Our second day in Tasmania, we drove to Freycinet National Park. The day started off overcast and drizzly, but 2 hours into our 2 hour hike, suddenly the clouds parted, and we ended up with sunshine and gorgeousness! The hike took us to this beach, which was stunning. No instagram filters on these photos!
It was warm enough now to walk along the shoreline in bare feet, but still not warm enough to swim.
Drew had too much fun with the panoramas on this trip.
After the hike, we stopped at a nearby lighthouse, from which we saw these views. Supposedly whales can be spotted from here, but we didn't see any this time. I did forget to mention we did actually see whales in Perth, while on a nature walk. We were on a similar promenade overlooking the ocean, and there they were! Just frolicking and spouting away! Drew and I have seen whales on boats before, but never from land. The whales migrate from near Antarctica past Australia up to Alaska area. That's a heck of a migration! They stop by Australia to rest. Pit stop!
Also on this hike, we discovered through trial by experience that Tasmania has a hole in its ozone layer, similar to New Zealand. We discovered this because we got unfortunately burned during the hike, despite it being cloudy for the majority of the day. (Yes, I know UV still gets through clouds, but it shouldn't have been that bad.) There is a plant in Tassie, name unknown, that when it sprouts new growth, the leaves are orange in color. Most new growth on plants are a vibrant baby green color. What's the difference here? This orange pigment is the plant providing UV protection for the new leaves, a sunscreen if you will. This tells scientists that this ozone hole has been around for a VERY long time, as the plant has been able to evolve to survive in this unique, ozone depleted environment.
This picture is slightly out of order, but this post wasn't to the length of my liking yet. On the first morning of our stay in Hobart, we went out for breakfast and I had crumpets! If you look closely, the top crumpet is actually a giant block of maple flavored butter. Ha! Needless to say, that was pushed to the side of the plate, but I devoured the crumpets, which tasted like sweet english muffins soaked in more butter. Not my healthiest breakfasts, but how could I turn down crumpets?!?
Drew and I have an affection for Taiwanese bubble tea, so that dragged us into the shop right away, not to mention the shop was named after me!
Or, maybe it was named after Momo from Avatar.....
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