Melanie and Gavin's Travels

On the road in Tasmania

Life in Tasmania is ticking along nicely - it's slow and friendly, beautiful and full of farmlands, signs of locals selling fresh fruit and veg and stunning beaches. We arrived into Hobart on Wednesday. It was quite late but we had the fastest luggage pick up ever at the airport, and were whisked off in the airporter to our hostel. The hostel was great and we will stay there again on Tuesday before we fly out. The next morning we picked up our car. A cute little Kia that Gavin has become friendly with, since I didn't want to drive on the other side of the road.

We decided to travel up the East Coast and after stopping at Kate's Berry Farm for a delicious berry milkshake, seeing hundreds of sheep, big gum trees and wide open skies with beautiful clouds we made it to Freycinet National Park. I'd wanted to go there for awhile, the photos look stunning. We borrowed a tent, air mattress and sleeping bags from Cass and Pete and tried to find a tent site, but they were all full. But then one of the park rangers told us about the nearby Friendly Beaches where we could camp for free. Hello, for free!? Yep. So 20 minutes later we were pitching camp and and were about a 3 minute walk from one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. Wild rocks and grass, white sand, long empty beaches. It was amazing. Way too cold and windy to swim but we took photos and went for a walk. Had some sandwiches for dinner and realized how great life is on the road!

In the morning we entered the National park grounds, this was $20 for the 2 of us and definitely worth it. One of the top 10 beaches in the world was there, called Wineglass Bay. There were a few ways to approach it and we decided to hike Mt Amos to get a view of it. You had to hike 2 hours (to get to the beach - beauty sometimes takes hard work!) there anyways and we knew we weren't going to swim if we went. Mt Amos is about 500 meters above sea level and a 3 hour return hike. It was about the level I assumed it would be physically for a 3 hour hike uphill, hard but not too difficult. But then we started climbing up big boulders (I didn't expect that part of it), they were okay to grip with normal running shoes but I still get freaked out on steep bits. I made it 3/4 to the top, Gavin then continued on without me for views of Wineglass Bay. I was more worried about climbing up really steeply and then getting down again! It would have been nice to see it, but after Friendly Beach I knew it would be similar and I'd seen that up close.

After that adventure we had a picnic on another beautiful beach and then we drove to St Helens, further Northwest up the Coast. I found the scenery still pretty but a little more ordinary there. This time we found a proper caravan park, which we needed because our free camp didn't have showers! Setting up camp was a little difficult with the gale force winds blowing through, but with careful negotiation of the tent, a large tree and the car we managed it okay. then we drove to Bay of Fires, another gorgeous beach. By this time we were tired so we opted to eat at a pizzeria in little St Helens and then go to sleep.

We kept driving in a circle around Tasmania from there, heading West from the Coast inland. The forests became more rugged and the roads very windy. Passing through a lavender farm, forests affected by the wildfires and stopping at a cheese factory we made our way to Devonport, a large town in the North. Gavin's friend Ben lives here and we are now spending our second night here. He lives on his parents property and they own a B&B, we have been treated very well and eating like royalty! Last night it was a big BBQ and tonight local fish. The fish is divine. Ben took us touring around the local areas today, the farming industry is really large in Tasmania. The locals are nice and there is still that small town feel even in large places. Of course there aren't a lot of large places in Tasmania anyways.

I think we will try and go to Cradle Mountain tomorrow as we head back down to Hobart. That's in a National Park too and looks stunning. There is also a Cadbury's chocolate factory in Hobart that we might be able to make time for! We get back to Melbourne on Wednesday and I think one week is good enough for this trip.

posted by melaniewilkes @ 10:44 PM