We were not too impressed with what Launceston had to offer.  We visited the Cataract Gorge, rode the chairlift, and went on a short hike.  It was nice but not worth going out of your way for it.  On our way back to Hobart, we stopped at two of the most adorable historic towns called Ross and Oatlands.  In Ross we stopped at a cute coffee shop and in Oatland we visited the historic windmill.  These stops made the drive to Hobart pleasant.

Oatlands as seen from the windmill

The Rough guide said that entering Hobart from any direction is exhilarating, which it is not.  It is a plain city with a boring skyline.  We went for a walk around 7:00 and it was totally dead, except for a few restaurants around the harbor which appeared to be where people went to have a nice dinner.

We drove to Coles Bay to go on the hike to Wineglass Bay Beach since it is not accessible by car and a small mountain has to be crossed. It was chilly outside so it was good hiking weather but not so good swimming weather.  We wanted to go swimming anyway, to say we did in Tazzie, but the water was freezing and we could only stay in for a few minutes.

Wineglass Bay

After experiencing the views from the hike and the beach we did not want an experience of hunting for accommodation so we thought we better reserve something.  We found a pay phone in Coles Bay and I was parking when I backed right into a pole next to the road which had been in my blind spot.  Ironically it was the sign with parking rules.  It felt like a tiny bump so I didn’t think much of it, but when we looked at the back of the car, there was a gapeing hole right next to the bumper because with my luck I had pushed the plastic which was right next to the bumper and the bumper split the plastic.  The pole was fine.  We called Cosy Cabins and got a spa room.

My parking job

Unfortunately, when we arrived in Launceston, the Cosy Cabins were rather dumpy cabins instead.  We were disappointed by the second half of our day and went out in search for an internet cafe.  We had forgotten that everything closed super early here, and so it was 7:00 and everything was closed.  At least there was a Coles supermarket which was open until midnight so we were able to buy some food for dinner.

The following day we went to explore Port Arthur during the day.  We went on the tour, saw a short play, and wandered around the ruins.  It is a very interesting historical site, and it is pretty amazing to learn about the unique convict history of Australia.

Port Arthur

We spent about half a day there and then went to see the rock formations around Doo Town.  Doo Town is unique because every one of the houses has to be named and have the word “doo” in its name.  I found it amusing and made a nice collection of the names but that was the point – anything for tourism.

We went to see the sights such as, the  Remarkable cave (which was closed) Devil’s Kitchen and the Arch, but the most fascinating thing was the live echidna which was shuffling along the walking track.  We had only seen it in the animal parks before so it was a real treat to see it in real life.  The views were nice too but nothing that we thought was too spectacular.

I just wanted to pet it.

We wanted to spend that night in Cole’s Bay so we could hike to the wineglass bay the next day but when we called the campsite, it already closed.  We decided to go to Bicheno instead, since it looked like a bigger town and we figured we’d have a better chance finding some place to stay there.  As we drove around the 3 streets of Bicheno we saw plenty of hotels and campsites but each one had a “no vacancy” sign.  We were getting worried, especially since we saw cars doing the same thing we were doing – going in and out of accommodation places.  We drove by one house, which was a bit out of town, (We were driving down every road imaginable) and it had a sign which said “vacancy.”  There was no one there, but there was a phone number.  Since it was literally our last hope we drove back to town to use a payphone, since we did not have any cell phone reception.  A lady did indeed say she had room and that she would meet us there ASAP.  We were relieved and raced back to the house which was called Harvey Farm Lodge.  The room was huge there was a kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a living room.  We couldn’t believe that in a town with literally no more places for people to sleep there was suddenly too much places for people to sleep.  The lady locked the other 2 bedrooms and the other bathrooms.  There was also Port, chocolates, and cookies which we could help ourselves to.  The lady then told us that if we were hungry and wanted dinner we better go ASAP since the one pub in town stopped serving food at 8 and all the stores had long closed.  We were confused at how a town overflowing with tourists had only one pub which stopped serving at 8 but we went ASAP and were able to order with 4 minutes to spare.  It was not even overly crowded as we had expected it to be so we had no idea where all these tourists were.

Every house in Doo Town, Tasmania, has the word “doo” in it. We took pictures of every sign we could see.

Road sign	Thistle Doo Me	Xana Do
Doo Mee	Wee Doo - Very Rarely	Doo Mix
Mal's Dooghouse	Yabba Dabba "Doo"	Wattle-I-Doo
Gunnadoo	Gunnadoo	Nickle Doo
Doo-Little	Dr. Doolittle	Doodle-Doo
Doo-Drop-Inn	Love Me Doo	Doo-ALL
AF-2-Doo	Much-A-Doo	Just Doo It
Doo F#@k All	Doo Love It	Sheil-Doo
Didgeri-Doo	Doo-N-Time	Doo Us
Make Doo	Rum Doo

We flew to Tasmania on one of the world’s worst Airlines, Tiger Airways, which seem to be in direct competition with Ryan Air for the worst service award in air service.  In Melbourne they have a separate terminal just for them, which is definitely no frills.  It’s an old hangar that was probably retired from housing planes so of course it is fit to be a terminal.  Everyone was doing the “Tiger Shuffle” which means that they unpacked all their bags and re-shuffled belongings in hopes they would pass the weight test.  Luckily, we were successful in our shuffle.  At least the plane brought us to Hobart in one piece.

