Stanley

Sunday morning, we left Launceston and made our way towards Stanley. While driving, we made several stops along the way.  We passed through the town of Penguin, a pretty seaside village.  The town is known for its multiple statues of penguins and even the trashcans are in the shape of their namesake.  We did not spend too much time here, but wanted to make sure to get a obligatory photo of the 10-foot penguin in the center of town!

Read More

Launceston

Tuesday, we left for Launceston, the second largest city in Tasmania with 68,000 residents.  On the way to Launceston, we made a detour to the Low Head Lighthouse which was built in 1888 and a great location to watch the Tamar River flowing into the Bass Straight. 

Read More

St. Helens

Friday morning, we left Coles Bay for St. Helens.  In Portugal, we started listening to podcasts since we spent so much time in the car and found it helps make the drive more interesting.  Most of our podcasts centered around murder mysteries (“Someone Knows Something”, “Dirty John”, and “Up and Vanished") and have been looking to branch out a bit. 

Read More

Coles Bay

We woke early and hit the road towards Coles Bay on Monday.  We made a pit stop in Swansea, a pretty seaside village which overlooks Great Oyster Bay and Freycinet National Park.  On the way to Swansea we stopped at Spiky Bridge.  Built by convicts in 1843, the bridge was made from stones without mortar or cement.  It is unclear why the spikes were designed, but the belief is the spikes were added to prevent cattle from falling over the sides of the bridge. 

Read More

Orford

From Port Arthur, we drove to Orford on Saturday, where we stayed for two nights.  The first day, we took the ferry from Triabunna to Maria Island (pronounced “Mariah” Island).  The mountainous island was once a penal colony for convicts who committed offenses against the French colonists.  Today, the entire island and the ocean surrounding it is a national park. 

Read More

Port Arthur

On Tuesday morning, we left Bruny Island for Port Arthur.  On the way, we stopped at Coal River Farm, where we picked our own plums and strawberries.  In addition to growing fruits, they also make their own cheese and chocolate which we sampled.  We enjoyed the pit-stop and even got to pet a couple of goats!

Read More

Bruny Island

We left for Bruny Island last week after two days in Hobart.  The only option to get to Bruny Island is by ferry and we were not the only people who had this idea!  The line to ride the ferry was long and we waited in our car for about an hour before we could board.  Neither of us had ever been on a ferry where you drive up in your car, park on the ferry, and then drive off once arriving at the jetty.  It was all quite exciting!  The ferry ride itself only took about 20 minutes and we arrived in Bruny Island shortly after 1:00pm. 

Read More