Melbourne/Tasmania, Australia - Week 2 (Tassie)

Hello Family and Friends,

We started off week two taking a visit to the Old Treasury Building in order to learn more about the Australian gold rush. The 1850s Australian gold rush was very similar to the California gold rush of 1848 in the sense that it helped bring people to Australia. It is also similar in that a few people did make it out rich, but most didn't. Most of the gold was stored in the treasury building and then taken back to Britain.

Replica of the first gold "nugget" that kicked off the gold rush, worth over 10 million dollars.

Brett and I also took a cruise on the Yarra River. This is the main river that cuts through the city of Melbourne.

Brett and I on our Yarra River Cruise

Melbourne skyline from the Yarra River.

After having a low key first half of the week we took our exploration of Australian out of Melbourne. We headed to one of Australian's many islands, Tasmania. It is the largest island off of the main body of Australia. On this trip we took every mode of transportation. We started off with a flight from Melbourne to Launceston, Tasmania (or Tassie as the Aussies call it).

Brett and Atlas climbing onto the plane.

The boarding process made it seem like the plane was fairly small, but it was six seats across. However, they did weigh our carry-on bags before getting on the plane. Once we landed, we rented a car in Launceston and Brett drove on the opposite side of the road.

Brett driving on the opposite side of the road and me doing a surprising job of not freaking out.

Atlas sleeping on our 4 hour car ride after an early morning flight.

We survived driving on the opposite side of the road and not once did Brett drive down the wrong side of the road. Though he did keep turning on his wipers instead of his blinkers whenever he was trying to turn. I also had a lot of fun teasing Brett that he was driving on the wrong side of the road. I think he got a little annoyed with me, which made it that much more fun (can you tell I had siblings?)

After a four hour drive we took a ferry from Kettering to Bruny Island.

Ferrying away from Kettering, Tasmania

Bruny Island is an isolated island of off Tasmania where the only way to get to Bruny Island is by ferry boat and there is only one gas station on the entire island.

Driving along the coastline of Bruny Island.

We did see what we believe to be a Wallaby in the wild. Don't think it is a kangaroo due to it being smaller in size.

Zoom in quite a bit to capture this guy hanging out in someone's yard.

I also ate some Wallaby. It was in a stew and tasted like nothing. We also saw a ton of what I believe to be a Tasmanian Pademelons. I googled that they are in the same family as Wallabies and Kangaroos. I refer to them as jumping rats.

I don't think these Pademelons ever sleep. We would see them at all times of the day all over Bruny Island.

Bruny Island is just so chill. It's definitely a place to unplug. Our accomodations, Hundred Acre Hideaway (yes, it is a play on Winnie the Pooh, which is one of Brett's childhood favorite cartoons) didn't have WiFi or cell signal.

We stayed in a cabin on the Hundred Acre Hideaway, but you could also camp,

The accomodations were absouluetely perfect. If we lived in Australia, we could see ourselves coming back to this very spot and staying for at least two weeks over holidays.

We visited Bruny Island during its busy time and it never felt full. When we went into "town" to eat dinner, you could hear the waves crashing from the road.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c45804_b7e3d17488ff4e22af0f32b70dceb87f/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

It was about 7p, and there is nobody on the beach. Just so tranquil. Definently a place to escape the city life.

Bruny Island also is full of charm, for example, there's a bread fridge and cookie fridge. They are exactly what they sound like: fridges on the side of the road what are filled with baked goods. You pay for them on the honor system and take fresh baked goodies home.

The bread fridge is the original fresh baked idea.

The bread fridge is literally on the side of the road. The best time to go is in the morning as that is when they fill it up with warm fresh baked bread. The only downside to this fridge is that they only have sourdough bread. This is the one bread that Atlas and Brett don't like.

The cookie fridge off the side of the road on Bruny Island

The cookie fridge is an offshoot of the bread fridge and also held fresh apple juice. Both the apple juice and the cinnamon rolls were very delicious.

Another thing we saw being sold on Bruny Island. We didn't try it.

One activity that is popular on Bruny Island is catching the fairy penguins returning to the nest at night fall. These penguins weigh about 5lbs and return to their nest under the cover of darkness after fishing all day in order to avoid predators.

At the lookout point on "The neck" of Bruny Island waiting on night fall in order to see the ferry penguins.

Mommy and Atlas waiting to see the penguins. It was very windy.

We waited for the ferry penguins till about 10pm, but they never showed. It was a little disspaointing that we didn't get to see them, but at least we tried.

The next day we went on a nice little short walk through a rainforrest. At least it started off as a nice little walk.

This is our family: Brett and I walking and Atlas running ahead doing serpentine patterns and then running back once we call him because he has gotten too far away.

However, the walk was along a creek named "Waterfall Creek" so Brett was determined to see a waterfall. We get to the end of the trail without seeing a waterfall, but Brett isn't satifisfied.

Because the sigh says "currently the end" Brett is under the impression that we should continue the walk through an uncleared rainforrest with a two year old.

At first I stand my logical ground and tell Brett we aren't going on an unmarked path through the rainforrest with a two year old because he thinks he needs to see a waterfall. So we all turn around to head back to the car and Brett is walking even more slowly than normal and having a full on pout: head down and feet dragging. Well, pouting works with me; it works on me with Atlas and it works on me with Brett. So I turn around and tell him we can go off the marked path and he gets so excited. His face instantly lifts and he gets a huge smile on his face.

Atlas and Brett figuring their way through the brush.

It goes without saying that both Atlas and Brett loved going off the path. For the first time on the entire trip Atlas was completely silent. He was fully engaged both physically and mentally figuring out his way through. There were times that Brett was just carrying him over obstacles by one arm. Atlas shoes were soaked all the way through to his socks and all of our shoes were super muddy. I was annoyed because we were now all dirty. There is a little too much city girl in me for off path exploring. But I was pleased that the boys had so much fun. We never did find the waterfall. There was another couple who also went off path and they went further up the path than we did (they didn't have a 2 year old.) We saw them once we returned to the path and they told us that they didn't find the waterfall either. I believe the waterfall only happens when there has been a significant amount of rainfall.

Thus far on our adventures in Tassie we have taken a plane, a car on the opposite side of the road and a ferry to Bruny Island.