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Published: December 23rd 2007
Mt. Wellington, Hobart
An amazing view, well worth the climbWe arrived in Hobart, Tasmania after a very quick 1.5 hour long flight from Sydney. Our main reason for choosing Tasmania to visit was that our friends Tim and Jacqueline are both currently enrolled at the university there. Again, we were spoiled enough to have our friend Tim pick us up at the airport, accompanied by his gal Jacq's brother Mike, who was also visiting from Canada.
We received good old bear hugs from Tim, met Mike, then made our way to his mode of transportation, 'The Pooge'. If you're wondering what a pooge is, it happens to be Tim's lovely carbon monoxide blowin, left leanin beauty of a car, a 1982 Peugeot. He had warned us before, but we learned that he really wasn't kidding when he told us that one had to drive with the windows down. But all in all, it's a pretty sweet ride, considering Tim had acquired it by trading a bottle of whiskey.
When we arrived at their humble abode, we realized that we had lucked out once again. We had another great place to stay, a house with a pretty flower and herb garden, along with a patio and barbie (BBQ) out
Mt. Nelson, Hobart
The Great Mount Nelson Beer Hike! back. Tim and Mike had just gone to the drive-thru beer store so we each had a cold one (again with foam beer holders) and reminisced about the good old days. Later Tim showed us around the university, where we met up with Jacqueline for a coffee in the cafeteria. As they both had work to do, we told them to not worry about us and set off to discover the capital of Tasmania...the lovely city of Hobart.
At first it reminded us of mainland Australia meets Vancouver Island meets England. Picture parks, a wharf filled with old fishing boats and their sea worthy captains, and orderly brick houses with well groomed gardens. The aussie accent meets the laid back islander lifestyle. Gardens everywhere were filled with massive roses in perfect bloom. A giant mountain with fog covering its peaks loomed in the background. Cars drove slowly in the roundabouts, compared to the big city we had just come from.
One thing we wanted to do in Hobart was hike one of the main attractions, Mount Wellington. Sad thing was that it was hard to find a day when there wasn't a massive cloud of fog hovering over
Female Factory, Hobart
No guys, it's not just like 'Weird Science' the summit. We decided that since Tim had just finished his last exam, we would celebrate and go for second best, Mount Nelson. The four of us (Mike came too) gathered up a little food and a lot of beer and set off. Actually, there were two backpacks full of beer that we kept sharing around, since it was a pretty sweaty day to begin with, and the hiking was somewhat vertical.
Five minutes in, as we had barely even left the house, we spotted our first wild snake tanning itself on the side of the road. It was much bigger than the snakes in B.C. and much more venomous too (it turned out to be a copperhead, the second most poisonous snake in Tasmania. It's interesting, there are only 3 species of snake in Tassie, and all are potentially deadly! As we climbed the mountain we were sweating out the beer as we drank them, since the climb was so steep and it was hot out. The view at the top was well worth it, overlooking a good portion of Hobart and beyond. We called it the great Mount Nelson beer hike, what else would you expect from
four Canadians with lots of beer and backpacks to put them in. That evening Jacqueline joined us for a night on the town, as we continued where we left off on the mountain.
The following morning we came to the conclusion that a good, fat breakie would cure us, and motivate us into having another big day, and it did. We went on a big walk into town and ended up at the Cascades Female Factory. No, it's not a place where they make females, but an old prison that from 1828 to 1904 was the place where bad girls went to spend their life, or most of it, for anything from stealing bread to murder. Sadly, there was not much left of the place, but there are some ongoing excavations there.
On the walk back home we were surprised again to see not one, but two big black snakes along the edge of the path. So yes, the rumours are true; there are lots of snakes in Tasmania. That night Andy made dinner for everyone and we all enjoyed a bottle of Jacqueline's wine, which she gets delivered to the house in a sample pack of 15
Mt. Wellington, Hobart
Taking a break while Tim tans his legs different wines of Tasmania (cool eh!!).
