Australia 2009 - days 18 to 22 at Freycinet and Hobart (plus climbs on Mt. wellington)

Day 18.
We intended to do the three hour return walk to Wineglass Bay but unfortunately it rains. Instead we spend the day washing clothes, reading climbing guides and planning. In this photo one can see Sofie reading the guide to Arapiles with her dad.






That afternoon we go swimming at Honeymoon Bay. The water is too cold and salty for Sofie. However she does get to splash a little with the help of her dad.









In the evening dad sets off to see Blue penguins (previously known as Fairy penguins ) in Bicheno. Sofie and mum stay at home as the tour guide doesn't want babies on the tour as they could disturb the penguins if they cry and the trip is also held way past Sofie's bedtime.
Photos (without flash) were permitted and in these shots one can see the penguins.



















Day 19.
Rainy weather again ..... so we sleep in and then decide to drive north along the east coast to the Bay of Fires. This was a good decision as we left the rain behind. Freycinet Peninsula seems to have a micro-climate.

Our first stop was Binalong Bay, this is surf beach, again the beaches are crystal clean.












Mum & Sofie waking on the beach at Binalong Bay.













There was a singe surfer on the water and we waited almost half an hour to get a photo of him riding the waves but as can be seen here he never stood up on his board.










Then mum & dad jumped into the surf, the water was colder than Danish water in the summer!! In this photo Hans is waiting for a wave.










Sofie got to dip her toes in as well with the help of dad. She was not impressed with the cold temperature.


















We then continued into the National Park to Skeleton Bay.
In these 2 photos one can see Skeleton Bay with mum & Sofie in the foreground and waves crashing on a rock in the background. It was a great beach!























The coast at Grants point. The rocks are colored red by moss.













We drive home via Humbug Hill, and these two photos are taken at the top of the hill.

























We had made a 7.15 pm reservation at Madge Malloy’s that night which we had to rush home to. The restaurant is run by Madge (who does the waitressing) and her husband who catches all the fish and is the chef so punctuality was important. We were running late but manages to run to the restaurant with 1 minute to spare.
Sofie has too many things to look at so we give up on trying to get her to sleep. In this photo her dad is throwing her into the air.



















Sofie's fascination with the food we eat is grow. In this photo she is eating some roasted carrot..........


















............... and here she studies a very impressive Perch baked with crab on a potato base. It tasted fantastic and Sofie actually ate some of the potato.

















This photo is pretty typical of Sofie's reaction to us when we eat. Her head moves up and down following each fork filled with food. This is actually quite good for her as she has learned to chew food by watching us do it instead of just spitting it all out.







Day 20. Sofie is 6 months old!!!!!
We again plan to do the three hour return walk to Wineglass Bay after we pack up the tent etc. But again we wake up to rain & fog which is a drag so we again cancel the walk.
In this photo one can see a Praying Mantis on our tent. This little fellow was quite impressive and 12 cm long!! After we photographed him we carefully moved him to a tree.








That evening Gabi, Hugh & Alice visited us at our campsite and they actually brought dinner along. Service!! It rained so we all had to sit in our tent. Luckily the tent is large enough and they had their own camp-hairs with them. Everyone was pretty tired so we called it a night quite early.


Sofie was having quite a bad day ...... maybe she doesn't like birthdays :). She was also extremely hungry and in this photo she has latched onto Hugh's nose! Which reminded us all of when she was only 2 days old and latched onto mums chin.






Day 21.
Hugh & Alice meet us at Salamanca Markets. In this photo we are checking put a little plate I was considering buying for Sofie.



















The markets are a variety of fruit & vegetabes, clothing, crafts, second hand things and entertainment. In this photo a group of musicians is entertaining the crowd. Hugh is actually also in a band and is considering doing the same thing.








We spend most of the day in and around the markets and end up eating lunch at Fish Frenzy (see day 16). In this photo we are all enjoying a cappuccino and mum is showing off the romper she bought Sofie. Its really cute and has a kangaroo on the front.







Day 22.
Sofie spend the day with her Auntie Gabi and cousins Hugh and Alice while mum & dad climb on Mt. Wellington again. This time we choose to climb 'Moonraker' which is also a 3 star route, grade 16 (French grade 5+). We spent an hour finding the first belay spot and even though the climb was only 2 pitches (40 + 30 m) it actually took us 6 hours. We agree that we do not wish to climb on Mt. Wellington again, the rock is quite dodgy (loose, hollow, flakey) and route finding doesn't seem logical for climbers not familiar with the area.

Elvira belaying the second pitch. A long way down!





















And in this photo one can see the last moves on the climb ....... a body squeeze up to the rappel point. Had we been a few kilos heavier we wouldn’t have been able to jam our bodies in this crack. Hans actually had to remove his back pack and clip it into protection to do the move!
















Both of us relieved to have finished the quite un-nerving climb, for more details on the climb click here.












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