Saturday, January 24, 2009

Tasmazia

We've come to Tasmania for a few weeks in our new caravan/Landcruiser 'rig'. The ferry from Melbourne ('Spirit of Tasmania') is an 8 hour overnight trip. We were comfortable in a small cabin, while Tigger stayed in the caravan on the garage deck.

So far, we've reached Hobart in the south of the island and we have to be back at the north end to catch a return ferry in about 10 days.

The strangest attraction we have visited is Tasmazia and Lower Crackpot. Here, we were able to get lost in 5 different hedge mazes and marvel at probably the most idiosyncratic model village we've ever seen!

We've also seen a lot of Tasmanian wildlife, including the Tasmanian Devil (of course), Echidna and a variety of native birds. We still haven't seen a platypus in the wild.

Today we visited Port Arthur a restored penal colony - prisons seem to be a big part of Tasmania's history.

More pictures are here.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Our new home

We're back in Australia and have spent a few weeks in a campground outside Sydney. Tigger is with us again having survived Quarantine.

Initially, we rented yet another camper but now we have bought an "offroad" caravan and an ancient (1983) Toyota Landcruiser to tow it. We spent Christmas and New Year here; Christmas was quiet but for New Year's Eve we joined a party boat out on Sydney Harbour to view their world famous fireworks. After that we battled our way through the Sydney rail system to get home at 5am!

In a few days, once a few vehicle issues have been resolved - towbar electrics and such - we'll set off south in our new home. We're currently planning to head for Tasmania.