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!

Around the World In...: Outdoor Adventures

There's a whole world of adventures out there, from the laid back to the adrenaline pumping. Here's a few of my favourites from experience and a few I fancy trying out.

Starlight Kayaking, West Cork

There really is something magical about floating around in a bay with a whole sky full of stars burning overhead, not to mention the gentle sparks of bioluminscence in the water as you paddle along. Starlight kayaking in the sheltered waters around Reen Pier in West Cork was a highlight of my trip to Ireland last year and an experience I'd happily repeat.

Don't fancy kayaking in the dark? Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand has beautiful blue waters year round, sheltered enough for beginners but still amazing.

Sandboarding, Te Paki

Weird sport, sandboarding. Grab your bodyboard, climb a sand dune and then, effectively, surf down it. Brilliant fun, even better if you manage to stay on your board. Te Paki stands at the northern end of Ninety Mile Beach on New Zealand's North Island and is well known for sandboarding. You can hire boards locally, but if you're already taking an organised trip up there, it might be included in the cost. Have a go. It's great.

Safari, Kruger National Park

Kruger is one of the largest reserves in Africa and, what with being fairly easily accessible from Johannesburg and Pretoria, is a great place for safari. There are few things quite as amazing as coming across White Rhino just sitting in the middle of the road on a morning game drive or seeing the same up close in the dark. Of course, for me the highlight was seeing giraffe running because I love how it looks like they run in slow motion...

As an alternative, and one I really hope I can take on my Grand Tour, try Namibia where you can go from desert to savannah.

Snorkelling, Great Barrier Reef

There's all sorts of adventures to have on Australia's Great Barrier Reef from scuba diving to sailing. Snorkelling can get you in close though, assuming you don't have a panic attack like I did. My sister and dad assure me that it is brilliant and they saw a small shark which I'm very jealous about.

Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Not an adventure so much, at least not in the traditional sense. But how many other places can you relax in wonderfully warm water with the stars overhead and snow falling on your head? This is coming from someone who's not into spas. It's surreal and amazing and well worth a visit. Why not round off an adventure packed tour of Iceland with a stop at the Blue Lagoon on the way to the airport? Perfect way to wind down - I'll vouch for that.

For an indoor alternative, Andorra's huge Caldea is pretty good, with a wide range of options or you could just paddle around the main pool.

Honourable Mention: Horse Riding, Killarney

Horse riding is one of those things you just have to do in Ireland and for beginners a nice walk around Killarney National Park is a great place to start. Just, you know, hang on if your horse decides to go for an unexpected trot.

So there's some of my favourite outdoor adventures so far. There's plenty more I'd like to try out on my round-the-world Grand Tour - bouldering in Canada, glacier hiking, maybe, in Chile and definitely stargazing in the Atacama. So many adventures still left!

What adventures would you recommend? Is there something fantastic on your doorstep that you think others should know about? Why not share in the comments below.

Halloween: 5 After Dark Experiences

Well, I've missed Halloween by a week, but I though I'd share with you some of the spooky places I've been. Because I'm told everyone loves Halloween. I don't really do spooky or Halloween so the 5 things I've included here are more... embracing the dark than aiming for scares.

1. The Tower of London

Or any other castle for that matter. OK, I'll admit that most of the Tower isn't spooky. In fact, it's pretty damn fascinating. But there's little areas where it just makes you shiver. I'm no great believer in the paranormal, but you can understand why, when so many people were executed at the Tower it might make you feel a little uneasy.

I'm sort of tempted to have a wander around Tower Hill in the dark the next time I'm in London...

2. York after dark

The city of York with its hundreds of years of history and maze of narrow streets lends itself to ghost stories. I took a ghost tour there years ago with school and while the tour itself wasn't really up there in the scary stakes, wandering around the city at night could get quite creepy. Traipsing through the little snickelways where the buildings in places nearly meet overhead was especially cool.

For sheer bloody history, head up to Clifford's Tower, the largest remaining segment of the old York Castle. Here in the Middle Ages the city's persecuted Jewish community holed themselves up to find protection from an angry mob. The tower, then the keep of the castle, came under siege and eventually the families inside committed suicide and set the tower on fire rather than fall into the hands of the mob. A rather black mark on English history...

