Our way from Edith Creek (Allendale Gardens) to Burnie, where we planned to stay overnight, had a number of stops. From the main road we turned to Rocky Cape, then to Table Cape to look at the Cape Tourville Lighthouse and tulips near Wynyard. At the end of the trip we arrived to Burnie, where we were lucky to see a platypus and penguins in a wild.
First stop was at the Rocky Cape National Park. The Rocky Cape lighthouse is a small lighthouse with its sweeping views. It is said that like its neighbour the Nut, Rocky Cape has dramatic geological features including twisted and contorted rocks that were formed over millions of years. It also contains sea caves, rock pools and pretty, sheltered beaches. The Rocky Cape area contains many significant Tasmanian Aboriginal sites, dating back thousands of years.
The next stop was at the Table Cape (Cape Tourville Lighthouse).
From the end of September to mid-October this area becomes a photographer’s delight when the tulip fields become a riot of colour. At the moment of our visit all the beauty was gone, but you can imagine how this area looks like by googling ‘Table Cape Tulip Farm’.
Photos from http://twistedsifter.com/2011/11/picture-of-the-day-the-table-cape-tulip...
We finally arrived to Burnie, ‘a city of makers’ at 5pm. Oh, God, wish we arrived a little bit earlier to spend sometime tasting cheese at The Cheese Shop, meet the makers at the Makers' Workshop as they go about their business making boutique paper by hand, or breathe deeply near the resting whisky barrels. There is so many things to do there and in our next trip we will definitely stay there overnight to explore all that Burnie has. As for us, we had two options - to go further and stay for night somewhere in Penguin / Devonport / Launceston, or stay here to see platypus at Fern Glade Reserve and little penguins at Penguin Obsevation Centre.
Of course, we stayed )))
Fern Glade Reserve is one of the hidden gems of Burnie. It seems like another world but only a few minutes from town. It is very quiet and peaceful.
After a 15 minutes waiting at one of the platforms we were fortunate to see a platypus swimming in the river and observed it for some time!!! A real platypus in a wild!!
After that we find a nice camping place near Guide Falls. Again, it is a few minutes from town, but is a quiet place with grassy area, BBQs and tables, and it is free for camping!
Finally it was time to go back to Burnie to join a free evening penguin tour to see as they noisily feed their young. There are many places in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania where you able to see fairy penguins. As an example, even in Melbourne there is a small colony at St.Kilda Pier, so this was not a first time for us to see these little creatures. But we love them so much so even if we know a lot about them, we came here, to the Penguin Observation Centre, to meet penguins again.
Friends of Burnie Penguins (volunteers) did a fantastic job - they build a paved walkway, a safety fence and nests! Moreover, every evening they offer free interpretative tours for visitors and make notes how many penguins did they see, when was a time to see the first one and so on.
We saw a little chick and adult birds as well. Yesterday we saw echidna in Stanley. Today our day started with a meeting with seals, peacocks, platypus and, finally, penguins! Went to our camping spot absolutely happy.
