This morning Connie and Brendan invited us down to the beach for a mid morning swim. We quickly grabbed a few things and jumped in the cars and went down to the sea!

Marion Bay Beach from the wooden lookout deck. Bream Creek flows into the bay here.

We kicked off our shoes and walked barefoot in the warm buff sand and the cool seawater.

Eventually we found the spot to enjoy a swim. Connie and Brendan went in first and Robert followed.

The exuberance and joy of a dip in the clear cool ocean!

I got enough courage up and joined them, just as Connie and Brendan were heading back to the beach. It has been a long time since I’ve been in the ocean far enough to taste the salt water on my lips! It was cool, and it was great to lay back and float!

Scenes from the seaside. A Mom and her 2 young daughters left their gumboots at the dunes to walk barefoot on the beach!

Today we took off to explore the Tasman Peninsula and to find a camping spot for a few days.

A simple map of the Tasman Peninsula.

We drove down through Eaglehawk Neck and up past Saltwater River to Lime Bay campground at the tip of the northwest point of the peninsula. The campground was full, and we had failed to get Australian money to pay for a site anyway, so we returned to the main road and drove the loop to Port Arthur, site of the most notorious of the Australian Penal Colonies of the colonial era. It being late afternoon by now, we didn’t stop to tour the facility, but you can read some history of the site HERE. We continued around the loop and enquired at the 2 campgrounds on the peninsula to discover there are virtually no sites available because it’s Easter weekend, the “end of the summer” for Australians and the biggest camping weekend of the year! We texted Connie and she kindly invited us back to her place! On our way back we took a side road and finally got a beautiful view of Pirates Bay near the narrow neck of land (the aforementioned Eaglehawk Neck) at the Tasman National Park Lookout.

Looking out at Pirates Bay and the Tasman Sea from the Tasman NP Lookout.

Back at Connie & Brendans we admired the bounty of pumpkins they grew despite the severe drought they are in right now.

Today at noon will be halfway through our year’s long travels! After spending the morning “getting sorted” Connie took us out to a local winery, Bream Creek Vineyard, where we met her friend Kate and enjoyed local wines and a cheese platter with delicious crusty bread and olive oil!

The view overlooking the beautiful blue Marion Bay!

Robert in his element, surrounded by wonderful, smart, beautiful women!

A very early morning cab ride to the airport and wait a few hours for our flight.

We took off in clouds and had clouds across the Tasman Sea to Hobart, west, and actually more south than we expected, of New Zealand.

We touched down in partly sunny skies just outside of Hobart.

We arrived to the small airport in Hobart and proceeded through customs and biosecurity with no problems. We were picked up by the rental company and taken to the shop to pick up our home for the next month, a compact motorhome! Back to familiarity!

Our home for the next month!

Then a drive to meet our friend Fern’s sister Connie and her partner Brendan outside of Hobart who kindly offered their property for us to park until we get sorted!

We had a wonderful evening and were served a delicious feta and spinach pie baked up by Connie!

A mid morning Sky Jump!

We did it AGAIN! You can see the videos at our YouTube Channel HERE!

Back to reality on the ground! We have to clean the car and return it. We booked a nearby hotel we could walk to after turning the car in. Then repacking to make it to our flight to Tasmania early tomorrow morning!