Which is, Tasmania, of course! Tasmania was my last big trip in Australia, and it was really amazing. It has taken me so long to write about it since I came down with the stomach flu about ten minutes before stepping on my plane to come back to Sydney. Which was therefore the longest 90 minute plane ride of my life. But, I am better now, and am very glad it wasn't swine flu. I am now amidst the last week of class, but more on that in my next post. So, on to Tasmania!
I arrived in Hobart on Thursday morning at 9am, and the first thing I realized as I stepped off the plane and onto the stairs going outside was: it. is. freezing. I could see my breath! I quickly hopped on to the shuttle bus which had the heat on, and headed into the city, which took about 40 minutes. As the driver told me, the airport is so far out of the city because it is the only large enough piece of land in southern tasmania that is flat enough; but with quickly rising water levels it could become a big problem very soon. It was a bit too early to check into my hostel, so I began to walk around the city. Hobart has a very small feel to it, and mostly consists of little shops and cafes, but the best part of it is definitely the harbour. More on that later! So I found the information centre in hopes of figuring out what I was going to do, as I came with no real plan. The number one place that I really did want to go to was Freycinet National Park, which I told the agent, and she informed me of a day tour that went there, for $105. Since I am so low on money, I told her I'd think on it, and come back later on. Then I went to check into my hostel, and decided that I'd go back after and book the tour, because when will I next be in Tasmania? And Freycinet is definitely a number one spot. Upon checking in, the guy told me he could give me the same tour, with a special hostel price of only $80AUD. Sweet! Luckily since being here I've been learning not to book stuff too far in advance or take the first offer that comes up, because there is usually always some kind of deal to be had if you know where to look; and that is usually with the hostel. I spent the afternoon exploring more of Hobart, wandering around a few foliage filled Autumn parks, and then on to the Harbour, which was beautiful. It reminded me a lot of the cape, except surrounded by massive mountains. The main mountain, Mt. Wellington, used to be known as Table Mountain, as it was a part of the same Table Mountain in South Africa-how cool is that! That evening I realized something I had not been making nearly enough use of: hostel kitchens. So, the whole weekend, instead of spending money getting take out food, or at cafes, I went to the supermarket, and made it myself.
Thursday was also a day I will always remember for one particular reason: it was the day I first read Tuesdays with Morrie. I wish I could adequately describe how much this book now means to me, and has influenced me, but it was the perfect time in my trip to read it. I don't want to try to write about it, because words cannot say what the book said to me, but I will cherish the words forever.
Friday I was up at 7 to go on my tour to Freycinet! Another girl from my hostel also went, Ryanne from Holland, which I discovered as we waited outside in the 30 degree air for the tour shuttle bus to pick us up. She has been traveling around Australia for quite a few months, and will be here for a while longer, and then is on to Indonesia before going back to Holland. The drive to the park took about four hours, with several stops at beaches along the way. At one such beach, I found two absolutely beautiful, perfect shells. Although it was a national heritage site, and we were not technically supposed to take anything, I could not help myself. We also saw the beautiful Maria Island on the way. Once we arrived at the park, our first stop was Friendly Beaches. The water was crystal clear and blue, and we could see the first glimpses of the beautiful cliffs of the mountains. We got into the park, and set off on our first hike. We went up for about 1.5 hours and arrived at Wineglass Bay lookout. It was stunning; likely why it was named one of the top ten beaches in the world. And the mountains we were surrounded by were jagged and amazing. We spent some time soaking it in, while I climbed all over rocks on the cliffs for different vantage points. We went back down, and were greeted in the parking lot by four wild wallabies! I of course quickly made friends with them, as they were extremely friendly; one even licked me! (and I wonder why I got sick...) The next place we went was Honeymoon Bay, which had a lot of really cool sea life around, and then to another smaller hike up to a lighthouse on a cliff and great up close views of the cliffs. On the way back we stopped at Kate's Berry Farm for some tastings, and then it was back to Hobart.
Saturday is the best day in Hobart: the Salamanca Markets. These are very famous markets which occur every Saturday of the year. Thousands of vendors set up along a street specifically for this purpose, and off everything from fresh food to trinkets to plants to wine tastings to the worlds BEST fudge. Seriously. I probably ate a pound of it, by going back to the tastings over and over again! I walked around that day, doing another hike to a big hill overlooking Hobart.
Sunday was my "relax" day, and to my great surprise, the Laker's game was playing at the hostel! How exciting! It was awesome, and they beat Denver, which I believe was because I was watching! So then I headed back to Sydney that night, and subsequently spent from Sunday night to Wednesday morning in our extra room with the flu, basically sleeping most of the time.
So overall, I LOVED Tassie. I really cannot wait to go back one day, there is so much more to do there that I want to do. And I will definitely need a car so I can drive around, which is easy, because it is a relatively small island, and can be crossed in any direction in about four hours.
I'll try to write my week 14 catchup as soon as possible, but paper writing must take precident at the moment. So, until next time!
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