"Under Down Under" Tour

The tour we got around Tassie was run by Under Down Under (hereafter known as UDU to save me typing it out!). We were picked up in Devonport after getting off the Spirit of Tasmania ferry. Unfortunately, they were an hour or so late - not a good start...

Anyway, we met up with our tour group - some of whom had been with the tour a few days already - and headed off into the unknown! Here is some of the gorgeous scenery we passed on our way to Stanley.



The last photo is (for the benefit of some Cambridge residents) a Superb Fairy Wren.

Our next stop was Dismal Swamp where we got to slide down a huge slide - while wearing a hairnet(!?)



After finishing off the Northwest, we moved on to Cradle Mountain - we'd be back a week later to start the Overland Track, but for now, it was just a quick visit. We did get to see some wild wombats in the process however! Not a great wombat pic I know - but I had to be quick - the phone was complaining about lack of power.



After Cradle, we moved on to Strahan, Queenstown and the west coast. We visited Lake St Clair (the other end of the Overland Track - more later!) and various rainforests and waterfalls.



This rather boring looking "crow" is actually a currawong (sp?) a bird native only to Tasmania. It still sounds like a crow though - so Tom can still impersonate it!

Soon after, we reached Hobart and it was time to say goodbye to Tony - our erstwhile guide for the first leg - and hello to Steve - our custodian for the final stretch up to Launceston.


Tony with his lady friends and a brief moment of topographical uncertainty...

On our way up the east coast we stopped at the Bay of Fires and Wineglass Bay - both beautiful spots.



Our final major stop was at a wildlife reserve where we saw an ark-load of Tasmanian wildlife including the eponymous devils and also wombats, (incredibly lazy) kangaroos, eagles and so on...


Some of the wildlife we could handle:


Others we couldn't:


So we finished up our UDU tour in Launceston (LON-SESS-TUN) and geared up for the overland Track. Stay tuned for our next update when you'll hear about our platypus quest, how I almost trod on the third deadliest snake in the world and the following pictures are explained in more detail: