Australia: Am dram, gardens and hiking

I am the world's worst at keeping this thing up to date. Has it really been two months since my last push for updates? Damn.

 So, in the last post I'd overdosed on boat trips and tried my best not to squeal on having a penguin nearly run over my foot. The following week in Tasmania pushed my new-found ability to not plan ahead to the limit...

SQUAWK!

My last full day in lovely, quiet Strahan was wet. Same old, same old. In between the rain showers I first ran to the shop for groceries and then to Banjos because everything is better with pie.

Having wasted pretty much all day dossing about (why on earth didn't I sort the blog out then, past me?), I toddled on down to the tiny outdoor theatre on the waterfront to see Australia's longest running play, The Ship That Never Was. If you've read the last post, you'll know I visited Sarah Island, site of a notorious penal settlement. The play is based on events that took place around the time Sarah Island was being shut down and its convicts moved to the new site at Port Arthur.

So, I toddled in, wrapped myself in the complimentary blanket and hung on to the tiny hot water bottle the guys were handing out, it being a bit cool and damp, despite the cover over the seating.

And so the play began. A two man show, this time played by Chris, the guide from Sarah Island and the friendly chap I'd met in the post office a couple of days before. It soon became apparent that audience participation was very much expected and indeed essential. So I ended up being the parrot.

Yeah...

That was OK while it was just a hand puppet and all I had to do was squawk at appropriate moments (and I definitely didn't sound at all like a chicken... or a crow...) but towards the end of the play I had to don this.

And "fly" out of the theatre to look for land... Which would have been fine if there hadn't been a horde of smartly dressed people walking past at that moment to a function on one of the boats. Oh dear.

That said, it was bloody good fun and educational to boot. The set was pretty awesome as well.

With my culture fix achieved, I toddled back to the hostel and tried to sort out what I was doing next. I only had one more night left in Strahan and I had no real plan. I had thought I'd go down to the Huon Valley, south of Hobart, since it's an area I've never visited. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anywhere to stay that was in my price range.

Hmm... what to do, what to do? And then the internet threw the most enormous hissy fit, refused to connect to anything and basically screwed me over. It took me nearly an hour to get it to behave long enough to get a night booked in Hobart for the following evening.

All right, I figured. I'll go to Hobart, stay the night and work out what I'm doing afterwards.

What happened to me being the queen of planning?

ECHIDNA!

After a morning spent dossing at the hostel (during which the internet continued to play silly buggers), I hopped back on the bus, once again driven by friendly Terence. We wound our way back to Queenstown, picked up an entire 2 people and motored onwards to Lake St Clair, in the heart of the island.

And on the way I saw more echidna. One of which was ambling across the road in that way only echidna have, oblivious to the minibus speeding towards it. Terence stopped in time, fortunately, just as I start with the "run, little echidna, run!" I think that brings my echidna total to six. Not bad for 2 weeks.

Arriving at Lake St Clair, we had a short break during which I wandered down to the lake edge and grabbed a few photos just to prove I'd been there.

Then I bid farewell to Terence and the tiny bus and hopped on a coach to take me back to Hobart.

Back in Hobart, I checked the bus timetables I had for the east coast and found that I could get up to the Freycinet Peninsula. On Wednesday. So I booked a couple more nights in Hobart and settled down, satisfied that I had at least tried to be spontaneous...

Worldbuilding is the best bit

With two days now to kill in Hobart, I decided to revisit the beautiful Botanic Gardens. Hobart's gardens are some of the oldest in Australia and the collection is amazing. First though, I got talking to one of the volunteers and it turned out that he also writes fantasy and we had a gloriously geeky chat about worldbuilding. As you do.

The gardens, as expected, did turn out to be pretty good for writing inspiration, but they're also fascinating from a scientific perspective. There's this gorgeous fernery, which I want but would never be able to look after.

Some gorgeous flowers, none of which I can remember the names of, although I think my macro photography is improving.

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The gardens are also home to the only collection of Sub-antarctic plants in the world (as far as I can see...). Most awesome. These guys cling on in places like Macquarie Island where they're battered by wind and rain, salt and freezing temperatures. Tough little buggers.

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Having got my fill of botany, I wandered back into the city via the site of the Beaumaris Zoo, home to the last captive (and possibly last altogether) thylacine, Tasmania's marsupial wolf. It says something about old zoos when you consider that in this small area there were leopards and polar bears as well as a whole host of other critters. That's a lot of animals crammed into not much space.

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And then I got attacked by the wind which stole my hat. That was great fun, chasing my hat down the road while also trying to keep my otherwise lovely sun dress from flashing my knickers at people...

What's with the British telly?

I spent my last day in Hobart reading. And booking my airport shuttle for next week. And reading some more. And finally being most bemused that Nigella Lawson was on the telly. It seems like, aside from the news, the only programmes that ever seem to be on are from the UK. Oh, or those reality things about traffic cops and border security...

Disconnect

Wednesday started early because I had to lug all of my bags down to the bus stop. It also started early because I realised late on Tuesday night that I hadn't actually booked my connecting bus. So at 7 in the morning I'm frantically sending emails to the local bus company and hoping that, even if I can't reply, they'll get the message and come and get me.

As a result, I spent the entire 2 hour plus trip from Hobart up to the Coles Bay turn off freaking out that I'd be stranded there with no way to get to Coles Bay itself. I started taking note of where houses were in case I had to walk somewhere to get help. Yeah, that was just... glorious fun.

As it turned out, I needn't have worried, because the minibus was waiting for me at the turn off and all was fine. Since it's a local service that also deals with freight, we had to stop to make a few deliveries on the way, which was a novel experience and reminded me of that time I had to take the "post bus" when I went camping in the Yorkshire Dales with friends from school.

Safely in the tiny town of Coles Bay, I checked in and wandered down to the bakery for a much needed cuppa. And a Lamington, because I'm told they're a very Australian thing and also, CAKE.

After that delicious snack, I wandered into the town centre, which was exceptionally windy.

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And also very small. Seriously, Coles Bay is lovely, but it's a village more than a town. It has, as far as I could tell, exactly one shop, plus a cafe. Sweet though.

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In the evening, I even managed to be a bit social. This might be because there was no WiFi, or I might just be beginning to enjoy talking to random strangers.

Well, that was a stupid thing to do...

On the Thursday morning, having purposefully dumped myself in a place where there was nothing to do but walk, I went walking. First stop, the Visitor Centre to grab a Parks Pass and a Eucaflip. I might see if I can get the Eucaflip framed when I get back to the UK. It's an ID guide for Tasmanian eucalypts, but I like it even more because it was co-created by one of my lecturers from UTas.

Anyways, after confusing the parks lady with the revelation that I wasn't driving into the park and therefore needed the cheaper pass, I toddled off along the beach and then the road to Honeymoon Bay.

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Yes, I am aware that I only visited Honeymoon Bay a week or so ago, but it's such a gorgeous spot and I wanted a nice easy walk to start off with. I scrambled about on the rocks for a while, embracing my inner child and then settled down to enjoy the view.

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A couple of hours of doodling and writing later, I tramped back to the Visitor Centre to use the free WiFi, at which point I realised that my legs were looking a bit pink and promptly remembered that I hadn't reapplied my sunscreen. Ah.

This would explain why my legs were so very ouchy when I got in the shower at the hostel. Jeez. I don't think I've ever sunburnt my legs before and I don't intend to do it again. OUCH.

I made up for this stupidity by being super social in the evening and going to the pub with a couple of folks from the hostel. Their cider selection was all right, but I've had better. Still, at least Australia has cider.

Wallaby near miss

The following morning my legs were still very ouchy, so I did the sensible thing and put my actual walking trousers on to keep them out of the sun. Sensible because I intended to tackle Wineglass Bay and the thought of more sunburnt was not nice.

Sophie who came to the pub very kindly dropped me off at the Wineglass Bay carpark and so I set off. First, back off up to the lookout. My legs can't have been that bad, because I managed it in about 30 mins and so was off to a good start.

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Step two, down the other side of the pass to the bay itself. Knowing what Tassie's woodlands are like, I coated myself in DEET to keep off the winged demons and set off down the steep track. Not far from the bottom I nearly came acropper, stumbling over a rock and scuffing my palms. More ouch to add to the list.

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The trek down wasn't too hard. My occasionally dodgy knee even managed not to crunch. Down at the bottom, I got comfortable on the beach and had brunch - delicious sweet potato with sweet chili sauce. Yum. It also gave me chance to clean my scuffed palm which led to more ouch when I, unthinkingly, used hand sanitised to get the bits of sweet potato off my fingers. Fuck, that hurt.

With stingy hand to add to the ouch list, I headed back to the main track. I had intended to just head back over the pass and so back to the hostel. But I was feeling sort of energetic and when the sign informed me that the Hazards Circuit would only take me up to 5 hours and was only 11km long, I figured what the hell? Let's give it a go. I had plenty of water, my lunch was still in my bag and I was slathered in sunscreen.

So I toddled off across the narrow isthmus that connects the two parts of the Freycinet Peninsula, emerging half an hour later on Hazards Beach. Tramped down there and spotted a wallaby.

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Well, I say spotted. The thing nearly jumped on my head. See the ledge it's sitting on? A bit further back along the beach, that's about head height to me. So when it leaped out of the bushes, I could have sworn it was going to land on me. As it was, I think the wallaby was just as surprised as me. Luckily for me, it decided to sit quietly on the ledge long enough for me to get some fairly decent photos.

Anyways, wallaby incident done with, I set off again around the circuit, occasionally giving myself minor heart attacks by convincing myself there was a snake on the path. Seriously, some of those tree roots were remarkably snake-like until I got nearly on top of them. Ugh.

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The Hazards Circuit isn't quite as busy as the Wineglass Bay track, so I had the place nearly to myself for the most part, which was amazing. It's one of the things I love about Tassie - that sense that you're the only one there.

Such illusion was vanquished when I arrived back in the carpark and started trekking back along the road towards Coles Bay. I was still feeling remarkably energetic, so the several kilometre hike to the hostel didn't seem like a problem.

Still, when an Aussie couple pulled up next to me and offered me a lift, I didn't say no.

Apparently I'm either getting stupid or more confident, because I never would have got in a random car before. They kindly dropped me off at the Visitor Centre where I once again made use of the WiFi and also acquired a new spork since my old one is missing most of its tines - not great when you're trying to skewer sweet potato out of your lunch box.

Since I'd been really healthy and done my nice long walk, I splashed out on a bottle of cider from the tiny shop. Om nom nom. Willie Smith's is better than the 5 Seeds I had in the pub the night before. Good stuff.

Well, my time in gorgeous Tasmania is coming to an end. Two more days on the Freycinet Peninsula and then back to Hobart to catch my flight back to Sydney and Christmas with relatives. That's going to be good, right? I'm going to miss Tassie though.

Still, food and accommodation over Christmas...

Australia: Tasmania bound

Marching on with getting the blog back up to date! Here's what went on during my first week in Australia and my long-awaited return to beautiful, wild Tasmania.

Jetlag, jetlag and more jetlag

On my first full day in Australia, having slept most of the previous day and remarkably well overnight, I dragged myself to the cafe just across from the hostel, had a nice healthy breakfast and dragged myself back. I had every intention of exploring. After all, I was staying in Bondi and even though I didn't fancy the crowds, I thought I should at least check out the beach.

As it was, I spent the day reading, writing and feeling a bit grotty. How delightful. I dragged myself back to the cafe to pick up some tea and that was it. No exploring. Nothing. Still, I did at least take a couple of photos. Here's the view from the hostel roof.

Not Bondi Beach, but pretty.

I also discovered, much to my annoyance, that the shuttle run by the hostel started later in the morning than I needed it. The buses were also going to be unhelpful. Which meant I had to book another taxi to return me to the airport. Ugh.

HI, TASSIE!

While there is a note in my journal that reads HI TASSIE, it's preceded by a lot of grumbling about the fact that I had to get up at 3am, because I had to get all my stuff together and stumble out to wait for what I knew would be another over-priced taxi.

