Happy Potter SMSed me from the Spirit of Tasmania earlier – she was running around having a blast while Mr HP was having a nice lie down so the seasick pills had their best chance of working – he said he’s “fine”.

Their cabin’s right up the front, they can see what the captain sees, she loves it. She was off to get herself a lobster sandwich for lunch, after she’d finished watching the dolphins :)

Last text message was 12 noon, and she was down to one bar reception, so must’ve dropped off shortly after that.

awesome :)

Yeehah said:

Happy Potter SMSed me from the Spirit of Tasmania earlier – she was running around having a blast while Mr HP was having a nice lie down so the seasick pills had their best chance of working – he said he’s “fine”.

Their cabin’s right up the front, they can see what the captain sees, she loves it. She was off to get herself a lobster sandwich for lunch, after she’d finished watching the dolphins :)

Last text message was 12 noon, and she was down to one bar reception, so must’ve dropped off shortly after that.

Dolphins, awesome!

Yeehah said:

Happy Potter SMSed me from the Spirit of Tasmania earlier – she was running around having a blast while Mr HP was having a nice lie down so the seasick pills had their best chance of working – he said he’s “fine”.

Their cabin’s right up the front, they can see what the captain sees, she loves it. She was off to get herself a lobster sandwich for lunch, after she’d finished watching the dolphins :)

Last text message was 12 noon, and she was down to one bar reception, so must’ve dropped off shortly after that.

Cabin???????????

What wusses. LOL

bon008 said:

Yeehah said:

Happy Potter SMSed me from the Spirit of Tasmania earlier – she was running around having a blast while Mr HP was having a nice lie down so the seasick pills had their best chance of working – he said he’s “fine”.

Their cabin’s right up the front, they can see what the captain sees, she loves it. She was off to get herself a lobster sandwich for lunch, after she’d finished watching the dolphins :)

Last text message was 12 noon, and she was down to one bar reception, so must’ve dropped off shortly after that.

Dolphins, awesome!

Hope she didn’t drop off because she went in to swim with the dolphins. Buggerdammit. Now I have to worry about HP and she’s overseas and all.

SMS from Happy Potter about an hour ago:

“Tell Pom not to worry. We are in Launceston and heading to St Helens and will stay there 2 nights and do some day trips over to Cradle Mountain. Having a blast!! :D “

and:

“The GPS which we have named ‘Steve’ is taking us on the tourist routes and half the time we have no idea where we are, lol!”

.

Well, they’re doing the touristy thing so that makes sense … !

Yeehah said:

SMS from Happy Potter about an hour ago:

“Tell Pom not to worry. We are in Launceston and heading to St Helens and will stay there 2 nights and do some day trips over to Cradle Mountain. Having a blast!! :D “
and: “The GPS which we have named ‘Steve’ is taking us on the tourist routes and half the time we have no idea where we are, lol!”
Well, they’re doing the touristy thing so that makes sense … !

as she rides off into the sunset we say …. farewell.
i think mr and mrs potter deserve a break.

Happy Potter and Mr P are in Launceston at the moment for the night. River cruise today (Sunday), back on the boat tonight, arrive Melbourne Monday morning. All good, she has texted me, but I’ll let her write up the details herself.

Yooohooo! We’re back! We had a fab time :)
Stuffed..and wobbly from boat rides and more boats and then even more boats..haven’t got land legs back yet… still hanging onto things as we walk lol.
One ocean Coles ay boat ride we will never EVER forget thanks to 4 meter seas!!! I said me prayers I can tell you!

We’ve been awake most of the night and will sleep soundly for the next few hours.
It was good to get home too..Max was so excited to see us he jumped all over us. It was so good to see him, I ran up the driveway full pelt and caught him up in my arms :D
House is clean :)
Veges huge! Lawn too!

Fish ok (they got ich again but the girl treated them well) chooks fine too.

I’m only 20 pages back..

Must snooze.. BBL

Happy Potter said:

Yooohooo! We’re back! We had a fab time :)
Stuffed..and wobbly from boat rides and more boats and then even more boats..haven’t got land legs back yet… still hanging onto things as we walk lol.
One ocean Coles ay boat ride we will never EVER forget thanks to 4 meter seas!!! I said me prayers I can tell you!

We’ve been awake most of the night and will sleep soundly for the next few hours.
It was good to get home too..Max was so excited to see us he jumped all over us. It was so good to see him, I ran up the driveway full pelt and caught him up in my arms :D
House is clean :)
Veges huge! Lawn too!

Fish ok (they got ich again but the girl treated them well) chooks fine too.

I’m only 20 pages back..

Must snooze.. BBL

Yay!

Welcome back HP :) Sounds like you had a fantastic time!

Welcome back HP, glad you has a good holiday.

