Across Australia
in 80 days
November 2000 till January 2001

Australia Tour - Part 6 - Noosa ~ Tasmania
Launched, January 21, 2001 - Links update, January 21, 2005
Ronald Langereis - Amsterdam

links	maps and tools                          Nederlandse versie
SE Australia Flags & Facts Noosa panorama Noosa Live Video ANZwers Discount vans	Map Australia SE: Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania Flags & Facts on Australia - and on every country in the world Noosa Panorama and marvellous Snapshot Gallery - Carl Nigel Gray Noosa Coastalwatch Live Robotic Video - updates every 2 seconds A very apt search engine for Australia and New-Zealand Discount Campervan, 4wd Car and Motorhome rental operator

links

Petra's report

Noosa everglades wetlands Fraser Island canoe Gold Coast dive Noosa river huge waves pelicans sunburn ozone layer rainy season banana ferntrees national parks Tasmania Brisbane Melbourne plane Melbourne fireworks Australia Devil Cat catamaran Spirit of Tasmania George Town Tasmania Van Diemen’s Land Tasmania national parks Australia wilderness Launceston typically English Old Umbrella Shop Australia Sydney Hobart electric tramway gorge power station Freycinet Wineglass Bay Coles Bay Hazards walks rock climbing wine vineyards 'Hobart Muddy' Port Arthur penitentiary Tasmania Abel Tasman torture Port Arthur isthmuses

After Christmas I set out for Noosa, renowned for its everglades (wetlands) and a sally-port to Fraser Island. I'm going canoeing on Noosa river. Very special. Huge waves on a saltwater river and pelicans everywhere. All day there's a heavy overcast, but I'm completely sunburnt. Now and then, the effects of this gap in the ozone layer are too clear for comfort. And then ... after this clouded day I'm happening into the rainy season. For two days and nights there's nothing but rain. A superb experience. Nature, indeed, now's donning her emerald garments, endowing bananas and ferntrees with beautiful green shades. Walking in national parks now is a totally different experience. Savour and colours are no longer the same, and sometimes you're aware of there being more animals. It strikes me most people are ignoring the rain. They're not wearing raincoats, nor carrying an umbrella and having their swim in the sea, as usual. Having watched these downpours I'm glad I'm bound for Tasmania. It's quite an expedition, though. At first, back to Brisbane, then to Melbourne by plane. Having a fleeting New Year's Eve party in Melbourne (the fireworks here were quite unimpressive and I learn that for the past twenty five years there's been a ban on private fireworks in Australia). And then by Devil Cat (a high speed catamaran) to George Town in Tasmania, the former Van Diemen’s Land. Tasmania enjoys the greater number of all national parks in Australia as a whole and it still contains spaces of virginal wilderness. In wide areas its soil is yet hardly trodden by men. Its climate is a shade cooler than on the continent and this very Christmas there was snow in some of the mountain ranges. At first I visit Launceston, an oldfashioned and typically English city. There I find an umbrella shop where you can not only buy the article in plenty, but also have it mended and even give it in repair. It is Australia's third city, only preceded by Sydney and Hobart and one of the first to light its streets and power a tramway by electricity. All this owing to the nearby gorge where since the late 1800's a power station is doing its job, the 1929 flood notwithstanding. After this I cross over to the Freycinet peninsula, renowned for its gorgeous Wine Glass Bay and Coles Bay and Hazards beaches. They invite you to make beautiful walking and rock climbing trips. But there's also a family business which is producing wine. I'm going down to visit the vineyards and taste the wines. It definitely is the most interesting tour I ever had by a wine-grower. But still I can't think much of the clarets. They're very fond of 'wood' here, and subsequently store all of their wines in casks. To my taste, however, the wine being still young, the result of this is a wine that is too sour. [Which reminds me of Monty Python's sketch 'Australian wines']/RL. I also pay a visit to Port Arthur, the former penitentiary. To erase the memories of this brutal episode the name of the island has been changed into Tasmania, after our own (Dutch) Abel Tasman. Torture must have been heinous here and the locals are outdoing each other in dishing up stories of utmost horror. The environs are glorious, nevertheless. Port Arthur is surrounded by water and several of the scattered pieces of land are interconnected by isthmuses.

Across Australia - next pages
Part 1 - The South-West   |   Part 2 - The North-West   |   Part 3 - The Red Centre
Part 4 - The South-East   |   Part 5 - Brisbane ~ Fraser Island   |   Part 7 - Tasmania ~ Sydney

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