Tasmania- Hastings Cave, Tahune Airwalk

We visited Hastings Cave, which is about 1 1/2 hours south of Hobart.  In addition to the cave they also had a nature walk around a thermal hot spring that is home to platypuses.  Sadly, we did not see any platypuses, but I did get to climb into a giant tree.  We couldn't get the entire width of the tree in this shot.

This is us in Hastings Cave.  The inside of the cave stays at 9 degrees C (around 50 degrees F) year-round.  The cave was discovered accidentally by loggers in the early 1900s.  It is composed of dolomite, which is unusual.  Apparently most caves are composed of limestone.  This means that this cave is harder and stronger, but took/is taking longer to form.

This is an actively growing and changing cave.  The stalactites (C for ceiling) and stalagmites (G for ground) were amazing!

These is a shot looking up at some of the stalactites whose tips have been broken off by tourists before they stopped allowing souvenirs to be taken.  The hole in each stactite is called a straw.  This is what the calcium deposits drip through and allows the stalactite to continue to grow.

We also went to Tahune Airwalk, which featured breath-taking scenery, a raging river, giant metal scaffolding that allowed you to walk above the treetops, swinging bridges, and nature walks.  This is us on the "cantilever" at the end of the airwalk.  This is a metal structure that juts out into the open air and appears to only be supported by cables.  It was very windy which meant it swung quite a bit.  Laurel loved it.  Greg hid his terror well-ish.

It's me!

This is one of the Swinging Bridges at Tahune.  Kind of rickety, but beautiful scenery.

We stayed at the most awesome b&b that night.  It was a beautiful stone house with an additional section in the back they referred to as the cottages.  They also had all sorts of critters that lived there with them.  They have 2 Puli, which are Hungarian Sheepdogs, named Sassy and Matilda.  Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of them, but they are black dreadlocked dogs that look like big mops.

These are the geese who were very helpful in cleaning up any leftover bread and keeping the chooks (chickens) in line.

They also had a handful of alpacas.  This is one of the ladies walking past.

And this is the cottage.  It is a beautiful, historic building with contemporary-styled interiors and a large variety of modern art- very cool.