We rented a car and drove to Richmond right away.  It is famous for housing Australia’s oldest bridge which is still in use, so of course it was a great thrill to drive over it (twice) and also for the oldest Roman Catholic Church, St. John, still in use.  It was a very cute town and both the church and bridge were very picturesque.  There we also visited Old Hobart Town, which is a model village of Hobart from 1820s.  It is fun because you can play a scavenger game in the village looking for certain things.

Then we drove to Port Arthur and on the way stopped to see the tessellated pavement at Eaglehawk Neck lookout.  It is pretty cool considering it is not man made.  We stayed in Stewarts Bay Lodge, which was very spacious and had a great view of the bay.  We wanted to make dinner, but the nearest grocery store was quite a drive away and did not have much food anyway.   Nevertheless, we scraped something together.

tessellated pavement

That night we went on the Port Arthur Ghost Tour.  The stories were entertaining and our guide was good, it just would have been better if the groups were half the size and if no flash photography was allowed.  We had one very avid photographer who kept flashing at everything, blinding us.  The tour is lead by candlelight so it was pretty dark and flashing was incredibly annoying.

Port Arthur by night (No, I did not use flash).

We spent the next days sightseeing Melbourne.  We rode the free tourist tram, which was way too crowded and loud so we could not hear the informational commentary.  We went the Eureka Tower for a view of the city, and I was curious about the Edge experience.  The view from the tower is excellent but the Edge Experience seemed lame and way overpriced.  It was just a small room which went in and out of the building a few feet.  I guess any hype is good for tourism because it was always crowded and people waited in a line.  We also visited The Shrine of Remembrance, which is interesting and the view of the city is great from there.

Melbourne from The Shrine of Remembrance

In the evening, we went to Phillips Island.  We went on the Nobbies Boardwalk which was pretty and we even saw a baby penguin.  It was neat because we were allowed to take pictures there, unlike at the Penguin parade.  We arrived early at the parade because it was advertised to come early, but it is not necessary.  We waited for so long in the cold until sunset and when the first wave of penguins came half the people left so there was plenty of good viewing spots empty.  The penguins come in waves and waddle on shore to their nests for a few hours, so it is hard to miss.  We watched a few waves of penguins and then walked on the boardwalk and saw them come to their nests and meet their little ones.  It was adorable and we really enjoyed the experience, we just wished we had come later.

Penguin by the Nobbies Boardwalk

The next day we drove on the Great Ocean Road, for the third time.  We did it in reverse this time which was better because we were able to do some stops we were too late to do last time.  Also, the sun was great for the Apostles.  It was noontime so the sun was straight above and we were able to take amazing pictures.  When we were there with Hendrik’s parents the sun was setting and the pictures right against the sun were not very nice.

Geralton was a lot prettier than I thought it would be.  There is not much to do though, and the main attraction is the HMAS Sydney II Memorial.  We had a guided tour of it which is free and interesting.  Then we went to the library since they had free wireless internet and both my dad and Hendrik cannot live without internet for too long.  It was an awesome library.  One of the most modern ones I’ve ever been too they had board games and puzzles on top of books and magazines so I could have easily spent the whole day there and was not bored, even though I did not have my laptop with me. In the afternoon, we drove back down to Perth and stayed in a Big4 and had a typical Australian barbecue with shrimp and fish and too much food to finish.

HMAS Sydney II Memorial

The next morning we went to visit the King’s Park and the Botanical Gardens which really impressed me.  I thought they were comparable to Sydney’s, and from them we also had a wonderful view of the city.  After visiting the park we flew back to Melbourne.

Perth from the Botanical Gardens

Hendrik and I woke up early to go back to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins come in for feeding.  I was disappointed that we were not able to swim with them but seeing the crowd it was understandable that they could not let people swim with them or they would chase them away since there were about 100 people lined up along the shore ready for the dolphins.  Nevertheless, we were able to see the dolphins really close-up.

Then we had to start the drive back down south. On the way we stopped at Eagle Bluff which was a spectacular lookout.  We only saw one shark though, which only looked like a tadpole from the distance.  Next we stopped by Shell Beach which is a beach made up entirely of crushed shells, no sand.  It was very white, beautiful and peaceful, seeing as we were the only ones there.  If we had had more time I would not have minded going for a swim.

Alone, except for that guy.

The last stop on the peninsula was for the Hamelin Pool.  It is one of only a few places in the world where living marine stromatolites can be found.  Stromatolites look like rocks and are an example of the earliest record of life on earth.  They were spectacular in their own right, but by then the sun was beating down, and the humidity was rising.  Therefore, I was very happy to go back to the AC of the car and not spend too much time with the stromatolites.  Then we drove to Geraldton where Hendrik and I spent a long time in the Winstersun Motel’s pool, which was very refershing.

stromatolites

We drove to Monkey Mia in the morning, but not early enough for the dolphins.  The resort and beach were pretty and there were emus, pelicans, and Mallee Fowls wondering around the property.

