We finally had to move on from the Frecinet Peninsula and head to the north end of Tassie, where we would catch our ferry back to the mainland. Our first stop was at the King Soloman's Mine cave. There were two developed caves in this area, near Mole Creek, but we were hoping to catch up with some rowers in Launceston and didn't want to spend the whole day underground.
The cave was very cool, and the guide told her stories well. It is a "dry" cave; there is no longer any stream running through, but there is moisture seepage through the roof, and even long, hanging tree roots covered in mineral deposits in one spot.
We had quite a few people with us, including a couple of children who really did not understand that "do not touch" meant you can't jump onto the formations.
This guy stands guard near the cave.
We traveled back through Mole Creek where we found a giant Tasmanian Devil to take our picture by, a visitor information center to buy gifts and spend some time on the internet, and we found a POST where we mailed our post cards. The very friendly postmaster also told me I could pay our parking ticket from Adelaide right there instead of mailing the City a check. Wasn't that convenient? We were actually looking forward to mailing them a check from the U.S. and letting them figure out the exchange rate. It turns out that the little tiny community of Mole Creek was very helpful.
Our time was limited due to catching the ferry, and the rowers from Launceston, the North Esk Rowing Club, were unable to schedule a row during our last two days. We were disappointed to not meet them, but they did promise to come to Alaska and row with us some day. We only had time to walk down by the North Esk River and saw some High School rowers and this pretty little Fairy Wren.
Our final Tasmanian camp site was at Gravelly Beach in Rose Park. We camped with two other camper vans at a rest area that had all the amenities. A very beautiful spot and the kids in the other campers were fun to visit with.
Our last stops in Tasmania before departure from Devonport on the "Spirit of Tasmania" were at the Platypus House, and my second cousin Mary Lou's house. (I looked it up, we are second cousins).
We spotted the Platypus House on our way to Mary Lou's.
Our pictures of the little guys themselves are very hard to see. At the House, they are able to travel through tunnels from the big pool into cavelike boxes, and then through other tunnels to viewing tanks.
See his bright little eyes?
The tunnel up is on the right.
The guide, Sue, was informative and clearly felt very strongly about the challenges that the platypus face in modern Australia.
The Platypus House also had an "Echidna Garden", a big room set up to be like a natural garden area.
Watching the echidnas lap up a bug gruel with their long tongues was very cool.
Watching the echidnas lap up a bug gruel with their long tongues was very cool.
Harold took these pictures of Mary Lou's old family portraits, with some of our family connections.
The lovely dark-haired young woman standing in the back on the right is my Grandma, Ruby (Hulsey) Goodwin. The pretty young woman standing on the left behind her husband, is Mary Lou's Grandma, Bessie (Hulsey) Vann.
The picture with the little boy and girl is Mary Lou's uncle Charlie, and her mother, Mabel.
My Grandma, Ruby, would later marry Ira Goodwin and have four children, one of which is my father Gene. So Mary Lou's mother, Mabel, and my father, Gene, are cousins.
The ferry ride was all night on Friday the 13th of November. We were told that the upper lounge deck had no more room for "chair" reservations, so we had to pay for a room. That turned out to be a good thing, as the Harley Davidson club was back on board for the return trip to the mainland and the upper lounge area was not a good place to get some sleep. We were able to get a good nights rest so we could roar off the ferry and head to Mt. Kosciuszko for a last hurrah, before heading back to Sydney and the flight home.
Melbourne again.
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