Last day in Tassie

We’re on the boat tonight after a full month in Tassie, and it has been an excellent trip. We covered most of the island, saw most of the sights, rode the dirt and the tarmac and met some very nice people. Its definitley a place to come back to, but for now, we will be heading back up north into New South Wales.

Because we wanted to go back to Latrobe, a place we’d passed through four weeks ago on our way to Cradle Mountain, we took the highway straight to Elizabeth Town before turning off along a quieter road to Railton and finally Latrobe.

It was quite a buzzy little place when we passed through before but it was quieter today. By accident, we found a superb little cafe, La Dolce Vita on the main street, and had some food in there before wandering along that street, chatting to people and not doing very much. 

Then we headed off down a dirt track to the Warrawee Nature reserve on the Mersey River where there was an outside chance that we might spot a platypus. But it was too early and we failed miserably. However, we did see a Tiger Snake, a fully grown one which Nadine nearly trod on as it was sunning itself on the path.  It slipped off into the grass before I could get my camera out, so no pictures, but it was our closest encounter yet with one of the buggers.

We spent about sitting on the riverbank in the sun shine, chatting and watching people splash about in the river before heading back to buy some food for the boat tonight before saying farewell to Hannes. He was heading back to Launceston then on to Huonville tomorrow. It was really nice to ride with him over the past few days and we will catch up with him again, probably in South Australia in a couple of months. 

We’re on the boat now, its calm so far, and Tasmania has just about slipped over the distant horizon. We’re meeting somebody for breakfast in Melbourne in the morning, then heading up towards Albury and new South Wales.