Another highlight for locals and tourists in Hobart is the Salamanca Market. It's a huge area near the wharf where the road is blocked off on Saturdays and filled with dozens and dozens of stalls. There you can find everything from local crafts to great organic produce. It's a shopper's dream come true. You can also get food there while listening to great live music.
Oh glorious weather. We woke up one morning, looked outside and finally saw that for the first time since our arrival, the fog had rolled off Mount Wellington and it was a beautiful day. We grabbed a bit of food and water, hopped into the pooge and were off. We spent hours hiking up and around the mountain, taking every trail we could find. The sight from the summit was spectacular, with a 360 degree view of everything down below. The wind at the top was blowing at full force up, almost knocking us over as it blasted through the clouds. Tim showed us his favorite rock climbing spot, a crazy rock face called the Organ Pipes. He pointed out a couple people climbing that looked like
Hobart
Snags on the barbie! little ants, trying to make their way to the top with safety harnesses and a lot of courage.
After 6 hours of hiking, we decided that a good meal was in order. A good Tassie meal, snags on the barbie (sausages on the barbeque), and beer to wash them down. The snags were BBQ'ed, put on a bun with grainy Dijon mustard, fried onions, then topped with sauerkraut. Let's just say that if that was our last meal ever, we'd die happy.
Tim introduced us to an Aussie movie called Thunderstruck, about a group of friends who after seeing ACDC live, make a pledge that whoever dies first has to be buried next to Bon Scott, the former ACDC singer. Basically, 10 years later, one of them dies and the guys get back together to fulfill their pledge. Another Aussie classic, if you like ACDC. After a lot of snags, laughs, beers and serious hiking about, a good sleep was in order.
We had hiked mountains, toured the Salamanca Market, seen snakes, chowed snags, went to a prison, so what was left? We had saved the best for last. The Cascade Brewery tour! We walked through the
Cascade Brewery, Hobart
It's not Laverne and Shirley, but they're havin just as much fun! old stone building, seeing the huge vats of beer fermenting and bubbling away for everybody in Tasmania and mainland Australia to enjoy. We saw how the beer is made, sampled some, and even ran into some Canadians there (big surprise, eh!!). It was lots of fun, and some really great tasting beer too.
Well, the evening had finally come, our last one in Hobart. My, how time flies when you're having fun. Tim and Jacqueline surprised us by taking us out to dinner, to a place with great atmosphere right on the water, called The Drunken Admiral. The perfect name for a place in Tassie. We said cheers, ate great local seafood, stopped at a pub on our way home for one last drink, and then called it a night. As always, it was hard to say goodbye, but we made plans to meet again with Tim, Jacqueline, and Mike in Sydney since we would all be leaving from the Sydney airport on Dec. 5th.
At this point, we got adventurous and rented a car to go touring. Welcome to the world of driving in the left lane, roundabouts and road kill. Christine had some wonderful fun trying
Cascade Brewery, Hobart
Andy's two favorite things not to kill us, change gears with the other hand, and change lanes with the signal, rather than the windshield wipers! Actually, it wasn't that scary, and Andy got really good at playing navigator. We drove out to Fortescue Bay on the Tasman Peninsula to do some camping with our brand new gear.
There we spent two days camping, hiking and visiting Port Arthur, a penal colony, which has amazing ruins of the penitentiary and surrounding buildings. Back then, boys could go to prison as young as seven years old, but they weren't allowed to be hung for their crimes unless they were nine! There the men were 'reformed' and sent back out into the world, often to return shortly after. A very interesting place with quite a gruesome past, strangely located in a beautiful spot.
While hiking on the way to Cape Huay, Fortescue Bay, we were hit hard with a crazy rain storm. The fog was so bad that the highlight of our hike, a big rock called 'The Totem', was right in front of us, and we could barely see it. Although most of the time we had good weather in general, high teens and
Hobart
Tim and Jacqueline, our beloved tourguides and hosts in Tassie low twenties, with lots of sun. Along the beach path we saw little fairy penguins nesting in burrows, echidnas (which look like a cross between an ant-eater and a hedgehog), wallabies hopping all around our camp site, but not a single wombat. Sadly, we smelled something that was a little off and realized there was a large dead kangaroo washed up on the shore. Too bad the first roo we got to see was deceased!
