Advertisement
Tasmania is absolutely amazing! For those who don't know, Tassie is a small island about 600 kms south of Melbourne, but it's still part of Australia. Tasmania is it's own state and is very different from the rest of Australia. It's said to be very similar to New Zealand: beautiful clean fresh air, mountains lakes and streams, great outdoor activities. We randomly found out that another couple we're friends with (Lynn and Joe from Ireland) wanted to go around the same time, so we all booked a flight together. We landed in Hobart, the capital and spent the day walking around the small city. Everywhere in Tassie has a much slower paced, small town feel to it. The four of us rented a car so that we could travel up the East Coast at our own pace and camp along the way. We drove up to Freycinet National Park, where we did an overnight trek to Wineglass bay. We spent the night at the far end of the beach and walked back the next day. It was so beautiful and really great practice for what we had to come! Easter Day was not spent looking for chocolate eggs and eating turkey...
instead we were on one of the most beautiful, untouched beaches I have ever seen. It was along an incredible stretch of coast line called the Bay of Fires. We continued up to Mt. William National Park where we hoped to see lots of Kangaroos, but instead just saw more Wallabys! They are everywhere here. But we spent another night camping right by the beach in the park. We had small fuel stoves so we were able to cook all our meals. Most places had fire bans, but we got lucky with a few and having a fire changed our night so much! Instead of heading to bed around 8 once it had been dark for a few hours, we managed to make it until about 9:30! We made our way up to Launceston in the north east of Tassie. Launceston is the second largest city, after Hobart, home to about 100,000 people. We spent two nights here preparing for the next week of our trip.
Week Two was to consist of a 6-day 80km trek called the Overland Track. Apparently it is the trek to do in Australia. And I have to say it was one of the most
incredible experiences of my life. We started up north at Cradle Mountain in the rain, snow and hail. We were no where near being properly equiped. The first day was probably the most physically exhausting day of my life, it was really tough terrain, we were not used to carrying fully packed backpacks, and it was cold and wet. The first day was 10 kms, but the steepest part of the trek. By the time we made it to our hut for the night we were soaked right to our skin. It took forever to get warm. At the end of everyday there is a hut that you can stay in, but you also have to bring a tent in case the hut is all full. So we carried all our food for the week, cooking stove and dishes, sleeping bags and sleeping mats, tent, all over clothes, etc. Our packs were heavy! Everyone at the hut was telling us not to continue because of the rain and our lack of proper gear like rain pants, good boots. BUT we were smart and made rain gear out of garbage bags. So we continued on, the second day was shorter about
8kms, but for some reason it seemed just as exhausting. Lynn, our new friend Nicky and I couldn't have been happier to see the hut that afternoon. Day three was 17kms, full of mud, but the sun started to shine. By the time we got to the hut that afternoon the sky was blue, the sun was fully shining and it was warm! The huts were very basic but at the time they were more than we could have asked for! They just had tables to sit and cook at, wooden bunks and a coal or wood stove. The stove was pretty key on the first few days so that we could dry our clothes and boots. Day four was my favourite of the trip. It was supposed to be a short trek, but we ended up climbing to the top of Mt. Ossa on the way, the highest mountain in Tassie 1614m. It was a rough climb, but the views from the top were incredible. At night we'd always play cards for a bit, but everyone was usually fast asleep by about 8-9 o'clock! But it was early up around 6:30 every morning. Day five was a bit long
because Paul and I decided to double up on days so that we could fully complete the trek by walking around Lake St. Clair rather than taking the ferry across like most people do. So this day was about 20kms, but we got to stop at a massive waterfall on the way. We camped that night, it was chilly, but we'd carried our tent the whole time that it seemed mandatory that we use it atleast once! Day six, we finished the trek around the lake, about 17kms. It was long, the trek wasn't nearly as defined as it had been for the rest of the trek. But the lake was beautiful. Walking up to the visitor centre was such an incredible feeling. My feet were all taped up from blisters, we hadn't showered the whole time, we were muddy and bruised, but it felt amazing to have completed it. We laughed at all the people out for day walks. A bunch of us that had finished that day sat around having beers and food. We bought a bottle of Tasmanian Pinot Noir and celebrated. The next day Lynn and Joe arrived on the ferry and we headed back to
Hobart for our flight to Melbourne. We all came back with such an appreciation for simple things like flushing toilets, electricity and hot water. We learned how to minimize our waste because we had to carry out everything we carried in. But most of all I was a bit sad to be back in a city. We had really enjoyed the cleaness of such untouched outdoors. It was an incredible trip!
We got back to Melbourne, I worked a couple shifts at Soulmama (it was so great to be back and see everyone). But I was really feeling the need to move on and travel somewhere else. So I booked a flight up to Darwin and I've come here on my own. Darwin is completely different from Melbourne, it is way hotter, about 34 degrees today. It's much slower paced and beachier. Darwin is in the Northern Territory, almost as far north as you can go, so it's at the complete opposite side of the country from Melbourne. It is a strange feeling to be on my own for the first time on this trip, but I'm enjoying it aswell. Last night I went to the Mindil Beach night market.
Similar to an Asian market, there are tons of stalls set up selling jewellery, clothes, gifts, etc. And there was so much food from all over the world. Everyone sat out on the beach and watched the sun set. Walked around, got some ice cream, then came back to the beach to see the fireworks. It was a great evening. I was hoping to find work in Darwin, but there didn't seem to be much happening here. I met a guy who told me about pearling companies who might be hiring. I went into Arafura Pearls and dropped off a resume, they said they weren't hiring and there were too many people dropping off resumes anyways. But they called me last night and offered me a job! So this will be completely different than anything I've done. I'll been working for them for the next 6 weeks working as a deckhand on one of their boats. There are 12 of us on the boat, we'll work all day and sleep there aswell. We'll get all our food provided for us. We work 13 out of 14 days, so every second sunday off. It pays great money, with no costs, so
i'll be saving so much. I leave for that in a couple days so i'll be gone for the next 6 weeks living on a boat! I'm sure I will have some great stories after that, so i'll be sure to put up a blog right away!
I've booked my flight home for September 27th so I'll be seeing everyone soon enough, miss you guys xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.047s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0246s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb