Rain, rain, rain. We left the hotel (Quest) at last minute, attempting to wait out the rain. Check out was 10:00 :-/ so got rained on getting gas and stopping off at Ed's Spuntino Cafe & Bar for breakfast hoping the rain would stop. We had wonderful french mushroom omelets, excellent coffee, and an amazing raspberry muffin. Ed is a cullinary genius and his tiny bar/restaurant is truly an amazing place.
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| there in the background is Ed. He's a food magican. |
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| down the coast towards Taroona |
Kingston Beach was very nice.
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| and then we ran out of pavement |
To Ferngate then turned towards Mt. Wellington.
We pulled over at this bus stop with an out-house for a quick break. There was a beautiful stream with waterfall and fern forest
near the aptly-named town of "Fern Tree". The bathroom was locked, but a bus driver stopped for a break and took pity on Kathi so she let us in.
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We drove up the twisty road towards the top of Mt. Wellington. We went up until the final few turns when it started snowing. The snow was more like hail as we turned around. But after descending a ways, all precipitation went away.
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| SNOW on the ground on December 14 at 2200 ft elevation! |
And back down the mountain after turning around because a layer of hail/snow pellets was starting to cover the road.
Back thru Hobart, across the bridge, with the goal of taking B33 down around South Arm. But we accidently got off towards Rosny and went thru Bellerive.
Bellerive was a port full of sail boats in the harbor. With the sun out it was a particularly nice looking city. Then back onto B33 and down to Opossum Bay.
We walked along the beach at the South arm end public recreation reserve before going back to have a snack in Opossum Bay.
Then back up north and east across the causeway towards Sorell (a
popular bedroom community for Hobart) then finally south on C334 and
A9 towards port Arthur. Overall this third day was a long drive though
much, much better scenery than yesterday. Yesterday, everything south
of Campbell Town was pretty much road construction and unremarkable
scenery in the rain. Today was a huge relief / improvement.
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| Last leg towards Port Arthur |
It's been a long day, so after this lookout stop, we decided to skip tessellated road until tomorrow. We drove through Eaglehawk neck and past Taranna where saw the Unzoo, then finally to Port Arthur. Tomorrow we'll try to hit the Unzoo, the Eagle Neck sites, and maybe have lunch at FishLips :)
We checked in, dropped off bags and had dinner at the picture
window restaurant. Kathi had salmon, Chris had pureed veggie soup with
a roll and stuffed chicken. Afterwards Chris toured the historic Port
Arthur site until he got chased out for not being on an official
guided tour
