Out of Tasmania

Day 1 (28 Nov)
- Got to the Hobart Hostel, met some awesome people (how do you write that?)
- Had a few fun beers. Coopers Brewery=two thumbs up.

Day 2
- Hiked up Mount Wellington with aforesaid Awesome People (henceforth AP). Long hike, loads of fun. Hit wonderful weather, had amazing views. Ended up exhausted, but really loved it.

Day 3
- Rented a car. Got it cheap at first, but guy at Thrifty scared me into paying for extra insurance, which at the time seemed a good idea.
- Took a while to get used to driving on the wrong side. When signalling for turning left or right, I got a very clean windshield instead.
- Scratched a tyre while parking.
- Day trip to Bruny Island with AP. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
- Took the ferry there and back. Rediscovered I love being at sea.
- Took beautiful pictures.
- Painted the white car a shitty brown with dirt from the gravel roads.
- Couldn't see the penguins, it was too early in the evening.
- Went all the way South to the lighthouse. Chilly, windy, lovely.
- Took beautiful pictures.
- Made it back just on time to take the ferry to the mainland.
- Dropped the guys at the Hostel, went out on my own.
- Drove until nightfall. Crossed the Tasman Bridge, passed Sorrell, said ok shit that's enough and stopped near Lewisham, on a dirt patch at an intersection.
- A policeman (policemate?) came, no doubt called by someone living in the vicinity. "Neighbourhood watch", they call it.

Policeman: "G'day mate!"
Me: "G'day"
P: "Ev'thin' all righ'?"
M: "No worries"
P: "Wherabouts yer from?"
M: "Spain"
P: "Oh, ess-pa-nya!"
M: "Yupp"
P:"Sleepin' 'ere t'night, are ya?"
M: "Yupp"
P: "Ok, g'night then"

Day 4

- Woke up late, drove to the Tasman Peninsula. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
- Stopped at the Tesselated Pavement, took tons of pictures of myself walking on it.
- Went up and down Pirates' Bay, walking the sands, skipjumping rocks, climbing up cliffs and being surprised by the diversity and colourfulness of dead marine life lying on the beach.
- Got attacked by a seagull. Turns out I was conspicuously close to her eggs. Now here's an exercise for you: try jumping from rock to rock over splashing waves, while dodging an angry seagull diving at you. It's fun, but you're likely to get a bit wet. I did.
- Saw the Blowhole and Tasman's Arch. Nice and rocky.
- Drove on to Port Arthur. The biggest tourist attraction of Tasmania turns out to be just the remains of the penal colony: a few old buildings. While no doubt interesting, still severely overpriced and not my cup of tea.
- Drove a bit North and had a chilly night amidst the woods, near the shore.

Day 5
- Drove back to the mainland, stopping at lovely deserted windy beaches along the way.
- Took the Wielangta Forest Drive. Lovely. Got off the main road and got a bit lost. It was great fun, I had the forest all for myself. Finally arrived at closed gate with redundant "Keep Out" message, so had to backtrack. Took a few walks in the forest, really really worth it.
- Got almost attacked by seagull. But this time I was prepared, I had a Big Stick.
- Went up the coast; Orford, Triabunna, Swansea, Bicheno. Nothing much in those places. They're all nice, and Bicheno adds to that a hill, a few interesting rocks and a Blowhole.
- Drove my way to Launceston, met the Suicidal Wallabies et altra.
- Hit a railway track and broke the underside of the car a bit. Tasmanian roads suck. Big time. No wonder all vehicles are Utes*/4WDs.
- Fixed the broken plastic thing temporarily with a piece of ripped tyre I found on the road.
- Drove on to Launceston, where I had no hostel booking. Remembered I had a "Let's Go Australia" guidebook with me, on which I identified the only hostel in the centre. Took me a while to find it.
- Guess who I met there: David & Johan, the very same AP guys from Hobart, on their way to the Overland Track. Way to go mates!

*Ute = pickup truck, usually white and with a useless snorkel

Day 6
- Spent a preposterous amount of time trying to fix the car, and finally managed it. Hope they don't notice.
- Spent some more time online, and buying food and petrol.
- Was very happy to finally get out of Launceston after too much time in city traffic. It's a nice place though, if you're on foot.
- It started pissing, but I went ahead with my plans and drove up to Narawntapu National Park, to look for wombats and kangaroos. No luck with the sighting, just a few wallabies.
- Met some other members of the Suicidium genus, spared their lives.
- Stopped for the night at a really nice free caravan park, close to Cradle Mountain.
- Saw lots of stars in the chilly night. Recognized some of them, but realized the constellations are all twisted.

Day 7
- Shitty pissing day, didn't feel like paying $22 to get to to Cradle Mountain. Got close on foot though, took my "been there" pic.
- Drove all around the mountains, through Queenstown and the National parks.
- Did a few hikes through rainforests, up and down hills, to waterfalls and rivers. Oh yes. Description is redundant, check the pics.
- Slept in New Norfolk, right in the city. Found no better place.

Day 8
- Made my way to the same hostel, dropped my stuff.
- Dropped the car. Felt really relieved. A rental car is an inexhaustible source of problems and worries.
- Went out to see what entertainment Hobart has to offer.
- Turns out the answer is "none" after 16:00. Boat trip around the bay, last one had already departed. Museum, closed when I got there. Damn.
- Walked around the historic part, read about that, was interesting.
- Got chilly, went back to hostel, met Awesome Guy, had really good time and a few beers. Cheers Shin!
- Happily got out of Hobart the next morning, on a delayed flight. Hopped on to Adelaide.