25th February 2008, Hartz Mountains and Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, Australia
We started the day in the Forest & Heritage Centre in Geeveston Town Hall where we acquired various materials from the visitor information section and purchased our tickets for the Tahune Forest Airwalk and Eagle Glide. We drove the 26 km to the Tahune Forest Reserve and spent about an hour walking high above the rainforest (about 25 to 50 metres) on an aerial walkway which, amongst other things, provided a magnificent view of the Huon and Picton River confluence.
After this we walked the 10 minutes to the Eagle Glide. This is a suspended hanglider ride high above the forest which crosses the Huon River at about 70 metres. We had two goes each on the fast setting!
Next we drove back towards Geeveston but detoured on a dirt road into the Hartz Mountains, which had been covered the previous day (believe it or not) in snow. Unfortunately as we arrived at the visitor centre the clouds descended and it started to rain. We talked to a local lady who told us she had been previously 4 times to try and walk to top of Hartz Mountain and on 3 of the previous occasions the weather was just as bad; on the 4th it was worse! We had no choice but to call it a day, although the forest was attractive - even in the rain. This side trip confirmed all the material we had read about Tasmania which says, effectively, that one can experience the weather from 4 seasons in one day.
Our main objective on this day was actually to find a Tasmanian Devil and we had been advised in Geeveston that we need to head towards Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula (about 2 hours from Geeveston). So, setting off around 1.30 pm we headed back to Hobart, travelled through Hobart and drove towards the Tasman Peninsula. On the way we saw some interesting road signs (see pics). We stopped briefly at Sorell so M could have McDonalds on the road. We arrived at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park at about 3.30 just in time for the indigenous wild bird show. We then had an hour to look at all the other marsupials and birds before the feeding of the Tasmanian Devils ant 5.00 pm. They were fed a road kill wallaby and there was a tremendous amount of fighting and noise before they settled down to crunch away with their 2000 psi jaws (3rd most powerful jaws in the animal kingdom).
We left the park just before 5.30 minded to visit a number of coastal features on the Tasman Peninsula. At Eagle Hawk Neck we picked up a couple of Hitchers - Tony (Australian) and Anna (German) and we all went to the Blowhole, Tasman Arch and Devils Kitchen. After this we crossed the neck of the peninsula and went to see the Tessellated Pavement (a natural wave cut platform used for worship by the Aboriginal People).
We returned to Sorell and found a house to rent for two nights at 7 Mile Beach. Unfortunately Monday is the evening when restaurants are closed so we finished up with Pizza again!
