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Published: November 16th 2007
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I arrived in Hobart - the capital of Tasmania - on Friday Nov 9 early afternoon. I spent the afternoon getting a feel for this small capital city. I walked all around through the Salamanca Market area (nice strip of craft/gift shops and restos), the Battery area (the oldest district in Hobart), passed by the harbour, visited the Tasmania National Museum / Art Gallery wherein I had a guided tour (for free!), browsed the shopping streets, and so on. I did about all there was to do in Hobart that I reasonable person would actually be interested in doing lol.
My tour with 'Under Down Under' commenced the next morning bright and early. There were only 4 of us on day 1 of the tour - the following days there was a full mini bus (13 ish). The 1st day we ventured off with our tour guide Brian around the Tasman peninsula on route to Port Arthur - the former convict center. We saw breathtaking scenery, beaches, cliffs, fascinating rock formations, and so on... very spectacular scenery! We spent a few hours actually Port Arthur wherein we had a guided tour and a boat ride around the harbour with commentary.
The boat ride was meant to give us the same feeling that the convicts would have felt as they approached the horrific Port Arthur. We slept in Hobart that night at a YHA hostel.
Day 2 we picked up a bunch of others and then headed for Freycinet National Park to the beautiful Wineglass Bay. We did a hike up through beautiful granite rocks up to the Wineglass Bay lookout point. We saw some furry friends during this hike which was so neat!!! We saw a wallaby (smaller version of a kangaroo) at the start of the hike and then up at the lookout as well. They are such sweet, friendly creatures, it's a shame that people hunt them - so sad. Well they hunt and eat kangaroos anyways, I'm not sure about wallabies. Anyways, I was able to pet the little guys and everything, they were so sweet! We then drove to another beautiful beach and relaxed for a bit (while Brian had to go into town to get help as he had locked the van keys in the car lol). Myself and a few other brave souls ventured into the Tasman sea for a dip - man
was it freezing! I forgot to mention that the weather was absolutely amazing... especially for Tassie. It was beautiful, fairly warm, and very sunny out up until my last day. Brian took us many walks and we finished off the day going to see these pretty lakes tucked back in another NP. We spent the night at a lovely cozy small cottage in the seaside town of Bicheno - home of the little blue penguins (smallest species of penguins in the world). I did the optional excursion that night wherein we went from 8:30 - 9:30pm in the dark on a guided tour of the penguin nesting area. The cute little innocent creatures return home to their burrows every night after a long day out at sea fishing. It was amazing watching them and how they stick in their little groups never venturing out solo for fear of predators. They were so cute and a pleasure to watch...
Day 3 the bus left Bicheno at 10am. While some others were off an the optional excursion to a small zoo, I spent some time walking down to the Bicheno beach - it was incredibly beautiful - extremely clear water and
such lovely shades of blue!! Brian took us to see the Bicheno 'blow hole' - neat to see the water literally shoot up and out from under the rocks... It was then off to probably the highlight of my Tassie trip - the Bay of Fires. This beach gets its name due to the orange lichen which coats many of the rocks - very unique and makes for stunning scenery. There was a huge fur seal chilling up on the rocks at this beach - very neat to see! We went to a yet another NP and hiked down to a stunning waterfall. The walk down was all through the rainforest - Tasmania is such a diverse state. We also passed through the historic town of Ross today in the morning and St. Helens for a fish and chips lunch. It was a great day! We spent the night in Launceston (the 2nd largest city in Tasmania).
Day 4 was a bit of a dissapointment as 'UDU' tours stuck myself and a few others from our tour with another company for the day...it's confusing so I won't get into details but we were not impressed. It was still a
Tasman sea
stopped for a swim at this beach...it was chilly! great day nonetheless. The day started with a pick up in Launceston and then the bus headed to Cradle Mountain National Park. The drive was a long one and we passed by so much varrying scenery and landscapes. From lush, green countryside to dry treeless plains - very neat to see. We spent a few hours at Cradle Mtn NP all in all. I did the hike around Dove Lake with Ana from Peru and Matt from Texas. It was overcast and a bit chilly out at the NP but apparently no matter if it's summer or winter, it snows in Cradle Mtn 1 out of every 4 days... so we're just lucky it didn't snow! We could however see snow up on the mountain tops. We did another small hike through rainforest with the rest of the group afterwards.
All in all, Tasmania is truly a stunning country!! I really recommend you go there if you're ever planning a trip to oz! I'm now in Melbourne and will update you all on my time here on my next entry. 😊
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