Wahey! Its just me and my van 'Marlene' and we're off to Tassie. Got on the Spirit of Tazmania II at 1830hrs wed, arrived Devonport 0700. Stocked up on food (can't take fresh food across the border!) and saw some 8000 yr old aboriginal stone carvings. Then onto Sheffield which is nothing like the Sheffield we all know and love. This one has murals on every building, took about 15 photos of 'em. There's also an animatronic show involving the Tazmanian Tiger. All very cute and peculiar. Spent the first nite next to Lake Barrington, spectacularly beautiful and very nice to wake up to, although i was disturbed by a possum jumping all over the windscreen at 3am! Next day visited Tazmazia, 5 mazes and a pancake shop. Bloody gorgeous pancakes, mountain of cream, millions of diferent flavours, I had hot Taco, mmmmm! The mazes are v.funny, including a cage maze, balance maze, a copy of Hampton Court Maze aswell as a Beconscot-esque 1/5th scale town called Lower Crackpot. Anyway, it took about 2.5hrs to complete all the mazes, then I dragged myself away and continued on to Mt Cradle. There's lots of different walks to do around the Cradle Valley, from 20min walks to 9 day mountain treks. A boardwalk runs from the park entrance upto Cradle mt, takes about 3.5hrs to complete and a free shuttle bus can take you to various sections of it. The bus stops at 8pm. Got there at 7pm, just enough time to do some of the boardwalk and get a lift back. The boardwalk is great as it protects all the wildlife and plants and stuff. Next day I finnished the Cradle Valley section and had lunch in front of Cradle Mt and Dove Lake, shockingly beautiful! The cloudy weather meant climbing the Mt was fruitless, as there'd be no view, which was a nice excuse! Next stop Queenstown on the west coast. Ghost town! Old mining town with nothing there, spooky. Met two hilarious old dudes, Jerry Mchon and Mick Bean (Irish & Yorkshire-ish). Next day did the longish haul over the mountain forests to Hobart, stopping at Lake St Clair for lunch. Beautiful drive thru the tazzy outback and a welcome pint of Cascade at the end. Good to hear the NZ trip was successful, and I'm gonna have to get my PADI now aren't I!!! Will try my damndest to get to NZ. Gotta go back to Melbourne, get a job, save cash, take the van up to Darwin, sell it and then I'll still have a couple of months left for NZ!!! Phew! Anyway, gotta go, Laundry's callin! Luv ya'll far too much! Dan & Marlene (so called coz in the morning she "vahnts to be alone!")