TASSIE - DAY 4 - LAUNCESTON

BREIF HISTORY – Launceston is Tasmania’s second largest city. Founded in 1805, Launceston is known for its parks and gardens and many beautiful 19th century buildings.

Somewhere between Coles Bay and Launceston I feel asleep in the car feeling dead exhausted and abit squashed in the back seat of the car. I woke up and realized we have spent another 2.5 hours in the car.

We were official in Launceston City Center. We drove around the block a few times sightseeing the city before finding a parking spot. We struggle out of the car and start heading to a meter. I press the button to see the meter display "Free Parking after 6pm". Even though I was quite sleepy I was pretty impressed by that. Imagine having free parking in Sydney City after 6pm!

Buildings of Launceston:



We start strolling around the city to see most of the shops closing. We finally find a café to sit down in for coffee. I don’t think I have been craving coffee this bad for so long. I race in to order coffees and the girl informs me they are closing in 5 minutes. Luckily we found this store open. I chat her up to find out what stores are open around the city and she informs me the only thing open is Myers till 9pm. I collect my coffees off her and storm outside to avoid being locked in.

We walk over to the CBD area to Brisbane mall. It’s similar to our Pitt St mall only smaller. It’s tiny, trendy and has Myer attached on it. I wander into Myers to chat to a sales assistant. A good-looking bird working in cosmetics approaches me. I question her on what I can sightsee around Launceston in the next few hours. She gives me a quick guide to what is around here and recommends Seaport.

We return back to the car with lack of directions. We didn’t have a map of Launceston. The only map I had was the one I photographed on Brisbane mall with my digital camera. Trying to read that I direct my dad to Seaport. For some reason he refuses to listen to me when I say turn right. He insists on turning left and hola we spend the next 10 minutes arguing and getting lost.

We finally get back on track now that I am wide-awake from the coffee and find Seaport. We park at Seaport and realize the weather is about to turn on us. We quickly head towards the Wharf to take some pictures.

Views of Seaport:



After our pictures I wander into the bar there to use the toilets before heading back to Hobart. The next 2 hours flys as we use the Heritage Highway. It’s a straight highway unlike the East Coast roads. We manage to do good time before stopping for a break along the way at some random park.

We continue after our short break when the rain kicks in. We have almost 20kms left when I yell I see KFC and we should grab dinner. Without thinking twice my dad swings into KFC as we all race off to grab dinner. We didn’t have proper lunch. We made sandwiches and some pastries for the road trip the night before which we ate throughout the day.

After dinner we arrived back at the apartment pretty quickly. We all felt dead exhausted so it was a quick shower and straight to bed.

TASSIE - DAY 4 - EAST COAST

East Coast - Tasmania

I woke up at 7:15am to a screaming match in Spanish. Half a sleep, I try to open my eyes to see what the fuss is about. For a minute I thought we had Spanish neighbors upstairs having a morning domestic but it turns out to be the Spanish news on TV.

I try my hardest to fall back asleep but nothing I do helps. I throw a pillow onto the floor in frustration before storming off into the kitchen to make myself a coffee. Scoffing down a coffee I flick through the travel brochures highlighting the tourist attractions in Tasmania.

My dad and brother jet off to get the car tyres changed while I jump into the shower. On their return, both my mum and I are ready for the road trip ahead today. We discussed the night before that we should do the East Coast and head towards Wineglass bay. This is the spot the psycho doorman mentioned to us. Its supposed to be an hour away but we soon realize its more than that.

The East Coast escape is 252KMS away however the journey is amazing on the coastal stretches. We cross the Tasman bridge and head towards Sorell. We get to view sandy beaches, breath taking ocean views, relict rainforests, cliffs and various National Parks and Vineyards.

We bypass Sorell towards Orford. Orford is famous for surfing in the ocean at Spring Beach or Raspins Beach. However we decide to keep driving only viewing from the car window. I think it would have been good to stop, as this is the only place you can get views of "Maria Island"

We continue driving from Orford towards Swansea. This is the next small town where you can do a pit stop. It has a very small shopping village. It’s also a place where you can get your hands on farm grown berries, jams and homemade ice cream. It has small cafes and restaurants as well as great picnic spots. It’s also a great spot for swimming, surfing or fishing.

