Tasmania - Just like Scotland, but with added sunshine!!

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Forgive us readers, for we have sinned. It's been ten days since our last blog and we're really sorry an all that. For pennance we'll do ten Hail Michael Palin's, and a Judith Chalmers - OK?

So.... what about Tasmania then??? We'll tell you what, it's flippin magic! As the name of the blog suggests, we think it's just like Bonnie Scotland in so many ways, but with improved levels of sunshine. How is it like Scotland you wonder? Well, it could be the atmosphere of the mist cloaked mountains, it could be the grey sheep in the many glens. Maybe it's the place names such as Hamilton, Bothwell, Ross and Leith (yes, Leith!!), or the river names - the Don, The Clyde and The Forth. Perhaps the food - with all the wonderfully fresh and tasty seafood, vegetables, soups and stews, or maybe its the Whisky? Whatever it is, we don't care - all we know is that we feel the more 'at home' than we have since we left Edinburgh in October.

Tasmania is an island about the size of Ireland, and it's shape is a bit like a little cat's head. We've now been here for over a week and it's been a busy time for us. We've hired a car and driven from Hobart in the South, all the way up through Launceston to the North West coast at Stanley. This blog is mostly about Hobart, which is the capital city, as this has been our first port of call.

Hobart's a pretty 'arty' place. Picturesque, with a beautiful set of three piers spanning a calm bright boat filled harbour, and a cafe lined esplanade called Salamanca Place, which bustles and brims over with coffee houses, galleries, restaurants and boutiques. We arrived here about lunch time last Saturday, and caught a taxi to our hostel (Montgomery's - best position for a place to stay in town). After dumping our bags we headed out to wander the stalls of the prestigous Salamanca Market, which takes place every Saturday along the Salamanca esplanade, right in front of all the cool bars and shops. It's a great market - not in the slightest akinned to Ingleston, or Airdrie - which Sydneysiders flock to each week now that Virgin Blue have opened up a flight route to Hobart for much cheapness. We spent ages & ages there meandering through the exciting produce and craft-wares, stopping to chat to the many stall owners along the way. Now, something we've noticed about Tasmania so far is that it's definately one of the friendliest places we've ever been to - including Australia mainland which is really saying something. Walking along the road, just about everyone says 'hello' as you pass. It's SO nice. In the middle of the city and everything. Being honest, when was the last time you could say that you experienced that kind of regard from strangers as you stroll along? We bet not recently.

There is loads to do around Hobart - and there is a very good Visitor Information Centre right next to the harbour area which can provide info on boat tours, walks, car hire, accommodation etc etc. We visited there to pick up some brochures on good walks around the area, and after browsing the pages of a particular leaflet & chatting to one of the helpful assistants, we decided to head out one morning on a half day hike up towards Mount Wellington which overlooks the city. It was a bit rainy on the day we set out, however we were determined not to be put off easily as we'd been feeling a bit lazy and wanted to get some excercise in. We met this guy on the bus who, despite being a tad on the dishevilled side, totally looked like 'Mr Expert Hiker 2006'. He was heading in the same direction as us, up to Fern Tree at the bottom of Mt Wellington, and he got chatting to Alan about walking boots and clothing, and the next thing we knew, he was giving us all sorts of advice on which were the best & safest routes to take from Fern Tree. We were quite impressed by his helpfulness and knowledge of the area. Then, just after we all got off the bus, he turned to us and started asking what kind of First Aid kit we had, and 'did we have sufficient bandages in the event we were bitten by one of the thousands of Tiger Snakes which we'd be bound to come across on the path up the foot of the mountain?'. He also told us that we'd probably end up tripping a few times as the pathways had hidden tree roots, and that we'd best not stay out too late without full back packs including emergency tent etc. By the time he was finished we were crapping ourselves about various things - mainly centred around the possibility of dying of exposure or poisonous snake bites. Crikey - we thought we were alright as we were only going out for a couple of hours, we had our waterproofs on and had ample food and water. We did start off the walk, onwards and upwards through some gorgeous fern filled forest tracks, over quirky wooden bridges, and round giant mossy tree stumps, however we were so paranoid about the dangers that had been pointed out to us, and worried about our ineptitude, unawareness, and 'obvious' inexperience of the great outdoors, that we doubled back after about half an hour, taking refuge in the Fern Tree Tavern across the road from our bus top. Once inside, we got chatting to the barman, James, who smiled knowingly when we told him of our chance enounter with the seemingly well informed local. Apparently we'd had a 'run in' with PARK STRANGER - a Canadian looper who's been squatting around the Fern Tree area, bugging the life out of locals to give him work gardening for a wage of burger and chips, scaring travellers and tourists like us with tales of outdoor woes, yet harmless enough with it. James the Barman took great pleasure in telling us all about Park Stranger's madness and all the crazy things he goes about saying & doing. Blood typical that we meet the local lunatic, isn't it? Thinking on it afterwards he was kind of manic looking, and did seem to get more exciteable the more he talked about the dangers of walking in the woods, although once he mentioned the Tiger Snakes we were hooked. We were so glad that we met Park Stranger though, as we had a totally brilliant day in the Tavern chatting with James, Andrew the Chef, and various locals who popped in throughout the day and shared favourite British classic TV programme and Film stories with us. It was great. When we'd had enough Cascade Lager to choke a horse, Andrew the Chef drove us back down to Hobart and dropped us at the door of our hostel - which we thought was a lovely kind gesture. If any of the guys from Fern tree are reading this - HELLO! We loved our day and we hope to visit you again before we leave Tassie (local name for Tasmania)!!!!