Happy Potter said:

Yooohooo! We’re back! We had a fab time :)
Stuffed..and wobbly from boat rides and more boats and then even more boats..haven’t got land legs back yet… still hanging onto things as we walk lol.
One ocean Coles ay boat ride we will never EVER forget thanks to 4 meter seas!!! I said me prayers I can tell you!

We’ve been awake most of the night and will sleep soundly for the next few hours.
It was good to get home too..Max was so excited to see us he jumped all over us. It was so good to see him, I ran up the driveway full pelt and caught him up in my arms :D
House is clean :)
Veges huge! Lawn too!

Fish ok (they got ich again but the girl treated them well) chooks fine too.

I’m only 20 pages back..

Must snooze.. BBL

I just exhaled.

Happy Potter said:

Yooohooo! We’re back! We had a fab time :)

glad to hear it :)

Right where to start… thanks for starting the thread Yeehah. And thanks for being my sms friend when I did have a phone signal :)

Pics are good to start with..
Me and the man (Joe) on the ferry which was being readied to leave Port Melb.

I got more game to stand at the side rail as time went on. And the ferry pulling away from the dock.

First night ever on the ferry and we slept for about 5 minutes, loved it!
Our cabin was right at the front and we sat at this window and watched the ocean roll past. I kept hanging out at the rail in hope to see a dolphin, but I didn’t see any.

We got to got to Devonport at 6.30 pm, picked up our hire car and went straight to our cute little cabin. We made a cup of tea and then slept soundly all night. We’d eaten so much on the ferry we wern’t hungry at all. I woke earlier than Joe and I set about making brekky for us. We left here at 9 am and set off for St Helens. Or wherever our GPS, which we named ‘steve’, took us. We put in the name of our destination town and clicked on ‘tourist route’. We learn’t a lot from that lol!

Our first stop was at Elizabeth Town Cafe. Beautiful coffee and yummy foods. We ate well. The view was lovely from where we were sitting outside and the weather perfect.

The view.

looking good so far :)

Happy Potter said:

Our first stop was at Elizabeth Town Cafe. Beautiful coffee and yummy foods. We ate well. The view was lovely from where we were sitting outside and the weather perfect.

The view.

I’m enjoying virtual Tassie.

But wait there’s more.. hehe.

Driving to St Helens from Devonport was wonderful, here’s some scenery on the way.

A lookout.. cannot remember the name..

And a pink pub!

What we didn’t expect was the time it took to drive the distance between the 2 towns. It was about 150 kilms, but about 100 klms of that was mountainous winding small roads with hairpin bends every 40 meters or so.. it took us 6 hours to drive it! Add to that some very big trucks, fully laden logging trucks and B doubles no less! There were some “oh shit!!” exclamations.

Next, a town called Ledgerwood and some beautiful carvings.

the story behind the carvings > http://www.australianexplorer.com/tourist_attractions/9069140/profile.htm

Then we continue our journey to St Helens. Wondering if we would ever get to it lol!

We stopped on the highway to take pics of this rock painting of a whale? I couldn’t get very close, it’s at the top of a gorge on the Ringarooma River.

next we came across this waterfall sign and stopped for a break and do the 10 minute walk to see it (HA! more like 20 mins , it’s uphill! lol)
Plus, along the walking track there was a notice that part of the track had given away recently and not to stop and rest at the shored up ‘fenced point’. So we ran across it holding hands and with hearts beating fast. The on the way back again, ‘get ready, get set.. don’t you dare let go of my hand will you! lol!

Next we stopped at this cafe/dairy/ cheese factory ‘The Holy Cow Cafe’.
We bought cheeses of varying maturity and leatherwood honey and honied almonds (OMG that honey is second to none! it’s beautiful!!) a coffee and a milkshake, and a cheese platter for one….

I looked at this platter for ONE and thought.. Holy Cow alright, that’s enough for four!
I took one pickled egg and cut it in half. That and a coffee is a meal for me. Joe struggled to eat the rest but he couldn’t finish it.

More tomorrow.. I’m quite tuckered out.

But I must say, yes visiting Tassie really is like stepping back into the past, it is just so beautiful, and the people are very friendly :)
I was sitting in the car at one stage in the town of Scottsdale while Joe went to a shop, reading a map. A woman knocked on the window of the car and told me she was a tourist info lady and she could tell me about the area and places of interest to see. She was absolutely lovely and full of interesting info on the history and locals and places to go.
Wonderful lady, gorgeous town.

Now if I was in Melb and some stranger rapped on my car window, I’d think they were going to yell at me..or worse.

