I have internet tonight so I’m doing lots of posting, this is for Tasmania, but make sure to check out the one I posted just before about New Zealand even though it’s a little late J
My adventure with my parents has continued past the island of New Zealand to the island of Tasmania, or Tassie as it is called by the Aussies. While on this part of the trip we opted not to do tours, but to drive ourselves around the island. This means that we learned how to drive on the other side of the road while we were here, and it has been quite the experience. This self-tour option has allowed us to see all the places we really wanted to and tour the island extensively. Tassie is a beautiful place filled with wonderfully friendly people, and we have all enjoyed our time here!
Day 1: We started our adventure in the Sydney airport early in the morning, then we headed to Melbourne, then finally we landed in Launceston, Tasmania. We found our automatic (thank god!) car and began our journey to the Penny Royal Hotel. Dad was a little nervous, but did a great job. I just yelled at him to “Keep left!” and reminded him that left turns were inside turns and right turns were wide. Basically we kept reminding him that everything was exactly opposite of home. One thing he couldn’t quite catch onto was that the windshield wipers and the turning signals were opposite. Needless to say, we have the cleanest windshield in Tasmania. After checking into what ended up being the worst hotel we’ve stayed in, but still very interesting…we went down to the pier to have fish ‘n’ chips and gelato. We also walked through the center of town and did some shopping much to Daddy’s delight – I am constantly impressed with his shopping patience. Lonnie, as it is referred to by locals, is a great town. It is the 2nd largest city in Tassie in which 1/5 of the population lives. Even so, that isn’t too big seeing as the state just topped over half a million people.
Day 2: For our 2nd day in Tassie, we spent the morning in Lonnie walking to an area called the Cataract Gorge where we saw all kinds of wildlife. Dad saw his first wallaby there. Tassie does have kangaroos, but only one species and they only live on the ver eastern side of the country. That afternoon we made our first road trip up a narrow and unmarked road toward the mountain community of Cradle Mountain. On the way there we tried to keep ourselves entertained. We had been on so many coach tours and heard so many drivers give commentary that Dad figured we wouldn’t be at home without it, so he gave a brief history of the “Australian Bovine.” Please enjoy the clip of this magical moment. Once we arrived in beautiful Cradle Mountain, we were pleasantly greeted by sun which only happens 1 in 10 days! Dad and I set out on a hike in the national park. We went up to Marian’s Peak which gives an amazing view of the entire park. He says I nearly killed him on the way up, but he rocked it! It was about a 3 hour walk and in those hours we experienced all kind of conditions: we walked on an overland boardwalk, climbed hundreds of stairs, walked on flat ground, and scaled huge rocks. This bushwalk qualifies as one of the best hikes I have ever done.
Day 3: We woke up early this morning to go on a shorter loop hike around Dove Lake in the National Park. Moma opted to come with us. We were told that it would be flat all the way around so her cheerleading knees could handle it, but it ended up that we climbed hundreds of stairs both up and down! We all agreed that the views of the lake and surrounding mountains were totally worth it though, and, surprise, the clouds cleared out early and we had another mostly sunny day! While Moma got a massage at the spa that afternoon Dad and I went on a bushwalk around the Lodge we were staying at. It was nothing like the walks in the National Park, all we had to follow were a few pink flags tagged around trees occasionally – at the end of the track there was a sign that told us about the dangers of the unmaintained trail. At our cabin at Cradle we had both a fireplace and a huge Jacuzzi bathtub which we all took advantage of. We were livin’ large after our last accommodation! From the bath you could even look out into the bush and see a wallaby hop past. That night, late, Dad and I went on a wildlife spotlight tour in the park. We got to see tons of wallabies, wombats, qualls, and possums. We were with two hilarious women from Victoria and an equally funny guide. We all laughed so hard that it may have scared away the Tasmanian Devils we were all looking for, but it was well worth it for all the fun we had.
