Heaps of kilometres.
Hi Gang,Well it's taken about 4000 km, but I've now been around Tassie! Victoria and I (yes, the close up pictures are forthcoming... ;-) rented a car two weeks ago and have madly been driving about Tasmania. We've been from Coccle Creek in the southeast to St. Helens in the northeast to Stanley in the northwest and to Mt. Field in the southwest. A significant portion of that was on gravel roads, or 'unsealed' as they frequently call it here. I thought we had some narrow and disused gravel tracks back home, but holy smokes there are some languishing unsealed roads here. A great deal of fun though, and Viki did most of the driving. She's over a certain age ;), so the insurance excess was only $750, rather than $1250 if I'd wrecked the car. For those wondering, the car was a 1992 Holden Commodore. I know, it doesn't mean too much to me, either. It's a white V6 station wagon. Watch out for fuel though. Small town prices are about 1.30/L!!
We did contribute to the road slaughter of cute Tassie fauna, unfortunately. A brush tailed possum and its baby sadly met their ends courtesy of our front bumper. Other than that, we saw and did not contact in any way about 20 kangaroos, several wallabies, two wombats, four echidnas, and a selection of padamelons, birds, possum, and quolls. Truly a fascinating lot of utterly unique fauna.
The best hostel in Tasmania is called Southwest Adventure Base and is situated in a small town, or if you're British: a little village, called Maydena. A great guy mans the fort there, provides beer for which I will return the favour, has a selection of spices, great cookware, awesome balls, and a conviction to his beliefs that is rare. The balls are what he calls biscuit balls and are a concoction of dark chocolate, coconut, chopped biscuits, and oil or something to hold them together. Now get your minds out of the gutter...
Tasmania's coast is basically an unbroken stretch of superb beaches. Really, everyone you roll by is simply priceless in beauty. The waters a little cold on the east coast, but being a thick-blooded (headed?) Canadian, and a brave Brit, we swam anyway. Is it a bad thing that my head hurt when I dove down? A brief list of the places we visited, thus:
Mt. Wellington, Fisher's Point, Bruny Island, Port Arthur, Triabunna, Maria Island, Freycinet Peninsula & Wineglass Bay, St. Helens, Bay of Fires, Bridgestowe Estate Lavender Farm, Launceston & Cataract Gorge, Deloraine, Alum Cliffs, Marakoopa Caves, Rocky Cape National Park, Stanley and The Nut, Penguin, Cradle Mountain, Zeehan, Strahan, Queenstown, Southwest National Park, Lake St. Clair, Mt Field National Park, Maydena, Styx River & the Valley of the Giants, New Norfolk, and Hobart. Included are the cool little sightsees between those places...
It was a great trip, and I'd love to tell you more, but the internet cafe is closing in 3 minutes and I have to go.
Love you all and miss you lots. Merry Christmas, but Christmas in the summer doesn't count!!
posted by Kyle @ 00:34
1 Comments:
Hi Kyle
Great talk we had last night. Looking forward to seeing the pictures. Buddy is doing a little better today but I was up with him until 3 a.m. trying to settle him down, he was quite distraught at being alone. It's like having a new baby again!! Today dawned overcast but still no snow and a decent temperature which is good as Buddy needs constant company outside lest he fall down the slopes in the yard. Today is Greycup day so you know where a lot of Canadians will be. Have a good trek, talk to you when you get back. Love you....
m&b
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