Tasmania

Well I have begun my travels again. I am spending the next month with Shannon, a friend I met through working at Citibank. Our first stop was Hobart in Tasmania. Shannon had organised for us to stay with a family for our first three nights. This was through a great website called coughsurfing.com. Basically people sign up as travels or people who will have travellers to stay for free - brilliant or what!! The family we were staying with were Gai and John who lived up in Mount Nelson - just west of the CDB. They were really lovely (and we didn't have to sleep on their couch - we got proper beds - actually they were nicer beds than what we had both been sleeping on the last 7 months in Sydney!!). We spent 3 nights with them and in that time we set about discovering Hobart and its surrounding areas. On our first day we went to the Cadbury's factory - at Shannon's request - she is a chocoholic. It was interesting - although I am sure the one in Birmingham is probably better - as it is the original, plus the chocolate is apparentley better - as the one they produce in Australia is just not up to scratch!! On the second day we went to Port Arthur - where there is loads of history about the convicts - just up my street as that was one of the modules I studied for my degree. We (or I in particular) had a lovely day discovering more about the history of the convicts and seeing where it all actually happened. We also drove around that area and saw some lovely beaches and views. For those of you who don't already know Tasmania is very similar to England and New Zealand with its landscape. On our third day we drove up to Lauceston as Shannon had arranged another activity for us. This time it was through another website called helpx.com. This is where you stay with someone and do 3-4 hours 'work' for them a day in exchange for a bed and all your meals. We stayed with a lady called Yvonne who lives in west Lauceston with two of her four children, her mother and up to 5 helpx people at once. When we were there there was us two and two Taiwan girls. On our first day there we went to a park to celebrate the Chinese New Year with the local Chinese community - the food of course was great!! Our 'work' has not been that strenuous at all. So far we have done some cleaning around the house (it desperately needed it), picking fruit from her orchard and making jam and cooking a dinner - it definitely beats working at Citibank!!! Yvonne is a lovely lady, although very crazy - she even admits it herself. She has some amazing stories including the time she climbed half way up the Sydney Opera House!!!!

We spent 5 days with Yvonne - which I think was about all I could handle in the end. She was lovely but she is a very erratic person!! Shannon and I then met up with our two friends from Sydney, Craig and Amo. We then all hired a car together and spent the next 3 days driving around Tasmaina. We first went to Bicheno on the East Coast where we got to see Fairy Penguins at night - they were very cute. The following day we went to the Nature Park where we got to stroke Wombats Kagaroos and of course Tasmania Devils (the babies were sooo cute). We also got to feed the Kagaroos - who if you didn't put you hand down to the group stood up high on their back legs and tried to grab your hand - quite scary!! Amazingly we also saw a mummy kangaroo with her joey in her pouch :-) We then drove down to Wineglass bay where we did a 4 hour walk and saw some beautiful beaches and lots of wallabies (a smaller version of the kangaroo for those of you who don't know). After that we drove down to Hobart where we went out for the night. Craig, Amo and myself stayed out till 6.30am (unfortunately we forgot we had to get up at 9am to check out in time - we did not feel good!!). We then drove back up to Lauceston past the Great Lake, which unfortunately now is not so great due to the drought that this country is going through - it was now in fact about 4 lakes as the water levels had dropped so much!! We then dropped Amo and Craig back at the airport and Shannon and myself made our way to Gowrie Park (a very pretty place in the mountains where I saw a wild baby wombat) where from there we went to Cradle Mountain the next day (the main sightseeing place in Tasmania). We had a lovely walk around Dove lake, taking in the magnificent view of Cradle Mountain before heading back to Lauceston. Then, unfortunately, we had to leave Tasmania for Melbourne.