Thanks for putting the photos up, with commentaries…

:)

Dinetta said:

Thanks for putting the photos up, with commentaries…

:)

You’re welcome :D

Happy Potter said:

What we didn’t expect was the time it took to drive the distance between the 2 towns. It was about 150 kilms, but about 100 klms of that was mountainous winding small roads with hairpin bends every 40 meters or so.. it took us 6 hours to drive it! Add to that some very big trucks, fully laden logging trucks and B doubles no less! There were some “oh shit!!” exclamations.

That sure puts a different perspective on things.

I do recall the south coast traffic after Christmas between Kiama and Berry meant that the 20 minute trip took closer to an hour and a half or something equally appalling. But there were no log trucks! Plenty of bad words spoken by the driver (me).

I like waterfalls and I like cheese. :)

Some lovely country down that way. Some nice pics too. Maybe I’ll get to visit Tassie some day.

Yeehah said:

Happy Potter said:

What we didn’t expect was the time it took to drive the distance between the 2 towns. It was about 150 kilms, but about 100 klms of that was mountainous winding small roads with hairpin bends every 40 meters or so.. it took us 6 hours to drive it! Add to that some very big trucks, fully laden logging trucks and B doubles no less! There were some “oh shit!!” exclamations.

That sure puts a different perspective on things.

I do recall the south coast traffic after Christmas between Kiama and Berry meant that the 20 minute trip took closer to an hour and a half or something equally appalling. But there were no log trucks! Plenty of bad words spoken by the driver (me).

my slowest crawl was a few weeks ago, Palm Cove to the bottom of Kuranda Range, 20kms in 3 hours. Normally this journey would take 15mins.

pain master said:

Yeehah said:

Happy Potter said:

What we didn’t expect was the time it took to drive the distance between the 2 towns. It was about 150 kilms, but about 100 klms of that was mountainous winding small roads with hairpin bends every 40 meters or so.. it took us 6 hours to drive it! Add to that some very big trucks, fully laden logging trucks and B doubles no less! There were some “oh shit!!” exclamations.

That sure puts a different perspective on things.

I do recall the south coast traffic after Christmas between Kiama and Berry meant that the 20 minute trip took closer to an hour and a half or something equally appalling. But there were no log trucks! Plenty of bad words spoken by the driver (me).

my slowest crawl was a few weeks ago, Palm Cove to the bottom of Kuranda Range, 20kms in 3 hours. Normally this journey would take 15mins.

Why so slow? Floods?

pomolo said:

pain master said:

Yeehah said:

That sure puts a different perspective on things.

I do recall the south coast traffic after Christmas between Kiama and Berry meant that the 20 minute trip took closer to an hour and a half or something equally appalling. But there were no log trucks! Plenty of bad words spoken by the driver (me).

my slowest crawl was a few weeks ago, Palm Cove to the bottom of Kuranda Range, 20kms in 3 hours. Normally this journey would take 15mins.

Why so slow? Floods?

yup, Cairns was underwater, and all I wanted to do was drive home….

pain master said:

I like waterfalls and I like cheese. :)

waterfall and cheese too – and sshhhh….you guys stop hijacking !
- i’m waiting for you to get to the coast HP.
- i might be taking this trip next year or thereabouts – never bin dair.

Happy Potter said:

What we didn’t expect was the time it took to drive the distance between the 2 towns. It was about 150 kilms, but about 100 klms of that was mountainous winding small roads with hairpin bends every 40 meters or so.. it took us 6 hours to drive it! Add to that some very big trucks, fully laden logging trucks and B doubles no less! There were some “oh shit!!” exclamations.

That’s what travelling in Norway is like but instead of trucks it’s Germans in huge motor homes.

Right, spare time to continue :)

We finally drove down and down and out of the mountains and the first thing we see is.. beaches. Beautiful beaches!
When the Tasweigons boast they have better beaches than Qld, you can believe them. Crystal clear, it just took our beaths away, we just walked and walked along the shallows and checked out rock pools.

We had booked into a self contained unit right on the beach in St. Helens, and what a gorgeous little town it is. Just as well it was so pretty because we hit a lack of funds snag and ended up staying 3 nights. What to do..ask the bank.. they said apply for a small credit card. Bugga. We had enough for our accommodation for the rest of the week, but no meal or petrol or spending money. The latter is the most important when on holidays! lol.
So we applied for a card and they approved it in minutes, but rather than send it care of the PO where we were staying, they sent it to our home in Vic!
Youngest daughter got the letter and sent us the details ad secutity code so we could book things online, but we still needed the card to swipe for fuel and food. So she sent it express post at 5 pm on wed evening and we went to the post office at 9 am the next morn and it was there! Yay! we still stayed in St Helens another night.. this is where we want to retire to! We got up one morning at 5 am just to see the stars. Incredible sight when there’s no big city lights to dampen their sparkle. We grabbed deck chairs to lay back and just stare at the stars.

As the sun came up a bumblebee set down right beside me, cute! Never seen one before.

