Day 1: Parking Lot to Windemere Hut
The first day is the best as it has the most to see.  Right away we hit a big elevation gain up to Marion's lookout.  There were even chains to pull on as we got up to the top.  Crater Lake is visible and we began the descent down to go past Cradle Mountain.  The picture of Cradle is so iconic in Tasmanian, it was surreal to actually see it in person.  We did not make any time for side trips, but we should have climbed Cradle Mtn - such amazing rock, all columns of dollerite.  Kitchen Hut was our stop for our snack, and we laughed thinking of the Germans we'd met at the hostel starting the hike late and having to sleep in this cold, drafty hut.  Click Read More below...

We managed to get in two dives on Julian Rocks, a solitary rock outcropping no more than a few hundred square meters wide.  This islet is only a five minute boat ride straight out from Byron Bay.  Since this was our first dive in Oz, we were a little tense at first, not sure of what to expect temperature-wise.  We've become so accustomed to drysuit diving that switching back to wetsuits felt odd... and definitely colder.  I was frozen by the end of the first dive and Claire, not used to the swell that regularly occurs off the Australian coast, started to feel quite sea-sick.  However, having said that, our first dive was amazing!  LOADS of fish with rich colours in all sizes, including giant "Gropers" (not to be confused with Groupers.)  We came across a large Queensland Groper nesteled in a cave that we swam through.  Click "Read More" below...

The climbing is fanatastic here: dense route concentrations along sandstone cliffs for miles and miles.  We concentrated our efforts at a place called "Upper Shipley", outside of a little village called Black Heath.  We would wake up every morning and catch a very civilized 7-minute train out to Black Heath and then a nice 30 minute walk out to the crags.  We wanted to spend another week or two climbing here.  One could get strong here with so many great routes.  Fortunately, the many locals assured us that Tasmania has loads of climbing awaiting us.  Phew!

I should add that we saw loads of lizards while climbing, especially as each day warmed up (sorry, Donn, no pics...) and we just missed a Brown snake on one of our walks.  Damn!  I want a picture of one of these deadly and common snakes of Australia.  It was fun trading irrational fears with the aussies we met at the crags... they are quite concerned about the appetites of candaian bears, yet they think deadly snakes and spiders are harmless.  "Yar, jus' keep a good eye out, mate!" Things are still "cold" here, so snake and critter sightings are relatively rare currently.  Another month should get things well into the 30s temp-wise, so that should help the critter sightings. 

Check out the Blue Mountain climbing pictures...

Reading over some of my first posts, I realized that I'm missing a few more tales about northern fishing.  There is one fishery that we checked that is definitely worth mentioning: Yukon Arctic Grayling.  ...