When the friendly taxi driver dropped me off at Sydney's domestic terminal just after 4am, most of the airport wasn't even open. I had a fight with Jetstar's self-check-in, got the lady at the counter to fix it and then settled down with an enormous cup of tea to wait for the security area to open up. This is what I get for booking the first flight out of Sydney.

Of course, security did eventually get going, I toddled through and plonked myself down near my gate with one of those handy sockets they've started putting in airports so I could get some charge on the tablet.

And then my gate got changed because one of the crew was ill. Which is fine, but I had to tramp all the way to the other end of the terminal. It wasn't even 6am. My brain really wasn't in the mood.

Oh well. I'd been organised and paid for breakfast on the plane, so I nibbled a chocolate muffin and enjoyed another cup of tea as Tasmania slowly hove into view out of the window.

I love Tasmania. I studied there for a year when I was doing my degree and fell head over heels for it. It's quiet, it's wild and it has the most amazing wildlife. So despite it still being far too early according to my jetlagged brain, I was strangely chirpy when I finally arrived in Hobart.

In the interests of preserving my somewhat ragged brain function, I opted for another laid back day. First stop, a stroll out to Sandy Bay to see if I could locate my old student house, via lovely Salamanca.

The mission was a success, but given that the house is clearly no longer a student house and there were people working in the garden, I didn't dare take a photo. Shame. Still, I followed up that wandering with a trip to Banjos, which is possibly my favourite cafe in the world. They specialise in pies and they are delicious.

And then I spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around the hostel, saying hi to the hostel's dogs and trying to work out what I was going to do with my time in Tasmania. For the first time on this trip, I'd really let go of my need to plan things ages in advance. I had 5 nights booked in Hobart and that was it. For me, this was somewhat terrifying, but, well, I got used to it...

But I want to walk...

First thing on my list of things to do in Tassie was to go up Mount Wellington. It overlooks Hobart and I saw it every day from my house but never went up it while I lived there. I solved that by taking the free hostel shuttle up on the Monday morning.

Gorgeous views from the top, despite a few clouds. I'd fully intended to walk down. God knows how I did it - whether I'd slept funny or maybe slung my rucksack over my shoulder a bit too enthusiastically - but my back had been playing silly buggers all morning. I thought I'd be all right once I got moving, but as soon as I started wandering around at the summit, it hurt. Like hell. So I hopped back into the shuttle feeling annoyed. Maybe I would have been OK, but I really didn't like the thought of getting part way down the mountain and being in that much pain.

Instead I had yet another lazy afternoon, which was getting boring. Eventually I managed to lever myself out of the lounge and went in search of a new pair of sunnies, given that my current pair had just completely disintegrated after nearly 6 months on the road.

Be amazed, people who know me. I not only bought a new pair of sunglasses, I also bought a nice sundress. I figure I'll be needing it in the heat.

And then I made another failed attempt at bloggery. Good god, I'm getting bad at this.

Booking galore

After visiting somewhere new on the Monday, on the Tuesday I decided to revisit one of my favourite places in Hobart, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG). It's free entry, which helps. It's also had a major overhaul since I was living there, with a whole new gallery space and a big redesign on the old galleries.

Unfortunately, the old galleries were closed for redisplay, so I had to make do with the new ones. I wasn't disappointed. There are some fascinating little things in there, going back to the early days when Tasmania was a major destination for the convict ships. There's also a great new exhibition about the impact that colonisation (or invasion) had on the Aboriginal population, especially interesting since Tasmania is the only state where the native people were near enough wiped out.

From the museum, I stopped by the tourist info centre and then spent the rest of my afternoon booking trips galore - Bonorong Wildlife Park, Bruny Island, Wineglass Bay and Cradle Mountain. The next few days looked set to be pretty busy.

Whale farming?

First stop of the day - Bonorong Wildlife Park, another place I wanted to revisit. Bonorong is a rescue centre as much as anything, taking in injured wildlife with the aim of rehabilitating and releasing. They have a lovely little collection, like this beautiful young wombat, who slept through everyone patting her bum.

And Fred the cockatoo, who will be living out his days at Bonorong as an ex-pet. I had a rather one sided conversation with him, since all he says is "hello, Fred."