3. Waitomo Glow Worm Caves

Not so much spooky as surreal, the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand are famous for their amazing glow worms. There are a series of caves at the site, all of which have their own unique appeal. In Ruakuri Cave all the lights get turned out and you can walk conga-style through the dark with just the pale blue lights of the glow worms to show you where the walls are, while in the main Waitomo Cave you go on a boat ride along the Waitomo River, lit from all sides by so many glow worms it feels like you're outside under stars. An amazing experience and one I would highly recommend.

4. Starlight Kayaking, West Cork

Picture this. A wide calm bay bounded by hills. You're in a kayak floating along, barely paddling. Just ahead your guide shows the way, with you trying to keep sight of the flashing light on his kayak. And over head a sky full of stars.

Yeah, starlight kayaking's a pretty magical experience. On our trip in West Cork every stroke of the paddle set off sparks of bioluminescence in the water. So pretty that our boat kept stopping because my friend Claire was too busy playing with the bioluminescence to paddle.

No worries though because the whole trip was so laid back it didn't matter if we went slowly. Although for scare value, hearing Jim the guide call out "Watch out for the boat" and a second later see a huge half-sunken boat loom out of the darkness a few feet away has to be up there with the best.

5. Camping in the Outback

OK, so it wasn't quite camping. The tents were more like canvas rooms - pretty permanent structures just with canvas walls. Brilliant and maybe a bit more secure than a tent. Didn't stop the friend I was travelling with from waking me up in the middle of the night to tell me there was a dingo trying to get into our tent-room. I'd heard something as I woke up and assumed it was just the noise of one of our sleeping bags. No big deal - I figured he'd just been half-asleep and his imagination had run away with him. But he was insistent. Again, not a problem - there was a catch on the door. And then he goes "but, Zoe, I need the loo". So I had to persuade him there was no dingo and that he'd be fine. Go to the loo and if you're not back in ten minutes I'll go and get the guide.

Suffice to say he managed to get back to the tent-room in one piece. Although... he had seen a snake outside the toilet block. Oh dear.

So there's my 5 things to see and do for an amazing after dark experience - or Halloween if you're that way inclined. Have you had a spooky experience while travelling? Done any amazing things after dark? Why not share them here.

Ireland: Dingle-Killarney-Cork

This post is part of a series covering a road trip through Ireland. You can find the previous part HERE. You can find part 5 HERE.

"Filching John Benny's wife?!"

Morning in Dingle dawned... clear. Not especially warm, but clear. Looked like a good day to go whale watching, but first we went for a wander around Dingle again, this time so I could find myself a nice little thing to take home. Filching of the WiFi at the previous night's pub to attempt to book onto a horse riding session for the next day while we were at it.

Souvenirs bought - lovely little leather-bound notebook and a Connemara marble necklace. Pretty things.

Foxy John's Bar/Hardware Store/Bike Rental...

Finally left Dingle at just before lunch to make the short trip down the coast to Ventry and our whale watching trip. Went on a bit of a mystery tour trying to find the pier, but managed to locate it eventually.

And so it was onto a little boat and out into the Atlantic to see if we could find some whales. Saw a colony of seals at Great Blasket Island. Very cute.

Sailed on past the other Blaskets and then out across the waves south towards the Skellig Islands. Which never got nearer than about 20 miles, but you could see them quite clearly. Would have liked to visit them if we'd had chance.

Gemma and I got sat out on the bow for a while. Great fun until we turned back towards Ventry and headed into the wind. Got just a little bit soggy then.

All the back to Ventry and still no whales. Disappointing, but they are after all wild animals. Can't force them to show up.

After that it was just a case of driving the hour or so to Killarney, via the tiny village of Inch. That's where I stayed when I first came to Ireland and it was nice to see it again even though we didn't stop. Beautiful place.

Hit the rain just as we got to Killarney. Fortunately we soon dried off in the lovely Dunloe View Hostel.

"Will you please stop eating?!"

