Although it was incredibly awesome to visit another state, one that I had never been to before, it was even better to get home and reunite with my wonderful family. I could never be a traveling professional as I’m such a homebody and miss my family too much.

But, spending some time in Tasmania was an incredible experience. My pastor and I flew over for a conference so we didn’t get much time to travel around and see the sights. However, we did get a little taste.

You can always get a feel for a place by what people grow in their gardens. While I can’t account for more than 98% of the Tasmanian population, the gardens I saw in the North-East could easily be categorised by four plants; conifers, pittosporum, proteas and hydrangeas – in that order.

Spruces, pines – of every size and description imaginable, firs and cypresses seemed to abound. This wasn’t really surprising considering the climate. We were told the week before had produced a heat wave for the region of 26°-28°C (a warm spring day for sunny Busselton – our heatwaves are measured in 40°C+).

Colder climate vegetation seemed to prevail. Even Tasmania’s forests were inundated with tree ferns that towered overhead and bracken that filled the undergrowth void.

Our greatest treat was trekking to Stanley a seaside town about 10km east of Smithton. Here we climbed the Nut, a rocky outcrop produced by volcanic activity that was home to mutton birds in the spring and an abundance of flora throughout the year.

The Stanley Nut

The winds that motored over this outcrop roared like a jet engine and it was amazing that anything grew here at all. Still, banksias, genistas and scrubby grasses kept the soil intact. There were even groves of eucalypts that seemed intent on keeping their ground.

You can see that most of the hills are dry and brown - ironically named Greenhills - as Tasmania has also suffered from the drought that most of Eastern Australia is experiencing. The locals informed me that these hills are green most of the year, including the summer months.

Tasmania is a very beautiful place, and sometime in the future I would like to return with the fam and discover what I missed this trip.

A special thanks to Val, Kerri and Colleen for their excellent posts which I can already see most of you enjoyed. They are wonderful ladies and a credit to the gardening blogosphere.