Our great adventure - the week in Tasmania

We just returned from our latest adventure, a 17 day trip to Tasmania, Melbourne, Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. James put in many hours of planning in preparation and, although I teased him a lot about his spread sheet, he did an amazing job. We packed in so many different sights, tastes and experiences into our trip. I wrote this blogs tonight on the plane from Adelaide to Brisbane so that my memories wouldn’t be too distant. I’m really wishing I had an iPhone and could have done a quick daily blog and update! I’ll start you at the beginning… For now I’ll post about Tasmania, and I’ll upload the others tomorrow. I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures…

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! 

At the top of Mt Wellington

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!

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.

Wineglass Bay lookout

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.

After Capt. Lionel made me touch the Shark

James and his Striped Trumpeter

My Flat Head

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.

Dove Lake with Cradle Mountain behind

The Campervan!!!

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 9^th 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! 

11am tasting at 9th Island Winery

Next up, Melbourne - to be continued...

James is nearly thirty...

On Sunday James turned 27 years old (four years since we had our first kiss at the Action Man (him) vs Barbie (me) UEA LCR... how time flies). He always says that he's not bothered about birthdays but I know better! I've always had a monthly countdown to my birthday and loved the birthday cakes, banners, balloons, cards, presents and dinners that my Mum always ensured I had. In later years my birthdays were made special by my lovely girlfriends. But boys don't tend to buy into all the frills of birthdays so I think James has forgotten how it's meant to go down! So I made it my mission to remind him of all the fun elements birthdays should have!

As James was working 10am - 9pm my plans were limited to breakfast and dinner. In the morning I made a sleepy James his current fav brekkie, an Omlette with feta and Choritzo. He also unwrapped a few presents and cards. I caught up with James' Mum, Debbi, in England in September and, like all good Mums, she was prepared with wrapped presents and card for me to take back for James. Her present was an amazing book made up of all different photos from our time out here. It's so much better having someone else choose the photos for that kind of thing because it means that when we look at it and we have to figure out where the photos were taken and it brings back so many memories.

While we were away in Byron I asked James what his last meal would be - he replied that it would be a burger because there are so many options. After chatting with my friend Pascale she gave me an amazing pulled Cajun pork recipe which went down a treat. I also picked up a marble cake from The Cheesecake Shop which James has branded as the 'best cake' he has ever tasted. We also have a tradition of buying each other Champagne for special occasions, but as we are so far from France here it's pretty pricey. I worked out that I could get three bottles of good sparkling wine for the same price as one bottle of Champagne so I went for quantity! But we only had one that night (we have been known to consume more...) as James had an early surf lesson the following morning... I think it's safe to say that he enjoyed being spoilt a bit.

Happy Birthday again to James, I can't wait for many more together.

Birthday feast

Make a wish!

After giving surfing a go about a year ago I have stuck to body boarding and James just throws himself about in the waves. With some lesson vouchers to use James took his second lesson yesterday and I watched from the safety of the beach, but did finally take a dip after many months dry! He got some good stands and still has a few more lessons to take so watch this space... 

Get out my way lady!

James racing the old dude

I finally went in the sea after months of it being too cold!

Byron Bay and Oktoberfest

Last weekend we headed South...

On saturday we headed down to Oktoberfest in Brisbane with a couple of our Ozzie friends Anthony and Lauren. We didn't know what to expect but it turns out it's actually quite a big deal, Australians love their beer, it also turns out they love dressing up as Germans. The men squeezed into a pair of short shorts (James informs me this led to some urination access issues), pulled their socks up and whacked on a pair of braces. The girls went for the slutty farm girl look. We arrived around 4pm not in costume, purchased a couple of beers and tucked into some sausages before heading into the beer tent to enjoy some ropey German music and Robbie Williams' Angels by the ropey German band. More beers followed before James remembered the reason he doesn't drink lager. (Turns out he can't burp to release the gas, in fact he can't burp at all! Three and a half years together and I never realised!!) And the pork knuckle didn't help. He tapped out around ten and we went home, missing the inevitable bar room brawl. One of our group came across some neurofen and drunkenly decided to try to throw them in some nearby steins. Apparently one overweight man objected to his beer being 'spiked' and so it all kicked off... But we were safely tucked up at home and missed it. I'm not sure what reaction having a beer poured over my head would prompt (this happened to Lauren)... I hope I won't find out!