While we were there we went on short day trips and visited the above mentioned falls and spent our evenings walking along those fabulous beaches. It was very relaxing and just what the doc ordered. We must have been a tad too relaxed because we didn’t take any photos of the town itself!!
We were completely unaware of the drama giant son was causing at home and the kids didn’t tell us. They dealth with it. (when we got home they all chorused at once “now we know what you mean!!” ) We were having a ball and they were going through the wringer.
We didn’t have any mobile phone signal anyway as north east Tas is telstra coverage only, and we’re both with optus. We made do with a public phone.
We drove north to visit the Bay Of Fires. It’s so beautiful there I would struggle to find the right words to describe it. We spent hours there and walked for several klms.

Then we finally left St. Helens and headed down the coast to Bichino. We’d booked a motel room for that night and a sea cruise the next morning at Coles Bay.
Everytime we spotted a gorgeous beach we stopped to walk along it and marvel at the beautiful views. This one was too tempting and no one about in the early morning, so we stripped off to undies and ran into the water like little kids! We spotted a walker and hid behind some shrubs until they left. hehe.
Then we dried off and changed and continued the drive like the mature adults that we are, giggling all the way.

Bichino is as beautiful as the rest of Tassie. There’s no where that is ugly, in fact, everywhere you look theres another pretty view.
Again we couldn’t wait to hit the stunning beaches and we walked the tidal land bridge over to Diamond Island penguin colony. The birds arn’t there during the day and we didn’t see a penguin only their nests. We walked over to the blow hole and got sprayed and checked out rock pools. The one photo I took of a rock pool and the little starfish in it, was under 30 cms of water. It was so clear it looked as if there wasn’t any water in it.

Hard to believe they are Taswegian beaches…the water looks so clean!

I can see where the Bay of Fire gets its’ name…do you know the geological details? I will Google them if you don’t know…

You were fortunate with the Express Post…what is a “small” credit card? Fashionista daughter tried to get one with a $500 limit but they said that’s too small…

Wasn’t the water cold?

And yes, the stars are awesome (now I don’t use that word much at all) when you are away from the bright city lights…an elderly cousin of mine, lived in Sid’s Knee all her life, went outback before Christmas many years ago and half her Christmas letter was a gush about “how many stars there are in the sky”!!

Happy Potter said:

Bichino is as beautiful as the rest of Tassie. There’s no where that is ugly, in fact, everywhere you look theres another pretty view.
Again we couldn’t wait to hit the stunning beaches and we walked the tidal land bridge over to Diamond Island penguin colony. The birds arn’t there during the day and we didn’t see a penguin only their nests. We walked over to the blow hole and got sprayed and checked out rock pools. The one photo I took of a rock pool and the little starfish in it, was under 30 cms of water. It was so clear it looked as if there wasn’t any water in it.

All the things the tourist brochures don’t tell you…and you sound better than one of those!

The little motel we stayed at was owned by a woman and she does all the gardening for it. It’s so pretty.
Cute flower pots and hanging baskets of gerainuims and petunias everywhere, and small lawn areas borded by a clipped box hedge.
Which hubby ran over with the car….
I waved like mad, “back the car up back the car up!!!!!!!! you’ve run over the garden!!” all in waving hand motions and silence, pointing to it. He nearly died! LOL.
We quickly pushed the flattened hedge back up and kept doing that everytime we walked past it and eventually it was sitting upright again, well almost.
Hubby muttering now and then as we pushed it up “must remember, do not wreck a womans garden!!” lol!

The owner really needs to put those concrete pillars to stop cars running over it.

Dinetta said:

Hard to believe they are Taswegian beaches…the water looks so clean!

I can see where the Bay of Fire gets its’ name…do you know the geological details? I will Google them if you don’t know…

You were fortunate with the Express Post…what is a “small” credit card? Fashionista daughter tried to get one with a $500 limit but they said that’s too small…

Wasn’t the water cold?

And yes, the stars are awesome (now I don’t use that word much at all) when you are away from the bright city lights…an elderly cousin of mine, lived in Sid’s Knee all her life, went outback before Christmas many years ago and half her Christmas letter was a gush about “how many stars there are in the sky”!!

Small card = 3 grand. The smallest we could apply for. I don’t know how they work that out.

The water was warm as! the weather was perfect every day. The nights were cold, but that’s great for sleeping.

The Bay Of Fires gets it’s name from the red markings on the rocks, cause by a lichen we were told.

Happy Potter said:

There’s no where that is ugly, in fact, everywhere you look theres another pretty view.

you didn’t get to Queenstown then?

