The Search for Taz

(Grab a snack and a cuppa....this is a long one ;))

For our final adventure in Australia we "rucked up" and headed off to Tasmania (yes, there is actually a place called Tasmania!) We flew into Hobart, which is on the Southeastern part of the Island and spend a few fantastic days seeing natural beauty like we have never seen it before. Tasmania is intoxicatingly beautiful - the sky was so blue and the air was so clean. Hobart is a quaint, historic city with small spatters of modern art and is highlighted with Tasman culture. We set off to find out why Aussies think this place is so special....and.....
........of course, we went on the hunt for the Tasmanian Devil, Taz himself!

We found a few Tassie Devils of our own!

Hobart is a port city, very colorful, friendly and clean. This was the view from our hotel room - WOW!!! Waking up to Mount Wellington every morning was a treat itself! I only wish the camera could have captured how blue the sky really was.....it was breathtaking!

Here's our buddy Taz!!! We found him at Zoo Doo, a really neat animal park. We got to meet Taz and watch him devour his lunch with his scary front teeth! We also got to pet a joey, still in his mommy's pouch thanks to his very sweet and lovable mommy - that was an experience we won't soon forget. We watched lions, fed deer, and went on a safari ride where we were TOO up close and personal with the emus and ostrich for Lily's comfort....Emma giggled all the way!!

After Zoo Doo, we traveled to Richmond, a little town just north of Hobart. We ate lunch at a sweet little bakery and had a fun treat at the Lolly Shop afterwards. Richmond is a town where time has stopped. It is wonderfully historic and well preserved. The buildings were rich with history - many of the roads weren't paved. In Richmond, we had a chance to see the oldest bridge in Australia, built by the convicts in 1823. Richmond also has the oldest prison in Tasmania and adds much to the convict history of Tasmania and Australia.

After Richmond, we headed for The Cadbury Factory in Hobart. Yes, we could not pass up an opportunity to see where our favorite Easter treats are made!!! Unfortunately, the demonstrations were all booked out for the day. The bright side? We each got a free Dairy Milk Bar - YUMMM!!! We made plans to revisit the next morning and have chocolate for brekkie!!

While Jana had her "arvo tea", John took Emma and Lily on a lovely walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hobart - this picture is my favorite one for the whole trip!! It's a gift when you can capture the wonder of your little ones in a snapshot like this one!

We spent a lot of time driving around, listening to classical music in the car (which my girls LOVE) and taking in the majestic scenery. The mountain tops were still dusted with snow, the spring flowers were budding and the baby lambs were everywhere!!! Rolling hills, crystal clear streams, big puffy clouds, huge sparkling lakes!!! We drove through the Southern Forest's Tahune Forest Reserve and took a walk through the treetops at the Tahune airwalk. We had a first hand look at what is usually reserved only for the birds and we had a really fun family time, learning about the Huon Pine - one of the oldest living organisms on the planet!

Our next stop of the day took us to an old fashioned sheep farm and cheesery. We had sheep's cheese (Emma covered her nose and said it was stinky :-)), sheep's milk ice cream - YUMMY, and had a beautiful afternoon tea of cheese, mutton sausage, crackers, fancy jam and bread. The girls soaked up the fresh air, warmed up in the log cabin we ate in and then watched the baby lambs and their mommies in the pen. We kept thinking, this is a REAL vacation (or holiday, as Emma would correct me....)

One of Tasmania's most famous places is Port Arthur. Port Arthur also adds to the convict history of Australia, having some of the oldest penitentiary ruins in Australia. We spent a few hours walking through old houses and buildings and talked a lot about what the word "convict" meant. Port Arthur is said to be very "haunted" and although we know there is no such thing as ghosts......we had a lot of fun pretending to be scared. :-) For John and I, walking around bits of important history is always fascinating and inspiring....don't worry, we don't have any plans to be convicts anytime soon. Lily on the other hand........ :-)

We took a boat ride around Port Arthur and at one point the boat sat exactly 2, 186 nautical miles in a straight line from Antarctica - I thought that was really cool!! On our way home from Port Arthur we drove through a town called "Doo Town". The town was very hillbilly-esque and consisted of about 30 homes that had names with a "doo" in them. One was called didgeridoo, one was 'just doo it', and many of the names were inappropriate to read out loud LOL - glad Emma can't read that well yet! It made for a few big belly laughs for the grown ups in the car! We drove over eagle hawk neck and gazed out at a vast Tasman Sea - it was fun to think that as a family, we really have been to the ends of the earth!!

We flew to Melbourne for a day, just to say we've been there too! Melbourne was unique in that it was wonderfully historic, but also very modern. We road around the city center in an old fashioned trolley and had a tour of what makes Melbourne unique. As Lily napped and Jana had "lunch", John and Emma had a cool opportunity to go to the top of the Eureka Tower, boasting the highest viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere.....they were 88 floors up!!! (Secretly, I was very happy to have fed Jana her lunch....too high for Mommy!)

We walked the city, danced to street music, watched a young artist paint on the sidewalk, laughed at a man pretending to be a statue and ate (yucky) hot dogs from a stand that said, " U.S.A. Hot Dogs" (we couldn't resist). We ended our day eating very yummy pizza on Lygon Street and decadent chocolate mousse for dessert! A very sweet ending to a very very sweet family holiday!!!