Camille’s Big Adventure

  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 lov...

  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 Contr...

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...

  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 Batt...

The next morning I got up early to watch the sunrise before packing up and heading around the peninsula further. Along the drive we stopped at a home that boasted coffee and scones and we sat in a families beautiful front yard eating scones with cream and jam fresh out of the oven and lovely hot coffee. As we finished our snack the rain clouds blew in and we headed to a cafe to work, charge devices and wait out the rain a bit. By the early afternoon the rain had dulled to a light putter patter and we headed to Tasman NP.  We originally had want to go here a few days ago, but it had closed for maintenance for two weeks, but we got lucky and it had opened a half week early. Since it was supposed to be closed we ended up being the nearly only people at the entire park outside of the rangers.  At night we were the only campers in a 60 site which was cool but also a bit eerie. The cast of the lantern we cook by is about a 10 ft radius, and as we were cooking a set of e...

The next morning we headed toward the Tasman peninsula, we parted ways again for the day: me going to the library to work and him going to look for local farm work. That evening we met up at Lime Bay campground, another incredible place along the coast. All the campsites overlooked the bay and it wasn't too busy. As we tried to cook dinner that evening, we were plagued by bandits. The paddymelons (small kangaroos) and possums were out for our dinner, and they were not afraid. A few times it went so far as us physically pushing them away from our table. Clearly these critters get fed a lot by campers as they have absolutely no fear of humans.  The next morning we decided to go for some short hikes in the area and just take it easy for a day. We hiked a coastal trail and found lots of rock pools filled with oysters, clams, starfish, and cool sea life. We walked the dunes and some dried up lake beds. Then in the evening we explored the old convict coal mine remains in th...

  After the incredible Bay of Fires we began working our way down the east coast of Tasmania. Our next intended spot of Douglas-Apsley Nation park, but as it turns out the campgrounds there were a 20 minute walk in. While I probably could have done that will my tent set up, Quentin sleeps in his station wagon that has the back converted into a bed so that did not work. We continued through this very cute town of Bicheno where we spent the afternoon hiking and getting some local wine before heading south to Freycinet National Park. Another absolutely stunning park. We arrived just after the park closed, but were lucky that the two remaining campsites were next to eachother and we were able to get them for a couple nights. We were right on the water with these beautiful red marble mountains on the peninsula to our south, the bay to the west, and the route to the mainland to the north. It was so gorgeous and once again the sunsets were stunning. We watched some large gul...

  The next stop on our journey was Bay of Fires on the north east coast. It’s named for the reddish orange lichens that grow on the rocks along the edge of the water. They are stunning in contrast to the aqua blue water. The water here is unbelievably clear. Neck deep you can look down and see your feet like there is nothing but air between you and them. The white sands give it this incredible blue color and when the sun begins to set the entire world appears to be painted in bright unusual colors. I’ve seen a lot of incredible sunsets and oceans, but this has to be among the top, if not the top. I don’t think a color in existence wasn’t on display during the sunset.   We spent one day exploring the area, unfortunately, we ended up spending most of our time though going very slowly down the road. I wanted to see this lighthouse (had I known the journey I probably wouldn’t have gone) but it was only 40 km away, down a dirt highway. We figured it was maybe an hour and a bit dri...

  After 2 lovely days of no cell service and beautiful nature I headed back into town to do some work and settle a bit. My French botanist friend, Quentin, messaged me while I was out   and asked if I wanted to join him for some hikes in the national parks to the east and work the way down the coast together for a bit. Happy to have an adventure partner I agreed and we met up in Launceston (where there is a beautiful park which also has free warm showers - needed after a few days without one) and then we headed for Ben Lomond park in the evening. We made a lovely little fire and sat chatting into the night. The number of stars in the sky is absolutely incredible. I’m also glad I came up here earlier than later because it’s getting quite cold and I imagine soon there will be snow. While we sat by the fire a cheeky quoll came and tried to steal our dinner leftovers. I was charmed by its cuteness even if it was a little thief.   The next morning we headed up to the top of t...

  I woke up to another rainy day, I thought about hitting a trail, but the road was a bit slippery and after 20 feet of driving I decided it wasn’t worth the risk, so I turned around and headed for Trowunna wildlife sanctuary, a place the guide on the cave tour told me about. It was a really cool sanctuary.   They rehabilitate and release a number of animals, as well as maintaining populations of a few other species. They had potoros, quolls, wombats, Tassie devils, a gorgeous white goshawk, owls, eagles, roos, and many more. Seeing Tassie devils in person in now certain what I saw in Cradle Mountain was not a devil, but that’s okay. You could buy a bag of feed when you walked in to feed the roos, and they sure knew the crinkle of that paper bag. I was followed by a gang of kangaroos who greedily eat from my hands. Some would even grasp my hand between their paws and hold it until they had eaten all the food I was holding. It was a lot of fun feeding them. I spent some time s...