We continue our journey until we hit Coles Bay and Freycinet National Park. Freycinet Peninsula is surrounded by granite mountains and white sand beaches. It took us around 4 and a half-hours getting here but the coastal views were definitely worth it.

We park at the information building near the National Park and obtain a pass to travel down to the lookouts. We are told that both Coles Bay and Sleepy Bay lookouts are approx. 20minute walk from their carparks.
We return to the car and slowly make our way to the Coles Bay lookout. After 20minutes we arrive.

BREIF HISTORY- EAST COAST - Wineglass Bay is situated close to the township of Coles Bay where the three red granite mountains called "The Hazards" rise up straight from the sea.

Views of Coles Bay:

We jump back into the car to drive over to the other lookout. We park the car and walk another 20 minutes to arrive at Sleepy Bay.

Views of Sleepy Bay:

With views of Honeymoon Bay:

Wineglass bay:

We return to the car when my brother throws a random tantrum saying that we should go to Launceston today otherwise his not going with us on sunday. The plan was to visit Launceston on Sunday. My parents decide to follow this stupid idea and we realize we have to back track abit to cross over on Campbelltown Highway.

The alternative would be to continue along the East Coast towards Bicheno but it would take longer. Estimated time to get to Launceston from Coles Bay is 2.5 hours. It is then another 2.5 hours to get back to Hobart from Launceston.

We decide to do this, don’t ask why……

TASSIE - DAY 3 - MT FIELD NATIONAL PARK

Trail to Horseshoe Fall @ Mt.Field National Park

I woke up at 6:11am unable to sleep again. I forced myself to sleep when I woke half an hour later trying to make sense of my dream. I had a dream I was at flight center trying to book a flight. The sales assistant kept insisting on me booking a flight with a dishwasher on a Singapore airline. I had no idea why she was offering me a dishwasher on a flight.

I managed to fall back asleep to only wake up at 7:15am with my heart racing. I could barely breathe and tried reaching for my water bottle to relax. I had a dream that the bitch slapping Italiano was riding in a car with 8 other guys. One of them shoots at me with his gun while I’m walking. I manage to dodge and they miss. At that point I wake up. That bastard tried shooting me! You will pay for this Italiano! You know who you are!

By 7:30am I had enough of the weird ass dreams as I dragged myself out of bed and straight for the shower. Recovering from the evil dreams I grab a coffee and relax on the balcony facing ABC studios. The plan for today was to rent a car to travel around. Since we explored Hobart City yesterday there wasn’t anything much left to do around here.

So at 8:30am I start calling around for rental cars when they all tell me that they have no cars left until the 8th of Jan. This is a sudden flashback to Cyprus in 2004. We couldn’t find a rental car in the whole of Cyprus the 10 days we were there. Like Cyprus, Tasmania required wheels to get anywhere you wanted.

Finally I found a car at one of the places I called. The guy on the other end of the phone stated it was $90 per day with insurance with a minimum of 3 days hire. The car was being dropped off at the airport and he could get it to us by 10:30am. I stupidly decided to inform the others when we got into a argument about it and I told the guy on the phone I would call him back.

My dad claimed it was too expense to rent. We tried explaining to him that it was the only bloody car left on the island and there was no way we were sitting in the apartment for the next 4 days. When we finally resolved the issues I called the guy back to find out that the car got booked in that 20 minutes. Ready to give up the guy passes on a phone number to another car rentals place that might have something for today.

We call the car rental place to find out that they have one car left and it’s a $107 a day with insurance. Without thinking twice we decide to book the car, realizing we are paying an extra $17 a day now due to our disagreement earlier.

I quickly look at the map to find the street of the car rental place when my dad screams he knows where it is. I tell him its one street away from the apartment. We lock up the apartment and leave. 15 minutes later we have circled the block and are completely lost.

Trying to stay calm I explain the freaking car rentals place was one street away not an entire block away. Finally we ask some random people and manage to find "Murray St". We manage to walk past the car rental place even though I state I think this is it. We walk further up to realize I was actually onto something and turn back. We arrive at the car rental’s place to be greeted by an Indian man who’s way too happy to be alive this early in the morning.

