Tourist Information

I never mentioned how impressed we were with the I Sites or Tourist Information Centres in NZ. They are professionally staffed, have internet, bathrooms, pamphlets and maps and sell souvenirs. We booked all of our accomodation through them.
We arrived in Tasmania last night and today drove from the capitol - Hobart - to the west coast. It is a beautiful country with a little of NZ and Australia mixed in. We saw mountains and eucalyptus trees, sheep and cows, walked through Jurassic Park like palm forests and saw beautiful waterfalls. We stopped at a gallery called 'The Wall' - Huon pine sculpted carvings that seemed too realistic to be wood. There were 2 spectacular 100 foot long walls of scenes from Tasmania's farming and mining past.
We drove through old mining towns to the northwest tip of the island to a place called Burnie where we are staying tonight. Along the way we stopped at a few tourist information centres. Here in Tasmania they are staffed by volunteers, all seniors. They are helpful in a friendly way but there are no computers, little knowledge of anything more than the local people would know. The buildings they are located in are from the 1930s and the interior has not changed since then. There are maps and artifacts that look like school social studies projects, from the 50s! Quaint and charming.

The end of a long day of driving was rewarded with a walk on a secluded stretch of beach, dipping our feet in warm sea water.