Travelling to Tasmania and arriving safely!

Yesterday morning we were up early 4.30am and left home with the car packed at 5.30am - headed to Port Melbourne where the beautiful car ferry Spirit Of Tasmania was docked.   We arrived there at 6.30am and got in the line of waiting cars and caravans to load onto the ferry once we were all cleared through customs.  We eventually parked our car on the ferry at 8am and set sail by 9am.   A good calm crossing arriving in Devonport Tasmania around 6.15pm.   While on the ferry we had an ocean recliner at the back of the ship and were able to rest there, have a cuppa, read the newspaper and look out to sea and enjoy the views of passing thru the heads about an hr out of Melbourne and waving at various friends and family who live there!
We even watched a movie in the cinema on board.  Oceans 13 with George Clooney.

We cleared customs upon our arrival into Devonport about 7.30pm and headed for Green's Beach and the beach shack.  Stopping in the town of Beaconsfield where the only shop open was a pizza take-away, so we grabbed a pizza and headed towards Green's Beach which is 20 mins/20 kms from there.   As it was dusk there were plenty of little pademelons (Tasmanian small marsupial) about on the road along with heaps of big wombats so the journey was very slow with spotting these wildlife critters and saying to each other 'there's one!' whenever we saw them and this was every few metres!  Lucky no road kill for us!

Pademelons are small marsupials of the genus Thylogale. They are usually found in forests. Pademelons are one of the smallest of the macropods. The name is a corruption of badimaliyan, from the Dharuk Aboriginal language of Port Jackson (Sydney region).
Pademelons, wallabies, and kangaroos are very alike in body structure, and the names just refer to the three different size groups. Originally wallabies were divided into small and large wallabies, but a more suitable name was needed to differentiate between them.
Besides their smaller size, pademelons can be distinguished from wallabies by their shorter, thicker, and sparsely haired tails.

Tasmanian pademelons in Narawntapu National Park. 

Red-necked Pademelon

 

 Once settled into the beach shack, lying on the bed with my computer listening to the gentle sound of the waves and looking out the window to see the lighthouse light flashing I fell into a very peaceful sleep waking at 6.30am.   An early morning walk on the beach for Keith and myself.  The tide was out so we were able to walk right out on the smooth sand.  We passed just one couple who were walking their dog.  So peaceful and quiet.  We called into the general store/cafe said hi to the owners who hadn't seen us since we were last here in June 2013.  We had planned to return for a visit last September however due to my chemotherapy from August to November last year we postponed until the last daylight sailing of the ferry that was yesterday.

We then drove to Grindelwald, the beautiful Swiss villlage (located 15 minutes north of Launceston) and had a walk around Lake Louise.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10867548

Grindelwald is a mock Swiss village, the heart of it being Aspect Tamar Valley Resort, which includes a Swiss Shopping Village with souvenir shops, bakery, coffee house, restaurant, Edelweiss Function Centre, lake and mini golf.  Grindelwald village was the idea of Dutch immigrant Roelf Vos.  He styled it on Grindelwald in Switzerland. He built two man-made lakes, which are nice for walks around the lakes and a little chapel on Lake Louise. 

 

A visit to Legana shopping centre nearby - Woolworths for grocery provisions and a visit to the organic fruit shop for some beautiful local fruits including apricots straight off the tree and blueberries picked this morning!

 

Another evening walk on the beach here at Green's Beach - this time seeing a lady walking on her own and then a couple with their dogs walking and the labrador with them running in the water and swimming to retrieve a ball they owners had thrown out to sea for him.  As there is some nice seaweed being washed up - I was able to gather some for the garden here - it is a good mulch and helps to keep the weeds down.

On that note I will sign out and get some sleep - it is nearly midnight!  Goodnight!