Blogs from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, Oceania - page 22

After a very wet week in Sydney myself and Alex decided to head to Tasmania for a while as it was sunny there. So we packed our bag and left a very wet sydney behind. I stayed at one of Alex mum's old school friends house for 3 week and in that time we rented and car for 4 day and took ourselves to Port Arthur which was a huge prison/village community. We did the ghost tour wich was kinda scary at times especially in the single cell prison. We pretty much ran out of the place. But it made you want to see do much more of the place for the the next day we went back and look at all the old buliding with more understanding of them and it as really interesting. Next ... read more

DAY 118 The weather was heinous again, and we were getting slightly cheesed off with it, we were joking to each other that back in the 1800’s the convicts were sent to Australia must have thought brilliant, sunshine, but when they found they were off to Tasmania it was a different story. I accept they said that Tasmania was just like England, but I didn’t expect it to be like a bad day in Skegness every day, or a normal day in Scotland (Bill Kelly). Anyway we couldn’t get our lazy arses going this morning, it was too cold and it was raining, when we finally did, we decided we were definitely going to Port Arthur. It was a really pretty drive of about 90 K’s through some lovely forestry and hilly scenery, loads of ... read more

DAY 116 Oops, I overslept, I remember Andy bringing me a cup of tea, I put it down to one side of the bed and went straight back to sleep again. We both slept well last night, Andy’s back was not too bad so it had not been keeping him awake so we think the tablets must be working. I don’t know if it is the fresh air but I could not wake up properly this morning, I stayed in bed until 9.30 before getting up and showering. That is bad, I do like to get up early and make the most of the days. Today we are going into Hobart to do a little bit of shopping, we have very specific items on our list, so we really need to sort those out. It rained ... read more

After the Tasafari adventure, I was around Hobart for 4 days, hung out with some of the folk from the camping trip and met up with some new ones in Hobart. Life in Hobart pretty much revolves around the pub. Day 1 - breakfast at noon, following by whiskey tasting at the local distillery and bocci on the lawn with a pint, then $5 pichers for happy hour down the street, and onto the Vic tavern for more pints and a live band !! (oh dear ... lots of dancing and a little tree climbing was involved in this evening!) I did rent a car for a couple of days to go out to Port Arthur (one of the criminal settlements of Tasmania - very interesting place, not someone you would like to be forced to ... read more

We made it down to Tassie - Tasmania. Tasmania is the peninsula off the southern coast of Australia, and was one of the original convict colonies. It is suggested that you tour Tassie if you are into tramping (trekking, or overnight hiking staying in fairly primitive cabins along the way) or for a taste of the convict history. We went because not a lot of tourists go there. That appealed to us. We flew to Hobart, one of the two larger cities. Our immediate thoughts recognized a similarity between Hobart and Seattle or Vancouver - minus the high rises. The green hills rolled out surrounding the city with small two story single family homes and bungalows leading to the rivers and bays. It was cold and overcast with grey clouds adding to the aura of the ... read more