Happy Potter said:

Then we finally left St. Helens and headed down the coast to Bichino. We’d booked a motel room for that night and a sea cruise the next morning at Coles Bay.
Everytime we spotted a gorgeous beach we stopped to walk along it and marvel at the beautiful views. This one was too tempting and no one about in the early morning, so we stripped off to undies and ran into the water like little kids! We spotted a walker and hid behind some shrubs until they left. hehe.
Then we dried off and changed and continued the drive like the mature adults that we are, giggling all the way.

Haha! awesome :) Loving the beach photos, HP.

Dinetta said:

You were fortunate with the Express Post…what is a “small” credit card? Fashionista daughter tried to get one with a $500 limit but they said that’s too small…

Ours is $500.

bubba louie said:

Happy Potter said:

What we didn’t expect was the time it took to drive the distance between the 2 towns. It was about 150 kilms, but about 100 klms of that was mountainous winding small roads with hairpin bends every 40 meters or so.. it took us 6 hours to drive it! Add to that some very big trucks, fully laden logging trucks and B doubles no less! There were some “oh shit!!” exclamations.

That’s what travelling in Norway is like but instead of trucks it’s Germans in huge motor homes.

Oh, now, northern hemisphere travel, that’s something I’m vaguely interested in, beats humidity in equatorial or tropical places any day.

bluegreen said:

Happy Potter said:

There’s no where that is ugly, in fact, everywhere you look theres another pretty view.

you didn’t get to Queenstown then?

We didn’t end up going any further south than Coles Bay. We didn’t want to run the card debt up and we were running out of time anyway. Tassie is a lot bigger than it seems. We did a smidgeon over 1000 kilometers.
Next time, and there will be a next time, we will do the west coast and Cradle Mountain :)

Happy Potter said:

The owner really needs to put those concrete pillars to stop cars running over it.

…or bollards at least…

Happy Potter said:

The Bay Of Fires gets it’s name from the red markings on the rocks, cause by a lichen we were told.

Interesting…

Yeehah said:

bubba louie said:

Happy Potter said:

What we didn’t expect was the time it took to drive the distance between the 2 towns. It was about 150 kilms, but about 100 klms of that was mountainous winding small roads with hairpin bends every 40 meters or so.. it took us 6 hours to drive it! Add to that some very big trucks, fully laden logging trucks and B doubles no less! There were some “oh shit!!” exclamations.

That’s what travelling in Norway is like but instead of trucks it’s Germans in huge motor homes.

Oh, now, northern hemisphere travel, that’s something I’m vaguely interested in, beats humidity in equatorial or tropical places any day.

Here you go……

bubba louie said:

Here you go……

Oozing folklore and legend…

bubba louie said:

Yeehah said:

bubba louie said:

That’s what travelling in Norway is like but instead of trucks it’s Germans in huge motor homes.

Oh, now, northern hemisphere travel, that’s something I’m vaguely interested in, beats humidity in equatorial or tropical places any day.

Here you go……

Not sure if you’re kind or mean, lol!

I went to a theme park in Stockholm with my Swedish penfriend in 1989. I had just over 12 months overseas – worked in a summer camp in North Carolina, travelled a bit with the Swedish girl (she’d worked in a camp too), back to ENgland, got a job as a mother’s help (nanny minus babies, plus housework) and was based in Wiltshire for 9 months. The family I nannied for had a house in Provence, they flew me down for Christmas then for Easter. Then I spent a month training around Europe and Ireland.

Oh, the memories!

Always meant to go back but kids happened, so have only done a teensy bit of Aus travel in the last 20-odd years.

thanks HP
great text – great piccies.
luv the beaches.

Right, best finish off this thread whilst I’m still in the sitting position..

Where were we.. oh yep, Bicheno on the Freycinet Peninsula.
Wineglass Bay Cruise. “At Wineglass Bay, relax on board and enjoy the spectacular surroundings recognised as one of the world’s top ten beaches while sampling freshly shucked oysters still dripping from the sea and served with a sample of Tasmania’s finest champagne and cheese”

Warning, don’t do it! Well I wish someone told me that before we boarded and we found ourselves out in 4 meter seas. I’ve the bruises to prove it and did a tendon in my arm trying to hold my backside up off the seat so I didn’t hurt my back.
I chuckled actually.. thinking of all the bloody things that could have meant the end of life for me, but this is how it going to end?

Oh it was gorgeous at the start..all those granite rock formations, the gorgeous coast ,the beautiful clear blue water and the wildlife, seals dolphins seabirds eagles, albatross, I so wanted a photo of an albatross.
And Rastus the owners border collie cross sea dog, he was a lot of fun. If he spots a dolphin hes up and over the side and into the sea to play with them. Rastus doesn’t hurt them, just wants to jump in and have a frolic with them.

Some pics. Rastus was sitting on Joes foot, such a cute dog:)

Spotted a sunbaking seal, and pics of the coast.

