Tasmania animals

Kangaroo lifts car!

Tasmania catch up

We were without wifi for the second half of our holiday in Tasmania. I'm just going to do a bit of a photo catch up for anyone who is interested in Tassie. We had a good trip. The weather was quite settled and about the same temperature as it would have been at home in NZ so quite comfortable. There were no more massive bushfires while we were there , although we did see one across the bay near Swansea on the East Coast which was quickly put out.

For us, one of the things we found most interesting was the old stone and brick buildings built by convicts. So many of our New Zealand buildings are wood because of earthquakes that it is quite a novelty to see the beautiful old sandstone buildings.

 Above = Port Arthur.

Spiky Bridge, near Swansea, East Coast, Tasmania.

 Gold mine near launceston.

 Port Arthur

 Convict stones

 Richmond bridge, a much hated overseer was chucked off and ended up buried underneath one of the supports.

The photos above are a mixture of photos from Port Arthur, Swansea and Richmond.

Another bridge called 'Spiky Bridge' was also a highlight. It is exactly what it says - it is spiky. No one seems to know why the convicts who built it put spikes on the side walls. Maybe to raise the height of the sides without having to find more stones? See below.

Port Arthur

Today we took a bus tour to port Arthur. The road is open and tourists are encouraged to go there because the area is so reliant on tourist money at this time of year. It is the main income earning time for the whole year and if the tourists don't go, companies go out of business.

We had no idea of the extent if the fire damage. It really is a huge area of bush and farm land. The driver said that a lot more brick buildings were destroyed than wooden buildings. It was amazing to see some wooden houses untouched and the brick house next door with just the chimney left.

If you are moved by these pictures please donate something to a charity such as Red Cross for the Tasmanian brushfire collection.

 

 

 

 

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Bonorong sanctuary

We hitched a ride with some people we met at the Cadbury chocolate factory and went to visit the Bonorong animal sanctuary. The staff rescue animals hit by cars or trapped in chimneys or injured in bush fires.

 

 

 

 

My husband is here in hobart for a climate change conference. This is a sign at a coffee shop in the city.

This is a mural outside an art shop in north hobart.

 

 

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Mona

Today we went to Mona which is a private art gallery near Hobart which you get to by ferry. It is in a spectacular building cut right into sandstone cliffs. The art works are amazing. The exhibits are not labeled but you can read about them on iPods. Some of it is quite confronting, some more like a science experiment. One of my favourite pieces consisted of large wheels bins which had foam extruding from them. It formed tubes which grew up towards the ceiling during the day. I also liked the fat car which was about excess and consumerism. One of my sons really liked the waterfall which spelled out words which are used frequently on the news on the Internet like 'hospital' and 'MPs'. We also made light bulbs flash in time with our own heartbeat.

The university residence where we are staying is set in nice grounds. Last night I went for walk at dusk and was surprised by all the wallabies thumping around. I'd sen al the poo during the day but assumed it was possum poo which we find in nz.

I did do a drawing , bit of a blunt pencil. Might go shopping tomorrow. I love art and stationery shops.itshowsthe view from the student residence. I'm now going to look for wallabies.

C

 

 

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Hobart images

 This dog is in the shopping area, waiting

Learning to use blogsy!