Our first day in Tasmania could be considered a day where we didn't really do much of anything, but we actually did/saw lots of things.
We first tried to go snorkeling and we found a really good spot at Tinderbox, which actually has an underwater snorkel/scuba track that you follow. But unfortunately we weren't able to find anywhere to actually rent snorkel gear. But the area has a rock shelf that's frequently submerged that we were able to walk along and see a lot of cool things. There were many different plants and seaweeds, there were mussels and clams growing. We saw some brown slimy things that we weren't able to identify. Fun stuff.
Then we went to a beach in Blackman's Bay. We had read that there was a blowhole (?) there that we tried to find, but we never even really knew what we were looking for. So we just walked around a bit with our feet in the water. We also ate lunch there while we had some unusual entertainment. A very large bug had (presumably) killed an even larger spider and drug it all the way across the pavilion where we were eating. It was rather impressive. I'm not going to post a picture here but if you want to see if there are a couple of pictures in my album linked on the right.
Here's a picture of the beach:
Then we decided to drive a bit and go to the thermal pool in Hastings. We got there just in time before it closed, so we were able to jump in the thermal pool for a few minutes. Although it was disappointingly not hot. It was more room temperature. Then we hopped out and did the quick "Platypus Walk", but to no avail; we did not see any platypuses (platypi?). Then we hurried off to our 4pm cave tour. This was really cool. It was a big cave full of stalactites and stalagmites. It was a 45 minute tour and we went up and down through several big caverns. Our tour guide explained how it's all formed and how long it takes, pointed out the different types of formations, and had fun little anecdotes. Another really cool thing and unusual in my experience is that she let us touch one of the stalactites, since it had fallen from the ceiling so was already "dead" and therefore human touch couldn't damage it. Every cave I've ever been to I've never been allowed to touch anything since the oil from your hands damages the formations, so I really liked that part. She also had another piece of stalactite that we could actually hold and feel the weight of it. It was really heavy for it's size. Also, since it's a stalactite, it had a small hole all through the middle that you could shine you flashlight through.
Here are a couple pictures of the cave (there are lots more in the album):
The third picture above shows stalactites which are apparently very unique, and may only be found in that cave alone. They are the ones that look like they have bulbs on them, either close to the top by the ceiling or somewhere along. They have no idea what causes this, but the inside of those bulbs is hollow, which is very strange.
Then we made the drive back home, which is in Moonah right now. Driving around Tasmania is a bit like driving around in New Zealand; it's very hilly so the roads are very curvy. We made dinner at home tonight: salad, rice, and grilled chicken and sausage.
Tomorrow Matt and I are driving up north towards Cradle Mountain. We're splitting up with Jack for a few days since he is flying to Cairns earlier than we are.
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