Day 2 in Tasmania found us wide awake early and ready to find some wi-fi. We hadn't had wi-fi since our night in Lorne, which meant that Holly couldn't check her email, send pics back to her husband, etc. And we were feeling the technology-disconnect!

As we were starting to learn, finding wi-fi in Tasmania was going to be a very difficult task. The hotel front desk person looked at me blankly when I asked about coffee shops that might have free wi-fi and be open on a Sunday. She suggested we try McDonalds or possibly one or two coffee shops in the center of town that opened at 9:30. While we waited for the coffee shops to open, we headed to the edge of town to check out Cataract Gorge.

Cataract Gorge

This side trip was the highlight of our stay in Launceston. We did a short 20 minute hike out to the gorge overlook, but along the way, we spotted some wallabies our for their morning breakfast!

Once we saw the first one, we were on the lookout for them and spotted a couple others along the way. It was a great way to pass the hike, looking for the little guys! And, of course, each time we saw them, we had to stop and watch them until they hopped off into the bush.
Finally, though, we did make it out to the gorge overlook.

The sun was coming up, which was exciting because it meant we'd have a nice day for our drive. And it was getting closer to wi-fi time! So we headed back down the trail...

Oh yeah, none of the wi-fi at coffee shops or McDonalds were powerful enough to send Holly's email.

Driving to Bicheno

The main goal for the day was to drive over to the coast, since we had booked tours to see penguins that night. We didn't have any expectations for the driving portion of the day, but it arguably ended up being one of our favorite parts of the whole trip!

The sun was out, the sky was extra blue, and the landscape was beautiful at every turn. We only passed through 3 or 4 towns, and these were so small, you really only knew you were in a town because there were a couple buildings together. There were no billboards, no traffic lights, no stop signs, and at one point, our road turned into a gravelly, no-laned path. But we pushed through and had an amazing 2 hour drive.