Our first destination was Tasmania, that little island down
South that not many young Brit travellers seem to visit on their Oz
experiences. Well, if you’ve been to Australia, or live here, and haven’t been
to the Tassie state – you are missing out!
I was a bit dubious about a week in a campervan… I’m not
usually naturally inclined to camping style endeavours (which reminds me – I
must do a reflective blog on camping at Rainbow Beach with my cousins a few
weeks ago…) Anyway, as it turned out, I LOVED our campervan! It was so fun
touring around in it, it was cosy and it meant you get to carry your clothes
around with you all the time, a plus if you are a fan of the last minute outfit
change. I’m going to break these next few blogs up into days, starting with day
2…
Day 2
Our first full day was spent in Hobart taking in the views
from Mt Wellington, sampling the beers at Cascade Brewery and eating lunch in
Salamanca. In the afternoon we parked our camper up at the campsite handily
positioned across from MONA (The Museum of New and Old Art). Hobart has been
listed as one of the top 10 cities in the world to visit by Lonely Planet and
MONA is a big part of that award. It’s adjoining to Moorilla Winery, which is a
brilliant idea! Why not get a little bit tipsy before going to an art gallery?!
So commenced the first tasting of many for James and me over the next few
weeks… It was at Moorilla that we came up with our genius system for deciding
on what wines to buy. We get the tasting list and make a ‘M’ column and a ‘J’
column, if I like the wine I put a tick, if I don’t then a cross is given. Same
goes for James and if we have two ticks on a bottle we have to buy it! Clever
hey? After we purchased the wines we like and arranged to post it back to
Queensland (I can’t remember how many, too many wineries ago – we’ll see what
awaits us at home!) we ventured into MONA.
MONA is often described as ‘confronting’ and I can now
understand why. None of the art work is labelled or explained on the wall like
usual practice at a gallery, instead we were given iPhone type devices where if
you see something you want explaining then you search for what is in close
range on your ‘iPhone’ and it tells you about it. One of the pieces of art that
I looked up was a dummy of a body curled up in the foetal position facing the
wall. I can’t remember the artist but it had been made to show what the artist
felt upon visiting MONA. Essentially, he said that often art is something that
is used to show what is possible, what is beautiful and what we dream of – but
MONA does the opposite, it takes us into our nightmares and forces us to
confront what makes us uncomfortable. For me this sums up a lot of the art at
MONA, interesting but not beautiful. If
you go to Hobart you have to visit MONA, without a doubt, but makes sure you go
to Moorilla for some wine first!
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| At the top of Mt Wellington |
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| Samples at Cascade Brewery |
Day 3
The next day we visited Port Arthur to see the convict site.
We took a day tour around the ruins and the existing buildings and learned all
about the history of the penal prison and a bit about some of the prisoners and
civilians living there. It was a fascinating day and we finished it off with a
ghost tour in the evening which was a bit of fun but no supernatural sightings!
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| Isle of the Dead at Port Arthur |
Day 4
After an early start we arrived at Freycinet National Park
and set off on the 5 hour hike to Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach. Even though the water was really cold at Wineglass
Bay James still plunged in for a swim, he didn't last long. It was stunning but Hazards Beach totally took my breath away. As soon as we
emerged from the clearing and stepped out onto the white sand I knew it was the
most beautiful place I had ever been to. As it’s in a bay the water is really
still and you can’t see any form of civilisation. It’s hard to describe how
serene it was, I just loved it.
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| Wineglass Bay lookout |
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| Hazards Beach |
Day 5
If you have read my blog recently you will know that James
now thinks himself a bit of a fisherman. After Freycinet we hooned up the coast
to St Helens which is known for its fishing, so this was the day that we
decided to go out on a boat and see if James could finally catch something.
We met Captain Lionel and his deckhand Wade (who reeked) at
the jetty early in the morning and set off on the ‘Keen Angler’. Our first stop
was a bit of reef fishing where we dropped our lines down to the reef floor, 65
metres down. As I am used to my light weight pink LadyFish rod, I had to have a
reel belt on, mind you so did James – the pictures are pretty funny. As soon as
we dropped our rods down the fish were nibbling and we were reeling in! We
caught a fair few Gary Gurnets (not what you want to catch – little pests),
some Cod and a few Morwong. The big catch of this part was James’ Striped Trumpeter,
Lionel and Wade were very impressed with that big bad boy! Turns out he CAN
fish!