The Indian guy shows us to our car after all the paper work. We end up with some dodgy looking Toyota Corolla that’s racked up over 230 000 Kms. Before I could say anything my dad starts throwing a tantrum that the tyres are shit and they could cause a problem.

He goes onto tell the Indian guy that if this car was driven in Sydney the cops would pull you over and give you a ticket. The Indian guy looking annoyed but trying to stay cool asks one of the guys working there to take the car to change the tyres.

The car disappears with the guy returning within 5 minutes later stating that the tyre place was too busy to do it. After a lot of fussing we come to an agreement with the Indian guy that we will bring the car back in tomorrow morning to change the tyres. My dads happy, the Indian guys happy, I'm hungry!

We drove off as we fuss over what our plans for the day is. I suggest we grab lunch by the wharf before heading to the National Park to sightsee. Everyone in the car agrees until we argue about the fact there is no parking near the wharf. So we drive to our apartment to locate the garage and manage to park there before walking up to the wharf.

We walk up to a seafood restaurant near the water and settle down for an awesome lunch. Feeling satisfied by lunch we decide to head back to the apartment to pick up the car and drive to the National Park. The National Park is estimated at 1.5 hours but it takes us close to 2 hours getting there.

Views on "The Rivers Run"

BREIF HISTORY – MT. FIELD NATIONAL PARK – Mt Field was declared Tasmania’s first national park in 1916. The park was named after Barron Field, amateur naturalist. The parks major highlight is the Russell Falls. The trail continues to Horseshoe Falls and eventually to Lady Barron Falls.

We take "The River Run" route which allows you to see alot of hills, valleys and rugged mountain ranges. We drive past several lakes, forests and vineyards. My dad starts to panic as the petrol drops to a quater tank. There are no petrol stations in sight. We stop at a random park when we spot some locals to question where we might find a petrol station. The guy with 15 tat's tells us about 10 miles down the river run.

We continue our drive to finally spot a petrol station. We immediately stop to fill up and hence stop the panicking process in the car. Once filled up we drive past the new well known towns "Plenty" & "New Norfolk".

We arrived at Mt Field National Park to walk into reception to purchase tickets. Instead of having an entry fee per person you basically have to pay $20 for a ticket to be placed on your car. We pay for the ticket and dump it inside the car.

We started hiking through to spot giant ferns and enormous eucalyptus. One thing that stood out was "Pandani". Apparently Pandani is the largest heath plant in the world and only found in Tasmania.

Pictures taken inside the Mt.Field National Park:

We managed to walk up to Russell Falls. This was a 25-minute walk.

Russell Falls

We decided to follow the trail to Horseshoe Fall, which was another 15-minute walk. This was a struggle as it was up hill and the path was quite dangerous. It was almost like hiking up on Santorini again. You really have to watch where you are going. One wrong step and you can tumble down and kill yourself.

We managed to walk half way when we stopped at a bench to catch our breath. This is when I tell my parents they shouldn’t continue, as the remainder of the path looks quite hard. My mum agrees and tells my dad that they are getting old and can’t bush walk too much. This is when my dad throws a tantrum stating that he will continue the path to show he isn’t old. Never argue with him when his trying to prove a point. 8 minutes later we arrive at "Horseshoe Falls".

Horseshoe Falls

We finally manage to arrive at Horseshoe Falls and realize it was worth while coming here. If we continue for another hour we get to Lady Barron Falls but at this point no one could be bothered. We manage to slowly walk back down to stop at half way on the bench again. Another family is sitting there and look concerned when they see how exhausted we are. We tell them they might as well see it, as they are half way and its worth seeing. We encourage them and continue on our way.

We finally arrive to the bottom dead exhausted. We manage to stroll to the café to plant our bodies down. Even though its quite hot we decide to grab a coffee each to relax. Regaining fuel we jump pack into the car to head back home.

Along the way we decide to stop to sightsee this:

Back in the cars, we continue our travel until we spot a sign saying "Fresh Cherries".We decide to stop at a cherry farm. We make a random purchase of a few KGS of fresh hand picked cherries before jumping back into the car. Our next stop is to find apricots.

We spot a farm selling apricots and pull in. The minute you enter the farms the first thing they ask you is "where are you from". This some how strikes further conversation with them. Now that we have our cherries and apricots we head back to the apartment to settle for a nap.

