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Gordon Dam

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  My final destination with Quentin was the Gordon dam. We drove an hour from Mt. Field west into the mountainous western region of Tasmania where we stopped along the way to climb a mountain (The needles) and do a few smaller walks. The needles was a steep climb up to some marble (?) stones that jutted out from the tops of the mountains. Looking almost placed on top of the buttonwood fields. One of the walks was called the Creepy Crawly walk. It was a beautiful short walk along a boardwalk in a dense nothofagus forest. The trees were so large and dense that very little light reaches the forest floor. Everything was covered in mosses and mushrooms the diversity of which I have never seen before. I saw orange mushrooms that seemed to burst from the dense moss like flames. Bright red mushrooms that looked like cherries along the path. Mossy green mushrooms hid below logs and small chestnut brown mushrooms lined the trunks of trees. A pale fungus looked like coral reef at the base of a tr
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Mt Field

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 After Maria island I hit the road to Mt Field to meet back up with Quentin for a few days. I arrived well after dark but was delighted to find a roaring fire to take the edge off the 0 degree (32 F) weather and warm dinner of potatoes and sausage. We caught up on our adventures for the past few days over the fire. In the morning we decided to make it an easy day and did a series of short (40 minutes to 3 hour) walks in the lower part of the national park. The forest had lots of magnificent 70m (210ft) eucalyptus trees that towered over the forest with short fern trees underneath. We saw a bunch of beautiful waterfalls and enjoyed a leisurely day. When we returned to our camp in the afternoon we were approached by a man, who asked us about our day and future plans in a very leading way. I hesitantly answered his questions until I discovered he and his wife were looking for a ride up the mountain the next day. They are in a motor home and the road to the alpine area is to
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Maria Island

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  My next day started fantastic. I was the only guest at my bnb and after a nice FaceTime chat with my parents I went to breakfast where my host made me pumpkin soup and homemade bread. It was magnificent. I packed up and headed for Maria Island (pronounced Mariah). I parked my car at the docks and got on my ferry across for a few nights. The island is absolutely crawling with wombats which is delightful. Even on the middle of the day I saw probably 40. I put my stuff in my cabin have a nice chat with my neighbors and headed for my first hike up a nearby mountain. I was the only one hiking it this afternoon and after a tough hike and scramble I made it to the top for an incredible view were I was able to look over the cliffs watching the fan tails flitter, the skinks dance, and   the waves look minuscule far below. I sat on the top of the mountain reflecting on all my good fortune over the past months and all the joy Ive experienced and looking forward to much more. I headed down an ho
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Rainy days and Sappy Thoughts

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  Our next trip was intended to be Mt Field NP, but the forecast said heavy wind, snow, and rain so that idea quickly got thrown out. The weather wasn’t exactly pleasant so we spent most of the day inside at coffee shops/restaurants working and eating after a short couple mile walk on the beach. We began working our way north a bit where we stayed south of Mt. Wellington   outside. We had the intention of waking up and doing a few hikes the next day, but after nearly getting blown away after the first hike we opted to head to Hobart for the day to find some shelter. We got a fantastic lunch and agreed that finding a shower was a great need, as I for one, was feeling like I looked as homeless as I am. I found out that there is a rec center in Hobart which is actually fantastic and for A$16 you can get a day pass to the pool/sauna/hot tub/steam room and of course locker room. I ended up spending nearly the entire day rotating between all the facilities and it was so warm and lovely. Quen
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Bruny Island

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  Following my terrible night sleep, we headed north to Hastings Thermal Pools NP. There is a cave there too, but we didn’t visit that. We did however visit the thermal springs. The area had a pool filled with water from the thermal springs. You’ll note that I’m using the word thermal, not hot, because calling it hot is a bit of an exaggeration. The pool was only 75 degrees. Which for the gusty 50 degree weather is warm, but for water to swim… not so much. I braved the water anyway, and swam for a few minutes, before heading to the real star of the show, a limitless hot shower. You dont know the luxury of a limitless hot shower like one on a cold day and having only had one other one in a month. I’ve been living off of free cold showers at beaches and coin showers which range from $1-2/minute any only take $1 coins. I only have so many $1 coins. Oh to just stand in a steaming hot shower, honestly, it was a better shower than my hotel had too. Strong Pressure. Good Temperature Control.
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Hastings Thermal Pools

Following my terrible night sleep, we headed north to Hastings Thermal Pools NP. There is a cave there too, but we didn’t visit that. We did however visit the thermal springs. The area had a pool filled with water from the thermal springs. You’ll note that I’m using the word thermal, not hot, because calling it hot is a bit of an exaggeration. The pool was only 75 degrees. Which for the gusty 50 degree weather is warm, but for water to swim… not so much. I braved the water anyway, and swam for a few minutes, before heading to the real star of the show, a limitless hot shower. You dont know the luxury of a limitless hot shower like one on a cold day and having only had one other one in a month. I’ve been living off of free cold showers at beaches and coin showers which range from $1-2/minute any only take $1 coins. I only have so many $1 coins. Oh to just stand in a steaming hot shower, honestly, it was a better shower than my hotel had too. Strong Pressure. Good Temperature Control. Ho
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Hobart, Hartz NP, and Southern NP

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  After 19 nights of sleeping in a tent (it went really fast, I didn’t really realize it until Quentin and I started adding up how long we’d been traveling together) I decided I wanted a hotel room. So as we passed through Hobart I got for myself a nice room in a comfy hotel where I luxuriated in the evening after we got dinner. He didn’t want to go in on a hotel to get one with a second bed and chose instead to sleep in his home/car.   The next day we did as two botanists do best, and went to the botanical garden. We wandered around admiring the cool floras. They had a room dedicated to Antarctic plants which was really neat. Then we got some lunch and headed out of town. It’s funny, idk if it’s just him or cultural, but he does not feel the need to park close to places and is happy to plan to walk for a while, which is totally fine, and I don’t mind but occasionally find myself surprised by it. For example we decided on a lunch place and then he said ‘oh let’s park in Battery Point
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