| When we arrived in Hobart, the capitol of the state of Tasmania, the first thing we did, naturally, was head down to the waterfront! |
| The Sydney to Hobart sailboat racers had just come in after a long slow windless passage |
| Hobart has a harbor well-protected from the Antarctic storms that sweep in from the south |
| A 20 minute drive got us out of town and up into Mt Wellington for mountain hiking |
| The trail skirted around the Organ Pipes formation |
| Rock formations of weathered columnar dolerite, are not found on mainland Australia, but are common in Antarctica, Tasmania's closest geologic relative |
| We hiked the Hartz Peak trail across boardwalks over wet moorland to glacial tarns |
| Nasty pricker bushes kept us from climbing to Hartz Peak summit (at least that's our excuse and we're sticking to it!) |
| A grove of head-high pandani, world's tallest heath, and a Dr Seuss creation if ever there was one! |
| Though the weather had been dry, the mountain moors were saturated, the puddles fringed with bog plants including tiny, sticky, carnivorous sundew |
| From above, a sparkling glacial tarn with the mountain ranges of Tasmania's south in the background |
| The clear, crisp, cold waters of the tarn, Lake Esperance, create a mirrored reflection of the flanking foothills of Hartz Peak |
| Near Woodbridge we visited Tasmania's only sheep cheesery, where they make yummy cheeses from the milk of these ewes |
| It only takes these 2 happy sires to keep the whole herd of ewe-sheep producing lambs |
| On a hot day nothing beats a walk in a cool forest to a ribbon waterfall and pool |
| The immature Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (L) squawked continuously, either to beg food piteously, or because it's wing was really injured |
| Two of the many enormous tall eucalyptus trees as seen from.... >>>>>> |
| <<<<<... the ingenious slanted viewing platform! |
| At the road's end in Mt Field National Park is a trail around forested Lake Dobson |
| Some of the swamp gums reached over 280 ft in the air, surpassed in height only by America's Giant Redwoods |
| Tasmania's streams are clear and clean, but stained brown by so much tannin dissolved in the water |
| In Maydeena, near Mt Field we stayed in cabins at he edge of this pond which was... |
| ...ideal habitat for platypus! |
| Lucky for us, these platypus were not just nocturnal, but active during the day too! |
| The zoom photo shows the rubbery bill (L end) and thick furry tail (R end) where they store fat reserves |
| We got a good view of the characteristic bill as the platypus surfaced from mucking about in the bottom mud |
