More Tassie---Hobart to Launceston

We cut our time short in Hobart because we decide we'd like to do some hiking in the Freycinet Peninsula, so we leave the capital city two days early to drive north. It looks like it will take us about 2 hours to get to the Freycinet, but 3 hours later, we finally pull in to Cole's Bay for a picnic lunch. We still aren't quite there. We have to buy a national park pass ($24.oo!!) for the day and take time to find an accommodation for the night. Bicheno is a nice sounding town that is only about 45 minutes away from the national park, so we call and luck out on a room there. We are set to hike!!

Wineglass Bay is one of the most famous places in Tasmania, and seeing photos of it makes us really want to hike there. So, we set out---300 steps up to the saddle of the mountain and 300 steps down to the bay. Our original plan is to take the loop around and back to our departure point, but because it is now 2:00 in the afternoon, we must choose a less time consuming option. The only one is to retrace our steps back up the 300+ steps and down again. But the aches and pains are worth it. Wineglass Bay is basically a 3/4 circle of cobalt blue water, about 3 miles across, that turns abruptly to green at the shallow ledge and white foam along the shoreline and is ringed by mountains all the way. The other 1/4 of the circle opens out to the Tasman Sea and the huge expanse of water that goes to the Antarctic. It is so beautiful that we just sit on a rock and look at it for quite a while, then we take off our shoes and enjoy the cool green liquid.

Now we tear ourselves away for the hike back over the mountain because if we leave much later, we'll be trying to find our motel after dark, sometimes a frustrating experience.

The next morning we drive to Launceston, stopping at the top of Elephant Mountain for delicious crepes at the Elephant Mtn. Pancake Barn, a unique little cafe all by itself at the mountaintop. Again, we miscalculate the time it will take to get to our next destination, and we pull in to Launceston around 2, in time to find a place to stay. It's a four day weekend, and all of Tassie is looking for accommodations. We are lucky to find one in the heart of the wine producing area (imagine that!) And it's right on an inlet, too.

We don't have much time in Lauceston, but the next morning we visit Cataract Gorge, the city's most well-known site and enjoy hiking around, seeing wallabys and parrots. Our plane leaves in the early afternoon, so we have just enough time for one more winery and lunch. Then it's off to Sydney on JetStar.