Off to see some family

Leaving Tasmania was hard but made easier because we knew we were on our way to Thailand for two weeks with Jon, Aor and Jake. We hadn't spent much time with our nephew so it was exciting for us to have the time to get to know the little guy (4 years old). We also hadn't really seen Jon and Aor for quite a while and it was fun to see how they live in Bangkok and spend some time at the International School where Jon works.



Jon had asked us to give a presentation on Antarctica to his 5th grade (10 year olds) class. We spent some evenings in our campervan in Tasmania putting together films and photos from our time on ice. (There WAS a good reason for Michiel to be carrying around those extra hard drives!) The kids were well prepared for our talk and had lots of questions for us as well as a surprising amount of attention for our slide show and videos.



For most of the rest of the week, we stayed at a great hostel in the newer and trendier part of Bangkok and didn't worry ourselves with being tourists, seeing the city or battling the heat. We hung out with Jon and Jake at the aquarium, the children's museum, the park, the massive shopping malls, the bowling alley, and at home (where Aor taught us how to properly cut mango and papaya). It was wonderful!














Michiel returns to the womb at the Children's Discovery Museum



We did leave Bangkok for a few days to do some snorkeling on the island of Koh Wai, near Koh Chang. But the heat was so unbearable and the wind was non-existent, so we had to upgrade from our cozy and hospitable resort to a larger resort with all-day electricity and fans. There was a ring of coral around the island which meant that we didn't need to take a boat in order to snorkel (as is the case with many of the islands in that part of Thailand). We snorkeled and relaxed in the sun for a few days, then returned for more fun in Bangkok.

Cruisin' Tassie

After finishing the Overland Track, we returned to Hobart to pick up our campervan. A campervan is a great way to travel around (you can leave your "room" a mess and just drive away) - especially since there seemed to be few restrictions on where you can park overnight. We had a few really great parking/camping spots at the beach where we could listen to the sounds of the surf or, in one case, to the raucous noises of fairy penguins coming ashore for the night and gathering the troops to go back to sea at dawn.

Our van had a full bed, a two-burner stove, large water container, dishes and storage containers. It was quite basic but also quite comfortable.



We managed to see quite a lot of Tasmania, but weren't able to see the far reaches of the northeast and northwest as the roads were unpaved there. Roads in Tasmania are, overall, very tiring to drive anyway (windy, narrow and with speed limits so high that the local drivers take the curves in a pretty reckless manner; 80kph on really windy parts was not uncommon) so we opted to (mostly) stick to paved roads with the exceptions of access roads to National Parks or beaches.

We traveled clockwise around the island with the thought that we would visit the rainy west before the "rainy season" got into full swing. It was a good decision - we had generally dry and warm weather which might have even been slightly detrimental to our enjoyment of the mossy rainforests.



Rather than bore you with the day-to-day itinerary of the trip, I've opted to post our surprisingly long list of trip highlights (in no particular order) with some explanations.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

Whether it´s due to the hole in the ozone layer or not....the quality of light in Tasmania is unforgettable. The blue skies are more blue, the greens are greener and everything is sharply defined.

The amazing show of animals at sunset at Narawntapu National Park, called the Serengeti of Tasmania. We finally got to see lots of wombats, as well as wallabies and pademelons (and a GREAT sunset!)





The Overland Track: climbing Mt.Ossa, our camping spot at Lake Windemere, spotting platypuses at Lake St. Clair and a spotted quoll at dusk, pre-historical landscapes, pandani trees and buttongrass, Michiel taking a very cold swim in the Narcissus River, dodging skinks on the trail and our secluded camping spot in Pine Valley.



Wineglass Bay: This Tasmanian favorite was so overrun with tourists that we were sure that we´d have an awful experience, but once we climbed up and over the mountain, we were treated to pure, white sand and a quiet camping spot where we watched a ray on patrol at dusk and got a blackback salmon from a fisherman who couldn´t eat all the fresh fish he caught.



Cape Hauy hike: After a less than thrilling 3 day hike to Cape Pillar, we truly enjoyed the coastal cliffs of this day hike, especially because of our encounter with an echidna on the trail that allowed us to watch him closely.







Seeing both kinds of possums (ring-tailed and bushy-tailed) on our night hike at Mt. Field National Park. Though we didn´t fully experience the glowworms, it was really fun to hike in the dark without head lamps (the light upsets the glowworms and they stop producing their bioluminescent chemicals).

Diverse and entertaining bird life: cackling kookaburras (they sound like crazy jungle monkeys), ravens that sound like flying babies, hyperactive little birds and lots more!

Experiencing the groovy outdoor concert that occurs every Friday night in downtown Hobart - complete with sangria, beer and wine.

Going to the Antarctic exhibit at the Tasmanian National Museum - we actually learned quite a bit there!

Learning about Tasmania´s history as a location for deported British convicts and visiting former prisons and prison towns, such as Port Arthur (extremely well-organized and -presented information and buildings), the villages of Ross and Richmond.

Getting a very personal look at the fairy penguins on the northern coast. A local penguin enthusiast and self-appointed protector of the little critters offered an in-depth discussion and explanation of their behavior. We sat with him at the seashore at dusk to watch the rafts of penguins come to shore in order to return to their nests for the night. We saw possibly 80 penguins that night. Fantastic experience!

Visiting the limestone cave at King Solomon. Excellent tour and beautiful stalagmites and stalagtites.



