Tasmania: Wineglass Bay

There comes a time when you have traveled enough, especially around places like California and New Zealand, that scenery starts looking nice but not spectacular. That largely encapsulates the Wineglass Bay lookout, which is plastered over all the marketing for the east coast of Tasmania, although the 2.5-hour drive up there was a nice, scenic one. We saw Maria Island again from a rest stop - it has a lovely profile.

 

There was also a little bridge called Spiky Bridge built by convict labor that looked pretty cool. A kind of Game of Thrones look.

We also stopped at Kate's Berry Farm along the way, and I got an expensive ($16.00!) piece of humbleberry pie with cream and ice cream. I haven't had fruit pie in a long time though (since pie in NZ is savory rather than sweet) and it was good.

 

The steep hike up to the lookout over Wineglass Bay was tough, but it was a nice view and the curve really did make it look like a wineglass. Back near the carpark, we saw some wallabies vacuuming up crumbs from the tourists (or eating dirt?). Then it was the long drive back to Hobart.

 

Gold Coast and Springbrook Mountain

We drove down to the Gold Coast and went to Springbrook Mountain which was inland a bit. It was covered in rainforests with several waterfall lookouts within easy driving distance from little parking lots, as well as the "Best of All Lookout" at the top with great views of everything. It was a bit freezing when the fog was rolling through, but otherwise not too bad. On the way in, we stopped at the visitor information center and the old man guide told us what sights to see. He was perpetuating the koalas-are-drunk-because-of-eucalyptus-leaves myth, but we didn't correct him. 

 

view of Surfers Paradise from the park

When we had our lunch at a picnic bench, I took some "artistic" photos of my strawberries against the foliage. They must be in season somewhere in Australia because they have been on sale at every grocery store so I haven't been able to resist buying them. 

After the park we headed to the famous Surfers Paradise on the coast. It was like a smaller Vegas or Miami with huge skyscraper hotels lining the beach and lots of shopping and restaurants. We walked along the waterfront where there was a classics car show and then through the mall before driving back to Brisbane.

Rob Roy Glacier Hike

I planned on doing the biggest and longest hike -- the Rob Roy Glacier Hike -- on our first full day after arriving in Queenstown to ensure we would have the energy to finish it. And it's a good thing I love glaciers, because it was a hard day for sure. To get to the start of the track, it was an hour to Lake Wanaka, then another hour, which I hadn't realized.

rough idea how far the glacier area was from Queenstown

The last 30km were on an unpaved farm road, and 30km doesn't sound like a lot until you're on an unpaved road for that long and your hands are going numb from the vibrating steering wheel and you're wondering when you are finally going to be done with it. We saw a glacier on the way there which helped encourage us to stick it out. Like the guidebook said, there were 9 fords to cross on that road. Thankfully, none were too bad. When we finally made it to the parking lot, we were glad to see many other cars there and other hikers preparing to start out.

this was a promising sight while on the dirt road -- a glacier!

I was not prepared for the blasting winds and droplets of rain/river water pinging my face as we traversed the first section of open fields. It literally stopped me in my tracks and almost bowled me over several times. I was tempted to turn back, but I saw that the track went into forest ahead and figured that that would cut down on the viciousness of the weather.

We made it across the swing bridge and settled into a slow but steady hike with our rainhoods on to keep out the constant sprinkling. We hadn't hiked in a while, and it was uphill most of the way. We reached the Lower Lookout after 2 hours and were tempted to head back, but the view wasn't that great and since we'd come all this way, we decided to keep going the 30 minutes more to the Upper Lookout. So glad we did! The view of the waterfalls and several glaciers was great, despite the rain making it difficult to photograph. It's hard to capture the sounds of the hike -- the river running alongside most of the track was so loud, it was hard to think sometimes, but that's part of the enjoyment of hiking for me. The wind blew one of the waterfalls sideways at one point which was fun to watch.

view from the Lower Lookout

view from the Upper Lookout

Glaciers are awesome!

The hike back was difficult because of having to go downhill -- hard on the knees. A few groups of fresh hikers passed us and I felt relieved to be on the way back to the carpack, not just starting out. Of course, now we had to go back another 30km on that dirt road. We did get to witness sheep crossing a bridge in front of us and took a video of them running and leaping to avoid the car. Their "bahs" are so cute! We stopped briefly in Wanaka to stretch our legs, then made the drive back to Queenstown.