Tasmaniacs

Hey guys,

so before all of the subtleties of my Easter venture to Tasmania fade into oblivion, I'll get them out on here because honestly it was one of the best trips I have ever been on. I flew there for the relatively cheap price of $98 return under the condition that I could only bring one carry
-on bag weighing 7kg plus a laptop. Since I was staying for a week, this didn't leave me with a lot of options as far as packing goes. So, sticking to my mantra that all rules are made to be not necessarily broken but bent in such a way that it becomes unnoticeable, I threw on three t-shirts, two sweaters, wore my jeans over a pair of shorts and packed a laptop bag full of anything with considerable weight like my book, toothpaste, and shoes. It was with this cunning maneuver that I was able to board my flight safely albeit resembling a young Michelin Man before he got his big break in the tire industry.

I was off on another journey without the foggiest idea of where I would be sleeping that night or what I would be up to the next day. All I knew was that my two friends Romain and Martin (from France and Germany) were at the tail end of their Tasmanian adventure and would provide a starting-off point for my trip. I called them upon arrival in Hobart and as I walked out of the terminal a shuttle bus pulled up right infront of me. I discovered they were staying at the Transit Backpackers downtown and I met them there. The Transit was a great place full of life at all times with people from all over the world. The communal kitchen and common area were always chock-a-block with people cooking and cleaning, coming and going, chitting and chatting. It was a lot of fun! Staying in a dorm room with 20 beds was eye-opening mostly due to the fact you can witness the sleeping habits of different cultures. One Asian girl slept the entire night on the top bunk with her legs propped up vertically against the wall. There has to be some method to her madness.

So, after catching up with R & M, we decided to venture in their rental car to Port Arthur on the south coast, an old prison for second offenders in the colonies. It was great to get an insight into the life of prisoners in this unknown world and tour around the ruins. The location of the prison was very strategic as it was hard for prisoners to escape the bluff but it also provided a lot of beautiful lookouts, beaches, and cliffs. We took it all in before trekking back to Hobart for the night. The next day was R & M's last day on the island and so they would be returning the car early the next morning. So, we decided to get up extra early (4:30 am to be exact) and drive up to the top of Mt. Wellington which overlooks the city. We had the place to ourselves and with deafening silence we watched the sun rise and the city wake up. I will always remember standing on a rock and yelling at the top of my lungs at the city below just like they do in the movie Garden State. I had always wanted to do that. Check that off the list, folks.

The rest of the day we spent walking around Hobart, relaxing and discussing what we thought I should do for the remainder of the trip. I was mostly looking forward to the arrival of James Craig, my roommate and best friend from Canada. He arrived the next morning and we spent the day catching up, checking out prices at different rental car spots, and planning our road trip. As night fell, we threw together some pasta for dinner, every backpacker's go-to meal and then hit the town with two English blokes from the hostel. It was a great night and much needed. I was craving a familiar face and I think James felt the same way. While it is great to meet all these new people constantly, there's nothing like reminiscing about past adventures or setting your sights on future ones.

The actual road trip started the next day in our silver rocket, the Ryan "Hyundai Getz"laf. Driving on the other side of the road took surprisingly less time to adjust to that I had first assumed and in no time we were off and running. Our plan was to head north via the Great Lakes up to Tassie's second largest city, Launceston. On the road, you wouldn't believe the amount of different terrains you go through on such a small island. The size of Ireland, Tasmania gives you rolling hills, windy mountain passes, bushland, seascapes and everything in between. With the tunes blaring the whole way we came into Launceston and found our hostel for the night. We visited the Cataract Gorge and did a hike through the woods before grabbing some dinner and retiring for some much needed sleep. We had a big day ahead of us.

Next morning we set out and headed to the East Coast. We went to the Bay of Fires, a strip of white sandy beaches among the most beautiful in the world. This being said, we were rather surprised to find the spot we stopped at deserted. It isn't exactly beach-going weather these days so that might have had something to do with it but we took the opportunity to take a dip in the ocean. I have no shame in re-telling this part of our day due to the sheer freedom I felt as we both stripped down to our birthday suits and plunged into the waves. Such "bromance" has never been documented so I like to think we are pioneers. When we had had enough, we threw our towels around us and climbed the hill back to the car. If we had delayed any longer, we would have treated the group of old tourists that we passed to quite an eye-full that surely would have ruined their trip or possibly their lives. Timing is everything.

We continued down the coast to Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park. If we had arrived earlier in the day it might have been warmer but the hike down to the sand was pleasant and reminded me a lot of Canada especially our family trip to Alberta in '98. Great times had by all as we cracked a beer each on the sand. By that point, it was getting late in the day and so we headed back to Hobart. We wanted to avoid driving at night as much as possible due to the sheer amounts of roadkill we had seen in the past two days. Wallabies and wombats don't look as cute and cuddly when they are inside-out.

We stayed at a different hostel called The Pickled Frog full of interesting characters and even a few token stoner Canadians. The next day would be my last on the island and so we decided to head to Mt. Field National Park to see the Tall Trees, Lady Baron Falls, and Russel Falls. It, again, was a nice drive and worth the visit. With only a bus-load of geriatric camera-toters to compete with, Jimmy and I enjoyed the walk through the woods thinking up business plans and schemes to make money in our fourth year as we are moving back in together in September. We took the relative desolation as an opportunity to hop the fence a couple of times and taste the water in the falls and snap some photographs. A recurring theme that we swore by when faced with a trivial situation was "If we wanted to __________, we would have stayed in Canada". We filled that blank with a lot of things throughout the trip: sleep, eat healthily, swim in bathing suits, drink 5 beers instead of 6... etc. It served us pretty well and kept us on the move.

After a visit to a wildlife sanctuary where we saw kangaroos, wallabies, owls, Tasmanian devils, emus, koalas and even a platypus, we headed back to Hobart and finally the airport. Saying goodbye to Tassie was tough to do but I had an amazing time. I left Jimmy behind to continue his adventure alone, knowing that the past few days had been memorable. We know how lucky we are to be having these experiences and aren't taking them for granted even for a second. This was a long post but I hope you stuck with it as I wanted to give the trip justice. Hope everyone is well back home. If everyone could say a prayer for my wee pup, Shay, who has been feeling under the weather the past little while. She is, as much as I try to deny it, getting up there in years but I know she can bounce back and she'll be chasing squirrels again in no time.

Love,
D