Free camping and friendly people.

BARK! It is truly amazing how many different colors of bark you can find on eucalyptus trees and after a rain the colors are even more intense. Michiel took dozens of photos of the stuff.





Finally, one of the most memorable parts of our trip was meeting Peter and Anna, a couple from Hobart, whom we met during our Overland Track. It is common to get friendly with the people who are on a similar trekking schedule and over the course of several days on the trail, we learned more about each other. They gave us their phone number in the event that we needed a contact in Tassie and to catch up with them when we returned to the capital city. We looked them up and they not only invited us to their home for dinner but also to stay in their guest room. Their hospitality was amazing!

Tassie - how we love you...

From Sydney, we flew to Hobart for a 5 week visit to Australia's island state, Tasmania.



We had heard only stellar reviews about Tassie from our backpacker/outdoorsy friends and were looking forward to doing some long hikes and communing with some wombats. We were not disappointed. Not only did we have spectacular weather (abnormally dry and warm), but we saw almost all of the wild animals we wanted to see (except for the Tasmanian devil) and had some truly unforgettable experiences.

Five weeks might sound like a long time to spend on an island that is approximately the size of West Virginia (does that mean ANYTHING to anyone???? It's bigger than the Netherlands but smaller than France.) but we really wanted to have the time to explore on foot and with our camper. As it turned out, we could have used 5 more weeks to see all of Tasmania and its outlying islands.

The first week and a half were spent getting prepared for and then going on an 8 day backpacking trip on the famous Overland Track. We hadn't done such a long trip before (100 kilometers/60 miles) and we were a little intimidated by how heavy our packs were...but we ended up packing well. We had almost no food leftover and didn't go too hungry along the way nor were we too cold. In fact, with the warm, dry weather, we were more often too warm than too cold. We knew that the conditions could have well been VERY different. The area is known for freezing rain and snow even in summer, so our experience was atypical....which made us even more grateful!

The first 3 days on the track were the most scenic. As we walked through the pre-historic looking landscapes, we often had the feeling that a dinosaur would come lumbering towards us. Instead, we saw loads of wallabies and pademelons (smaller versions of kangaroos), some snakes, an echidna (a relative of the platypus in the sense that it is a mammal that lays eggs), a quoll, possums, and loads of opportunities for Michiel to get sidetracked with his eucalyptus tree bark obsession. There are over 70 varieties of eucalyptus tree in Australia and many of them have fascinating and colorful bark patterns. These never ceased to grab Michiel's attention.


on the trail


Cradle Mountain


Top of Mt. Ossa

Although there were small huts along the track, we hiked with our tent which we used almost every night. It was preferable to the snoring of the hikers in the huts, which are far less comfortable and "decked out" than those in New Zealand. Most of the hut areas had tent platforms so that we always had a flat and clean spot to set up. Some of the tent platforms were perfectly sited for sunset views or mingling with wallabies at cocktail hour.



The Overland Track can be done in 5 days, but we received good advice from our friends, Deneen and Kish, that we should plan to stick around longer so that we could do the side trips. We're glad we listened, because our finest memories are of the side trips up Tasmania's highest peak, Mt. Ossa and to Pine Valley.

The trek starts at Dove Lake. Here's a photo:



Here is only a small portion of the dozens of photos Michiel took along the route. We were entranced with the "festive" trees, called pandani and the button grass (habitat for wombats) landscapes, as well as the wonderful eucalyptus and craggy mountains!


Pandani tree


Echidna


Eucalyptus and views from Mt. Ossa


Bennett's wallaby




Skink






top of Mt. Ossa with cushion grass

We've done a bit of hiking over the years and we can easily say that the Overland Track is one of the most beautiful and interesting tracks in the world...especially if you have weather conditions as good as ours were!

Somewhere new

The other day, my sister told me that her friend asked when we would be posting something about a new place. Apparently, Alaska, Antarctica and the Netherlands aren't very interesting any more ;) Well, Linda....these next few posts are for you!

After leaving the ice and enjoying our obligatory time in Christchurch, New Zealand rolling around in the grass, smelling the flowers and eating Thai food, we started out on our Round the World airline ticket. First stop: Sydney, Australia.

I'd been to Sydney 7 years prior on my way to Thailand (the trip, as it turned out, during which I would meet Michiel). I really enjoyed the city then and looked forward to showing Michiel around.



Sydney has become extremely Asian in recent times - by this I mean that so many of the faces in the city are Chinese, Korean, etc. that it is easy to forget that you're in Australia. That also means that there is great Asian food to be eaten, as well!

In the five days that we spent in town, most of our time was spent walking. Sydney is a terrific walking city with excellent parks and a botanical garden complete with multitudes of bats (we went back several times just to watch the bats). We spent one day out at Manley beach playing in the tremendous surfing waves and a day trip with Oz Trek to the Blue Mountains.



The highlights were: Malaysian food at Mamak Restaurant (we ate there 2 nights because it was so good and cheap), eastern grey kangaroo (with a joey) sighting in the Blue Mountains, bats at the Botanical Garden, getting to see the Opera House again (I LOVE that building!), eucalyptus tree bark (more on that in the next postings!), the bustling harbor and ferries and the warm sun after 5 months in Antarctica.


Eucalyptus

Bats in the Botanical Gardens



White cockatoo - found all over the city