The 33 km hike had convinced me so from the Tasman National Park that I simply stayed. In my opinion, the southeastern tip of Tasmania is also the highlight of the entire east coast!
And then I had this unexpectedly wonderful New Year's Eve, which still conjures a grin on my face!
I found a private campsite, far out at the end of a 9km dirt road. The operator or owner of the property is a positively crazy, who likes to tell everyone how the best compost toilet works. (And the men to pee please in the bushes and not on the toilet ... Before something goes wrong!)
He built a sauna hut after a visit to Finland, which is about as common in Australia as kangaroos in Finland. What a joy!
Although I could write that I made there another hiking day and a beach day and a culture day ... But actually it was sauna days (with upstream entertainment program).
And so on New Year's Eve at midnight I found myself in a sauna with three Australians, three Finns (two of them extra, because they had read about the sauna) and two South Africans. After we all had sat in front of the fire super comfortable and chatted. We also missed midnight by 10 minutes, because no one in the sauna had a watch with us and we were so far out that we did not notice it otherwise. Otherwise, the campsite was empty (see photo).
Totally great round, a highlight for me!
(The single "symbolic photo of this night below shows us sitting around the fire barrel ... but you need imagination to see that ?)
Otherwise, I was actually hiking (the Cape Raoul track) and relax (first beach day since 6 weeks).
As well as picking up a bit of history: in Port Arthur there is one of the facilities into which repeated offenders were brought. The first offense was simply punishable by going into exile from England to Tasmania, the second offense meant 'closed facility' ... This reminds one that down here people are either natives ... or criminals (or their descendants) ?
And very important: PLATYPUS !! Especially, seeing them here in nature, and I even had all the time and was pretty close! Whoopee!
After the New Year, I drove to the valley of the Huon River, to see a completely different landscape again. There I have the Hastings caves viewed, which make quite a deal. And taken a quick dip in the neighboring thermal pool.
Very nice. I'm really impressed by the Platypus sighting.
... and I first ...