http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , Australia , Tasmania en-us Wed, 25 Nov 09 23:22:02 +0000 Wed, 25 Nov 09 23:22:02 +0000 I spent the last few hours I had in Bicheno on Friday wandering around the town which was quite small and wonderful and enjoying the ocean before I hopped on the bus to Hobart. The bus was hot and stuffy since the day was so warm but the scenery was gorgeous. We drove along the coast most of the time. The ocean here is such incredible blues and greens and so much clearer than off the Califor http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Hobart/blog-454577.html It's raining it's not raining it's sunny now it's raining again. It makes leaving the house nearly impossible I went up to Cradle Mountain to do some hiking on Monday. It would go from completely pouring to so hot I had to take my jacket off to pouring again all within 20 minutes. I got soaked to the bone on the 2 hour hike around Dove Lake but it was so beautiful to be up there with th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Bicheno/blog-454081.html Packing packing packing. Should we be concerned that most of our luggage seems to be pills... http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Hobart/blog-452529.html Finally got round to booking our flights from Sydney to England today. We will be flying to Heathrow then changing to a connecting flight on to Manchester where S S will collect us. First though we have to get out of Tasmania The plan is to drive to Devonport board the Spirit Of Tasmania for an overnight trip to Sydney and then head to Newcastle for a week before our flight out. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Hobart/blog-442702.html It had been several months since Diana and I had seen each other and she had decided to come for a visit for a month to meet the family and also have a look at where I am from and other parts of Australia. We spent three nights in Melbourne with Weeda and Boss before flying to Tassie for a week.First stop in Tassie was home but only there for two nights to show Diana around and she was able to mee http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-436589.html 13 August Beaconsfield TasmaniaIt was a coin flip between Tasmania and Darwin perhaps even Cairns. In place of parasols sunscreen and holidaymakers poolside I have opted for drizzly pastoral and off the radar screen. I have to congratulate myself for choosing so wisely. Itrsquos hard to put a finger on it but Irsquove hit my stride in Tasmania. Those familiar knots are back to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Hobart/blog-428030.html I have realised that time has been passing me by so quickly and I have not managed to get that many blog entries out.I am now 35 weeks pregnant so not long to go before the little girl is born. I do hope it is a girl in that I have not been able to resist buying lots of pink clothes which will all have to go on ebay if this turns out to be a boy I have two weeks left at work I only do the thr http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Hobart/blog-427987.html 6 August Launceston Tasmania AustraliaAngela cheerfully collected me from the bus station after I mistakenly told her to be there an hourandahalf earlier. I did not ask the fiftythree yearold much she was already doing enough to help me. I was prepared to walk down the road for a while for dinner a concern at such a late hour since restaurants in Australia close so early. She prep http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Launceston/blog-425784.html hej http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-425421.html Hej http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-425419.html So I was back in Launceston and I still hadn't been to Cradle Mountain. So I booked a tour. I got picked up and it was just the tour guide and I Still it was a very comfortable drive in a Galaxy nice change from minibuses It was about 3 hours away we stopped once at Sheffield the town of the murals we murals everywhere Every year they have a mural painting competition. Apparently there a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Cradle-Mountain/blog-419644.html From Vanuatu I went to Melbourne and flew again with Air Vanuatu. The funny thing was that we departed one and a half hour late because the check in went according to lsquoVanuatu timersquo. The people at the check in were checking their screens adding a label to some luggage looking around and taking it all very easy. It was the only plane leaving the airport that morning so you think there http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-419606.html I had decided a few days into my Tasmania trip that it would be great to hire a car for a couple of days. So I did that the day after Cradle Mountain. I chose a little Hyundi Getz from a place near the airport and off I went for two days. Some of my driving lessons were done in this car so I was familar with it. I had booked a bed at a town called bernie on the north west coast for that night so t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Burnie/blog-419075.html I leave the mainland of Australia for the short 3 hour flight from Sydney to Tasmania's Capital City Hobart. Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1803 as a penal colony Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2008 the city had a greater area population of approximately 209287. The city is the financi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Hobart/blog-416262.html ldquoOnersquos destination is never a placebut a new way of seeing thingsrdquo.Henry Miller.After the splendor of the rugged westwhat was in store as we drifted down towards the coastal plains in the northWe had a destination in mind but of far greater importance was what we were likely to see in getting there.The first observation of gently rolling hills and bright green paddocks confirm http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Saint-Helens/blog-413133.html I wanted to see the east coast so I booked a two day tour with Under Down Under from Hobart to Launceston. It picked me up 7.30am the day after Port Arthur. I thought that was an early start I was to get much earlier ones in the outback on the mainland Jason was our tour guide and we had 15 passengers all together which I have just now realised is a lot of people compared to my other tours I ha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-413007.html I left Sydney on 8th May and landed in Launceston in what looked like a field Launceston has a population of about 70000. The Arthouse hostel I stayed in during my stays here was lovely. It was an old hotel and had lots of character though it was very cold Was a strange day as it started very early for me. I decided to go check out the cateract gorge Launceston's highlight. It was so nice th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-413001.html This little gem from Mark TwainrdquoTwenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didnrsquot do than by the ones you did do.So throw off the bowlinessail away from the safe harbourcatch the trade winds in your sails.Explore.Dream.Discoverrdquo.Tasmania is an island that had to be sailed to so as to be discovered and it was a Dutch navigatorAbel Tasmanwho fo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Saint-Helens/blog-412122.html After more than 5 weeks in Melbourne I was starting to get too confortable and I was abusing my host hospitality. Also it was getting colder so I had to make a move. My contacts suggested me to go to Tasmania before it get too cold. So Just before Easter I did 7 days travelling in Tasmania to test the van and the functionnality. I was also travelling alone during that week.I took a cabin to make http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-409966.html Poor Gretchen finally got here 5 hours after her originally scheduled arrival after being rerouted to Sydney due to some weather problem that wersquore not really sure of. Anyway she looked surprisingly amazing and awake when she got here which shocked me Sunday morning we all got up extra early to go to Hobart Tasmania. We got there around 8am and not having thought about the fact that i http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-407927.html