Day One:
Our trip began at 2:30am as our flight, via Tiger Airways, was at 6am. Tiger is strict on checking in 45 minutes earlier as they will close off all their flights at this point and are rarely accommodating for latecomers.
Flight into Hobart was smooth...until we landed and left the plane. It was FREEZING. I knew it would be cold here, but I was not ready for the frigid blast of winter air on me. Thank god I was camping outside.. We picked up our rental cars and headed into the city for some breakfast. After a brief mix-up, our car (Team Asia) was lost in the parking lot and Mark's car (the Wallabeaters) managed to already hit a fence post not even 5 minutes on the road. Haha, hilarious.
Finally got into town and made a pit stop at Subway. The worker there seemed a bit overwhelmed at so many people invading her store so early but was nice enough to offer us each a free cookie after we asked! Our trip was already starting off on a good note. From there we headed to the Salamanca Market which only ran on Saturdays.
There was a lot of good food, merchandise, and even live performances by street artists there. Here's the hard part about travelling with 15 people, it's impossible to follow a strict timetable as everyone had their own interests. After gathering everyone, we drove off to Freycinet Park, otherwise known as Wineglass Bay. Here's where everyone got separated (as was the norm on this trip). Our car decided to take a small detour into some offroad driving, one car lagged behind, and the other was just too quick for us to follow. We once again bumped into some nice people who gave us their parking pass required to enter the national parks. Australians are just too nice.
Our car saw sunset at some lookout and took various pictures of the natural wonders of Tassie. It was cold, yet calming and serene at the same time. Good people coupled with good talks made for an awesome sunset.
Danny decided to scream like a little girl when he saw wild wallabies, as he's never seen them in real life yet (I don't think). I never thought such a high pitched squeal could come from a man, haha. From there, we drove back into Hobart as we checked into our hostel. It was Michael's birthday so we had a couple of beers ready and planned to eat at a restaurant by the wharf. Following Danny's brilliant idea to bring some travel-beers for the walk there, the police saw us and stopped us. Luuk was the only one who was actually "caught" by the cops for having open liquor as Danny and I stuffed our bottles in bushes. Lucky for us, they let him off with a warning as Taylor (already pretty tipsy) decided to make friends with them. Cops are really friendly in Australia and are NOTHING like the power tripping idiots found in Canada/America. They seriously could be your friend. Taylor even 'pushed' one to demonstrate a point and he just smiled.
Dinner was delicious and well deserved after a long day. We headed back to the hostel and just had fun there. I believe national anthems were sung by the Americans, Canadians and Dutch. I don't think I'll ever get the chance to travel with such a diverse group of people..
Day 2:
Woke up 'early' but the third room decided to have a bit of a sleep in so our day began late again. Today we'd be going to Mountfield where Lake Gordon and Russell Falls were. It was a long drive in, but worth it as the scenery made it worth it. Here was where I had near death experience #1 driving :) I decided to cut in front of the car I was following as it was too slow..little did I know I was going straight onto a truck.
I swear it wasn't THAT close but the people in the car were freaking out. Pfft, they just need to experience a true China man's driving style. Weak.
Got to Russell Falls after a bit of driving.. it wasn't as magnificent as I thought it would be, but still pretty neat.
We drove up some mountain to get to Lake Gordon where there was actually frost! Something I haven't seen since Vancouver..and this was May. Pictorials were taken as we continued on to the dams where we planned to watch sunset. The Wallabeaters once again took off too quickly as they lost us remaining 2 cars. We went to two smaller dams, Scott's Dam and Lake Edgar? to watch sunset. Afterwards, when we compared pictures, the other group's dam was MUCH bigger, but we still had fun. At least the three cars managed to stick together for half the journey today, ha.
Today was also the day where two cars killed a wallaby each. We saw one happen right in front our eyes as we were following car Band of Gold (haha) and one hopped right into their front wheel. But remember people, wallabies and kangaroos are actually considered a pest species in Australia because there's just so many of them. They overgraze the land and damage the ground by travelling/hopping so much. No need to feel guilty for running them over or eating them ;) Kangaroo steaks are delicious, I can attest to that. Plus, it's low in fat and very rich in protein.
At night, some of us decided to go to the casino and attempt to win some money. Most of us (except Paul) managed to come out on top as I made 95? or something to that extent playing blackjack with Min. Team Asian Sensation never loses.
Day 3:
We decided to go to Bruny Island (who knew Tasmania had other islands within it..) to check out some nice lookouts.
Cheese tasting was magnificent as most of us bought some with bread to eat for lunch. Walking up to the lookout to see both sides of the islands (refer to pic) was breath taking. Unfortunately, two of our travelling mates had a flight to catch back to Melbourne, so the trip was cut short on the island. Not to worry though, while waiting for our ferry back the 'toaster' dance broke out as everyone took part in this fad that Rimock and Kim learned in Nzld. Perhaps I'll show it one day in Vancouver.. haha. It's awesome.
We also experienced one of the creepiest things ever. We decided to stop on the side of the road to discuss where to go next and there were sheep in the pastures next to us. Of course, we got out to take pictures of them..next thing you knew, they ALL looked at us, baa-ed in unison and walked towards us. I'm not talking about 20 sheep here, there were at least 150 of them just looking at us and every single one of them just walking towards us. As quickly as they came, they suddenly all ran away. It was definitely creepy as they approached us as I thought they'd attack us like some possessed demonic sheep.
While one car took them to the airport, the rest of us went to Mount Wellington, a mountain located pretty close to Hobart. The drive up was pretty slow as the roads were narrow and little protection against falling off. However, the views were nothing like I've ever seen. We drove into, then above the clouds as we watched sunset from the top of the mountain. The clouds were swirling in and around us as we watched Hobart light up and admired just where the hell we were. I will never forget those views up there. My camera did it no justice as I tried to capture how beautiful it was. We decided to eat some real oven baked pizza for dinner as I scarfed down one with Tanis. Best meal yet, it was so satisfying.
Drinking games followed in the hostel as we played Kings (where I had to put a damn box over my head...) and watched some scary movie to end the night. I passed out for the entire movie with Taylor. So comfortable ;). The final day was quickly approaching as I wasn't ready for it to end so quickly..
Day 4:
Our last day was spent going to Port Arthur, a historical settlement town. The drive in was surreal at one point as the low clouds + water bodies made for an almost psychedelic experience..
We went to choice lookouts including the Tasman Arch as we took many pictures of other random scenic things. Oh right, we also went to some.. beach. I forgot what it was called, but I killed a bird heading out of it. Now all 3 cars have killed some kind of wildlife on this trip. By the end, we realised we've each taken about 200 pictures of rocks, but hey, we have proof we were in Tasmania and that was enough for me to be happy.
Port Arthur was created by ex-convicts or something like that..basically and served as a jail for new convicts. Communities were formed we learned as people were brought here to serve time for the dumbest crimes you could imagine. Bad behaviour would result in inmates going to some dark, windowless, small room for hours as many would go crazy in there. As I went into this room I was creeped out at how DARK it was in there.. I don't think I could handle it. Inmates also had to manually step on a water wheel to keep it moving. Imagine a low intensity stair master workout for 8 hours. If you lagged or stopped, you basically fell to your death. Brutal.
Following the river cruise, we headed back into the city to return the cars and boarded the plane back to Melbourne.
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This trip was definitely well worth it as I completely underestimated how beautiful and interesting Tassie really is. Many have said it looks like a smaller version of New Zealand which made me sad because I wish I had the time to check out New Zealand during my exchange here. Not to worry though, I'll be back to Australia one day and New Zealand will be conquered as well.