Day 4: After leaving Cradle Mountain, we headed toward the West Coast town of Strahan (pronounced “Strawn”). In this tiny community of 600 people we had an amazing view of the Harbour from our room. We took a trip to the Ocean Beach that day to stick our feet in the Southern Ocean and looked South to Antarctica, as we were the closest we’ve ever been to that far away land. We also did a short bushwalk into the Hogarth Falls just down the street from our hotel. The rest of our time there was pretty low key. We went out to dinner and watched a movie in the room – Dad was pretty pumped to be back to television after our stay at the Lodge and was completely okay with being sucked in for the night. We watched Ocean’s 13 and ate Caramello Koalas and drank tea, it was wonderful.
Day 5: We made the long trip from Strahan to Hobart today, a little over 4 hours on a curvy mountain road. Hobart is Tassies capitol and home to 2/5 of the population. It is the only place that we’ve been that even slightly resembles a city, but as the locals say, it’s really more of a country town. We spent the afternoon exploring the Harbour where there is a wooden boat festival right now. We also went down to the Salamanca Market which is a huge open market area with lots of vendors as well as permanent shoppes. We got there a bit late, unfortunately, but still had time to look around. That night Dad and I went out to eat right at the Harbour and had a lovely seafood pasta and an amazing chocolate truffle fudge cake for dessert.
Day 6: We spent our next day in the city, out of the city. We went on our last formal tour to Port Arthur, an old prison turned to a tourist attraction. We had a hilarious guide and a very personalized tour since there were only 3 other people with us. They were all from the UK and were very fun to hang out with for the day. We made our way to the Port very slowly, stopping for photo ops of the bay as well as some natural wonders. We also made a short stop to grab an ice cream J At Port Arthur we went on a walking tour of the area and were able to explore it on our own. It was basically the prison for the worst of the worst criminals sent to Oz from the UK. We were able to see the ruins of the penitentiary as well as a prison called the separate prison where there were separate cells for all the “really bad” inmates who were kept alone in their cells for 23 hours a day. We also went on a cruise at the Port to see the surrounding islands, but I ended up snoozing through that, after all it was warm and quiet and a very smooth ride. We all went out to dinner on the Harbour that night at a great fish ‘n’ chips shoppe. We met up with a couple from Virginia who we toured with for a while in New Zealand. It really is amazing how many familiar faces you see when you’re on these tours!
Day 7: We spent today with a local who will be doing a residency in North Carolina come May, Patrick Hall. He took us out for a lovely breakfast in North Hobart and then drove us to the top of the highest peak in the capitol, Mt. Wellington. The temperature dropped about 20 degrees by the time we reached the top and the clouds were moving in, but despite the weather we had an extraordinary view of Hobart. You could see for miles from the top. It was truly spectacular! After our wonderful morning we went to Patrick’s house for a cup of tea where we met his wife Di, an incredibly talented jeweler, and their adorable son Austin who is 2. I definitely needed a kid fix and Austin gave me just that. We had a great time playing with his train set in between him showing off all of his tricks for us. We also visited Patrick’s studio where he is currently working on an amazing project. He is building a piece which is furniture, sculpture, art, poetry, and music. It also utilizes movement. It is made out of records for the most part and sounds like it will be pretty awesome. Dad and I spent the afternoon walking the streets of Hobart, stopping for an ice cream before continuing our journey. We went into a lot of the local art galleries and even looked as some of Di’s work.
Tomorrow we have a bit more time in Tassie before we fly back to Sydney where we will stay together for a few days until I start Uni activities and Moma and Daddy fly back to the US of A. This part of our journey has been fantastic. We’ve gotten to do what we want, when we want, and we’ve had SO much fun along the way. Just tonight we had quite the laughing fit about Moma acting like a wallaby – she’s so crazy! I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity to travel with my parents. Our last night here we went to bed to fireworks and a nearly full moon – it was a wonderful finish to our trip!
Oh what a night!
Until I write again...Endless Love!
Anna
Dear Anna,
ReplyDeleteYou are such an AMAZING woman! How DO you do all that you do? Amazing; simply amazing. The blog is delightful and so much fun to follow. I am continually impressed and awed by you!
I am thrilled that you are having such a great time. Keep it up!
Love and hugs,
Amanda (Reichard)
PS: The "antics of Professor Eric Reichard" clips is hysterical; it is reminiscent of something MY dad might do. SO FUNNY! I laughed out loud.
ReplyDelete