We started our day at the Salamanca markets which are open every Saturday morning.

We visited the woodworkers stall with handcrafts made by the stall owners.

The pipers were warming up. Warning: Don’t run with bagpipes. Your could put an aye out or worse yet, get kilt.

Today we visited more of the spectacular coastline of Abel Tasman National Park but first we travelled from Hoabrt to Sorell. On the way we crossed the two long causeways that can get wild when the weather is bad. It was windy but OK and no sea spray today but here is an image from ABC News at the end of August this year:

Image: ABC News

Black cormorants at Dunnally

Wildlife road signs on the Tasman Peninsula

Devil dragon

Tasman Bay National Park Lookout on Pirates Bay Drive

The Tesselated Pavement where rocks have fractured into blocks.

Shells in a rockpool at the Tesselated Pavement.

Black cormorant fishing off the pavement

Flowering gum at Eaglehawk Neck

The Dog Line at the 30 metre wide Eaglehawk Neck. The Dog Line is one of the most terrifying parts of Eaglehawk Neck’s history. This life-size bronze replica shows how the isthmus was once guarded by a line of up to nine ferocious dogs. Any sound or disturbance by an escaping convict would  trigger a terrifying response and alert soldiers. The dogs were housed in old barrels and stationed within touching distance of one another but not close enough to fight.

What the convict saw..

…and if they got past the dogs, next were the rabbits!

Blue Seal Seafood Shack – What you might get if you crossed Cookie Monster with Jabba the Hutt.

What did the seal with a broken bone say to the shark? “Do not consume if seal is broken.”

Tasman Arch

Calytrix were very common in the bushland near the Arch.

Tasmanian thornbill near the fenced Arch

Cape Hauy from the Waterfall Bay track with the famous Candlestick and Totem Pole rock formations.

Flame robin near the cliff edge

Devils Kitchen Lookout

The view down to a newer erosion point along a joint.

Devils Kitchen from another lookout

Superb blue wrens have been plentiful across Tasmania in a variety of habitats.

The coastline on the track to Waterfall Bay

Caladenia orchid

Patterson’s Arch

Waterfall Bay track forest

Zieria

Stack off the coast with nesting gull on top

Melaleuca squarrosa in full bloom

The eroded sandstone

Stackhousia

Waterfall Bay….minus waterfalls. The waterfalls only flow after heavier rain.

Spectacular coastal cliffs at Waterfall Bay

Boronia

After seeing Green rosellas across the island, I finally photograph one in a national park, even if it was on the toilet roof. It was still very shy and flew away as soon as it saw me.

And if the day couldn’t get any better, we received calls from two daughters at 10:45pm to let us know that there was an aurora forecast for tonight so we packed our gear and headed back to Pirates Lookout for the view south.

It was clouded in but we persisted for an hour and were rewarded with the geomagnetic storm lighting the sky. The colours were faint with the naked eye but the rays were prominent and there was a shimmer across the sky. This image is a 30 second exposure with no enhancements.