This site is a compilation of photos and notes taken from our trip to Tasmania, Australia. This adventure came about after I entered a contest advertised on John Nack's blog, Principal Product Manager at Adobe Software, in May of 2008. On a whim I entered my name and promptly forgot about the entry until we received a call in August from Patti of US Sweeps. At first we thought this was another internet scam until I came home and retraced my steps to find the entry link on John's site and the obscure reference to xyzadventures.com (I will have to admit, this generic sounding name continued to make me skeptical). Even after the process of signing the papers and making the arrangements for the flight, passports, etc. Lisa and I were still in a state of disbelief up until we left for JFK airport on November 15th. But our fairy tale quickly became reality and was quickly over in 7 days. The following is an attempt to capture and share with you the reader/viewer the experience of our lifetime in Tasmania.

Why did I choose to put a triptych of a silver gull on the banner of this page? Well, I have always had a soft spot for birds and this little gull greeted us on the beach during our visit to Bechino, TAS. He/She was a lone spirit that watched our every move for the next 30 minutes or so. Keeping us company as Lisa and I combed the beach in preparation for our impending nocturnal visit with the fairy penguins later that night.

The traditional pictures of Wallabees, Tasmanian Devils and other native plants and animals to Tasmania can also be found. You'll just have to spend some time looking for them. The blog contains some of the notes and comments we took during our visit as well as some of the items we found to be indispensable and other items we didn't even use. As I took over 1600+ pictures and Lisa took an additional 200 with over 10GB of video, this site will be a work in progress for the next month. My intent is to update it with new tidbits every other day or so. Right now the frequency is weekly.

This site is divided up into three sections.

The Tassie Home, where you are now.
Click on the headers to open and close the content within that header. If you are at the bottom of the page and you click on another header and see just a blank screen. Scroll up the page, as the content in that new header may not be as long as the one you were previously in. If all else fails click on the Tassie Home, Blog or Galleries Links.

The Tassie Blog.
This area contains quick snippets, and stories. It will also include other miscellaneous information with regards to traveling and photography equipment, etc. Right now there are a small number of entries. I am going to be keywording each entry so that in the future, if you remember a bird picture - you just have to click bird in the right side to pull up all of those related entries to find the one you are looking for. I will try my best at keeping these entries as limited as possible.

The Tassie Galleries.
This is an area that will have links to galleries of pictures. Just click on the picture under each heading and you will be whisked away to a picture gallery. Click on a thumbnail picture to get a larger view, the filename and a short description about the photo.

If all else fails - email me and I will be happy to answer your questions. Or if you have an idea or two as to how to organize the information, drop me a line too. Thanks and happy surfing!

Adobe Software.

Mikkel Aaland.

Hobart was the first stop in Tasmania. We stayed two nights at a wonderful B&B called Corinda Cottage. The shot below is taken from across the street on the first morning of our stay. Little did I know that this would be the only 6 straight hours of sunshine that we would see until the very last day of our trip. When we arrived the day before it was cold, rainy and very gloomy. We had about 3 hours of daylight and had to get settled in, find a place to eat and then off to bed so that we could shake off the jet lag. Later on we would find out that this was our favorite out of all of the lodgings during our 7 night stay.


We did have time for a walk when we got there the first day. We explored the extensive formal garden on the grounds. We walked up and down the street where we came upon some parrots having a feast in someone's yard. The cottage was up on a hill in the north east end of town overlooking the bay. Our first impressions were that for a major city, this place was quaint and quiet even compared to Allentown. Parks and sidewalks were present and they were well used by the local residents. Everyone was out and about doing physical activities and we scarcely saw an overweight person. The flora, fauna and birds were definitely different.


Parrot in a tree just down the road from Corinda Cottage. There were about 20+ congregated in this tree and ground as it was apparant the owner had bread crumbs out for them. They were a very colorful sight, I was unable to get a picture of two or more as they were easily spooked by myself and the frequent walkers going up and down the sidewalk about 6 feet away. Some more views can be found in the blog entries.



This is the flower of the tree in which the parrots were roosting in. Notice the delicate stamens and pistols that are bunched in circular clusters up and down the stem.



This is a eucalyptus tree. Lisa and I would call them Dr. Seuss trees later on in the trip as they reminded us of the trees in those children's books. Taken in Hobart outside of the Corinda Cottage looking East.



An observation tower in downtown Hobart. We never had time to investigate further.



Lisa at the entrance to the formal gardens at Corinda Cottages. This is the entrance side on Glebe street.

This was our second overnight stop in Tasmania. The area has been in a severe drought conditions for 3 years now. We couldn't tell as we never saw the sun during our 24 hour stay here and it rained on/off the whole time. But that didn't dampen my spirits and prevent me from taking loads of pictures. Below is some rain drops on a plant outside of our lodging.

We would make two visits to this town. One on the way to Cradle Mountain and one on the way back. The main attraction was a shop called Art Etude. Here we would purchase some art objects for display at our house. The picture of the marble doesn't do it justice and I have some ideas on how to perfect the image when I get time.

Lisa is leaving the Art Etude store located in Sheffield, Tasmania.


Marble called Fireworks made by a local Artisan named Jan Rigden-Clay