Hendrik making a friend

We went swimming in the ocean which was very calm.  In the afternoon, we went on the Shotover dolphin/ dugong sightseeing tour  which was lovely and we saw lots of dolphin families and a few dugongs.  The dugongs did not come out of the water so it was impossible to take a good picture.

After the boat, we went swimming again in a shallow area of the sea by the shore.  The tide rapidly pulled the water so it was relaxing to lie on the water and snorkel as the current carried us.  There, we saw lots of small animals such as hermit crabs and snails.

Monkey Mia Sunset

We ate dinner at the Monkey Mia resort which was beautiful since we were seated outside with a view on the ocean and were able to see the sunset and two dolphins swim by close to the shore.

We set out in the morning and drove to Kalbarri,  On the way we saw a leaning River Gum tree which leans because of the wind on the plains.

River Gum Leaning Tree

Once we entered Kalbarri National Park there were a few lookout points by the cliffs along the coast, which were pretty but failed to be spectacular compared to the Great Ocean Road.

We reached the town by noon, had lunch, bought a lot of bottles of water, and headed out onto the unsealed most popular road of the park which is about 25 KM long.  Originally I thought we may need to rent a 4wd but it was not necessary.  I had not done my research for the climate though.  I didn’t think it was a desert, but it was, smack in the middle of summer and the temperature was extreme.  Signs said that it could get up to 50°C or 122°F, and I think it wasn’t too far from that today.

Our first stop was a lookout which was a 100m walk, and it was incredibly hard.  I felt as if I was in an oven, and that my skin was crisping, even though I was using lots of sunscreen and had my windbreaker on.  It was definitely deadly heat.  We arrived at Nature’s Window soon afterwards and as we got out of our air conditioned car, a family next to us was just getting into theirs.  The woman told us not to go, that it was too hot and that they didn’t make it to the window, and turned back.  It seemed ridiculous because the window was only 400m from the car park.  We think the she was more concerned for my dad since he is a heavy older man, and I was glad she scared him out of going because I did not think it was wise for him to go either.  He stayed behind in the shade, and Hendrik and I went, because I was really looking forward to seeing the window which was pretty much the whole point of going to Kalbarri in the first place. I had a hard time getting to the window and was dizzy and felt my muscles shaking when I finally reached it.

We sat in its shade for about 15 minutes drinking water.  We had brought 2 liters each for this short walk, and I wished we had brought more. Hendrik seemed fine though and was thriving in the dry heat while I was begging for some humidity.  As I sat in the window I dreaded the walk back since it was uphill this time and was literally scared of it.  The window was gorgeous and the view was amazing, and suffering in the heat was totally worth it.  When I finally made it back to the car I felt as if my insides were boiling and was having trouble breathing.  I had a headache and drank more water as I faced the air-conditioning which was on full blast but having a hard time being too cold in the desert.  It took a good half hour before I felt better.

It was the hottest place I have ever been to, and would have planned differently if I was to go back.  Preferably go there in winter and not at 3 in the afternoon in the summer.  Then again, that was probably the reason we had the window all to ourselves and didn’t have to share with other tourists.  We did not attempt the z bend, though Hendrik was ready to go and feeling up to it, but I don’t think I would have survived that 500m (1Km return total) walk.  It was a shame, but I don’t think it was worth risking.

There was no shortage of Yuka trees in Kalbarri

There was one more stop before leaving the park which was a lookout right at the car park so that was ok.  Then it was just a straight drive up North to our overnight destination.  There were hardly any rest stops or roadhouses, but we stopped at one rest stop because I had to go after drinking so much water, and there I found a goat sitting in the shade of hut where the toilet was.  It was the only shade for miles and someone had made it a bowl out of the bottom of a water bottle for it.  It had no more water so I gave it some and then some more until it had finished off a liter and all our water.

I felt so bad for the toilet goat

There was a \roadhouse nearby (nearby is about 40 miles) so we could stop there and get more water.  When we arrived there, Hendrik told the man who probably owned the roadhouse that there was a goat in the bathroom.  He didn’t think much of it, laughed at us when we said we gave it water, and said that sometimes goats from farms escape and that they get rounded up once in a while.  We had wanted a rescue party to be sent for the goat.

Sunset near Denham

By sunset we had reached the outskirts of Denham and arrived at our cottage at dusk.  I was shocked by the state of the cottage which was a complete dump since the website seemed nice.  It was dirty and falling apart.  The wind from the sea roared all night, and I didn’t know how it didn’t just pick the cottage up and make it into splinters.  Denham was tiny and since it was 9 everything was closed, and we could not find food anywhere so we had potato chips, which the one bar in town was able to sell us, for dinner.

Our cottage