A lot of the trees we passed were warped out of shape in quite extraordinary ways -some were bent around on themselves, others were apparently two separate trunks growing out of the ground which suddenly merged into one higher up. One tree even looked as through it has been deliberately bent by a giant, growing perfectly straight for a couple of metres before suddenly going off at exactly forty-five degrees and growing sideways for another metre before bending up...

When we arrived back at John's office the next day, our guide was waiting for us with his 4x4 parked outside and ready to go. Bruce, which is what I'll be calling him on the basis that I'm really not that good at recalling names and, let's face it, every man in Australia is called Bruce, was a jolly sort with a thick Aussie accent who spent the entire tour pointing at things and explaining the age and history of everything we walked past in a loud and confident t...

Finding John's office the next morning in order to arrange our tour turned out to be a little more difficult than we had expected. At the address we had been given, there appeared to be nothing more than a pharmacy waiting for us on the corner. We went in and wandered around, wondering if we were supposed to go up the stairs at the back of the shop, but suspected that doing so would result in all sorts of people running in our direction thinking we were druggies ...

Getting from Launceston to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania and our final destination in the country, wasn't as simple as you might expect given the usual ease with which backpackers can get around Australia. For a start, Tasmania seems to consider itself to a certain extent to be a separate entity from the rest of the country and has its own companies supplying public transportation - companies which don't seem to be affiliated with the equivalent networks in the...

Cataract Gorge is a good example of somewhere which you will only fully appreciate if you leave the car at home and arrive on foot. This is because the entrance for walkers is positioned at the north end of the gorge where the bridge crosses it and the South Esk River and the Tamar River meet. There is a small car park next to the bridge for a handful of cars, but most people arriving at the gorge by car will drive in through the large purpose built road on the o...