Well, after a week at a retreat in the Yarra Valley just outside Melbourne we flew to Tasmania for the last leg of '5000 miles down under'. The grounds of the retreat were very rural with hundreds, yes hundreds of kangaroos jumping around. They must have felt the calm vibes of all the meditation going on as they were not that bothered about us so we got quite close at times. I did find the food a little challenging so will admit to having a coca cola as soon as we got to the airport. Peter said I was making a fuss as he had enjoyed the food!

Tasmania is 240 kilometres (150 miles) south of the mainland, separated by the Bass Strait. We arrived to a cool and rather windy 19 degrees. Aaargh, well at least it will be getting us ready for our return to chilly UK in a couple of weeks. The island is 70% the size of England with a population of 515,000. The first reported sighting was in 1642 by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who named the island Anthoonij van Diemenslandt. The name was sensibly shortened to Van Diemen's Land by the British (probably because no one could pronounce Anthoonij van Diemenslandt) and during the 1800’s the name slowly changed to Tasmania. Thank goodness for that I can hear many people saying! It was obviously thought a good dumping ground for baddies as the first settlement, of mostly convicts and guards, by the British in 1803, was soon followed by many more. As you can imagine the Aboriginal people were not too happy.

Tasmania to many probably conjures up the Tasmanian Devil but did you know Tasmania also had a tiger (Latin name thylacine). It was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is believed to have been a shy, nocturnal creature the size of a largish dog, with stiff tail, abdominal kangaroo like pouch and dark tiger like stripes. The males as well as females had a pouch. It was last seen in the 1930’s although, like our much loved Loch Ness Monster, people still claim to see them.

After a good stocking up at the local Woollies we headed to a small town called Richmond. It has the oldest bridge in Australia and the most antiques shops I have seen together in a long time. We did pop into a three storey Christmas shop but it does feel a little odd trying to get yourself in the Christmas mood when the sun is shining and its nice and warm outside.

Next day we headed down to the Peninsula and Eaglehawk Neck which is a small isthmus of about 100metres that joins the island to the peninsula. In the days of the numerous prisons on the peninsula the isthmus was guarded by the so-called dog line. Because of the noise of the crashing waves guards couldn’t hear any escaping convicts so a line of chained ferocious dogs served to warn the guards if anyone approached. Something like a Ha Ha with dogs. A Woof Woof maybe? Some dogs were even put on stages floating out in the water to deter convicts from attempting a sea crossing.

Just past Eaglehawk Neck we visited some dramatic coastal scenery including an impressive Tessellated Pavement. The Tessellated pavement consists of a bed of siltstone cracked by stresses in the earth’s crust. The cracks have been exaggerated by erosion so giving it the appearance of paving slabs. The paving slabs are themselves termed breadloaf rocks depending on how they have eroded. If the surface erodes faster than the edges you get a pan and if the opposite, you get a loaf. Easy no?

We don’t seem to have been as adventurous in our cooking this trip and curry alternating with ratatouille is wearing thin so I was rather pleased when I came across a stall selling large mussels marinated in sweet chilli sauce- yummy. Peter was not tempted as I munched my way through them. That night we camped wild near the cliff top.

The most famous of the peninsula prisons was at Port Arthur where we headed next day. It was established in the 1830’s and based on the ideas of the English reformer Jeremy Bentham who designed Pentoville prison. At one time it had 2000 convicts and was a thriving industrial settlement. It finally closed in 1877. Quite a few of the buildings remain so we had a tour and good look around before heading back to the campervan for a hot mug of Campbells condensed tomato soup (an essential pantry item in the chilly climes). Much need as the wind was a tadge chilly.

Whilst at the nearby campsite we saw some really cute little wallabies. They actually turned out to be Pademelons. Originally wallabies were divided into small and large wallabies, but some clever spark decided a name was needed to differentiate between them. Why "pademelon" I can’t say.

Freycinet park was our next destination. It sits on some impressive pink granite and scattered around are some even more impressive enormous pink granite boulders. The park is famous for Wine Glass Bay an iconic pristine sandy bay a good 3 kilometres from the carpark. First you climb up, a moderate up, to a viewpoint and then down, a more than moderate down to the bay and then back. I impressed myself by managing, albeit with a struggle, to complete the walk. Whilst resting at the lookout a forest wallaby came to see if someone had some food.