Fun fact: because Fred was a pet, they know how old he is and he's over 100. Cockatoos are known to be long lived, but still, that's pretty impressive. Friendly old chap.

My favourites at Bonorong though are the roos. These guys aren't for release, so you get to feed them. Surprisingly gentle, but very persistent. They will hang onto your hand so you can't leave and anyone silly enough to lower the bag will have it taken from them.

Following on from the lovely, laid back atmosphere at Bonorong, I visited MONA. That's the Museum of Old and New Art and it is bizarre. The collection is a hodge podge of mainly modern pieces, although I did find some cuneiform tablets and a print of The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

Half of the collection seems to be NSFW. Like the wall of plaster cast genitals...

Basically, MONA is interesting as a one off thing, but it's not somewhere I'd be hurrying back to. And this is coming from someone who appreciates weird. MONA feels like it's just there to get a reaction out of people. It's almost shallow.

Anyways, moving on from my half-hearted critique of MONA, I spent the evening trying to be social. This wasn't too hard - I got chatting to a couple of folks at the hostel. All was going well until I had to explain to one of them that whale farming isn't a thing. Oh god. And then I overheard someone saying she hadn't realised that Scandinavia wasn't a country.

At this point my brain pulled a big fat nope on me, which is probably a good thing because otherwise I would've despaired at the lack of general knowledge around me.

I went to bed and read some of my Terry Pratchett instead.

My brain is fried

Early on Thursday morning, I dashed out the last few words onto my NaNoWriMo project. Oh yeah... NaNo. I haven't mentioned that for a while. Not since I spent all week on Chiloe writing ALL THE WORDS. As it is, I ended the month with 117, 381 words, which is a new record for me. On the downside, it completed frazzled my brain, so it's probably a good thing that I planned to spend the day sitting back and letting someone else do the thinking.

The minibus came by just after 7am and then we were off on our way to Bruny Island, another place I'd never got round to visiting when I lived in Tassie. First stop, Kettering to hop on the short ferry ride over the D'Entrecasteaux Channel.

Then swiftly on to a honey farm for delicious sweet things.

And onwards to Cape Bruny and its convict built lighthouse. Gorgeous views. The next land south of this point is Antarctica. That might explain the somewhat chilly breeze.

The lizards didn't seem to be too bothered though.

From there we headed across South Bruny to a berry farm for lunch. I'd brought mine with me but that didn't stop me from indulging in a delicious slice of baked berry cheesecake. There is no before shot...

Lovely little beach just across the road, with a lovely view over Adventure Bay. Stupid selfie time, I decided.

At this point, we took a break from eating delicious things and instead went in search of the famous Bruny Island white wallabies. These guys aren't actually albino - they're just an unusual colour morph. And we did find one, hiding in someone's garden. Bad photo is bad.

Wallaby sighted, we headed back on the food trail. Next stop, cheese, my favouritest food in the world and something I've been missing since I left the UK. The Bruny Island Cheese Co more than made up for it. Delicious strong cheeses that actually taste of something, plus a delicious quince jelly and fresh bread.

Om nom nom. My delight was somewhat lessened by the next stop at the Get Shucked oyster farm. I've never had an oyster before. I like mussels. I was hoping it would be similar.

Nope. Maybe if they were cooked, they'd be fine, but raw oysters are not something I want to try again in a hurry. Yuck.

Stuffed full of delicious (and not-so-delicious) food, we headed back to Hobart, where I spent a delightful evening discussing Terry Pratchett with a French chap at the hostel. I even managed to part myself from the Pratchett book I'd picked up in Canada months back in exchange for a different one from Fabien. I'm not letting go of my other Pratchett in a hurry - a friend gave me it as a leaving present when I first came to Tasmania 6 years ago and it's somehow survived 6 months on the road with me. A bit battered, but otherwise doing well.

Death to snoring

On my final day in Hobart I returned to the Tasmanian Museum to check out the galleries which had been closed earlier in the week. They've changed a bit since I lived there. Bit of updating been going on.