I can’t sleep so I continue reading my book "When in Rome". After an hour and a half everyone is back up and hungry so we start cooking. After dinner my mum and I decide to check out the pool and gym.

Our apartment with the pool

Around 11pm we all decide we need to go out for a drive possibly to the Casino. Were planning on spending Saturday night at the casino but we figured we should get a sneak preview beforehand.

We jump into the car and head towards Sandy Bay. We manage to get lost along the way somehow and do a few laps when we spot the Sandy Bay sign. We take a left and follow Sandy Bay Drive until we hit the Casino.

We arrive at Wrest Point Casino. Wrest Point Casino was the first Casino to open in Australia by Jerry Lewis himself. I was actually quite impressed by the Casino, as I was really disappointed in Jupiter’s Casino at the Gold Coast. Even though this Casino was old it had been renovated inside but still maintained its unique atmosphere.

Wrest Point Casino - Hobart

We walk through the casino dressed in jeans and a shirt. We weren’t sure if they would let us in as we were going to dress up on Saturday for it. However soon we realized everyone in the casino is wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

We do a quick lap before hitting the information desk for some questions. We were planning on having dinner at one of the buffets at the casino on Saturday and decided to enquire on prices. This is when the girl behind the desk informs us that if we become a member of the casino we benefit by receiving a $5 discount per person at the buffet. The membership is free so we immediately sign up. The girl informs us that our cards will take about 10minutes to prepare so we wander off to explore more.

This is when my parents and brother decide to hit the pokies. They each grab a machine and slot a few coins in. I’m on the phone when my dad is screaming over to me. His gone totally hysterical waving his hands and arms about. This is when I notice his scored himself the maximum jackpot on the machine, which comes to about $230 in total.

He starts panicking and tells me to go get an attendant to get the money. I race off and grab the first guy I see and ask him how we can collect our money. The guy walks over and presses collect on the machine and the next thing you know my dad has $230 dollar coins spitting out at him. We manage to shove it all in a cup to exchange for notes. Once we have the notes, we collect our membership cards and flee the scene.

Back at the apartment Prison Break goes to air...

TASSIE - DAY 2 - EXPLORING HOBART

Constitution Dock

I woke up at 6am, thinking its like 11am or something. I don’t understand why I can’t sleep in on my holidays. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I spent the next hour tossing and turning before getting frustrated. I jumped out of bed and threw myself into the shower.

After a relaxing shower I started preparing breakfast when there was a knock on the door. I opened the door to spot a random guy standing there holing a basket of towels. The guy looked more like a psycho killer than a doorman. He had shoulder length brownish scruffy hair with eyes like a hawk. I grabbed the basket of towels off him and slam the door shut as quickly as possible avoiding any unnecessary conversation.

The doorman leaves and the entire TV fuss starts again at 9am. I decide to call the agent for help. The agent tells me he will send someone over as soon as possible to have a look at it. 20 minutes later there is a knock on the door and it’s the psycho killer doorman again standing there with a crooked smile on his face. Stupidly I invite him inside in hope of him fixing the TV so this fuss can end.

An hour later the doorman is still playing with the TV. The guy’s enjoying it so much that his practically refusing to leave. He spends the next 15 minutes talking to my dad and brother telling them where to go sightseeing. He mentions that we should go to Wineglass bay and the Saturday markets are a MUST!
Bloody hell more markets.

Finally the psycho doorman decides to leave informing me that the owner will contact me with a pincode as the TV is locked. I tell him that’s excellent news as I shove him out the door. For fucks sake, who spends an hour trying to fix the TV when the TV is locked and needs a pin code. Thank god he left now we can go sightseeing. We head to Hobart City center as soon as the doorman walked out.

Victoria Dock

Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery

BREIF HISTORY – Tasmania was once connected to the rest of Australia but 13, 000 year ago, during the great melt down it separated into its own little island. The Dutchman Abel Tasman was the first European to set foot on the Island in 1642, and promptly named it Van Diemen’s land. The name officially changed to Tasmania in 1856. Tasmania is well known for their cheeses, fine wines, fruit and seafood. The natural beauty of Tasmanian’s lakes, large farms, mountains, waterfalls, ancient trees and heritage building are breath taking.

