Tasmania, April 2005
Yay, we’re on holidays. Instead of filling the front page with posts about things that have happened I’ve decided to create this page and just keep updating it as I can.
Wednesday April 6th, 2005
My last day at work before 2 1/2 weeks of holiday. I didn’t get everything done that I needed/wanted to so I had to have a late one at work. Problem was that we had dinner plans in Brisbane. I ended up having to come back into work after we got back from Brisbane. We got home at 10pm and I got to work at about 10:30pm. I didnt make it home till about 1:30am. Great start to the holidays, no really.
Friday April 8th
This was the day we flew to my mother’s in Tasmania. The day went fairly smoothly and everything appeared to be going well. We thought we had gotten off quite lightly. Kira had not done a poo in 3 days and Stacey and I had been joking that it would happen when we were in the air. We were not too wrong, unfortunately! Just as the plane was starting to taxi into take off position Kira pooed.
It would probably be more accurate to say that a fountain of shit decided to gush out of the back of Kira’s pants. Poor little thing had poo everywhere. Up her back, in her shirt and pants, and unfortunately on her mum’s lap and arm. We had to hold her in a sitting position, trying not to spill any more all through take off before the seat belt signs were turned off and we could get her to the toilet to clean her up.
The rest of the flight went pretty well after that, and landing was the complete opposite of take off. Kira slept through most of the landing, the transfer from her mum to her dad and being carried off the plane.
Saturday April 9th
Today we went into Hobart to check out Salamanca markets. The market was busier than I remember but there was also some form of festival called “10 Days on the Island” causing the crowds to be larger than normal. We strolled around for about 2 hours, not buying much. We grabbed a couple of cute little things for Kira and some nibblies for Mum and I.
After the markets we were headed out to New Norfolk for some kind of autumn festival until we saw a sign that told us it was on till Sunday. We turned back and headed up to the top or mount Wellington instead. The wind was stronger then last time I was up there and it was quite cold. Kira looked really cute all rugged up and was loving the wind. We had a look from a couple of the look out spots and then headed back to the warmth of the car.
Wednesday April 13th
Stacey and Kira went to Melbourne for the day to catch up with a friend that moved down from Brisbane. I spent most of the day bumming around at mums place and helped her a little with the garden.
Friday April 15th
Mum had to work today so Stacey, Kira and I took a trip over to Hastings Caves. It is a little over an hours drive from mum’s place to the caves, with the last stretch being a dirt road. There is a short walk along a boardwalk through the forest to the cave entrance. Once inside it gets very dark very quickly. There are a series of computer controlled lights through the caves that really show off the amazing formations. I’d been to the caves before, but it was so long ago that i had forgotten how amazing they were. After our 30 minute cave tour we headed back towards the warm springs area and went for a short walk around the spring area.
Saturday April 16th
With our incredible run of good weather continuing we decided that we would head down to Port Arthur while the weather was still good. The last thing we wanted to do was to put it off and not get any more good weather. It is about a 1 & ½ hour drive to get to Port Arthur with a few interesting stops on the way if you are inclined. Travelling with an 8 month old makes taking advantage of such stops a little difficult, and we decided not to chance too many stops on the way down.
Not a lot has changed since I was last at Port Arthur, with the exception of the new visitors centre that was built after the unfortunate events of 1996. Stacey was quite amazed at the whole place. She had been expecting something akin to an old town with a couple of ruins, and not the reality that is Port Arthur. We strolled around the grounds for about an hour before taking the boat ride out into the harbour and around the Island of the Dead. About another hour or so of strolling and we decided it was time to head back to the car, and off home again.
On the way home from Port Arthur we stopped and checked out a couple of sea caves and blowholes. We couldn’t spend too long checking them out as it was beginning to get dark and Kira was beginning to get frustrated with spending so much time in the car.
Wednesday April 20th
Walking through the cannopy was the order of the day today. Weather was not the greatest but it held out long enough that we were able to head to the Tahune Air Walk. It is about a 1 hour drive from Mum’s, on the road to Hastings caves. The Airwalk reaches heights around 40 meters above the ground. The sensation of the individual spans swaying with the movement of people and the wind is quite amazing.
The view from the Airwalk is quite amazing at the end of the cantilever up the river is wonderful.
Thursday April 21st
The weather was so nice today that we decided today was the day to head up to Mt Field National Park and Russell Falls. We were fast running out of holiday and didn’t want to pass up the good weather and miss the falls. Mt Field National Park is a little over an hour drive from Mum’s.
The national park has some amazing walks that you can do and we decided to check out the Russel Falls walk. There are 2 version to this walk. There is the short version that takes you to the base of the falls, and the long version which takes you up to the top. We started with the short version. You forget just how beautiful and peaceful something like this can be when you have not experienced it for a long time. We took our time strolling to the bottom of the falls along the bitumen path. Stopping quite frequently to take photos, many of which didnt turn out (this is a matter of much annoyance for me - but this is another story). There hadn’t been a lot of rain recently, and consequently there was very little water flowing over the falls.
After stopping for a couple of photos at the bottom of the falls we hiked to the top. The hike up is very differnet from the stroll to the bottom. The level bitumen path is replace very quickly with a steep, uneven dirt one. At the top of the falls there is quite a view of the surrounding national park. We paused for a couple of minutes to catch our breath and then headed further along the walk to Horseshoe falls, a smaller waterfall above Russell Falls. A few more photos and we were off again. We branched off toward the treetops walk, but when we found that it was an hour round trip we decided to head back.
Heading back down the mountain was tricky and at one point coming down some stairs I slipped. My heart was in my throat when I slipped becuase I had Kira on my back and was really worried that I was going to fall on her. Luckily I was able to catch us on the rails of the stairs. We paused for a few minutes after this before hiking the rest of the way down and finishing our walk without furhter incident.
We passed through New Norfolk on the way there and back and I got a chance to check out my first school. Not much had changed that I could remember, except some of the play equipment had been updated. Everything was soo much smaller than I remember, but I suppose everything from childhood is like that eventually.