Disclaimer: I'm back from adventures in Tassie, safely holed up in a hostel in Melbourne and catching up on posts. This first one I wrote about halfway through the trip, the next one I will write here, well after the fact. So I apologize if the tone seems to shift between this post and the next one. Enjoy!
Wow, I don’t even know where to start. I LOVE Tasmania! I
think I’m going to write a few different posts about it and post them as I can,
because there’s so much to talk about and internet access is limited since we
are basically camping.
It’s so beautiful here! Every place we’ve seen looks like a
postcard, and there are so many different environments on this little island. You
can see vineyards, cows and sheep munching grass in a field, backed by the
ocean in one direction and mountains in the other all from the same lookout
spot. What’s nice is that everything is so close together, so the scenery
changes almost by the minute as you drive. And driving is the perfect way to
see everything, our rideshare is working out so well! We have a really good group
together, it’s been really fun. And there are animals everywhere! I still have
yet to see a live kangaroo (unfortunately they get hit by cars all the time, so
we’ve seen a bunch of dead ones) but we have met some very friendly wallabies!
They are like mini kangaroos, and in the parks they are totally unafraid of
humans.
Breathtaking view from a lookout we stopped at, those mountains in the background are called the Hazards, part of Freycinet National Park.
Our first wallaby friend!
He was curious about everything, kept thinking we were going to give him food...
The day we arrived we stayed in a hostel in Hobart, which is
the biggest city in Tassie, then picked up our bitchin’ van the next morning.
After a stop for food and gas (and goon, of course!) we headed all the way
south to Cockle bay. It’s just about the southern tip of the island, and it was
such a cool feeling standing on what feels like the end of the world!
We headed a little north from there in search of some cool
caves and hot springs that were mentioned in the guidebook, but it was getting
late and it was raining, and there wasn’t anyone to let us up to the caves so
we left in search of the hot springs. When we left I took over the driving,
getting in on the right side and driving on the left for the first time ever!
It was pretty nervewracking. The road was unsealed and somehow more
pothole than flat, so I had to go really slow. We turned up an even sketchier
road from there in search of the hot springs, I felt like we had driven back
into prehistoric times. The road was all mud and massive ferns bigger than the
van were crowding in on either side of the road. I swear, I think I saw a
pterodactyl off in the trees… It was really steep going up, and I was driving
over branches and small trees that had fallen in the road; we were sure that
wasn’t the right way, but by then it was way too late to turn around. The road
was barely wider than the van, and the sides were all a muddy mess. We finally
found a logging road we turned on to, and ended up driving until dark, lost in
the national park on logging roads.
We finally found
somewhere to camp, which was nice because it was freezing cold and raining, and
we still needed to cook dinner in the back of the van for the first time, which
was an adventure in itself. We had camped in the parking lot of something
called the Airwalk, which we checked out the next day. It’s a massive metal
walkway in the canopy of the Eucalyptus forest, so cool! It was still cold, and
rained off and on, but the hike was beautiful!
Ancient Eucalyptus tree
View from the top of the Airwalk
It was reeeeally windy...
We did get a bit of sun though!
One of the two rivers that meet in the park
After that we drove north a little more and camped at
Fortescue Bay. We had to cook in the dark again, but this campsite had
barbeques and a covered area we could use, so it was a step up for sure. It was
still freezing, but no longer raining, much to our relief! We had a whole host
of possum and wallaby moochers around while we cooked, so that was fun too.
Cookin' in the cold!
Caught in the act! The possums here are way cuter than back in the States.
And they aren't shy either, this guy was chewing on my camera when I got this picture!
I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the bay was the next morning
when I got down to the beach, it looked like a tropical paradise! The only
difference was that the water was so cold your feet would start to ache if you
waded in for any longer than 30 seconds at a time.
Gorgeous coast line
This was the creek feeding into the bay
Looking out towards the end of the world!
When we left Fortescue that day (after some heavenly and
overdue hot showers at the camp, yay!) we kept going north, then looped back
south down the Tasman peninsula to Cole’s bay. There are a lot of bays here,
and they don’t get too creative with the naming of places… Anyway, it was also
stunning, and even though we were there in time to catch the sunset, we again
ended up cooking in the dark, along with our ever-present critter entourage.
The Hazards and Cole's Bay a little closer up
Cole's Bay at sunset
We were no longer afraid of the possums either...
It was a short drive from our campsite the next morning to
the start of the Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach track. Pierre, the mountaineer
of the group, climbed one of the Hazards, they are big mountains of bare rock
jutting out of the forest right between the two beaches. The rest of us just hiked the
loop, which still took a little over 5 hours. It was so gorgeous walking from
the Eucalyptus forest up to the bay lookout, which was a ways up one of the
hazards, then down again to the actual bay through groves of other trees I
don’t know the names of, some of which were regrowing after brush fires had
devastated lots of the area. Wineglass bay was beautiful, and the beach itself was made up of tiny pebbles that tickled your feet as you walked! After Wineglass you walk across the peninsula on
wooden walkways above a marsh, then come out at Hazards Beach, which is
windswept and desert-like, and there are thousands of colorful shells to
collect. Then it’s back up a ways to walk along the rocks above the ocean,
getting panorama views of the peninsula and the mainland behind the whole time.
Stunning. Unfortunately, my camera battery died at the bay lookout, so the rest of my pictures from that day are on my phone, and I'm having some technical difficulties transferring them over. I still got a few good ones before that though:
Really cool rock formations
Me taking a break in the shade (it was one of the few sunny days we had all week)
Wineglass Bay from the lookout point, you can just see Hazards Beach to the right
In lieu of more scenery, here's a mama wallaby with a joey in her pouch! Cutest. Thing. Ever. Check out the joey's foot sticking out over his head! Apparently these things are yoga masters.
That night we camped in a free campground outside the park,
and of course ended up cooking and eating after dark. Because there were SO
many bugs we turned off the lights in the van and ate by the light of the moon
and makeshift lanterns you can make by aiming a flashlight at a water jug. It
was really nice, until I woke up this morning and realized there were not just
moths sharing our campsite, but zillions of mosquitos. We had only seen the
odd one or two so far on the trip, so I never thought to put on bug spray.
Apparently these monsters can bite through your clothes, and as of right now I
estimate I have over 120 bites (conservative estimate). Miserable. I guess the silver lining is that we
aren’t in a malaria zone, but it’s not much consolation because I want to peel
my skin off right now to make the itching stop! I’m using plenty of bug spray
tonight…
I’ll leave this post on that cheery note. It’s time to cook
dinner and, miracle of miracles, our campsite has a covered kitchen with
lights! It’s pure luxury tonight! More to come on the rest of the roadtrip
soon!
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