Well, I have been tardy. Actually, I packed a lot of travel in those three days. I drove from the Thala Natural Reserve near Port Douglas to Cairns, returned the rental car, and flew to Sydney on Aug 1. In Sydney, a three-hour layover stretched into more than four hours, causing minor stress for a rental car pickup in Hobart, Tasmania. 

The gentleman sitting next to me on the plane turned out to be an Australian immigrant from San Diego, and the car rental guy had a girlfriend in Bakersfield before moving to Australia in 1993. I guess it is a small world after all.

I got into the hotel late and left early for my trip to Coles Bay with an educational stopover at the Bonorong Animal Sanctuary, where I got to meet the local marsupial celebrities. It was fun to hand-feed the kangaroos; not sure they would remember, but I have a few videos to reinforce my memory. In Coles Bay, in the Freycinet National Park, I stayed at the Freycinet Lodge. The preferred Wineglass lodge was sold out. The drive from Hobart to the Freycinet Lodge took about 2.5 hours. It is a single-lane highway coiled like a snake ready to attack, with a minimum of four bends per mile. I found the speed limit to be too aggressive for the highway. It left me in a constant state of alertness, making sure I wasn’t being an old coot slowing traffic for the more productive humans. I made up for lost time by hurrying up the hike to Wineglass Bay and squeezing in a visit to Honeymoon Bay before heading for my slightly late 6 pm dinner. The lookout for Wineglass Bay was majestic, but a walk down a thousand steps was more intimate. The hike up the steps earned an appetite. Monday morning, Aug 3rd, day 9; I enjoyed the dawn at Honeymoon Bay and the Sunrise at Friendly Beaches, with not a soul around. It was a special and memorable experience. By 8 am, I had run out of things to do in Freycinet. I stopped by the Freycinet Marine Farm Restaurant for the “best seafood in Tasmania” and headed back to Hobart. I am staying at The Tasman again, a Marriott property. I walked around the city a few times, had local fish at the hotel, and packed for the flight back to Sydney in the morning. I am not sure if anybody is interested, but I am keeping the count: two 15-hour flights, five domestic flights in Australia, three car rentals, and seven hotels. I feel fully rested and ready to start working the day I come back to the US.

– brij