After a quick change of location, and a cup of tea and a
mince pie, we dropped our lines 80 metres to find some tasty Flat Head. James
steamed ahead which several fish but I was starting to get sore arms and could
feel the sea sickness creep in… I persevered and caught my own Flat Head and a
baby shark (we put him back). But after Capt. Lionel made me touch the shark’s
skin, and Wade stood close (he had been filleting our fish and now smelt even
worse), I began to think the mince pie was a mistake. I bowed out and tried to
concentrate on the land and not being sick overboard. James, however, went from
strength to strength catching more Flatties and a freaking Gummy Shark – but
Wade dropped the Shark and he swam off. James was very disappointed. Then
something strange happened, all the birds that had been sat on the sea around
the boat flew off. Capt. Lionel and Wade sprung into action – a Mako Shark was
circling! Out came the heavy duty reel and rod and a spear! Capt. Lionel
tempted the Mako with the bait and hooked him and passed the rod over to James
to reel in. I momentarily forgot my desire to vomit and watched as the dark
object moved closer to the surface, but then he spat out the hook and swam off…
No Mako for dinner.
Once we were safely back on land we headed inland towards
Cradle Mountain and parked up in Mole Creek for the night. James cooked up some
of the fresh Flat Head and oh my god it was so yummy.
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| After Capt. Lionel made me touch the Shark |
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| James and his Striped Trumpeter |
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| My Flat Head |
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| The Flat Head tastes sooo good |
Day 6
We set off on another National Park hike, this time around
Cradle Mountain’s Dove Lake. It was yet another perfect day but I did learn the
valuable lesson of why you don’t take your backpack into public toilets – the
floor isn’t usually clean L
However after ½ a litre of mineral water the problem was almost solved, it
could have been worse – like if Wade had been in close proximity again…
That night we stayed in a place called Deloraine where the campsite was situated near a river. Now James has a history of attracting Ducks (see the Montville blog). Shortly after arriving I was on my way to the bathrooms when I notices a group of Ducks hanging out down stream, I thought to myself I bet they are with James when I return. And when I got back, there he was sat in the centre of his friends the Ducks.
That night we stayed in a place called Deloraine where the campsite was situated near a river. Now James has a history of attracting Ducks (see the Montville blog). Shortly after arriving I was on my way to the bathrooms when I notices a group of Ducks hanging out down stream, I thought to myself I bet they are with James when I return. And when I got back, there he was sat in the centre of his friends the Ducks.
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| Dove Lake with Cradle Mountain behind |
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| The Campervan!!! |
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| James 'the Duck whisperer' Rumbles chilling with his boys |
Day 7
For our final day in Tasmania we visited a few of the Tamar
Valley Wineries. Kicking of the tasting at 10am we popped along to 9th
Island where our cellar door man wasn’t all that friendly. I saw him eyeing up
our ticks and crosses so I explained our tried and tested buying method, James
also mentioned that we both like a sparkling wine. Then a sparkle appeared in
Adnam’s eye and he produced a few more sparking varieties, correctly
anticipating more double ticks. Fresh from our fishing trip a few days before,
we mentioned the Mako incident and suddenly Adnam was our best friend! A keen
fisherman himself, he warmed up and showed us some YouTube videos of Mako’s
jumping – they jump! Into boats! What was Capt. Lionel thinking?! We are lucky
to be alive, I swear!
Next up, we went to Velo – which is owned by a former Tour
de France winner and his wife. We purchased a few more bottles from this
charming and modern winery. Then it was
time to bid farewell to our campervan and head into Launceston. Turns out there
isn’t that much to do there… we visited the James Boags Brewery for a drink, and took
the chairlift over the gorge and walked around a lot... if you’re heading to Tassie
I wouldn’t bother taking a trip to Launceston but everywhere else was really amazing,
one of the best holidays that I have taken – who knew campervan’s are so great!
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| 11am tasting at 9th Island Winery |
Next up, Melbourne - to be continued...
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