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Published: February 14th 2010
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This is a "re-post" on the blog, as there was a glitch in the program and it was erased off the site? No idea why- but some of you may already have read this. I'll post the next one on the weekend! nj
AFter an "exhausting" flight of 60 minutes, we arrived in Tasmania. As we were hustling to catch the hotel shuttle bus, who should we run into but Gary & Susan- who had arrived from Sydney moments earlier. WE spent one night in a hotel, prior to picking up our next home on wheels.
WE stalked up on groceries and wine- of particular note are the "drive thru" liquor stores! Come on Canada- this is the way to go! NOw we were ready to start! The boys thought we would never fit in all the food we bought, but with true "boater" expertise, Susan and I made it all fit with room to spare!
The camper van we have this time is very spacious for 4 people. Us "younguns" opted for the "upper" berth, leaving the "aft cabin" for the others! This van has everything you could want for, altho the bumpy roads sometimes give those
riding in the back seats some cause for concern! If we keep all our teeth fillings in tact after some of these roads, we will be happy!
We haven't had any trouble driving on the wrong side of the road yet, altho I still can't get over the feeling when making a
right turn, that we are crossing the lane on the wrong side, and a vehicle will run up from behind straight into us! It's a weird feeling for sure!
Many people thought 2 weeks was too long a time to spend in Tasmania, but we certainly have had no trouble filling in the days! IN fact, we had to decide what to see and what not to see!
Mark of course, is on a quest to climb every hill or mountain there is to climb, while Gary & Susan are much more content to take pics of things a little closer to home, and to relax and enjoy the scenery from a more "local" vantage point.
I won't bore you with all the details, but here are some of the highlights.
We visited Coles Bay, that boasts the beautiful hike to Wineglass
bay, where Gary & Susan did the "round the bay" hike,, which turned out to be a little more adventurous than they had anticipated- with some pretty good uphill climbs!
Mark & I had to climb- yup you guessed it- to the top of the Mount Amos to see Wineglass bay from up high! It was an estimated 3 hour hike- all of it UPHILL!! or should I say- UP ROCKS!!!! Georgian Bay rock climbing will be a cakewalk after this!
Mark says he has never done a walk so challenging- I of course, tried hard to keep up- but failed to make the last 100 metres up. It was just too steep, and I was afraid of the trip back down, and how "fast" I might do it, on my ass maybe!
He slipped on the rocks twice and landed butt first, I made one major face plant into the rocks as well. Oh well- battle scars are always part of the quest!
The pics are pretty stunning, altho for me, Gary's pics had the same impact- and less exhausting to get!
The campsites here are sometimes not what we hoped for, but at the Bay of
Fires we found one to dream of! We parked the camper at the edge of the site, overlooking the ocean and beach. What a beautiful place! We have enjoyed looking at the other campers living arrangements- they are more adventurous with their set ups than us Canadians, including little tents for their shower stalls, and biffy's!
One of our less favourite campsites was in a town called Deloraine. We parked the camper RIGHT in front of the railway tracks. OVer dinner, we commented on how we hoped the track wasnt' still active. WRONG!!! The first train barrelled thru at 10 pm leaving us in fits of laughter over how it would sound in the wee hours of the morn! Well- we got to find out.
The second train was at 2am and the third at 5am!!! I surely thought they were coming right thru our "coffin" like bed on top of the drivers cab! WE were happy to move on the next morning!
The countryside here changes from rolling hills with dry conditions, to rainforests, to mountains and breathtaking seascapes.
The temperature went from 12C. to 25C. In Tassie they say if you don't like the weather, wait
5 minutes. Sometimes, we didn't have to wait at all! It all came at once!Sun, rain, cold then hot! WE have seen many many huge farm fields full of cattle- including my favourite "oreo cookie" cow. Mark didn't understand the name until he saw one for himself! Would love to know how these cows came to be! They are coloured exactly like an oreo cookie- two chocolate wafers sandwiching the white stripe around the middle!
From here, it was on to Cradle Mountain. We stayed in the National Park here- another beautiful site. We took the walk described as a "short, easy walk with a moderate hill climb" around the lake. It took 3 hours- with numerous up and downs- we were all exhausted by the end of it! A little more than we had bargained for most definitley! I'd like to see what they classify as a challenging up hill???? Mount AMos?
These are some highlights from our first week in the camper- stay tuned for more fun on week two! Cheers!
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Andrea
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Hikes look exhausting but exhilerating when you get to the top. Just wondering....is there such an animal as the tasmania devil?