Mt Wellington/Kunanyi, Hobart, Tasmania

Mt Wellington/Kunanyi is the impressive igneous mountain towering over the city of Hobart. I can remember the first time I ever visited here. It was freezing cold, windy, and covered in snow. Yes, it was just the end of Winter, and so that was expected. Whereas this time, we went and it was summer. Meaning that we had some really nice blue sky in-between white fluffy clouds..... for about 20 minutes. Then, in came a quick front, it smashed us with wind and even hailed while we were there. Then it happily returned to sunshine. That, to me, is the essence of Tasmania (Tassie to most Australians). I recall when living there working on Christmas Day and it snowed! This is in the middle of summer.... Yes, Tasmania is a completely different world to the rest of Australia.

This has to be one of the better toilet views in the world. 

Down the hill to Hobart.

A panorama from the top

Another panorama clearly

One of the walkways to a viewpoint.

As it got a little wild outside we popped into the observatory to ride out the storm. I love the reflections of people here.

and here.

I think we were getting close to that on the day we were there.

Here is the hail, wind, rain..... scary but fun.

It was hard to walk around, let alone get across the car park to the car!

Then to show you the contrast, as the front came from the SE here on the NW side of the mountain the rain created steamy situations on the road to the peak.

Worth the drive up to the top. If I had more time, and more appropriate clothing, I would have tried to take one of the walking trail to the top.

Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia.

Bruny Island, it is an island, off an island, off an island continent. It has also been one of my dreams for many years to go there. It is a place where I have dreamt of living, even though I had never visited it. I even wrote a "short" story about a family living there, without having any idea if the information in the 72 pages of my dribble was accurate. So, on the last trip to Tasmania we decided to hit the shores of the little island full of glee and vigour. We jumped on the ferry at Kettering to see if our dreams were going to come true.....

The island has somehow become a mecca to people wanting to explore Tasmania and its produce. There are oysters, wines, berries, cherries, whiskey, chocolates and beer. One of the most popular places is Bruny Island Cheese and Beer Co.

They make raw milk cheese!

Look at these youngsters aging away.

Some delightful honey. Leatherwood is just amazing and a real taste of the southern bush.

We were lucky enough to grab the last cheese board of the day.

The following morn, we were up early to explore. This is at the Cape Bruny lighthouse.

Some crazily beautiful views in this area, and another lighthouse ticked off our list of the million to see.

A shrubbery.

The roads are really this beautiful, you actually don't want to drive fast so that you can enjoy them.

The neck is a thin piece of land that joins North and South Bruny.

It has beaches on each side and a memorial to Truganini, who was considered to be the last full blood aboriginal from Tasmania. 

The neck's classic view.

It is hard to get time here without others around.

Even penguins come and visit.

The beach at Adventure Bay is amazingly beautiful with gum trees right up to the beach itself. I also have to recommend the Bligh Museum, it is just a quintessential Australian country town museum. I adored it. 

A curious local.

We went to the island's winery, and of course we had cider instead of wine.... logic never defies me.

Part of the coastal walkway at Cloudy Bay.

More of the walk.

Our fabulous airbandb hosts put together on this magnificent Bruny Island cheese platter. Luckily I had been for a run each morning there.

The sun sets to the west at Lunawanna with great beauty, like much of the island.

It was hard to leave this beautiful place, but alas, we had to. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Freycinet, Tasmania, Australia.

Yes, I know this blog in theory is about Warsaw, and Poland. But, I have a lot of photos taken from trips over the last few years that I have not done anything with and therefore I decided to share them here. Basically this is somewhat of a diary and that is why I am trying to add everything to here that I feel is important.

These are taking on our most recent trip to Australia, we took a holiday within a holiday to Tasmania, a place I used to live. I spent time showing my wife some of the things I know, and also experiencing with her lots of things I didn't know.

Freycinet, is a really beautiful part of Tasmania's East coast. It is based on a bay in beautiful natural surroundings.

You can search rock pools, or lounge on a beach.

Arthropod life.

Is that fresh sushi?

It appears I found crabs... hermit crabs.

I couldn't tell which one was cuter.

Barnacles above the tide. I always find tidal environments so fascinating. From the UK, Spain and Australia of recent times they have all been different yet similar.

Some are so happy that they are cartwheeling about.

The next morning after arriving we wanted to really head into some "nature", and followed a well beaten path. Even though the sun was out, the sky was clear (some of the cleanest air in the world) it we still a frosty 13C.

The difference between sun and shade was a reasonable temperature.

The path was well made as well as being well beaten.

When you reach the crest of the hills you get to look down on Wineglass Bay, one of Tasmania's most famous views, landmarks and tourism locations. We only saw about 10 people on the hike on the way back to the car.

Yeah, it is that pretty.

The saddle seat. Architecture in the wild.

Then you burst through the trees to see a sparkling empty beach.

Just amazingly empty and amazingly beautiful.

Even though the water is straight up from the Antarctic I couldn't resist getting my shoes off and putting my feet in.

The beach is a gorgeous course sand, a perfect peeling for tired feet.

We continue our collections.

Not far from Wineglass Bay is the Cape Tourville Lighthouse and look out. A really well constructed location and super beautiful views.