Silly tourist, that's a wallaby!

This is a really long post! We have done so much!

The last two days in Tasmania have been amazing. We've been waking up around 11AM and then just taking off in the car wherever we feel like going. Unlike Alaska, everything is very interconnected here, so you can drive every which way and never feel like you have to return by the same route.

There are 19 national parks in Tasmania, which means there are plenty of places to go (Dad freaks out every time he looks at all of the unexplored land on our tourist map). While extremely small compared to mainland Australia, Tasmania is actually quite large - the amount of time we are spending here would never be enough to truly explore it (a year wouldn't be!). So in a way we are falling into all the touristy areas labeled on the map, which I don't mind so much.

Anyways, our first stop was the Honey Farm! They had a big sign that said "honey ice cream," so naturally Dad and I had to stop and investigate. We went inside and discovered the honey tasting podium, where we tried a large variety of honey flavors ranging from chocolate to ginger. They were delicious! Then we ate some honey ice cream, which was even better. In another room they had a honey museum which had live bees (in a case, of course).

The Honey Farm takes honey tasting very seriously.

Me and the Honey Farm.

After leaving the Honey Farm with some tasty souvenirs, we drove to the wildlife park which wasn't very interesting. The cranky old lady there told us that there wasn't another tour until 4:00 so we just left (we would have had to wait a long time).

Somehow we ended up at the Tulampunga Gorge, which was very exciting. We walked up a little trail (which, according to a sign, fancied itself a 40 minute hike. Hah.) and came to a big viewing platform on the edge of a cliff. It was definitely a change in scenery, as I never thought that the rolling farm hills could contain such a vertical drop!

The Tulampunga Gorge

We left the Tulampunga Gorge for the highlight of the day's trip: the Marakoopa Caves! Now, this really excited me as a Mario fan. I couldn't wait to see a bunch of green and red turtles whose shells I could jump on and throw around to my heart's content! The "Mara" part was irrelevant. I just wanted the "koopa."

The choice was quite obvious.

The next cave tour wasn't for about an hour, so we had a little time to kill. So, we went to the Fern Glade! If you know my dad, you know that he loves all things fern. But the ferns in the Fern Glade are not your average ferns - they are very large and happy. Most of them dwarfed Dad and me; it almost felt like going back in time to the dinosaur age.

Dad loves ferns.

By the time we left the Fern Glade, the tour was about to start so we went to the cave entrance. Our guide led the tour group inside the Marakoopa caves! Sadly, there were no koopas to be found... but there were some pretty cool stalagmites and stalactites. It was also a very chilly 9 degrees Celsius, which was a bitter reminder of the Alaskan cold which I want to escape. The guide showed us through the passageways (which had convenient stairs and lights) and spouted random cave facts. We reached the end of the touring area sooner than I expected, and I was somewhat disappointed that Bowser was not waiting for me at the end of the caves to do battle. (There were some deeper caves that the guide did not take us down, however...)

On the way out, the guide turned off all the lights and showed us the glowworms, which attach themselves to the ceiling of the cave and glow tantalizingly to attract stupid insects to their sticky webs of future meals. Despite the ominous purpose behind these glowing worms, it was a beautiful spectacle and reminded me of the night sky. Pictures were not allowed, unfortunately. Most of the pictures inside the caves didn't come out too well.

"Bowser, where aaaaarre you?"

After the caves, we drove up to Devonport to eat and check out the beach, then drove back to the hotel.

The next day consisted mostly of driving, as we wanted to get to one of the national parks, but we got sidetracked by the Liffey Falls. I'm really upset about this part of the trip, because I had my camera on the wrong mode and all of the pictures I took were overexposed. It was a really neat area, too! After the falls, we made a vain attempt to make it to the National Park, but decided that it was too late and we needed to head back.

Me at the Liffey Falls

It was getting dark, so when we got back all of what I thought were kangaroos started coming out. When I asked someone if the kangaroos were dangerous, they gave me an odd look and informed me that they were not kangaroos, but in fact wallabies. There is a big difference. My question was like going to Alaska, pointing to a moose and saying, "Wow! Look at that brown bear!"

Until next time,
River