Visiting a new place, when it is a country and a continent, Australia, it is always mesmerising and enchanting. Rebati Mohan Sinha unfurls his itinerary to this Gold rush country.
Aussie Aussie oi oi oi – sounds familiar? You surely heard
the stereo-typed stuff like that. But believe me if you haven't travelled to,
in and around Australia you will not know that are not the real Australia.
I had been travelling there. To fantastic locations of Sydney, like
Darling Harbour, Opera house, Climb of Harbour bridge, Tower Restaurant,
Harbour Lunch Cruise and Blue Mountains. To Melbourne to have a go at its
Victoria market, China Town, and river cruise. And this time to Tasmania to
explore its rich treasures.
Tasmania is an island mountainous state of Australia. The population is
about 5 lakhs, most of them are Britons. Hobart is its capital city with a
population of approx 2.1 lakhs. Tasmania's main industries have been mining
(copper, zinc, tin and iron), agriculture, forestry and tourism. The island
state is surrounded by Indian and Pacific oceans and separated from mainland
Australia by 240 km stretch of Bass strait, like Sri Lanka separated from
mainland India by Palk Strait. Tasmania claims to have the world's cleanest
air, the purest water along with its red fertile soil. Tourists are attracted
to its world heritage listed regions, national parks, pristine coastal line,
enchanting villages, bustling cities and convict's ruins. Tasmania is rugged,
and offers a kaleidoscopic variety of brilliant colours and natural beauty.
Australia Tourism : Rebati Mohan Sinha with his wife |
Our itinerary began from Adelaide with the trip to Melbourne, and then
to Hobart. We rented a car from the airport for driving along Tasmania. We
reached the Hotel Mercure in the heart of Hobart city. In the evening, we
headed off on a stroll through historic part of Hobart via Salamanca market
place to constitution of dock for watching the seaplanes berthed at the jetty.
Hobart city is located on the south east coast of Tasmania, The city is
situated around a deep harbour and has a stunning natural landscape sitting on
the bank of the Derwent River while Mount Wellington towers above. Hobart is
also close to a lot of other famous wilderness and historic destinations in
Tasmania.
Next day, we visited Huon Valley and Tahune Forest Air walk which was
about a ninety minutes drive from our hotel. We walked a bit further down to
the Air walk through the forest, where there were different viewing platforms
which gave a breath taking views of the dense forest, the canopy, and the
tallest trees in the world. We took a stroll through the canopy of a tall
eucalyptus forest, home to the tallest flowering plant on earth. The Tahune
Airwalk of Huon valley is a fabulous walk- way suspended some 40 metre (120fts) in
the air over the rain forest tree canopy. We, then went down the stair to the
deep jungle to walk along the bank of Huon river up to the spine tingling swinging
bridges across the Huon and Picton rivers, experienced the thrill of watching
them rush right beneath our feet.
We had a leisurely drive back along the highway for Wellington Mountain
to get a bird's eye view of this spectacular harbour city. On reaching the top,
the view was amazing. With the sun setting on the back ground , the icy wind at
the summit, we couldn't ask more. The weather was not with us though, and so
our view of the harbour was sketchy at best. We never anticipated the wind and
cold weather we encountered at the summit.
Our next destination was to drive down from Hobart in east coast to
Strahan in west coast, covering about 300 km, visiting Cadbury's first built
factory outside of UK, in the city of Hobart, in 1922 .Cadbury has a long
history in Australia and is a brand that many generations grew up loving it.
Every Aussie is familiar with the sweet creamy sensation of Cadbury's Dairy
Milk. Every one of us at the visitor centre was well received by the staffs,
offering chocolate as a gift to carry home.
En route to Mt. Field National Park from Cadbury, on the way, we had
been to salmon (fish) pond, that had a huge variety of salmon fishes. Walking
around the spectacular grounds and feeding the fish to see them jumping up
closer was fun. From there, we headed for the next destination, Strahan about
200km off. We were heading inland, nearing Queens town where unique landscape
reflected the history of the region. And we had continued along the high way,
where we experienced a lot of flora and fauna that would be any photographers
delight. .
The fishing port of Strahan is set on a quiet bay of Macquarie harbour
on Tasmania's spectacular west coast. This waterfront village is the gateway to
the magnificent Gordon River and Tasmania's wilderness world heritage area.
And yet, any visit to Tasmania is incomplete without a cruise on the
world famous Gordon river. On the cruise we got to see the Hell gate, where the
harbour meets the open sea, the world renowned salmon farms, where fish cages are
placed in ocean to contain and protect fish until they can be harvested. We
took a look at the most notorious Sara island, the feared penal colony, and
walked among the ruins with the guide, bringing the past alive with astonishing
stories of convicts, who built amazing ships of Australia out of precious Huon
pine.
Cruising onboard six hours on the Lady Franklin
II' was an amazing experience of the most scenic on earth. Saying bye to
Tasmania was tough—the little heaven on earth left an indelible imprint in our
hearts.
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