Tassie Trip

Finally I'm sitting in front of my laptop and ready to write my new adventures.



As most of you probably know, I traveled to Tasmania during Vice Chancellor's week. When we first began planning for the trip there were 7 of us who were interested. Suddenly this number increased to 15 (no kidding!), which was a big group, but one which had a great time in that southern island. The preparation took several days of planning and deciding the best options. So, the result is what I will explain in this post...



The group of fifteen people consisted in: 1. Aarti (India), 2. Amanda (Canada), 3. Asun (Spain), 4. Gordon (Germany), 5. Juergen (Germany), 6. Kerstin (Germany), 7. Koldo (Spain), 8. Manu (Spain), 9. Min Ji (South Korea), 10. Quique (Spain), 11. Sarah (Germany), 12. Silvia (Spain), 13. Su Min (South Korea), 14. Uri (Spain), and me 15. Ricardo (Mexico). Therefore, we had to rent 4 cars which adopted nicknames: On Fire (7, 10, 14, 15), Cañonero (2, 8, 11, 13), Hot Girls Car (3, 9, 12), and The German Car (4, 5, 6, 11).



We arrived in Hobart on the 8th of April. Once there, we took 4 cabs and went to the hostel and unpacked. That night was starry and cold, but no Aurora Australis was spotted. As it was late we all were hungry and so we took two vans and went to the Waterfront and had dinner. Juergen and Gordon went walking and were guided by their GPS. Once at the Waterfront we went to Mures, a fish-and-chips restaurant that Ben recommended to me, which and was great (Well Done Ben). Later on we walked for a bit to find a PUB, and guess what, there was a Scruffy Murphy's! hahaha. It had a different name though (Irish Murphy's). We had a beer there and then went back to the hostel and got ready for the next journey.





We woke up early the next morning and both the drivers and the credit card people went to get the cars from Hertz. After getting lost for a bit, even with the assistance of our GPS we found the place. Uri and I were so excited and as soon as we got the cars we went straight to the hostel to meet the people who did not come to pick up the cars and left the others in the car rental agency. Once everybody arrived we went to find a supermarket and bought breakfast and food for lunch, dinner, and another breakfast. After spending the whole morning in Hobart doing pretty much nothing we started to drive east to Port Arthur. Let's say that the other cars couldn't catch us up and got lost in Hobart and we decided to meet in Port Arthur. What really happened was that the GPS man (read Quique) was too busy taking pictures of the bridge and forgot to look at the GPS, then I had to make a quick turn and lost the other cars. On the way we stopped at a lookout and also at a small beach. We continued driving and we met the rest of the group. When we arrived at Port Arthur we walked along the historic site, which I think was great. I have to admit that the prisoners had a great scenery view. We visited the court, the church and the prison cells. After that we went back to Hobart (this time without stops), had pasta for dinner and went to Mount Wellington and enjoyed the view after having some wine. It was freezing cold up there.



On Tuesday morning we drove to the east coast. We made a short stop at an information office to ask about things we could do on the way to Launceston. The man that worked there couldn't tell us anything and responded with comments like: "it is a long way to Launceston" or "you will not be able to see anything on the way". Our major stop in Coles Bay was great. We had lunch in front of the Tasman Sea and the view was amazing. We payed the National Park Pass and walked along a track for around 1.5 hours towards the Wineglass Bay Lookout in the Freycinet National Park. This track had about 600 steps, but it was worth it. On the way back Asun fell on her foot and couldn't walk, so we carried her back to the car. We drove straight to Launceston through a winding road. Some people suffered from carsickness because of it. When we arrived to the city we went to buy dinner and some food for the next day. We had pizzas and garlic bread in the hostel. All of us were so tired and went to bed early.







On the 11th after planning the day we drove along the north coast. We visited a very nice beach in the Narawntapu National Park, where our cars got really dirty. We were supposed to see Tasmanian Fauna in this National Park, but found horses and a lot of strange-looking crabs. We stopped at different lookouts and then we found a nice place to have lunch, which was called Table Cape. It was just in front of the Bass Strait. After the delicious daily sandwich we drove to Stanley to find the famous Stanley Nut. This was a weird Uluru-like rock in front of the strait. We took the chairlifts to the top and walked for a bit and waited for the sunset. The track down the mountain was very steep, you could even see the cemetery just down the cliff. Then we had to drive a long way to Cradle Mountain. We were not sure where the next hostel was located, but we drove anyway. After having some accidents on the road and finding that Silvia was a serial killer (a wombat and a wallaby), we arrived at the hostel with 3.5 cars. This place was really cold, hot pasta and wine helped us feel warm as well as the heat coming from the chimney. We attempted to see the Aurora Australis once again. I reckon some people were able to see it even if there was nothing but stars in the sky. When we went back to the kitchen, we had a friend eating food from the garbage, a possum. Then we decided to play Psychologist with Amanda and then we played Truth or Dare. That was all.





On Thursday the 12th we visited the Cradle Mountain National Park. The track was supposed to take 2hrs return but we took around 4. We stopped in different spots to take pictures and enjoy the scenery that surrounded us. In my opinion, the first part of the track was the best, because the second one was dryer and did not have many trees. Dove Lake, Glacier Rock, and some other lookouts were really nice. After it, we went to the National parks Office to get some information about what we could do next. We then drove to Rosebury to have lunch. This place was really small but nice. Once we filled up the petrol tank of the four vehicles we drove to Montezuma Falls. Although we didn't see the falls because it was a long way, we walked inside the forest for about an hour or so. Then we took the cars and continued driving to Strahan. We arrived in the hostel and went shopping for dinner. This time it was neither pasta nor sandwiches, but Spanish Tortilla. After dinner we played other games and went to sleep. Nevertheless, some stayed awake and prepared The Experiment. It consisted of putting Uri's hand in a pot filled with warm water during the night. If the experiment was successful then Uri was going to wake up wet but not because of the water in the pot. However it failed.





Now I pass to the last day that lasted more than 24hrs. Continue reading and you will find out. In the early morning we drove to a beach. If you draw a straight line directly west from this beach the first piece of land that you will find is Argentina. Then we came back and drove towards Hobart. On the way to the final destination of the trip we stopped at a few different lookouts. We kept to the speed limit but the others couldn't catch us up. We visited Lake Saint Clair and had lunch in the restaurant. Then we continued driving east and we waited for about 10 minutes at an intersection for the others to arrive. Once we arrived in Mount Field National Park we parked and went for a walk in the Russel Falls and Tall Trees. The sunset came and then we found ourselves walking in the dark without any lights but a night-vision video camera. Then we drove slower because at night many animals come out and cross the roads. When we arrived in Hobart we went to Mures once again to eat squid rings, fish, prawns, veggie burgers, and ice cream for dessert. We decided to go to a Bar and then a PUB. After getting bored we had some coffees to keep us awake because our flight was at 6am. We sang and danced in the streets, while others were sleeping in the cars. At 3:30am we headed to the airport and refilled the tanks of the cars. It was really cold outside. After checking, in we went to the terminal from which our plane left. I slept almost the entire flight and then we arrived in Sydney. Then my second trip started...