Tasmania

What an enchanted land, full of strange little creatures and plants. Such lush rainforests, lakes, crystal clear beaches and wide open fields, all within a few hours of each other, surrounded by mountain ranges. Most of the island is National Forest, so for $60, you can buy a parks pass and camp in any of the parks for about $6 a head, if you are a group of 4, which we were.

And so the trip began, the four of us piled into a tram/bus fiasko that took nearly all day Wednesday to reach the airport within minutes of them closing check ins. When flying Tiger Airways, the very cheap but you MUST read the fine print airline for domestic Australia flights...we ended up shelling out another $50 for extra weight in our luggage but we made our flight and by 10pm that night, managed to get our rental car and found a hostel with an en suite bath (very rare) for the crew.

I failed to mention first off that I had come down with a terrible head cold about two days prior to our trip and was in pretty bad shape come time to leave. Conveniently, the last day of our camping, I began to feel better. And by better, I mean not blowing my nose every 5 minutes and coughing my head off. Nothing like sleeping on the ground in a cold land to clear up your head. The hiking did help, and the air in Tasmania, what little of it I could smell, was the freshest, sweetest air there is. We camped near the beach the first two nights, and listened to the ocean while we tried to sleep. I don't know what it is, but I never seem to sleep much when camping. I lay awake all night, just listening to the earth..the sound of the waves crashing, the rustle of the leaves, tiny little things moving in the night. And of course, the incessant whistling of my nostrils all stuffed up with goo. But it was beautiful, and the camp grounds were well equiped with toilets and running water..although showers were extra, so we didn't do much of that.

I suppose I should
introduce the cast and crew of our Tasmanian Escavation..Virginia, 25 and Rob 28, a couple from Austin/Florida/Katy area..whom I met through a friend on FB. They'd been traveling since August, from Scotland to Thailand and then from western Australia to Melbourne 2 months ago. And Gabe, a 19 yr old frenchman survivalist type, fully equiped with high tech camera gear. Hard core camping fools, I'll tell you. They pushed me to my hygenic and gastronomical limits, eating can after can of tuna and peanut butter sandwiches, and like I said, ONE shower the entire 6 days of rough and tough hiking and camping. This city girl was pretty darn proud of how dirty, hungry, and yet happy I could be.

Each day we set out on the road and found a gorgeous water fall, deep green forest or sandy beach to google at. Each place, absolutely breathtaking. I got on a kick of taking pics of all the different colors of fungus and mushrooms, and little odd berries and seed pods, all so different from anything I've ever seen before in my life. A truely eye opening experience, and while there were some trials and tribulations along the way (Robbie getting stung by a near deadly wasp, un beknownst to us at the time, Virginia leaving the cap lose on one of our water bottles and soaking our gear, my snotty face and Gabe's lack of funds towards the end.) WHAT a trip! And so glad to be home in my Melbourne house, with unlimited hot water and matress, my friends down the road and hopefully a job to go back to after the long Easter weekend to replenish my funds after a week of not working.

But what to do now? I've see almost all I set out to in Victoria. My planned 3 months up in nearly a week..where do I go from here? Head north for the winter? Virg and Rob are headed to Byron Bay. I'm due in Sydney at the end of April for a rock show and couchsurfing in Woolongong. I have no idea what to do or where I'll end up, but soon, I'll be leaving again, on another great adventure in Oz...