Tasmania Holiday!

Hello I am back from the wonderful land of Tasmania. I was going to hold off my blog until I got the photos from Dhillon but I thought I should write stuff down before I forget it!

Friday night I went out to dinner with Krisa, which probably wasn’t the best idea as I then forgot to pack Dhillon’s pyjamas in the rush, but oh well we had a nice time and yummy food. I had started packing before we left but I also had some more to do when I got home. Got into bed at about 11pm while Dhillon was out drinking ..

Saturday morning I got up at 5am X_x and picked up Mr Hangover to drive out to Moonee Ponds to meet up with the other couple we were to holiday with, Rav and Sonam. They were bringing their car so I left Bob at their place. We drove into Port Melbourne around 7.30 and after Mr Hangover threw up all over the ground and himself we got ready to board the Spirit of Tasmania 1 for our journey. By the time we were loaded and upstairs it was 8.30 so after a quick breakfast at the cafe we were off. The trip was rather boring and I managed to get a little bit sunburnt. I tried to buy sun cream on board but they only had a 20ml tube for $17 and that was a rip off so I tried to stay inside. It was weird feeling the motion of the ocean (hehe) but none of us got sea sick. The best part of the trip was seeing a dolphin briefly swimming along next to us and also when we were approaching Tasmania we were driving through clouds of fog and mist which was pretty cool.

We arrived in Devonport just after 6pm and were off the boat and out of quarantine by 7.30. We then had a short drive to our first accommodation .. this short drive ended with a drive down a dark dirt road arriving at the cottage to see sheep skulls on the barn and two of the most hugest spiders I have seen in my life. The lady who owns the place, Rosemary, was lovely, she came and showed us around and when we asked where to get food we got the answer of “Most things in town close at 8” .. it was past 8 at this time, we forgot it wasn’t the city but a quiet little country town!! We made our way into the town centre and after deciding not to get $27 pizza we would get Chinese takeaway from the little shop that was still open. The lady asked us if we would like to eat in, which we decided to do .. and through a door was a beautiful old style Asian restaurant. We were amazed and quite pleasantly surprised. The food was cooked quickly and was delicious. We then headed back to get an early night.

Sunday we got up around 7am and proceeded to get ready for a day of driving. We had toast for brekki spread with homemade cherry jam that Rosemary was selling. We then drove to Cradle Mountain and spent a few hours doing a couple of bush walks. We did one in the lower area of the park called the Enchanted Walk which was through some rainforest and based around a creek with waterfalls. We also went to have a look at the Pencil Pine falls which were close by. There was a shuttle bus going up the hill every 10 minutes or so, so we hopped onto one of them up to Dove Lake. You could see the mountain from here and we also did a short walk up to a cliff edge that looked out over the lake. We took some nice photos there which I will post on Facebook later. After we came down the hill we continued our drive to Bicheno, a small fishing town on the East Coast. We didn’t stay right in town but about 10 minutes out at a small cottage on private property which was nice and cosy. Rav and Sonam cooked up some yummy food and we all went to bed with happy tummies.

Monday we drove into Bicheno for breakfast and then drove over to check out the blow hole. It was working well and shooting out many blows (?) as the waves crashed in. We then drove over to the bay in front of Diamond Island. We were told when the tide was out you could walk from the mainland over a sandbar to the island. We missed the timing of low tide by 1/2 an hour but if we had had swimmers on we would have been able to walk over with the water only coming to our mid thighs. We had a lovely walk along the beach though. I forgot to mention we also climbed up a rock face to a lookout which had views from both sides. In the afternoon we drove out to Frecinet National Park to see Wine Glass Bay. Rav, Dhillon and myself (Sonamn stayed in the car) did the bushwalk which took us about an hour. On the was up it was an almost vertical climb with lots of stairs and the track winding around many boulders. The way down was just as tough but the view at the top was more than worth the effort, plus after all the food eating we had been doing my butt was happy for the workout. Needless to say we were exhausted by this time and drove back to the cottage for another yummy dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Tuesday morning we packed up our stuff and made our way to Nubeena, our next sleeping spot. We dropped our things off and after a quick lunch (best meat pie I have ever had) we drove for about 20 minutes to Port Arthur. We made it just in time for a Harbour Cruise and then made it back just in time for the guided walk. We also then had about an hour and a half to explore for ourselves before the buildings were locked up for the night. It was amazing to see the old ruins and the buildings that had been restored to what they would have looked like in the 1800’s. There was heaps of beautiful furniture and some stories of things that had happened both in the convict section of town and the free people section. We had booked into a Ghost Tour at 8pm so we stayed around the coffee shop for a few drinks and a snack. The Ghost Tour was very good and I would recommend anyone who visits should stick around and do it. We had a group of about 15 – 20 people and our tour guide was lovely. She had been there for many years and had lost of stories of ghost sightings and weird happenings. Although no one on our tour said they saw anything I did see a light appear while were in the church, it was a small round ball that shone in between two of the spires for about 5 seconds travelling in an uneven line then disappearing. I also felt faint and uneasy when were in the dissecting room but that just could have been the air. We got home about 9.30pm but the cooking facilities at this place were pretty poor and we didn’t end up having dinner until 11 so it was a late night (late in travelling standards anyway!)

Wednesday morning we drove to Richmond which is small town outside of Hobart. It is famous for its old buildings and history. It has the oldest Catholic church, bridge and gaol in Australia that are still standing. We had a delicious breakfast in one of the cafe’s and then headed into Hobart City Centre .. which was like we were in Ringwood City Centre hehe. There were people around but not like in Melbourne where there are always people in business suits walking around during business hours. These were just regular people doing their thing. They also have lots of one way roads that are 4 lanes wide, it was rather strange but good to see the town. Rav and Sonam dropped us off at the airport around 1.30pm for our 6.20pm flight (zzzz) and mum picked us up last night.

I had a great time and as I said before I will post up some pictures when I get them off Dhillon!