The day started with a trip to Liffey Falls

Liffey Falls were the first stop on a hectic afternoon spent on the road in Tasmania.

I had no idea what to expect of the day as we were going to have at least three different stops before coming back to Devonport.

Liffey Falls is a series of waterfalls that exposes sandstone steps on its way down from the Great Western Tier. The exposed sandstone was laid down over 250 million years ago when this region lay further south, covered by sea and ice. As icebergs melted, rocks were freed and plunged as dropstones into the marine sediments below.

These embedded dropstones, which are paler, roundish and flattened in shape, can be seen in the river along the track to Liffey Falls. Made of quartzite, these dropstones may have come from as far away as Cradle Mountain. Also embedded in the rocks exposed by the erosive force of the Liffey River are tiny marine fossils.

The Alum Cliffs are within the Alum Cliffs State Reserve and form a part of the Gog Range, here you can find a breeding pair of Peregrine Falcons.

They showed themselves when we were there, but the distance was too great to get anything useful from the pictures.

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semiaquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The unusual appearance of this egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it an elaborate fraud. It is one of the few venomous mammals, the male platypus having a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans.

This was the highlight of the day and I must confess that I didn´t think I would see any before I went to Australia. This is a nocturnal animal and one that I never think I would have stumbled upon myself.

We had two different individuals that were searching for snacks just below a bridge and we stayed with them for probably 30 minutes before we left for Devonport.

I would say that the day was really successful even if it started with rain. It was nice to be out walking at both Liffey Falls and Alum cliffs.

I hope you can enjoy these selected pictures from my time here in Tasmania.