I like rocks and dogs.

and raises hand and says “yes, a photo of an albatross would be wonderful”

Then up the coast further, it was still calm and we went into wineglass Bay.
The capt told us the origin of the name was not because this bay resembes the shape of a wineglass, it was because it was a whaling bay and the whaes were slaughtered here and their blood turned the water to the colour of claret.

After lunch in the bay we headed back but it started “getting a bit wobbly” with a 3 meter swell ,the Capt. words were.
So he anounced that he would take us out a bit further to calmer stuff.

Straight into 4 meter seas! I was not impressed. Nor were the other 30 or so people on board. Up until then I’d had a terrific time sitting outside the canopy on the bow taking pics and it was a little rough but I held on.
When it started getting worse I hightailed inside and sat in the first seat I could fall into, right at the front next to the Capt. I asked him if he was going to take us back into Coles Bay now, because I said, ‘it’s a bit too rough now!’. He laughed and said he it’s ok, he’s seen worse than this.
I put my head next to him and said “It might be ok for you, but it’s not for me!, and you tell that to the poor young dad down the back holding onto his wife, toddler and with his infant in his arms and trying desperately not to lose it!!
The Capt looked back and anounced we will go back to Coles Bay now. But first we would have this ‘rought stuff’ for about 20 minutes, and that he wasn’t going to take us on a white knuckled ride as that would be silly. So what was that then?? calm??

Argh! I held on for dear life. I thought if I got flung down hard enough onto the seat my back would break. When the boat was in the trough you could see only water, no mountains at all, let alone land. Then on the rise it was like being flung up suddenly and then the loud crash down when the boat reconnected with the water surface. I tried to glance at hubby who had a very worried look on his face, but he wasn’t sick thank goodness. Those Quell pills work well! There was no way I could get up and walk back to sit with him.
We finally get back to calmer waters and I can’t tell you how relieved I felt after this 4 hour trip, and the others too. I am over my love of boats I can tell you.

We got back at 2 pm saturday and Joe and I got into the car headed straight for Launcestion. We stopped at Campbelltown for a coffee after driving 70klms.

pain master said:

I like rocks and dogs.

and raises hand and says “yes, a photo of an albatross would be wonderful”

Alas, no albatross pic :(
That was all I wanted this whole trip.
It was too rough and I was holding on with both hands and couldnt let go to grab the camera when the capt said there’s the albatross. I was getting really angry and thought ‘ what, am I supposed to stand up to take pics in this hey??’ grrr.
Fuming I was.
On one particularly high swell fling and then the crash down, I yelled “ You have got to be bloody kidding me!!” the capt heard me but no one else did.
I asked Joe afterwards if he’d gotten any footage on the video camera of the wild ride and he said he couldnt even grab it he was holding on so tightly, and the video cam was on the seat right next to him. :(

oh dear potter, your ordeal sounded terrifying! I do not like it when like you say, you can only see water, and no land!

I could never do a Yacht race eh?

Right, we get to Launcestion and back to cilvilisation lol, no land legs, we wobbled about everywhere. We checked into our room, Allendale Apartments, gorgeous rooms, and Joe tried to make a cuppa whilst holding onto the bench.
So we layed down for a while and slept.
We didn’t feel up to going out for tea so we went to the supermarket and got some reheatable food. Didn’t really enjoy that but I went straight back to bed after it and slept all night.

pain master said:

oh dear potter, your ordeal sounded terrifying! I do not like it when like you say, you can only see water, and no land!

I could never do a Yacht race eh?

Never.

Happy Potter said:

pain master said:

oh dear potter, your ordeal sounded terrifying! I do not like it when like you say, you can only see water, and no land!

I could never do a Yacht race eh?

Never.

Never ever.

We got up about 5 am to leave, re packed the bags, cleaned the room and left the key in a box by the reception office.
Went out and had brekky at a little cafe, near the Launcestion Hospital. Wonderful brekky, so much food! and we had 2 coffees each.
At this stage Joe says we have pre booked tickets for the Tamar River Cruise.
Well at least a river cruise is smoother! The river was a millpond, can do :)

I started getting a sore eye, that rotten horrible familliar scratchy feeling with blurred vision, my eye ulcer was going to flare up, great. Not!
It happens after a big upset or a fright.. after yesdys boat fright trip, no doubt at all. It was a mad dash to find a chemist that was open on a sunday morning to fill my script. I always have one spare. The pain was starting and I can’t tell you just how excruiciating it gets if I don’t act fast and get the ointment in my eye. We had a phone signal now so googled ‘launcestion chemists, up came a list and we rang each until one answered. Got the address into the GPS and took off in the car straight to it. Got the med and applied, within minutes pain starts to ease.
Right we can go back to what we were doing, a tour of the area to fill in time until the boat ride.
Then onto the boat :) We were looking forward to a boat ride that was relaxing and it included a sumptuous lunch, tea and coffee at will and a wine tasting. We’re not big wine drinkers, but this time it really was for medicinal purposes!
And this cruise was just the ticket, it was lovely and we enjoyed every minute :)

On the Tamar River just before Batman Bridge there’s an area thats notorious for whirlpools. The cruise Capt warned us it will get a little rough. Hahahaha! That’s not rough!
We watched a couple seabirds trying to pinch a fish off a seal. They got the fish. We drank more, ate a beautiful lunch, took pics, and drank more again. I think it was at this point I texted Yeehah to say ‘I’m pished’, lol.

