We got a bit of a later start this morning than we would have liked but finally got packed up and on our way at around 10:30. I like to blog first thing in the morning for the day before. Some days it takes a long time to write and upload pictures. Today was one of those days. I had a lot to say about yesterday.

We drove north up the Freycinet Peninsula to our first stop of the day. It was a blowhole on the beach just outside of the town of Bicheno. We thought we were going to have to hike out to see this but it turns out they built a parking lot right next to it. We parked and walked down a short path and onto another beautiful and empty beach. We climbed up on the rocks and took pictures from all different angles. It was a challenge to get it at just the right moment. One of us would look over the edge of the rocks and wait for a big wave and then yell back to the other person who was standing at the ready with the camera pointed in the right direction. Sometimes the waves would fizzle out at the last second and sometimes a little tiny wave would make a big eruption. Thank goodness for digital cameras. We took 50 pictures and kept eight.

We drove down the road a little more and saw a sign for a kid's petting zoo. We did not go to the zoo but we did stop to take a picture of their sign. Nature world, what are you thinking? We laughed for a while over it. (See the picture below.) I know they are a little less uptight in Oz than we are in America but someone should have thought this through.

After a while we turned off the coast and headed northwest along a scenic trail. It rained most of the day so we were not able to get out and take pictures as much as we would have liked. We would drive through a rolling valley full of sheep and cattle farms, vineyards and orchards and then over small mountains and back into valleys again.

We were on top of one of the mountains and saw a sign for Halls Falls so we turned off to see if we could see it. We drove one kilometer down a dirt track and we felt like we were instantly transported through time to the Jurassic Era. The trees, ferns and grass were huge. We had driven into a rainforest. We arrived at a car park and discovered that the falls were at the far end of a two kilometer loop. It wasn’t raining at the moment so we decided to take a hike.

The Halls Falls loop was not a well used path so the giant bush was encroaching on the trail in a lot of spots but it was beautiful and unlike anything else we had seen on our trip. Some of the ferns were two and three times taller than us and the trees were magnificent. The smell of eucalyptus oil as we walked through the forest was unbelievable. It made everything seem fresh even though it was soaking wet and probably had been forever. It was a little eerie being out there by ourselves and I would not have been surprised at all if a tyrannosaurus rex or a triceratops had come crashing through the woods. We made it back to the car just before the rain started again.

We drove through more valleys and over more mountains and finally reached the Tamar River around 5pm. We drove up the east side of the river to the Batman Bridge and crossed to the west side and up a few more kilometers to Beauty Point. We are pretty close to the northern tip of Tasmania. There is a lot to do within a few kilometers of our hotel, which we are booked into for two nights, so we are going to stay close to home tomorrow. We drove over 300k’s today and we were very happy to get out of the car.

Tamar cove is a simple little hotel. We booked what is called a self contained room so we have a kitchen and a living room. It is not fancy but very clean and the location is perfect. They are best known for their restaurant, which has been voted one of the best in Tassie several years in a row. We got settled into our room and went to dinner. We ordered a tower of seafood for two. It was really good and we finally tried some Tasmania oysters. I have to say they were a little disappointing. Cape Cod and in particular Wellfleet has better oysters than Tasmania.