It Just Wasn't Meant To Be...

Breakfast was delivered to our motel rooms bright and early on Day 2 and it was scrumptious...eggs & bacon and all the fixings!!  They could have easily charged twice the amount and no one would have complained.  I ate as quickly as possible as the tour we had both been waiting for was today...the cruise to Wineglass Bay!!

Love this sign!!

We loaded up, checked out and headed back to Coles Bay.  On the way I saw what probably is my favorite road sign of all the different ones I saw in Australia...it just made me laugh and I was tickled to get a pic of it as we zoomed by.  Natalie was being very gracious about my excessive picture taking but I think I might have been pushing it if I had asked her to stop for, of all things, a road sign.  So...I was honing my skills at 'fast' photography and I wouldn't have been surprised if Natalie thought to herself many a time "What in the 'world' is she taking a picture of now?"  At least if it were me that's what I probably would have thought.

We got to Coles Bay and found Wineglass Bay Cruises.  People were already gathering at the dock and I was sooo looking forward to cruising beneath the ruggedly beautiful pink granite cliffs, or maybe see some dolphins or seals as we cruised to Wineglass Bay.

I went up into the office and couldn't believe what I was hearing...the cruise was cancelled.  What?  This couldn't be happening but happen it did.  They were expecting high winds and rough seas to move in in the next several hours and they would not take any chances with anyone.  Heavy sigh...both of us were sorely disappointed and I know I was really looking forward to anchoring in Wineglass Bay and sitting back and having some wine. 

Tasmanian Devil

So after taking a few pictures we started out for Launceston.  As we were heading back up the coast we stopped at the East Coast Natureworld which is a park of about 150 acres (65 hectares) which had a variety of free ranging Australian wildlife and...DEVILS!!  Yup...the Tasmanian Devils were out and about...well definitely within contained walls and we had just missed feeding time but some of those devils were a bit full of it and still running around their enclosures.

We wandered around taking in everything and I was looking forward to seeing a koala and, as we approached the koala enclosure one was out...on top of the green tarp that I suppose was providing sun shade.  You could make out it was a koala and I imagine it would have been a bit funny taking a picture of my first koala but I passed.  S/he wasn't much into moving as when we came back that way later it was still sitting on top of the tarp.

Curious Emu

One of the emus was particularly funny and was following on the other side of their fencing and started pecking at my camera.  I had a lens filter on so (probably against better judgment) I held the camera closer to the emu and it started to peck at the lens so as it pecked I took pictures.  Amazingly one of the pics did turn out and is now a favorite of mine!







Soon it was time to get back on the road and after a quick stop at the Blowhole in Bicheno we were finally heading cross country for Launceston.  As we headed up into the mountains we came to Mt. Elephant Pancake House and stopped for lunch.  Now this wasn't your traditional pancake house like IHOP or Pannekoeken...these pancakes reminded me of crepes stuffed with whatever you wanted.  I had mine stuffed with ham, cheese and hashbrown type potatoes and talk about yummy!!!  Even cooler was the fact that a group of bikers on Indian motorcycles were stopping at the restaurant and of course I had fun walking amongst the cycles taking pictures.  They were doing a Indian motorcycle tour around Tasmania.  Come to think of it as I write each blog Natalie really was showing a fair amount of patience with me for all of the pictures I was taking.

Franklin House gardens

One last stop before getting into Launceston found us at the Franklin House that was built by convicts in Franklin Village in 1845 by a former convict and successful businessman Britton Jones and is known for its extensive use of imported Australian Red cedar.  In 1960 the house became the birthplace of the National Trust in Tasmania.

It was a long day with lots of miles traveled and we saw some things that we hadn't planned on because of the cancellation of the cruise and even though it was calm in the morning the winds did pick up quite a bit and Natalie once again had 'fun' driving and surviving the crosswinds but survive we did and made Launceston just in time for dinner, drinks and off to sleep.

Until later...wherever you are...have a great day!!

If you would like to see more pictures from Day 2 in Tasmania here is a link to that photo album on Picasa:  Play slideshow