After an overnight in Launceston we drove east toward the coast across a landscape that reminded both of us of our home state of Pennsylvania, with rolling hills, farmland, mountains, gorges, forests and, sadly, a lot of roadkill. On some roads there was something dead in the middle of the road every couple of hundred meters. We got good at identifying the carcasses using our guidebook of Australian wildlife, mostly by the ears and tails, the only body parts that were recognizable.
All day, and for most of the days ahead, we drove on unsealed roads about 60% of the time, most often newly scraped and watered, but sometimes deeply rutted and washboarded. No worries, though. We are the Schulzes, and it’s a rental.
Like many places we’ve been, the geology interested us as much as the flora and fauna, and we are definitely interested in seeing the most iconic of Tasmanian wildlife, the devil. We’re on the lookout!
Nothing gives me more pleasure than foraging, and we stopped for about 45 minutes along the roadside to take advantage of these ripe blackberries. We ate our fill and collected enough for our morning cereal, too. Just another way that Tasmania reminds us of Pennsylvania.
By the time we reached the sea a front was passing through and the wind was blowing a near gale, the perfect summer temperature started to drop and the Tasman Sea showed its true colors. These fishing boats were bucking wildly on their moorings and I almost felt seasick watching the sickening motion.
We’re overnighting in Bicheno to see penguins, and spent the late afternoon on the rocky shoreline until the wind chased us to shelter.
