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.

 

Tasmania: Maria (Muh-RYE-uh) Island

With the conference over, we rented a car to check out some of the east coast of Tasmania. The first must-do was Maria Island (the Australians pronounce it Muh-RYE-uh, and it definitely sounds more Australian that way!). This island used to have convicts, so there are some buildings, but it has been turned into a nature reserve with all kinds of animals. It is nicknamed Wombat Island, and sure enough, we got our fill of the cute wombats!! We took a ferry over with a couple dozen other folks and hiked around for several hours, seeing wallabies, kangaroos, birds, and plenty of wombats. The tide was too high to see all of the painted cliffs, but we saw a little of them. It was such an incredible opportunity that not many people will get to do, so I felt fortunate to be able to see so many Australian animals in the wild and enjoy a sunny day on an island at the bottom of the world.