The past month I've been picking apples at Montague orchard in Legana, Tasmania. But last week we were in between varieties (the gala were all picked but the jazz weren't ripe yet). So we had a few days off. Together with my "colleagues" Katrina from Estonia, Christelle from France, Spencer from China and Fane from England we rented a car and made a road trip. It was great! We saw amazing sceneries, wildlife and lots of rain. The last day we were wet and tired and went to an art exhibition called the wall. It's a wall made of wooden carvings. I think the best was the fireplace and clean toilets after three nights of camping. The day before was a long drive.
Before stopping to pitch the tent we visited two waterfalls, lots of water after all the rain :-)
In the morning we had woken up at a campsite by this beach, where we saw dolphins the evening before.
Then we drove south on gravel roads through rugged wilderness.
By Pieman River we had to cross on this tiny ferry.
Eventually we arrived in Zeehan which once was Tasmania's third largest town. Nowadays it's a ghost town with empty buildings, only the museum tells about the glory days of mining.
Next stop was Queenstown. Still alive with both mining and a little tourism. Then we camped at the beautiful Lake Burbury. As we were cooking over open fire we were visited by a hungry quoll (small predator) who apparently was used to stealing food from campers. In the morning before we left I dared a very quick swim.
The first whole day of our escapade we visited Trowutta arch in Tarkine. It's a couple of sink holes and an archway.
It's set in native rain forest with lots of ferns. Well worth a visit!
Before we left we picked grapes at a vineyard. Easier than picking apples and easier to earn money as it's hourly paid. When we left the vineyard we drove west and decided to go to a campground in a forest reserve south of Burnie. It got dark before we arrived there. But one of the most exciting things happened on that dark road. We saw a Tasmanian devil! They are quite rare since they have fallen victim to a nasty face cancer. But this one was well and alive eating a roadkill. Actually I only saw something dark with white patches running away as we drove past. But sure it was a devil!
The day before we picked grapes we went together with two Japanese girls but without Spencer to Cradle Mountain. There I saw Wombats for the first time! They are so cute! Just like teddybears! It's hard to think they only eat grass and roots.
Cradle Mountain was pretty too. We didn't have enough time to go all the way to the top so we went to Marions lookout. I've been trying to stop comparing Australia to New Zealand. It makes it look nicer :-)