 

 

The next morning, after getting up to speed on the brawl, we all had breakfast at a beautiful little cafe in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington, James was in his element when he found out there was a 'breakfast burger' on the menu. We successfully negotiated the Brisbane road network (a rarity for us) and headed towards our next destination, Byron Bay. 

The boy was in charge of booking accomodation, so rather than finding myself in a luxurius Byron Bay hotel with easy access to beaches, cafe's and massages we stayed in the Hinterland... On a farm!

We arrived around 2pm and drove the short drive into Byron and did the famous light house walk. As usual we got a bit lost but there are far worse places to be lost. We didn't see any dolphins but we did see some japanese tourists and there were some migrating humpbacks showboating on their way past.

Despite the fact we were both pretty sweaty after the walk and I was wearing an interesting outfit (I hate being rushed when deciding what to wear) we headed straight out for dinner. We went to a place called Asia Joe's which is a little thai place serving thai style street food. Nicely full we headed back to the farm, got on the wine and watched 'ten things i hate about you'. We are that cool.

It turns out the farm James arranged was actually quite nice. In the morning we went down to the lake and took the rowing boat out for a lap. We also tried going for a walk but due to map reading issues didn't get very far.

After heading into town for lunch we headed back to the farm with a bottle of wine as the owners had recommended a spot on top of a hill just over the road from the farm with a good view of Byron Bay. So we spent a couple of hours on a hill, surrounded by cows drinking sparkling wine, playing scrabble on James' iPhone. I beat him which he wasn't too impressed at, he also got sunburned.

That evening I had to drive into town, after negotiating the cows which had set up camp in the middle of the road for the evening, we headed out for a quick bite. The next day we checked out and headed up the coast to Tweed Heads/Coolangatta for brekkie and then up to the Sunshine Coast, back to our hometown. We enjoyed our long weekend away but when you live in such a beautiful place it's always exciting to get home!

xoxo

Cairns continued...

After Green Island we went back to the mainland and spent the afternoon white water rafting on the Barron River - this was probably my favourite part of the trip. It was so much fun. It was a Grade 3 on a scale of 1-6. Our guide, Roddy (the guy at the back of the raft in the photo below), was hilarious and made the experience really funny. He described Grade 1 as a 'fart in the bath' and Grade 6 as 'you will probably hurt yourself badly'. There were 3 guides and Roddy chose me and James to go into his raft along with ladies who were sisters aged between 50 and 60, all grand mothers. These ladies were good old Aussie 'sheilas' who loved turning everything into a dirty joke, and boy did they enjoy having James to include in these jokes. It was so funny, every possible opportunity they were making comments about needing mouth to mouth (after being knocked into the river by Roddy) 'Ohhhh Jaaaaaames, doctoorrrr, I need the kiss of life!!' One of the manoeuvres we had to learn was the honeymoon shuffle (rocking your hips back and forth when the raft gets stuck on a rock), when ever this move was used the ladies went wild - it really was so funny! James was at the front blushing away and paddling furiously to compensate for their lack of paddling - they were too busy joking around to help much. Anyways, it was really fun and having these characters with us made the experience all the more memorable. 

Rafting on the Barron River

James and his ladies

The next day we took a 12 hour tour up to the Daintree forest and Cape Tribulation. It was a day full of beautiful natural scenery, only slightly tarnished by some very annoying Spaniards with long lens cameras, snapping constantly at everything. The worst was on the Daintree river when we were on a boat looking for crocodiles, it clearly said 'do not lean over board, crocs can jump!' However this group of snap happy chappies were hanging off the edge of the boat at every opportunity, even invading my personal space by almost resting on my head to steady the camera, it was ridiculous. The evil part of me was hoping a croc would jump up and know that ridiculous lens out of his hand!

The only one on the trip to get into the cold lake!

In he goes...!

Cape Tribulation

Little Wallaby

Befriending the blind one that no one else wanted to feed

Baby crocodile

Big croc

The following day we had a 4am pick from the hotel to go on a sunrise hot air balloon ride. Although setting your alarm for 3 something is horrible it was worth it. We arrived at the farm land at about 5am and watched the balloons inflate and take off with the first group, then it was back into the bus to 'chase the ballons' and then finally get in for our 30 minutes, just after sunrise. It looks like it would be scary but you barely feel the movement and the landing was so soft. It's as close to flying as I've got (I haven't been sky diving like James!).

4am hot air ballon start

There comes the sun...

Posing like our fellow Asian tourists - it's never too early for a peace sign

xoxo