Then off the boat and heade straight for Devonport and our ferry ride home :)

Because we didn’t get to the south and Hobart and all the other places we wanted to visit and the chocoholic mans chocolate factory raid, he made do with this chocolate tasting place.
I had to drag him out of it.. well putit this way ,we had to buy a new case to bring home all the chokkies and truffles and fudges he bought.
Then we got to Devonport and got a pizza for lunch and sat by the Mersey River to watch the ferry come in.

Watched seals play in the river :)

Then our ride home showed up :) We boarded at 8 pm and the boat was chugging out to Bass Straight by 9 pm.

Happy Potter said:

Then up the coast further, it was still calm and we went into wineglass Bay.
The capt told us the origin of the name was not because this bay resembes the shape of a wineglass, it was because it was a whaling bay and the whaes were slaughtered here and their blood turned the water to the colour of claret.

After lunch in the bay we headed back but it started “getting a bit wobbly” with a 3 meter swell ,the Capt. words were.
So he anounced that he would take us out a bit further to calmer stuff.

Straight into 4 meter seas! I was not impressed. Nor were the other 30 or so people on board. Up until then I’d had a terrific time sitting outside the canopy on the bow taking pics and it was a little rough but I held on.
When it started getting worse I hightailed inside and sat in the first seat I could fall into, right at the front next to the Capt. I asked him if he was going to take us back into Coles Bay now, because I said, ‘it’s a bit too rough now!’. He laughed and said he it’s ok, he’s seen worse than this.
I put my head next to him and said “It might be ok for you, but it’s not for me!, and you tell that to the poor young dad down the back holding onto his wife, toddler and with his infant in his arms and trying desperately not to lose it!!
The Capt looked back and anounced we will go back to Coles Bay now. But first we would have this ‘rought stuff’ for about 20 minutes, and that he wasn’t going to take us on a white knuckled ride as that would be silly. So what was that then?? calm??

Argh! I held on for dear life. I thought if I got flung down hard enough onto the seat my back would break. When the boat was in the trough you could see only water, no mountains at all, let alone land. Then on the rise it was like being flung up suddenly and then the loud crash down when the boat reconnected with the water surface. I tried to glance at hubby who had a very worried look on his face, but he wasn’t sick thank goodness. Those Quell pills work well! There was no way I could get up and walk back to sit with him.
We finally get back to calmer waters and I can’t tell you how relieved I felt after this 4 hour trip, and the others too. I am over my love of boats I can tell you.

We got back at 2 pm saturday and Joe and I got into the car headed straight for Launcestion. We stopped at Campbelltown for a coffee after driving 70klms.

OMG! Hearing about your boating and knowing what I have been through in the past I don’t even want to get on an ocean liner.

I slept the whole trip on the ferry. Joe stayed awake and sat in the lounge area enjoying a singing couple show. We were met by one of my friends at 6 am in Pt Melb, so glad to be back.
At home youngest daughter had to go back to work after the week off, so my lovely friend said she would be happy to collect us off the boat.
We went to her place and had brekky first and tasted the Tassie honey on toast, beautiful :)
Then she drove us home and I fair jumped out of her car before it stopped completely and ran up the drive yelling Max Max! he was at the window inside and saw me, stopped and looked again.. Yes! Mums homeeeeeeeeee! he did his tigger demo and was bouncing up and down madly at the sight of us.

Lastly, I did get some bird pics!
Sorry bad photography.. well you try photographing birds whilst on a roller coaster ride! lol.

White Bellied Eagle. And it’s nest.
This bird is a meter in length.

Again on the rough as guts boat ride.
other feathered things..

And some more

Happy Potter said:

I slept the whole trip on the ferry. Joe stayed awake and sat in the lounge area enjoying a singing couple show. We were met by one of my friends at 6 am in Pt Melb, so glad to be back.
At home youngest daughter had to go back to work after the week off, so my lovely friend said she would be happy to collect us off the boat.
We went to her place and had brekky first and tasted the Tassie honey on toast, beautiful :)
Then she drove us home and I fair jumped out of her car before it stopped completely and ran up the drive yelling Max Max! he was at the window inside and saw me, stopped and looked again.. Yes! Mums homeeeeeeeeee! he did his tigger demo and was bouncing up and down madly at the sight of us.

