Fun fact: 21% of Tasmania's land mass is made up of national parks.
A day later than planed, a really early morning and after a cancelled flight we found ourselves (Ian, Tayla and myself) in Tasmania. Launceston to be precise, Tasmania's second town that took us 3 days to learn how to say [Lawn-ses-ton/Lawny if you're lazy like us] and was where we picked up our small little Hyundai i20.
We started off with an exploration day which involved a drive to Contaract Gorge, a trip to a Vineyard and a beach. It didn't take long for the inner child to come out of us and after 10 hours or so of being in Tasmania we had already booked a quad bike session for the next day.
Neither Ian or I had ever actually driven these things before and watching Ian get the thing on two wheels next to a lake going about 50 kph was a personal highlight - even if he pretended he didn't realise he'd even done it.
We then decided to head towards the East Coast via a 90 metre waterfall which, although we fully intended to go there, seem to come out of nowhere. Even if it was just a single plume of water it was still a great sight, although the 11km of dirt road to get both to it and out of the site wasn't as much fun.
Via Pyengana we then saw Russell Falls (A small little waterfall - one of many!) on the way to St Helen's on the East coast which was home to Binalong Bay - I'll resist the urge to say it had binalong Day up to that point... Reluctantly.
Binalong Bay is home to a 'bay of fire' that features up the coastline - named for the orange colour that can be seen on and around the rocks and despite it being cold, overcast and windy I still managed to spend an hour and a half climbing the rocks and watching the waves roll in (philosophical I know) and this included getting sprayed a couple of times by the violent sea... Worth it.
We then travelled South along the East Coast to Freycinet National Park, home primarily to Wineglass Bay which, much to my frustration, doesn't look like a Wineglass and no one was able to tell us where the name even came from. The views where nice all the same though so my frustrations didn't last too long.
The following day before we made the drive down to Hobart to swap our tiny car for a big camper we fancied a couple of short walks, still in Freycinet and we happened to come across some friends I spent a fair bit of time with in Melbourne - I knew they were campervaning Tasmania but the odd's are still pretty impressive.
It didn't take us long to realise once we got the camper van that Ian's first experience of driving something that big and with a dodgy handbrake shouldn't be in a pretty major city. Let's just say that hill starts weren't fun.
We decided to head to what was essentially the most southern point of the island to explore some not-so-hot thermal springs (c'mon does 28 degrees count as a hot spring??) and some pretty impressive caves which were shown to us with a cave-fanatic tour guide who didn't hesitate to tell us how much he cleaned the place - interesting. In all seriousness they were quite cool actually.
We then treated ourselves to a National Park weekend, starting off in Mount Field where we saw probably my personal highlight of the trip - Russell Falls. It was essentially a four-tier waterfall that looked absolutely stunning. The weather in Tasmania decided to be really cold at the start of our National Park weekend and whilst we intended to go for a decent sized walk a brisk 15 minute walk soon told us that it was too cold so we headed back to the car!
The second National Park we went to was arguably Tasmania's most famous - Cradle Mountain and despite it only being about 150km from Mt Field, it took over 4 hours to get to because of the windy roads which can't have had more than 5 cars on it. It was worth the drive though (I assume - I didn't actually drive) as the walks and scenery was incredibly varied and scenic. The first 2 and a half hour trek took us through a small forest, a couple of waterfalls, a lake and several rocky 'trails' which were just fallen rocks that you had to clamber across which was right up Ian and I's street. The second 2 and a half hour walk saw us climb to the very top and pretty much the very bottom of a pretty huge gorge through a track that hadn't been maintained for a fair old while. It was fun.
After a nights stay in Devonport we drove from the North-West of the island to the South-East which made very little sense but we fancied a bit of history for a change. Port Arthur was the home of of the main prison which contributed heavily to the convict heritage that Tasmania has and so a pretty fascinating walk around the rebuilt grounds was had, making us feel very mature.
All that time then allowed us was a day and a half in hilly Hobart and we decided that because we'd been to a National heritage site the day before we could be kids for the day. This meant we played minigolf (the best minigolf course I've ever played on the be fair), went to the Cadbury's chocolate factory, went bowling and spent the night playing arcade games and playing pool in a pub. I loved every minute.
We decided to be our normal adult selves on leaving day and were very cultural going to the very exotic sounding MONA art gallery. In reality MONA stands for the Museum of Old and New Art which disappointed me a bit, but I moved on. The best bit about the gallery in my eyes is probably a bit PC for this blog and is available on request... It involves a toilet and mirrors though so be careful.
The intended plan was to get on a 4 o'clock plane, get to Melbourne for 6 and get to the Frank Turner gig for 8:30pm. Unfortunately after boarding and unboarding thanks to 'breaking problems' we didn't leave Hobart until 10:30pm that night and it's safe to say that we missed Frank Turner - gutted isn't the word.
After saying my goodbye's to the Melbournians yesterday I now find myself in Sydney with Tayla. A 4:15am wake-up call means that at 3:30pm I am struggling to keep my mind and body awake and it looks like I'm fighting a losing battle. The plan is to stay in Sydney for a week or so before starting the West coast journey that should last me a month or so, ending up in Cairns.
I'll keep in touch when I can - I hope that you're all enjoying the sun that you have stolen from Australia. I had to see the Sydney Opera house in the rain today and I blame you all.
Lot's of love x