We walk towards the Wharf and start our day walking tour from Victoria Dock, down to Constitution Dock to Watermans Dock. This place sort of reminds me of Darling Habour in Sydney. Along the way we stopped to watch some street theatre.

Street Theatre

Along the way we spot Tasmanian’s "TASTE" festival. Apparently this is a yearly festival in Hobart where hundreds and hundreds of food stalls are set up in some random warehouse. You have the opportunity to taste some wine and cheese. We decide to settle here for a while to grab lunch.

Inside the shed of the taste festival

While wandering around the festival I spot a Turkish Kebab stall and show it to my mum. Before I finish pointing out the stall, my mum is already over there chatting to the woman behind the stall. Within 5 minutes we find out that they have a Turkish Restaurant in North Hobart and they hand over a brochure with address details. Great if we have withdrawal symptoms from Turkish food we have a place to go to now.

After lunch we decide to stroll past Battery Point towards Salamanca Square. Battery Point has some of the oldest buildings, originally a gun emplacement to ward off possible French attacks in the early days of settlement. It then eventually became the town’s first residential district.

Following Battery Point we headed to Salamanca Palace. This was one of my favorite places in Hobart. Salamanca Place was a unique row of warehouses that were built in the 1800s, which they had turned into galleries, studios and restaurants. I suppose in a way it reminded me of Sydney’s "Rocks" area. Salamanca Place was also were the Saturday markets were held.

Pictures of Salmanca Palace below:

After exploring Salamanca Square we decided to sit down and grab a coffee to gain more fuel to explore Hobart. We enjoyed a nice relaxing coffee and it felt good being on holidays again. Tasmania was a place I wanted to see one day and this was happening now.

We decided to continue walking when we stopped at a random park bench to rest for a little while.

Views of the Park

Similar tower in Turkey - Izmir

This is when some Old Italian looking guy slams a picture of a pig onto the bench while looking at us. I thought he had lost his pig in the park and was about to ask us where it was or if we have seen it. This is when he blurts out this is good meat. Like what the fuck? Why do all the freaks spot us? The guy kept going on about how good the meat of a pig was for 5 minutes when we decided to stand up and leave. The funny part was this guy wasn’t homeless or anything. He was wearing diamond rings on his fingers. Now the rings weren’t guy rings. He was wearing women rings. God help the freaks out there.

The Pig advertisment

We continue our stroll around Hobart when we finally end up back at our apartment. I head to my bedroom to relax and read my novel "When in Rome".
A few hours later we decide to cook dinner and settle in front of the TV for prison break.

I'M IN TASMANIA!

We arrive in Hobart and walk off the plane to discover only one baggage claim machine operating. Well actually there is only one baggage machine in the entire airport. It's a tiny airport in Hobart.

We collect random brochures of sightseeing Tassie while my dad rushes outside to smoke a cigarette. On his return his huffing and puffing about us not getting a cab. Apparently there is only about 4 cabs waiting outside. He thinks all the people getting off the plane will get a cab and we will be stuck here for hours.

We finally collect our bags and manage to get a cab within 30 seconds. Talk about stressing about nothing. I score the front seat of the cab as I'm instructing the cab driver were we are going. I inform the cab driver that we are heading to Collins St in the city center of Hobart. We catch a glimpse of Hobart by night to see the Casino from afar.

The cab driver drops us off infront of our apartment when I spot the real estate agent waiting at the apartment block to hand over the keys. The poor guy must be annoyed as it's almost 10:30pm.

The real estate guy Ricky leads us into the apartment. We follow him to discover we are located on level 2. He opens the door to show us our apartment. Now I wasn't expecting an apartment this beautiful compared to the price we paid for 4 people. I was told that the apartment was 2 bedrooms which meant I had to share a bedroom with my brother. I was jumping up and down when we discovered that it was 2 bedrooms plus a study room. The study room had an extra bed in there which meant we can all have out own separate rooms.

The Living Room with Plasma

The apartment was quite modern, funky and stylish. The best part was the fact we had a huge plasma TV.

The Kitchen

My bedroom

The Master Bedroom with ensuite

While we were all rushing around to check out the rooms, my dad turned on the TV to realise we couldnt get any of the channels. This caused a major fuss for the next 10 minutes before we decided to turn the bloody thing off to roam the streets.

