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| Tasman bridge built in 1965 |
We were all excited about seeing Tasmania. We have even talked about spending about a month there so we wanted to really check it out. Well, as luck would have it and not so good at that, the weather was horrible. We didn’t plan an excursion so that we could walk around town and check it out.
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| Clouds really low over the houses. |
Excursions are nice but they are targeted to what you expect to see and the only free time is for you to shop and buy their goods. So, if we are interested in returning to a location, we want to check out a wider variety of the point of interest. Anyway, back to the weather. The ride over to Tasmania wasn’t too bad but the captain warned us the weather wasn’t very pretty.
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| The opposite side of the ship was less low level clouds. |
He was right. It was cold and pouring down rain. We took our time, ate breakfast and then decided to wander over to the cruise terminal to see if they had any trinkets. We like to buy a postcard and key chain from each country. I normally mail the postcard to a friend of mine in Florida but this time I’ll have to hand deliver it! I like them mailed so we can keep the postmark on the card.
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| Most products for sale in the terminal were locally made. |
Audrey is keeping these for me so we can create “something” to showcase our travels when we are done. Not sure yet what that will be. The key chains are in place of Christmas ornaments. Easier to pack and guaranteed to be one in each city. So, I’ll make a key chain Christmas tree of all our travels each year! We got a little wet walking over to the terminal but not bad.
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| Loved the color of the scarves |
They had a few local vendors in what looked like a warehouse to me. The items I bought were handmade so this makes them even more unique. Here in Tasmania there is an animal called the Tasmanian devil. Its about the size of a small dog of 15-20 pounds and his bite is 10 times worse than the pit bull. The female can produce up to 20-30 young at one birth but with only 4 nipples very few survive.
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| This farmer used the wool from her Alpacas to make products. I almost bought a pair of socks. The looked cozy. |
Her gestation period is only 3 weeks. Tasmania has a population of about 500,000 people, around 250,000 in and around the capital city of Hobart. Most of the island is considered to be ecologically pristine and gorgeous, although we couldn’t see much today. It is ruled along with Australia as a Constitutional Monarchy.
When the weather let up, we we able to see some of the beauty of the island from the ship as we were getting ready to depart. I took a few pictures of the beautiful low lying clouds before we left the port. The alcove area was really pretty after the rain. As we were leaving, we were watching over the side of the ship and a pod of dolphins showed up to see us off. They were so tiny.
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| The terminal looked more like an airplane hangar or warehouse. |
We aren’t sure if that’s because we were 11 floors up or that they were young dolphins. They followed us for a few minutes and then just disappeared. Chuck said their mom gave them a stopping point. It was a wonderful sight to see. We were disappointed we didn’t get to explore this island but we’ll try to check it out on another trip.
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| Theses scarves were made with Velcro so you didn’t have to tie them. Great idea! |
The captain prepared us for another rough trip as we were leaving. This time crossing the Tasman sea to get to New Zealand. We had heard from others that it could be potentially rough. They weren’t kidding. It has been the roughest trip by far. We are rolling so much that our cabin steward got sick. He is better today but since this is his first contract, I hope he either gets accustomed to it or has lots of Dramamine in his pocket.
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| When we first arrived. Pouring down rain and did for the majority of the day. |
He’s a really nice guy. We are at the front of the ship so the constant pounding on the waves kept me up. The rolling not so much but when it sounds and feels like we are slamming into whales, it tends to wake me up. It’s the constant jolting that is disturbing. Chuck slept right through it, of course.
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| We saw this MR-II ferry when leaving. The place is beautiful when it’s not raining. |
We will be in this path and as the captain says, this is the better path, for the next 2 days getting to New Zealand. May feel like a long trip. Last night we watched the swimming pool pretty much be completely emptied out by motion. We were sitting at a table and the water came up over the base and we had to put our feet up in the chair. One lady decided to pass through and the water was above her ankles.
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| So gorgeous after the rain quit and the haze and clouds lifted. |
I took a couple of videos but they are too long to put on here. It was quite a show to say the least. Tonight we get to see a juggler on stage. Now that should be interesting. I think I’ll take my camera tonight! Hopefully we’ll have better weather in the Milford sounds and New Zealand. I hear its remarkable. Until then……
May God bless you always!
Chuck & Lea Ann
WorldTravelReynolds 