Anyways, I got back from Tasmania, or as Aussies call it, Tassie a few days ago. I've been totally swamped with getting things organized for the rest of my trip that I haven't been able to get around to updating things here, but I'm doing it now!
The Boat:
I took the boat to Tasmania, cause that's so much cooler than flying. It was your typical ocean liner; restaurant, bar, movie theatre, casino etc. It was pretty cool watching world cup games while out at sea though!
Cradle Mountain:
My first stop after renting my car in Devonport- where the ferry docked- was Cradle Mountain National Park.
Ideally, it's supposed to look like this:
On the day I was there, it looked like this:
It was cloudy and wet... so the scenery wasn't nearly as spectacular, but it didn't stop me from going on an adventure regardless! Before I went on my hike I stopped by a Tasmanian Devil sanctuary and got to see and pet one =)
The Hike
Now this is a bit of a crazy story. I must admit I was being really REALLY dumb that day... because what I did was pretty dangerous. It's recommended that you hike around Cradle Mountain with a friend because it's some pretty rough terrain. I made the trip there alone,but I figured I could handle it since I've done a bunch of hiking on my own before. Anyways, I was halfway along the trail and I saw a sign that pointed in a different direction which read "To Lookout"... so I went for it. DUMB MOVE. About two hours later I realized I was actually 3/4 of the way up the mountain. Couldn't see a thing above me or a thing below me, cause I was in the clouds. At that point, there was no more trail, it was a chain guiding you up a bunch of VERY steep rocks.
Anyways, I eventually got to a point where I saw a sign that read 2 hours to summit... at which point I had nowhere near enough time to get all the way to the top and all the way back down again, so I just turned around and made the highly tedious journey back down.
This calls for a before/after picture
Me before the hike with my ride!
Immediately after getting back down from the mountain.
There's a line between being brave and being stupid, and I crossed it.
Launceston
After that experience, I decided to play it safe and not take any more risks for the rest of the trip. I drove to Launceston just after sunset, and found a radio station on the way that calmed my nerves quite a bit. Indie rock, with some of my favourite bands featured =)
Launceston is a really nice old town with a lot of character. I only spent a night there, but it was an awesome place to visit. Within the city is the Cataract Gorge, where I took a nice long walk the next morning.
Hobart
Hobart is the largest city and capital of Tasmania. On my way from Launceston to Hobart, I heard that Australia had just sworn in their first female Prime Minister on the radio. Pretty cool to be in Aussie with all the political goings on... though not as cool as Toronto for G20.
I really enjoyed Hobart, the Inn that I stayed in was a really old building (19th century) and the owner was this really funny middle-aged Aussie lady who had some choice words to say about the new PM... we ended up talking for like 3 hours! I went for a midnight walk around the city, which was incredibly beautiful
So that was my trip to Tasmania! After Hobart, I drove the 300km to Devonport the next morning and had another 12 hour boat ride back to Melbourne. At the moment I'm just wrapping up packing, seeing as I'm leaving for New Zealand in about 12 hours. I also promise to have at least 3 updates a week from now until I come back home. SO PUMPED!
See you all soon!
Hakim