From there we drove north and camped for another two nights on the Freycinet Peninsula (along the East coast of Tasmania). There we enjoyed the incredibly beautiful rugged coastal landscape, and did some more hiking (or bush walking, as it's called there). One that we really enjoyed was a loop out to Wineglass Bay. First of all, the hike went steeply uphill and ended at a great look-out area over Wineglass Bay, which could only be compared to Tofino, except with much clearer blue water, and white sand. Then the trail went downhill to the beach where wallabies hung out, trying to coax tourists out of their lunch. A place where you could pass hours of the day away with ease. As we hiked
Fortescue Bay
Andy loves the beach, fair dinkum! down a dirt path, we were lucky enough to see a Tiger snake, the most poisonous snake in Tasmania. Lucky for two reasons, one, that it was just a short distance away from Christine's foot when she noticed it, and two, that for some reason, it didn't seem to notice us. As it was kind enough not to bite, we quietly took it's photo and continued on our way.
Next we drove to Launceston, the second biggest city in Tasmania, with a whopping 60 thousand people (it seemed like a lot less)! We camped at a private trailer park/campground which sounds terrible, but since it came with hot showers and laundry, we were pretty happy, since we were stinky, with no clean clothes. There we relaxed, enjoyed the amenities, and made some plans as to what we were going to get up to next. The next morning we drove out to Mole Creek, and took a tour through one of the caves located in the National park there. It was like walking into another universe. Dark, silent, sparkling and beautiful, we shuffled our way through the stalagmites and stalactites, and at the end were treated by having the lights
Cape Huay, Fortescue Bay
A four hour hike in the rain, and he's still smiling! turned out to view a 'galaxy' of glow worms which covered the ceiling of the cave much like the night sky. Amazing.
Afterwards, we drove to Bernie to spend the night, and were lucky to chance upon a free guided talk about the fairy penguins, led by two very funny elderly Aussie ladies. As they talked, we were led to the beach to go and spot the penguins returning to their burrows (which they do at dusk every night). To do this, one needs a flashlight with the end covered in red cellophane. Penguins can't see the colour red, so they don't know that you are watching them. It was completely hilarious, one by one the little penguins slowly hopped and shuffled their way out of the sea and up the beach to greet their mates at the burrows. We also got to see some penguin sex, also hilarious since one of the elderly ladies informed us that we were all now penguin perverts! A very entertaining day all together.
The next day we had a good idea. The Nut in Stanley! So we did some serious driving up to Stanley, a tiny little town with a nice
Cape Huay, Fortescue Bay
It was worth it for the view ocean view, to see 'The Nut'. For those of you who are thinking, 'What the heck is the Nut', it's a massive old base of a volcano that people like us climb up to see the tiny world below. But no one really knows why it was named the Nut. What a great view it was! Just another one of the many sweet Tassie sights.
Driving around Tasmania was great. The roads are very quiet, narrow and winding, and we passed hours and hours of beautiful farmland on our way. Thousands of acres filled with sheep and baby lambs, along with black angus cows, for beef we guess. The earth is a dark ochre red, and eucalypts are growing in forests everywhere. Incredibly beautiful. It was much greener and fertile than we had imagined. All together we managed to add 1200 km on to our rental in 7 days, not too bad!
We dropped off our car, spent the day exploring Devonport (our last stop in Tassie), then made our way down to the docks to the 'Spirit of Tasmania', a massive ferry that crosses the Bass strait to Melbourne on an overnight cruise. And we were booked
in on the next sailing. We were excited, happy, and a little bit nervous. Bass Strait can be one of the roughest stretches of water on earth, and we had heard several horror stories of rough seas. Best of all was the nickname that Tim had given it, 'The Barf Ship'. With that in mind, we boarded the ship, on to our next adventure!
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tim
non-member comment
hey theres too many pictures of that tim guy in here! i'm glad you had fun here with us, i wish you were still here! i got a lot of tooheys red too drink all on my own1