Tried to feed the hostel's goat a carrot the next morning. It didn't want it. Lots planned for the day, so we set off in search of the riding stables. Headed towards Killarney. Thought we were going the wrong way. Turned round. Drove for a while. Decided we'd gone wrong. Turned round again. Finally found the stables.

So nice to be on a horse again. I used to go riding when I was little, nearly 20 years ago but it's amazing how familiar it felt when our guide helped me up onto Aladdin, a lovely bay horse. As I got myself comfortable, Claire and Gemma were helped onto their own horses and I heard our guide explain to Claire that her horse, Monty, had a few bad habits. Nothing was said to either me or Gemma about any bad habits our own horses might have...

Satisfied that we had at least basic control over our horses, our guide led us into Killarney National Park. Beautiful place that is, but due to being on a horse for the first time in forever I didn't take any photos.

Claire started having a few difficulties. All the horses were interested in eating the grass and other plants they could reach when given the chance but both Aladdin and Gemma's horse Solomon responded to us pulling them back. Monty on the other hand... well, Monty's bad habit seems to be that he's an eating machine and he was determined to ignore every pull and nudge Claire gave him. At one point he dragged her nearly through a tree and a hedge, which resulted in a whole assortment of bumps and scratches.

Not that I escaped completely unscathed. We went for a few short trots. Now, in theory I remember how this works and I was quite comfortable with the first couple. On our final trot Aladdin decided initially that he didn't want to go and when he finally did, he went just that little bit faster to catch up. I had an awful moment of flashback to when I fell off the Shetland pony when I was little and had about 5 seconds of sheer bloody terror before I managed to convince myself everything was fine. Aladdin seemed completely unfazed.

Anyway, our hour of riding was up all too soon and we had to be off again. Our next stop was the Prince August Toy Soldier Factory. A bit of a weird choice, but we'd seen it in a leaflet we'd picked up and it looked so odd and unusual that we had to see it.

We ended up casting our own toy soldiers and then painting another one. And since we'd just been riding, we all chose men on horses. Two and a half hours we spent in that shop painting tiny tin men and bloody good fun it was too. Here is my masterpiece.

The plain cast figure is now sitting on my computer at work.

After that it was over the back roads to Kinsale for a lovely tea at Dinos Restaurant. Really good fish (I had fishcakes) and really good value. Kinsale looked like a pretty little place, but since we'd spent so long painting toy soldiers we had no time left to explore. We had to be off to yet another action packed adventure!

Starlight kayaking, that is. Claire and I had been kayaking in New Zealand, but this was completely different. Starting just before 8pm from Reen Pier in West Cork, we set out into the calm waters of the bay in the gathering darkness. It was beautiful - the stars coming out slowly overhead, bioluminescence beginning to spark in the water and us just bobbing along in a little group. Probably my highlight of the trip and I'd recommend it to absolutely anyone.

Unfortunately, again, with me being in a kayak and it being rather dark, I have no photos of this amazing experience save this very poor shot of the stars that I took before we got back in the car.

And then the Sat Nav sent us down a road with grass down the middle on the way to our Travelodge at Cork. Grr.

Long day, late night. Glad we booked that Travelodge.

Hostels
Dingle, Co. Kerry: Rainbow Hostel
Killarney, Co. Kerry: Dunloe View Hostel

Things to do
Whale-Watching, Ventry, Co. Kerry (45 euro for 4 hours)
Horse Riding, Killarney, Co. Kerry (30 euro for 1 hour)
Starlight Kayaking, Reen Pier, Co. Cork (50 euro)

Destination Daydreams: Ireland

Flying out to Ireland tomorrow, so after my last post about planning I thought I'd do a special Destination Daydreams of the things I really want to see and do on the trip.

Even better, I have input from Claire and Gemma who are coming with me! Yay! Here goes.

I want to see Connemara ponies. I think I've mentioned this in previous posts, but basically I read a book when I was little that had Connemara ponies as a major part of the narrative and I fell in love. Now that I have the chance to see them, I better bloody well see them. I will be incredibly disappointed if I don't.

I'd also love to see whales. I've heard there's humpback whales off the Dingle Peninsula but they're quite difficult to spot. I'll settle for dolphins but a whale... well, a whale's a whale and after seeing sperm whales in New Zealand I want to see more.

I'd quite like an experience akin to the driving days we had in New Zealand where it's quite a long way between overnight stops and we just drive the scenic route, stopping to enjoy the view and take photos wherever we fancy. So, the Wild Atlantic Way between Galway and Tralee sounds like a good bet!

Gemma is looking forward to our starlight kayaking near Cork. I have to agree; just floating about under the stars (or clouds as the case might be) sounds like a truly awesome experience. Claire also agrees. She's also excited about the Wild Atlantic Way, whales (of course), the Giants Causeway and experiencing Irish pubs and live music. Oh, and exploring Dublin and Belfast.

All of which sounds good to me. And Claire?

Claire wants to see basking sharks. That sounds cool and I think I'd probably get overexcited if we did see any. I love basking sharks. They're bizarre animals. Like Gemma, she's also looking forward to seeing the Giants Causeway, where she'll probably soon get fed up of me geeking out over the amazing geology things... In addition, she wants to see the Book of Kells, which is on display at the Library of Trinity College. Ninth century illuminated gospels? Interesting stuff.

Claire has two other things on her "to do" list. The first is a sing along to the Buffy musical episode, Once More, With Feeling. OK, that's all right. We did that in New Zealand and Gemma's been warned about it.

The second is a vague plan in which she finds and kidnaps Andrew Scott (of Sherlock fame), possibly with help from me and Gemma. I'm not so keen on this idea... I do not want to get arrested...

So many things to see and do. Two weeks to do it in. Take off in less than 24 hours. Countdown is entering its final stages...

"It was fine till I fell out the boat"

Motueka hasn't got a lot going for it, but the hostel was nice. We started off with a drive to Kaiteriteri, 20 minutes up the road. The sat-nav, we have discovered, really can't pronounce Maori place names. It is hilarious.

We claimed part of the beach at Kaiteriteri for New Grimsby, complete with flag. We're that cool.

We were actually in Kaiteriteri for kayaking. The last time I went kayaking, which was getting on for 15 years ago, I rammed myself repeatedly back onto the beach and had to be towed off by the instructor. We hoped this was going to be better.

Sophie, our guide, was brilliant. Amy ended up in the kayak with her while Claire and I went in the other. Which was fine until we discovered that the steering pedals weren't quite in the right place and we couldn't really turn properly. Claire also couldn't see past my head so my yelling "there's a rock, TURN!" wasn't helpful.

Anyways, it turned into Amy and the guide paddling serenely along and me and Claire paddling along in a desperate zig-zag behind them. And then the wind started to get up. Paddle harder!

A couple of hours later, having managed to paddle as far as Split Apple Rock as planned, we headed back to the beach. Everyone had acquired aches and pains of some description - blisters on thumbs comes to mind. Landing was fine, managed to paddle onto the beach. And then I stood up to get out of the boat. And a bloody big wave hit the back of the boat. Boat wobbled, I lost my balance and then I was on my arse in the sea. Sodden. Just next to that little boat ramp there:

As I'd got up, Claire in the back had started to take off her spray skirt, so of course when the wave came, she also got soaked. So there's the two of us, soaked and cold and Amy standing on the beach having hysterics. We sent her to get the car while we squelched to the nearest loos. Ugh. Other than that, kayaking was great.

Back in nice dry clothes, we raided the tiny shop for hot chocolate and headed off on the afternoon drive to Picton.

Stopped off at Pelorus Bridge on the way back. Sadly, there were no dwarves, hobbits or lovely lake-men. There was however this sign, which made us giggle.

Then we took a minor detour and went down the Queen Charlotte Drive from Havelock into Picton along the edge of the Marlborough Sounds. Such a beautiful drive, although Claire did have to take over the driving at one point because sitting in the back round all the twists and turns was making her ill.

The ferry was uneventful save for Claire's expected seasickness.

Wellington was windy. Very very windy. Lugging bags back from the car in that was not fun. Also, the hostel was very much an old Travelodge type place that'd been converted. Which meant an en suite bathroom. YAY!