On Day 3 I woke up to a grey morning, but thankfully a ghost free night. I again made my way back down the peninsula to Eagleshawk Neck where I caught a boat for a tour of the Tasman Peninsula from the water. For three hours, we looked at the many geological features created by wind and waves. We were also told about the various sea animals we encountered. This included various sea birds (albatross, mutton birds, cormorants) and Australian and New Zealand Sea Lions. There were even some sea lion pups. Unfortunately, thought they'd seen some the day before, there were no whales. After departing the boat, I made my way back to the mainland and Triabunna.
Triabunna is the gateway to Maria Island. Maria Island was supposed to be another Port Arthur but, even though it's an island, it was too easy to escape. Not it is a National Park with some good hikes and interesting wildlife. Unfortunately, I arrived in Triabunna too late for the last ferry so I got some rest and relaxation, which was pretty good considering I'd had two nights of snoring and two nights of ghost stories. I stayed in a really cool old school hotel right across from the marina. They had amazing food and nice clean rooms. It is the coolest place I have stayed so far.
The next morning, I woke up to get on the ferry. There is only one ferry there in the morning and one ferry back in the afternoon. If you miss the afternoon, you get to spend it overnight in the old penitentiary. There was no way I was going to spend another night at an old prison. On the way to the island we ran into 2 whales. A mama and her calf, so that made us a little late getting to the island. A 25 minute trip became about 50 minutes as we chased the whales.
We finally arrived and began hiking. The Fossil Cliffs were the first stop on the tour, but on the way I got to finally see a live wombat. Other than the whales, this may have been the highlight of the day. The only time I'd seen others was either at the zoo or dead on the side of the road. There is also a gravestone for a Maori warrior who was part of a rebellion in New Zealand and was sent to the prison on Maria. His bones have been sent back to New Zealand, but the headstone remains. The fossil cliffs are amazing. Literally every rock you look at has a fossilized shell of some kind. I've never seen so many fossils. Then again, I've never actually seen a fossil other than petrified wood or in a museum.
Next was the painted cliffs. Unfortunately, I'd missed low tide, so I had to do some climbing up and down to see them. I have to say that Rainbow Beach is much more spectacular, but these were pretty neat too. The best part of this walk was that I got to watch the whales again as I walked along the coast. One even breached for me, though I missed it and only saw the splash at the end of it.
On the way home, we saw our mama and calf again, this time a little closer, though they weren't up for any playing. We also saw two more whales just outside the Triabunna harbor. It was fantastic. So much better than the paid whale tour I did in Sydney where I only saw one whale.
Sorry there are no photos yet, but I've had some difficulty finding a computer that will let me take some photos off my camera. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get the photos off. If not, you'll just have to wait until I get back to Canberra.
Onto Day 4....
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