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Published: March 23rd 2011
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Today we rented a car (don't rent from Budget, they're awful) and firstly, drove it up Mount Wellington.
I hadn't driven for over a year but I was surprised at how naturally it came back! So naturally in fact that I kept trying to change gear in an automatic!
The views all the way up the mountain were amazing although admittedly, I only really saw them in my wing mirror.
When we arrived at the top, we could see for absolute miles. The city, the water, the harbours, the roads, the beaches. Well, this was definitely worth it!
We parked up, got out of the car and were nearly blown away! I'd never felt wind as strong as that before, it actually moved me! And it was freezing. We took a stroll up to the summit and had to hold on to something to avoid been blown over! But you could get a 360 degree view of Hobart and beyond from up there that I would have wanted to see even in gale force winds!
After spending some time up there and taking it all in, we headed back down and I was able to take
in the views I missed on the way up.
A short stop at the supermarket and we were on our way through the wonderful Tasmanian scenery of rolling hills, beaches and forests to Freycinet.
A few hours later and we'd finally made it. We stopped at a little beach for a picnic which didn't look amazing by Australian standards at first but then the Sun came out turning the water from grey to blue making it look very impressive.
Hike time! But before making our way upwards, we came across a couple of wallabies just hanging out in the carpark.
Halfway up the hike was Coles Bay lookout. By this point, the clouds were well and truly settled in for the day and although it was pretty, I think it would have been so much prettier with some sunshine.
A little more of a hike up and we reached Wineglass Bay lookout. Now this is what I came here for! Even without the Sun, this beautiful bay blows your breath away.
It used to be a whaling bay and with it's wineglass shape and all the blood in the water, it used to resemble
a glass of red wine. Hence the name. Now though, it kind of just looks like a striking blue cocktail. I think I prefer the cocktail I think (although to see the wineglass would have been awesome!)
We decided to hike down onto the beach which wasn't so bad and it was worth it to see the bay up close. We then had to hike back up which wasn't quite so easy. I felt like a bit of a loser as I was struggling up the steep bits and some guys just jogs past on his daily run. He was making it look a bit too effortless for my liking.
The journey back to Hobart began at dusk. Prime time for some marsupial spotting and Tasmania being roadkill capital of the world, time to be a little more alert.
We saw all sorts of creatures by the roadside from what looked like bandicoots to wallabies and they all looked poised to jump out in front of the car. What kind of strange games were these animals playing? Chicken?
I twice nearly hit a possum. The first time, one had decided it wanted to just sit in the middle of the road and have a good old clean and the second one wanted to play chase, running alongside the car for a bit (I was driving super slow). Luckily, I'd spotted them both and managed to reach Hobart without anyone/anything getting hurt.
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