.

No platypus so far so we also did the Hot Springs Circuit to see if we might catch sight of one on that path.  The springs in the area are warm, but not like Yellowstone.

Fascinating art work

Very Large Gum tree (Eucalyptus)

The platypus never got the memo that we were going to be coming by for a visit.  The plaque marks the spot they favor, but no sign today.

So the ranger took out the stuffed platypus and let Lee hold it.  The bill is fleshy, not hard.

Fascinating fact, the males have sturdy spur on the back legs that inject Venom.  So the platypus is a venomous, egg laying mammal!

We headed back up the road to Huonville.  We were going to do the Tahune Forest Airwalk except that the visitors center was at the end of a 26 kilometer unpaved road and it was pouting down rain... We have to save that for another visit.

So we stopped at the Wooden Boat Center where they have a small museum and give classes on boat building.

The wood that is best for boats is the Huon Pine since water doesn't affect it and bugs hate it.  Problem is that the pine grows very slowly and it was almost logged out of existence.

Blackwood is also good for boats; however, its' dust particles have tiny barbs so it almost acts like asbestos - once in your lungs, it digs in and in.   The wood is gorgeous.

The boat in these 3 pictures has an interesting interior... this wood is planed pieces of an aqueduct that was dismantled in Strahan, Tasmania.  Re-purposing wood is great and this will be a beautiful boat.











This is one of the student creations... seems like this is the same wood.  









They do other work on boats, too, like working on the set of batteries in this boat.

Our tour guide carved this after visiting Seattle and seeing Gary Larson's cartoons.

This was yet another fascinating day in Tassie.

10/19 & 10/20 - Leaving Coles Bay, MONA, and Further Explorations around Hobart

 10/19/2012 -  We headed back to Hobart for our final days in Tasmania... we are leaving Michael & Nola's wonderful home and are still amazed at how beautiful it is and how wonderful the views are!  We cannot say "Thanks!" to them enough!

We stopped at MONA just off the highway north of Hobart.  MONA is the Museum Of New and old Art.  People said MONA is a Love/Hate relationship and we agree.

There were some interesting pieces and a lot of 'weird' - I guess I'm not as 'artsy fartsy' as I thought. Will mention art again when we stop in Auckland for one day on the way home.

We started at the lowest level and began working our way up.  There was a 'waterfall' that streamed down in words - AMAZING!!!  No photo - dumb me.

These are insect carapaces - teeny to rather large.

This is a skull (bug carapaces) and a stuffed bird.

 These two works were really good!  There were a couple more cool items, and one rather stinky one.

We kind of pooped out as we kept seeing less and less that we liked.

Entrance from the ferry.

 It was a fascinating place.


10/20/2012 - If you are in Hobart on a Saturday, it is almost mandatory that you visit Salamanca Markets.  They were great, like Eumundi!

We picked up a few things, snacked a bit (of course), and checked with the honey market whether we could take Leatherwood Honey through New Zealand.  Leatherwood honey is a strong flavored honey - this link says it better than I.

Built by the Wooden Boat Center - raffled off today.

Unfortunately, honey is one thing New Zealand will not allow into their country and will take away and destroy so we didn't buy any.

We praised  the gent for telling us instead of taking advantage.

Wood, wood...

... and More wood.

We couldn't take too many photos or the artists get cranky.  So we wandered off to explore the area near the markets.

Park Entrance... to the hill.

Old Hotel

House in Arthur Circus

Old street going down to the Market

Music at the Market... Bluesy group and good!

Another park entrance

They have lovely parks.

It started spitting rain as we walked back to the car.



Brian and Lyn suggested a short drive down the coast from Blackman's bay.  We stopped at a park that had been used by the military to protect the harbor.

 The park had great views... of course.

This drive was close to the water so we got a slightly different view of one of the fish farms.

The road became unpaved and went between to cow pastures... and this light colored Tiger Snake was making his way from one pasture to the other.  He's (or she's) a big one!

Of course we got another cool road sign.  This warns drivers to watch out for the Eastern Quoll - an insect eating nocturnal creature.





We got to this point and knew we had gone too far so we turned around and headed back to the house.

Nice reflection, even though the...

Tide's Out

Nice day - again!