The weather didn’t look too promising when we left and we had to pull over at Falmouth to put our wet weather gear on. A light rain continued for the duration of our trip and it was bitterly cold. We found out later in the day that there had been a top temperature of 15 degrees. We’ve had summer for the past year, so we were feeling the cold.

We set up the tent and went out for some groceries before spending the rest of the afternoon around the caravan park. There are a few Ulysses members from Maryborough and another from Northern NSW staying at this park.

There was a lot of traffic on the road travelling there, it’s a popular attraction, the roads are winding and mostly single lane. At Dunalley we had to wait while a boat went by, the only swing bridge in Australia is located there.

We arrived at Port Arthur just in time for a talk on the history of the settlement. Admission price also included a trip on a boat past Point Puer, a children’s prison and past the Isle of the Dead, the prison’s cemetery. We spent the next couple of hours walking around looking at the remains of the penitentiary, asylum and church and also quite a few intact buildings.

After leaving Port Arthur we had time to spare so we stopped off at Tasman’s Arch, Devil’s Kitchen and Tessellated Pavement. We were going to make another trip down that way to see some more of the sites but seeing as we had time we thought we’d do it while we were there.

At Tasman’s Arch we met up with some of the Ulysses members from South Australia, who had travelled across on the Spirit of Tasmania with us. We chatted with them for a while and then went to have a look at the Tessellated Pavement, unusual rocks along the shore line that look like paving.

We got a phone call from a friend, Chopper, tonight. He is travelling to Tasmania on Monday to pick up a boat that he’s buying. We’ll meet up with him on Monday, he’s going to Kettering and we want to go to Bruny Island and the ferry to the island leaves from Kettering, so that works out well.

The road to Southport cuts through a beautiful green valley and runs beside the Huon River. In places the water in the river is so still it reflects the surrounding countryside like a mirror. There are many orchards in the area, mostly apples.

We stopped at a bakery in Geeveston for some lunch. While there we got talking to a man, a Ulysses member, who seemed familiar. It turns out that we’d met Vaughan in Townsville, he’d gone on one of the rides with us, it’s a small world!

After lunch we had a look through the Forest and Heritage Centre. They have a wonderful display of timber furniture made from Tasmanian timbers. Upstairs there is a gallery and we met some more Ulysseans there.

Seeing as it was a fine day and reasonably early when we got back to Hobart we decided to go for a ride up Mount Wellington. We’ve been told quite a few times that it’s rare to strike clear views from Mount Wellington, the high altitude and cold weather means that it’s often shrouded in clouds.

The roads winds up the mountain getting narrower as it nears the summit. The speed limit is 60km most of the way. We thought that we’d sit behind a car and let them clear the road for us, but cars pulled over and kindly let us go past.

There are spectacular views of Hobart from the peak of the mountain, you can see all of the city, including the casino and the bridge across the Derwent River. The rocky summit itself is well worth seeing.

Back at the caravan park, we sat outside the tent, today has been the best day we’ve had weather wise, and talked to people as they went by.

Before going to the market we went for a ride to Tritan Trikes at Moonah, a suburb of Hobart, for a look, they also deal in Harley products.

Salamanca Market was packed; we kept meeting up with other Ulysses members. We met George and Ricky again, as well as the couple who were on the ship when we came over, the same couple that we’d spoken to at Tasman Arch, Vaughan was also there.

There were hundreds of stalls at the market, many selling things that are uniquely Tasmanian. The weather was fine, a nice day for wandering around a market.

We had a bit of a look around the city and it was still early so we thought we’d take a ride to the historic town of Richmond. The oldest bridge in Australia, built in 1823 is at Richmond, as well as several other old buildings. It reminded me a little of Beechworth in Victoria.

We had a bit of a wander around the town, looking in a couple of galleries and craft shops before going to take some photos of the bridge. That was a bit of a task, there were many tourists around and on the bridge as well as a wedding being held beside it. The weather, unfortunately for the wedding party had turned bad and it started to rain. I got a few nice photos of the bridge, and we left for home.

At the National Park we bought a multi pass that will allow us to visit any National Park in Tasmania for the duration of our trip without having to pay entrance fees again, it cost $30 for a motorbike pass.

We were going to do a circuit walk at the park passed Russell Falls, the Tall Trees and Lady Barron Falls, but part of the track was closed, so the girl at the desk suggested we walk to Russell Falls and Horseshoe Falls and then onto Tall Trees if we wanted and then back via the same path.

We walked to Russell Falls and took some pics, then continued on up a fairly steep path, to Horseshoe Falls. Both are pretty spots, I think I prefer Horseshoe Falls to the more publicised Russell Falls. The forest is moist and green, with lots of treeferns and everything is covered in thick moss. Alongside the path we say lots of little wallabies.

At the start of the walk my hands were frozen, we heard tonight that it only got to 16 degrees in Hobart today, but as we climbed the path to Horseshoe Falls I warmed up, a bit of exercise can do that. We continued on a bit further towards the Tall Trees walk but then decided not to continue.

Back at the Visitors Centre we had a delicious lunch at the Waterfall Café, we shared a plate of Nachos followed by Devonshire tea, yum.

After trying to find Lady Barron Falls, we gave up and headed back into Hobart, I wanted to make sure we had enough time left to see the Botanic Gardens.

The Hobart Botanic Gardens contain the vegetable garden grown by Peter Cundle from ABCs Gardening Australia. There is also a Japanese garden, a cactus house, a garden of plants from China and an area growing plants of Tasmania. There is also a building housing subantarctic plants, the temperature within is set to 8 degrees, it’s quite unique, the photos I took in there are misty, my camera frosted over.

By the time we’d wandered around the Botanic Gardens we were exhausted, we’d had a big day of walking. We bought a few groceries and headed back to the caravan park.

The 9.30 ferry had just left when we arrived at Kettering and the next ferry wasn’t until 11am. I picked up some information about Bruny Island from the info centre and we looked at them in the coffee shop at the wharf.

It’s only a 15 minute journey to the island and when we got there we decided to go to the furthest attraction, the lighthouse, first and work our way back form there.

The road starts out not too bad and deteriorates as you travel further from the ferry. To the first couple of towns the road is sealed except for two 3km stretches. After that it’s unsealed all the way.

We had our picnic lunch in the carpark of the lighthouse and then walked up the hill to have a look and take some photos. The lighthouse is the second oldest manned lighthouse in Australia and was built from rock mined locally by convicts.

Next we rode to Adventure Bay for a look, the only attraction we could see there was the Bligh Museum, which didn’t interest us so we continued on.

We stopped off at the isthmus, a narrow stretch of land between north and south Bruny. There is a lookout there and it’s sometimes possible to see penguins on the beach.

Our timing was bad with the ferry again; we would have got to the terminal just too late for the 3.15 ferry so we decided to take a trip around the top of the island to Denne Point.

We caught the 4.30 ferry back to the mainland. The island was ok, I wouldn’t rush back there, I was a little disappointed it didn’t look like the brochures I’d seen.

When we got back to the caravan park the area outside reception was filled with trikes. A group of United Trikers from Sydney had arrived at the park; they’d made their booking 2 years ago. They make quite a site; they are certainly head turning machines. We took a few photos and spoke with a couple of the riders.