Despite some rain and heavy gusts of wind overnight, the day bloomed bright. Had it been raining we would have not proceeded with the day's plans: walking to South Cape Bay. This is the most southerly accessible point in Australia - well, accessible by a long walk only. It is the first part of the overland walk which takes several days, ends at Lake Pedder and is only for the completely insane. Matthew would like it… The return trip was supposed to be 4 hour...

We took the 6km back at a slightly faster pace taking only 45 minutes this time. The car surprised us yet again, crawling along in high range first all by itself and even compensating the revs over steeper patches! You don't need to be an expert 4WDer these days; the cars are so damned good they do it all for you! A slightly older form of transport was on for the morning: the Ida Bay Railway. This is the last operating bush tramway in Tasmania, as well as the ...

The Tahune Air Walk is a forestry-run venture, a PR exercise though a very costly one! It consists of lovely walks through the surrounding area including one to a grove of Huon Pine. The air walk itself is about 500m of steel walkway through the forest canopy ending in a cantilevered section stretching out high over the Huon River. It shakes and shivers in the breeze which is a bit disconcerting but it's an interesting experience. We walked back to the car the lo...

After a superb day yesterday - blue skies, sunshine, warmth - which we promptly spent inside at MONA, the morning gave us grey skies, rain and mist. Not the best weather to try and see one of the great city views in the world. Mt Wellington looms directly over Hobart city but takes a surprisingly long time to get to. It's 1240 m high, so the top was shrouded in cloud when we started the 22km drive to the top. You can walk one of the various tracks to the top and ...

Hobart 18Nov With MONA closed on Tuesdays - wouldn't you know it - we bussed it into town and did the obligatory wander around the harbourfront and Constitution Dock where the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race ends. A bit later we joined a guided tour of the national Trust property of the Penitentiary Chapel and the old Criminal Courts, relics of Hobart's colonial and convict period. All very interesting with the history, most of which we had no clue about, interest...