Another day we had a trip on a Brig called the Lady Nelson, which is an exact replica of an original ship built in the 18th century on the Thames and used for transportation of Convicts and Settlers between the UK and Australia. Its a lovely ship which is actually owned by the people of Tasmania and is maintained purely on a voluntary basis. There are three sailings each Saturday and Sunday, each lasting 1.5 hours, and it' a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend some time, and see Hobart from the waters of the Derwent River. At a charge of $10 dollars a head for the trip, we thought it was excellent value.

We've eaten like kings and queens since we've been here, as Tassie has such a lot of fabulous food, however we'll keep those stories for the next blog, which will tell you all about the wonderful vineyards, chocolate factories, fruit farms, and dairies that we have visited during our time here. Put it this way - we're not geting any thinner!

The last thing we want to say in this blog, is that insult was added to injury on the night that the White Stripes played Hobart. It was our last night there, and we'd just hired a car that day. We'd been on an afternoon drive out along the gorgeous coastline east of Hobart (see 7 Mile Beach photos) and returning late on, it was getting dark. By the time we got back to our hostel, we couldn't find a parking space anywhere nearby - the problem being that the Stripes were playing just round the corner from us, and everyone under the age of 50, it seemed, had decided to turn up and hang about outside the venue hoping to get in. There's a one way road system in Hobart centre, and we had to drive by the gig about 20 times before we managed to find somewhere to dump the car (hereafter known as Harry the Hyundai). We can't really complain too much though, as apparently no decent international rock band has played Hobart since ACDC in the eighties! So, just imagine the excitement of the Tassie Youth! Ces't La Vie!

Anyway - there's 2 pints of Cascade with our names on them waiting for us in the Irish Murphy's Bar downstairs, so we better go before they go flat. We'll do another blog update over the next couple of days when we get the laptop charged up again.

We're thinking of you all at home this week, with all these reminders all around us!
Love, Alan & Shaz. xxx

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Photos

Wooden skull
On display in Salamanca Market

Crayfish pots on a boat in Hobart Harbour
What happens is that the crayfish crawl inside the pots, then they can't back out again. Nae luck for the crayfish, eh?

Hobart Harbour at night
What you can see here is a long row of boutique hotels and restaurants

Mount Wellington,....
...where the Park Stranger dwells....in a cave ..... probably.

Shaz and Tony Rayner
Tony's the author of a local book called 'Female Factory Female Convicts' all about the women criminals who were sentenced in the UK to 'Transportation' which meant they were sent to serve time in a wool factory and act as servants to wealthy folks here in Tasmania. Tony was lovely and we had a god gab with him before we bought a copy of his book, which he signed for us.

Salamanca Buskers do Van Morrison
They were quite good an all.

Organic Bay leaves.
We'd never seen organic bay leaves before. Maybe we've never lived.

Shaz 'happed up' on the Lady Nelson
It was a bit cold on the ship.

Alan gets lessons on 'driving the boat'
He was dying to have a go on the wheel and shoved these two young lasses out the way who were in the queue in front of him.

HObart view with Mount Wellington in the background
This was taken while we were on our cruise up the Derwent River

Comments

[chazlie]

Long Live Scotland!!
I've never wanted to travel Australia more since I left it to come to Scotland!! :) I am in Fort William at the moment and absolutely love the highlands here! But I come home in less than a month, so I'll have to try and make a trip to Tassie to console my Scottish withdrawls!! :) Love the photos! Great blog! Peace Charlie.

[Eggs on Legs]

Cheers Chazlie!
There's plenty of Scottish thistles to jag yourself on in Tassie, so I'm sure you'll get a real big Scottish HIT there!. I'm just away to have a deek at your own blog and see what you make of our homeland! Thanks and enjuoy your last month Mr. Shaz Egg. :-)