“Gday!” is the “good day” greeting and all people I have met so far are very pleasant with a “Gday” as a hello! I am in Tasmania, one of Australia’s 6 states, about the size of Switzerland, or California is 6.5 times larger, or Arizona is 4.5 times larger, or about the size of West Virginia. About 575,000 people live in Tasmania and about half live in Hobart. (Besides the 6 states, there are also 2 territories in Australia.)

Away from the city of Hobart is Bruny Island. The weather was not good for an anticipated harbor cruise, so an inland day tour at Bruny Island sounded like an okay idea. We headed off with a quick ferry ride from Tasmania’s mainland to Bruny Island where about 500 – 1,000 people live year-round. The tour included a few stops off the main road on the island.

Our first stop was a cheese-making business. We tasted 4 different cheeses while learning about each cheese and drinking a whey stout beer they also produce. The cheeses were delicious and so was the beer … all enjoyed at 10:00AM. Seems like a good start to a day!

Our next stops: “The Neck”, a skinny area of land where we could observe plenty of water around this island. Then off to walk in a rainforest at Mavista where the ferns were huge and hundreds of years old. It almost had a Jurassic Park feeling as plants and trees were tangled within and all felt thick. Back on the main road and within town, I was surprised to see a white wallaby on a person’s front yard. Only on this island will you find white wallabies. 

Lunch, another stop: I had my first oyster-tasting experience … 3 fresh oysters with drops of lemon juice on each. They were okay, but the fish and chips meal was even better. My favorite stop was the chocolate shop. My piece of fudge was deliciously consumed! The owners of the business also have a private garden we could walk through. Most interesting was 25 acres of English flowers and landscaping style with the other 25 acres with totally native plants.

Final stop: honey. There were at least 15 different bottles of honey to taste, along with face and hand creams, and 2 different mustards. We left with a sample bottle of honey and honey-flavored ice cream.

Throughout the day I was looking for birds. Amazingly I found 11 new birds.

The next day we left Hobart for our upcoming night’s stay at Cradle Mountain Hotel, within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Along the way we stopped at a few small towns. Our first place to stretch our legs was in the town of Ross where two of us shared a tasty, currant-filled Banbury slice. See photo below:

In Campbell Town, we spent time reading bricks. Each brick listed the name of a convict, their crime and years sentenced. If a female convict was to marry, her sentence was no longer. The townspeople got the info for the bricks from the ship manifests that brought the convicts to Tasmania. These bricks line the roadway on 2 sides of the main thoroughfare.

Deloraine was our next stop for lunch and again to stretch our legs. Cute sculptures were on corners. I was also looking for a red telephone booth and this is what I found:

Any one can make a free local phone call from a red telephone booth in Tasmania. How important it is to reach out, for whatever reason, and get help when you need it … just a phone call away. Coincidentally this day was also “RUOk Week” or “are you okay week”. Our guide’s boss texted our guide to ask “are you okay” and our guide asked our driver if he was okay. Very cool!

Finally we arrived at Cradle Mountain Hotel. Just before dinner I saw my new bird for the day, a Black Currawong!