Still full of interesting little bits and bobs. And the Antarctic gallery hasn't changed a bit, which meant I spent far too long trying to melt my handprint into the ice block. Like a child.

In the afternoon, I hopped onto a bus up to Launceston, Tasmania's second city. It scarcely qualifies as a city, but since there's only half a million folks in Tassie, I suppose it's relative.

Tramping the half mile from the bus station to my hostel, I had to chase my hat across the road. That was as exciting as my day got until about 10pm at which point... well...

It started off with people turning the lights on and off with no regard for the folks trying to sleep. And then someone started snoring. Not just the little bouts that most people have when they snore. Constant snoring. I kept expecting the guy to wake himself up with it, but no.

And then someone else started. Good god. And he too wasn't stopping.

I needed to get up at 6am to go on my daytrip. I was not impressed. To the point that I very nearly got out of bed and shook them both awake just so I could get some sleep.

I really wish I had, because in the event I was too much of a wuss and spent the rest of the night with earplugs in and my head buried under the pillow. Ugh.

There goes week 1 in Tasmania. Week 2 holds much promise, with trips planned to Wineglass Bay and Cradle Mountain before I head over to the West Coast for the first time. Admittedly, the promise of the West Coast is rain, but I'm a Brit. I can handle that.

Maybe I'll get to see a snake...

Destination Daydreams: Tasmania

With departure rapidly approaching, I figure now is the time to get back to daydreaming about where I'm going to go rather than worrying whether everything I need is going to fit into my rucksack. In the New Year I'm hoping to revisit my former home of Tasmania. I lived out there for a year when I was 20 and despite that I barely scratched the surface of this beautiful island. So, I'd like to give myself 2 weeks as a minimum and 3 weeks if I can find the time so I can really explore.

Hobart

First up, the lovely little capital city - Hobart. This is where I lived and yet... I never really got to know it. I explored a couple of the museums and the Botanical Gardens but I missed out on Salamanca Market and the little places around the city. I also need to make an attempt on Mount Wellington. This is the view from my student house in the city.

That big mountain? Yeah. I saw that out of my window every day and yet never thought to go up to the top. Best get that fixed!

Hobart's such a beautiful little place as well - it doesn't feel like a capital city. It's very laid back and that might be why I loved it so much. I'd like to spend a week or so there, so I might see if I can get an AirBnB place - seen some lovely ones on the website!

The South East

I have no idea what's down here apart from the Huon Valley area. Basically walking, right? Lovely countryside, sleepy little towns. Sounds like my kind of place. The only problem will be how awkward Tassie is to get around. There's a good, regular bus service between Hobart and Launceston, the only other big place in the state, but aside from that buses are a bit less common. That said, Tassielink have a reasonable network and can probably get me to most of the places I want to go.

The West Coast

Temperate rainforest and a huge World Heritage area. What's not to like? Also, winding little hill railways, penal colonies and possibly kayaking. Always with the kayaking. The Tasmanian Wildnerness World Heritage area covers nearly a third of the state, so I figure it's worth making the trip over to the West Coast just to see that. And if I get the chance to go kayaking again, all the better.

The North

Devonport? Burnie? General pretties up on the north coast. Might attempt to make a return to Narawntapu NP if I can find a way to get there without a car.

I'm also considering getting the ferry back across from Devonport to Melbourne on the mainland. Similar price to the flights from Hobart so it might be a nice change.

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair

Cradle Mountain should be easy enough to do from Launnie... Launceston. I did it when I lived in Hobart, but it rained the entire few hours I was there, so I'd like to see it in the dry, if not in the sun.

Lake St Clair... not so sure about that one, but I'd love to see it. Tassielink runs a bus from Hobart to the West Coast via the lake, so I might be able to do it that way. If not, it'll have to be an organised tour.

The East Coast

Wineglass Bay, Bay of Fires, Freycinet etc. Mostly revisiting places from my year out there. Oh, and not forgetting Maria Island, because lizards and Painted Cliffs.

Wow. That's actually quite a lot of stuff to do in Tas. Good job I've set aside 2-3 weeks for it.

Have you visited Tasmania? Where would you go? Do you have a favourite place? Please share!