If I ever go to Tassie I might hire a car and stay in it. Good old Terra Firma

OMG! Hearing about your boating and knowing what I have been through in the past I don’t even want to get on an ocean liner.
——————————————————
I can’t say I will never go on a boat again, probably just stick to river cruises, but if I do I’ll be checking the weather and boating reports myself first. And asking a lot of questions.

We did just a tad over 1000 klms in a little nissan tida, plenty of room and it ran on the sniff of petrol, $97 all up.
We had a great time and would do it again tommorrow if we could. Minus the ocean cruise but!

Next time, the west coast :D

Happy Potter said:

Lastly, I did get some bird pics!
Sorry bad photography.. well you try photographing birds whilst on a roller coaster ride! lol.

White Bellied Eagle. And it’s nest.
This bird is a meter in length.

Huge nest. My White Headed Pigeon would disappear in that.

Happy Potter said:

And some more

Oh that pic with the power pole in it, that was an eagle that took off as we passed it in the car. Bad shot but I thought I would include it anyway.
That fat brown seabird wanted my pizza! Don’t know what it is..Taken as we sat waiting for the ferry to arrive.

Happy Potter said:

Rastus was sitting on Joes foot, such a cute dog:)

Apparently when a dog sits on you they are claiming ownership. And you thought all this time they were being affectionate!

Happy Potter said:

Lastly, I did get some bird pics!
Sorry bad photography.. well you try photographing birds whilst on a roller coaster ride! lol.

White Bellied Eagle. And it’s nest.
This bird is a meter in length.

now THAT’s what I call a nest!

Happy Potter said:

Lastly, I did get some bird pics!
Sorry bad photography.. well you try photographing birds whilst on a roller coaster ride! lol.

White Bellied Eagle. And it’s nest.
This bird is a meter in length.

what? a parking meter in length?

Happy Potter said:

Again on the rough as guts boat ride.
other feathered things..

like this one.

Happy Potter said:

And some more

Ooooh oooh ooooh, who is this?

pain master said:

Happy Potter said:

And some more

Ooooh oooh ooooh, who is this?

I thought you would know!
I have no idea. hint, it loves pizza lol (I didn’t give it any tho’)

Happy Potter said:

Happy Potter said:

And some more

Oh that pic with the power pole in it, that was an eagle that took off as we passed it in the car. Bad shot but I thought I would include it anyway.
That fat brown seabird wanted my pizza! Don’t know what it is..Taken as we sat waiting for the ferry to arrive.

I’m thinking its a Juvenile Kelp Gull.

I’m thinking its a Juvenile Kelp Gull.
——————————-
Hmm I dunno.. that bird was one of a pair but the other one took off then they met back up later on. And it was big, almost chook size.

Happy Potter said:

I’m thinking its a Juvenile Kelp Gull.
——————————-
Hmm I dunno.. that bird was one of a pair but the other one took off then they met back up later on. And it was big, almost chook size.

Here’s another couple pics of it PM. it’s mate is on the pole, beak is a bit different. And fatty near a gull. It looked big and strong and not like a juvenile.

Happy Potter said:

Happy Potter said:

I’m thinking its a Juvenile Kelp Gull.
——————————-
Hmm I dunno.. that bird was one of a pair but the other one took off then they met back up later on. And it was big, almost chook size.

Here’s another couple pics of it PM. it’s mate is on the pole, beak is a bit different. And fatty near a gull. It looked big and strong and not like a juvenile.

His mate is definitely a Pacific Gull, often confused as an Albatross due to their size. They will keep their brown plumage for 3 or 4 years so they will be 50 -66cm and huge compared to a Silver Gull (Seagull = 38-42cm)

Kelp Gulls will hang around in pairs and have the black bill but that bill with the colour and the face going white is def Pacific Gull

Happy Potter said:

pain master said:

Happy Potter said:

And some more

Ooooh oooh ooooh, who is this?

I thought you would know!
I have no idea. hint, it loves pizza lol (I didn’t give it any tho’)

Loks a bit like a Skua.

bubba louie said:

Happy Potter said:

pain master said:

Ooooh oooh ooooh, who is this?

I thought you would know!
I have no idea. hint, it loves pizza lol (I didn’t give it any tho’)

Loks a bit like a Skua.

It does look like a Skua, but it doesn’t look dark enough and is the beak hooked enough?

Happy Potter said:

We did just a tad over 1000 klms in a little nissan tida, plenty of room and it ran on the sniff of petrol, $97 all up.
We had a great time and would do it again tommorrow if we could. Minus the ocean cruise but!

Next time, the west coast :D

Sounds like a plan :)