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Monday, April 17, 2006

Easter Tour

I visited Hobart for a bit this Easter, as I've posted images from there before I didn't take anything new.
Hobart is at the bottom of Tasmania.
On the way back I headed up the east coast .
The Australian countryside it dotted with run down old farm houses, and I love them.
They are often infested with huge blackberry bushed but none were on this trip.
There were several stunning places I would have liked to have stopped to take pictures but the roads are very narrow there and there's nowhere to pull over.
I've broken these pictures into sets, click on them to see bigger versions as per usual.


These are the beaches just before Swansea, where I was heading to meet a friend.
It was a rough day and very atmospheric.
In the distance you can see The Hazards, giant rock mountians I was heading too.
At the bottom there is an out of focus shot of some kind of anenome.
It looked like a little collection of anuses.
It's out of focus mostly because the tide was coming in at rather a pace and I didn't want to be swept out to see (it is very fucking cold and full of sharks I would imagine).


It is the dream of many Tasmanians to build a "shack" on the east coast.
Once apon a time that's exactly what they were - shacks.
These days a shack can sell for several million dollars (but not this one).
The thing that struck me most about this place (owned by the mother of my friend Jo) was how much it reminded me of the Moominhouse, with it's 3 floors and spiral staircase.
How lovely it was.
You can also see the added accomodation - a rennovated bus right next to the house.
From the top floor window The Hazards loom closer.


The Hazards themselves are located in Freycinet National Park.
On the way through Freycinet I stopped at The Friendly Beaches.
I have been here many times and it's a spectacle whether it's fierce or calm.
Today it was calm and wasn't especially friendly.
It is a very long beach and it's easy to imagine dinosaurs trudging it's length.
There is something very primitive and primeordial about the place.
The beginnings of life in the rock pools....
Also included is me doing my impression of Robinson Crusoe (at least when he first was shipwrecked and well fed by him mother).


And finally.
You can see The Hazards long before you get to them.
These happy snaps do nothing to show the menace and majesty they project as they peek from behind the trees.
I stopped at the Lodge to take some snaps there - I stayed there once and it was stunning.
It's hard to tell just how vast The Hazards are - huge great granite structures.
It's possible to walk up them (and I have) - a jolly 5 to 8 hour stroll if you're in the mood.


This is probably the last time I'll be in these places in quite some time.
Someone asked if they could buy my house last week and I told them that would be ok.
I will say my goodbyes properly to this amazing place when the time to leave arrives.

5 comments:

Girl said...

It is stunning there. Wow. Must add it to my list. Wow.

Oscar Grillo said...

Are you sure you did't go to "Hogwarts"?

Elliot Cowan said...

No, I'm not sure, but I'm fairly sure.

Matt Jones said...

You make Tasmania look like the most beautiful 'ass end of the world' I've ever seen. It must have done ya good, your latest posts seem terribly relaxed, gone is the spit & bile Elliot of old!
Bring back the misogynistic, frustrated, angry, hateful guy we know & love . . . !

Elliot Cowan said...

Mr Jones - I don't need to do much to make Tassie to beautiful...
As for my health and temper - since I sold the house and then further to that realised that I will have enough $$$ to sustain myself comfortably for a time over there I have been far more settled.
I'll be back to vent soon enough.

 
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