Recap.  Best walk ever, along the coast in Tasmania, as far as south as you can go.  Part one is here. There was a giant pile of rocks at the end of the walk. It begged to be climbed. We walked around the bend, both of us girls had our gorgeous pink laces on. We were greeted with a beautiful scene of lichen-covered rocks.  And a fairy house or two. I do try to convince the kids they are fairy houses.  They humour me by at least calling them by the same name. The kids commenced exploring.  Plenty of tide pools to examine. I’m not sure I can call this a fairy house.  We’re told this is part of a fishing boat. It would have been nice to walk to that next point but it would have added too much to our walk that day. So beautiful! On our way back we followed the path to the ruins of the pilots station. This is a pant-a-log.  In case you were wondering.  We keep an eye out for these wherever we go after seeing them months ago at the Sawpit Camping Area in Victoria.  LadyBug gets the credit for the name. A whaler’s grave.  A man who was also doing this walk told us that a grave for a whaler is rare, usually they were ‘buried’ at sea.  I don’t know how true that is, but it was interesting to see.  Much whaling occurred in this area.  The whale population is still recovering. The kids had been begging to put their feet in the water so we told them they could on the return trip.  The water was cold! We found numerous shells with perfect round holes on them.  I read somewhere this is due to snails.  They inject something into the shell which dissolves it so they can slurp up the contents inside. Did I mention this was the best walk ever? On the way home we saw these big ferns.  At the time we thought they were big, anyway.  Later walks in Tasmania showed us we were wrong, these aren’t that big in comparison! Here we go down the dirt road again for the long drive back.  So worth it. We were advised by another family that the kids wouldn’t enjoy our trip to Cockle Creek since there’s not much to do there.  A long drive from Snug for a quick look.  They recommended some other activities. I think what they meant is that their kids wouldn’t enjoy it.  We all had a lovely time, truly this was one of the most beautiful walks we’ve ever done.  Such tranquility walking along the beach and so much to explore.  There was another walk which would have taken us in a southwest direction to the coast.  I would have loved to do that, but it was something like a five hour return.  Not enough time in the day what with the car ride and the extra time it takes to hike with young kids.  We definitely plan to return to Tasmania at some point when the kids are older, I hope to do the other walk then!

Whoever has been hiking with young kids knows that the time estimates don’t apply.  I’m not sure how long this walk was for us, but it was definitely more than two hours. We really didn’t know what to expect as we set off.  I was a bit afraid of getting eaten by mosquitoes as there had been many at the carpark.  We started off on this somewhat narrow trail through the bush. It very quickly led to the beach.  We were surprised to find that this walk goes right along the beach in many places.  Best. walk. ever. More rocks than sand in some places.  The trail weaved in and out and over whatever was there. It was absolutely stunning.  The weather was perfect.   Finally the path strayed from the coast. When we again emerged we found ourselves scrambling (carefully) over the rocky coastline. At the end was this rather nondescript pole.  Probably a light, I don’t remember for sure.  Perfect place for a snack before exploring. I have so many pictures from this walk I’ll have to do a second post!

While we were staying in Snug (just south of Hobart) we made the drive down to Cockle Creek.  We couldn’t come this close and not drive as far south as possible.  I was a little nervous when we turned on the GPS and it said we were three and a half hours away!  That’s a lot of car time with kids, especially a toddler. This is where we were headed.  It’s as far south as you can drive in Tasmania.  (Can you see the red marker?  I hope it shows up for everyone else and not just me!) The drive was beautiful.  Have I mentioned Tasmania is amazing?  It’s amazing. The last twenty kilometres or so are dirt road.  Some of it’s smooth.  Some of it’s not. But when you emerge from the bush you find this.  With camping spots nearby.  Since it was a long weekend there were quite a few campers. Thankfully our GPS was wrong, our drive was probably two and a half hours.  Still a lot of car time for one day.  So what’s at the very end of the road?  This. And this. A sign telling you that, yes, you have indeed reached the end of the road.  According to this sign we were closer to Antarctica than Cairns.  Cool.   It also lists the north, east, and west points in Australia.  I hope we make it to all of them. What else was at the end of the road?  Why, a whale sculpture of course! Okay, make silly faces now.  TurboBug doesn’t quite get that yet. Somehow I missed (until now that I’m reading it in this picture) that this sculpture is of a life-sized three-month old southern right whale.  Wow. We decided to do the walk to Fishers Point.  Officially the best walk ever.  Too many pictures to put in this post, so I’ll save it for the next one!