Now it's 11pm and we start roaming the streets on a Tuesday night. The city is completely empty. I mean completely. There isn't a single sole on the streets. We stroll up to the wharf which is about a 5 minute walk to view the habour. Realising that everything is shut we decide to race back to the apartment as my mum's sugar level has gone down.

Arriving back at the apartment we quickly make sandwiches. Now we are completely lucky that I got some pre-warning stating that there is nothing open in Hobart after 9pm. Due to this we packed into our suitcases some bread and other essentials to keep us going for the night. We make some sandwiches and 2 minute noodles at 11:30pm.

Once we are feed, I pull out my Prison Break DVD's and we slide one into the DVD player to get it going. We can't get the TV working but at least it's playing the DVD. We start watching Prison Break from the start as my brother and dad hasnt seen it.

I decide to crash while they continue watching the remainder of the CD.

LEAVING FOR TASMANIA

Still suffering from a major hangover from new years, we spent majority of the day fussing around the house to pack things. For some stupid reason I seem to fuss more about packing for an interstate trip then an internation trip.

We prepared all our suitcases near the door when Oltz drove into our driveway to drive us to the aiport. Once the suitcases were dumped into the car, the doors locked, farewell said to our dogs it was a smooth ride to the airport.

Poor Oltz must regret driving us to the airport. I think my parents drove him crazy interferring with his driving, telling him which way to go and what exit to take when he had a fair idea where he was heading.

We arrived to the airport two hours early trying to find our flight on the board. Due to us being early we werent even on the board as yet. Finally we spot a long queue for Virgin which we decide to join. As we are waiting there's a guy bending down like he is squatting or something in front of my mum. Next thing you know the guy's screaming his head off. My mum thought he was exercising but obviously there was something wrong with him.

While this whole fuss was going on, my brother decided to go to the information desk and get some assistance from a random guy behind the desk. He rushed back to tell us that we are in the wrong queue and our queue is further down. We walk over to the correct queue and line up. 15 minutes later we manage to check in our bags.

With over an hour and a half to go we wander outside so my parents can poison themselves with cigarettes. While waiting for them to huff down their last quater of Cigarettes I notice a shuttle bus pull in. The guy drops his customers off and runs into the airport. Within two minutes I spot a ranger getting ready to book the shuttle bus. I felt sorry for the driver. He must have obviously gone to pee or something. The ranger starts writing the ticket when the guy comes running back to notice she's already booked him. The next two minutes the shuttle bus guy and ranger get into an argument.

While this fuss is going on, a fire engine comes storming down followed by a police car & ambulance. The fire fighters jump off and race inside the airport. The next thing you know the ambulance drivers are taking out a hospital bed to rush inside the airport. This is when my mum starts to panic convincing herself that a plane has caught on fire and people are burning alive!

The Ambulance & Fire Engine

A few minutes later we witness a guy lying on the hospital bed being carried out to the ambulance. Hola it's the guy that was having an attack in the queue in front of my mum inside the airport. They shove the guy into the ambulance while the cops stand there watching him like a hawk. Who know's what the story is behind the guy...

We decide to stroll inside to grab a snack. This is when I come face to face with Mamma Leonie's again. I avoid the place and try and decide whether I should grab maccas or Gozleme. Being indecisive I grab both.

Our Virgin Plane to Tassie

We board the plane finally after it got slightly delayed due to weather conditions. The plane takes off and we get some random guy onto the loud speaker treating it like his own personal radio show. Actually it was quite amusing as he kept us entertained.

In fact I reckon all flights should have onair gigs. I suppose depending on the person it could get annoying. However on saying that our onboard radio announcer was a guy called Matt. He looked to be in his late 20's with short blondish hair, almost like a surfy type. Accompaning him was Angela, who looked to be in her early 30's wearing seductive clothes with her long blonde goldielocks look.

Matt broadcasted that it was a 3 hour flight to which the audience panicked. However he informed them that it was actually a 1.5 hour flight. The flight came to an end when Matt announced that it was 7 degrees outside. Once again the audience believed him and drove into panic before Mr Personality told everyone the truth that infact it was 17 degrees.

Finally I was in Tassie!