Week 6: A Tasmania Trip

***WARNING, WARNING*** You're about to enter a very long blog, but don't worry I've divided it into days, so you can read at your leisure. Enjoy!

I have to start this blog with a disclaimer about last week's entry. For those of you who were shocked by the pregnancy story, I must tell you that I was as shocked as you were. When I read it (after it was posted, of course), I even got nervous for the soon-to-be-mom. While Karl's story was true except for that minor detail about Karla, he will not be allowed to write on the blog for at least a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for another version of the truth brought to you by Karl.
Well, I won't need to exaggerate much for the telling of this trip. Tasmania was an adventure all of its own. It is so BEAUTIFUL!!!! It reminded me so much of North Carolina--only with mountains twice the size and drivers thrice the scariness.

DAY ONE

We began our trip by getting up at 5:45 am in order to get to the airport on time. One of Karl's football friends, Gunnie, picked us up at 6:30 for our 8:30 flight. While it was early in the morning, it wasn't too early for Gunnie to yell at the other idiots on the road. We were waiting in line to check our bags, when Carol realized that she had forgotten her Passport. No worries though, the check-in lady agreed to use her Canadian driving license. We boarded the plane, ate a full meal, and enjoyed the short 1.5 hour flight to paradise. Upon arrival we were still in good spirits, that is until we went to pick up our rental car. The third party renters didn't charge us enough for the car because we were under 25, so we had to pay an extra $211 upfront. The nice lady also warned us that if we went on gravel roads, we were not covered by the insurance. She ensured us that there were just a few of those. We found our little car, and we were off. Once Karl got the hang of driving on the right side of the road, (this didn't come without much freaking out of the passengers and a couple of "Karl! You're on the wrong side of the road!") we drove through the city of Hobart. We weren't out of the city 10 minutes on one of the major highways before the road turned to gravel and the road signs disappeared. We would soon find out that during the next few days, we would travel mostly on dirt roads under the guise of interstates, and see more dead wallabies (miniature kangaroos) on the road than street/interstate markers. The rest of the day was filled with driving around lost on the maze of roads that didn't match the map. The day's highlights were going on the Tuhane Airwalk and seeing the oldest bridge in Australia (circa 1823 & built by convicts)--see pictures on the link. The evening culminated with us waking up the owners of a campsite by ringing the emergency door bell and pleading with them to let us camp in their already full camping ground (we couldn't find the camping area in the national forest near by-no road signs & we were in a forest for Pete's sake). The only reason that they let us stay was that I used nice manners and waited before ringing the doorbell a second time. Thanks, Mom!

DAY TWO

We woke up early the next morning and repacked the tent that we had put up in the dark the night before. Before leaving the camp grounds, we filled up the gas tank. It's only $4.00 a gallon! This day went a little better than the one before, except for the constant drizzle and chilling wind that only came out every time we got out of the car. We did a lot of driving around the Port Arthur area, and we mostly went to natural landscape sights. These included a blow hole, Devil's Kitchen, Tasmanian Arch, and tessellated pavement. The first three were all in the same area on this one bay. Millions of years of erosion on the shore line had created these amazing rock and tide formations. Karl took some great pictures, but you really can't recreate the height and intensity of this sites. The tessellated pavement was a beach area on the other side of the peninsula on which pavement had formed naturally. I don't think Karl included a picture of this, but it totally looked like a manmade parking lot where a sandy beach should have been. After touring this area, we drove north to try and see some wildlife in a natural center. We got there about 15 minutes before they closed because once again we were lost in the Tasmanian road maze. We did get to play with a wallaby which was hanging around outside, and it was so cute! We each got to feed it, and it grabbed onto your hand like a little kid. Definitely one of my favorite moments. We ended the night by renting a camping space in a trailer park, sneaking onto a closed beach, and reminiscing about our long gone favorite children TV shows.

DAY THREE

This was one of my most favorite days. We woke up and the sun was finally shining and we all got to take warm showers! Too bad two little girls cut in front of Melissa and I, and each took 20 minutes showers (there were only two showers and the two little girls were not the only ones in front of us). The long line in the shower did get Melissa and I out of putting up the tent, though. As Karl was pulling out the parking lot, the owner stopped us and asked us what we were doing that day. He told us that we had to add a trip to South Sister Lookout. It was the best advice we got the whole trip. While the roads weren't marked, we only got lost trying to leave the mountain. The whole time we were driving there, we were only hoping that we were going the right way up the side of the mountain on this dirt path on which we weren't insured. We knew we were in the right place when we came upon this tepee almost blocking the road telling us that human lives were in danger and that we should proceed with caution. On the way back down, we spotted a lifesize stuffed doll hanging above the tepee. I'm not kidding! So anyways, we proceeded with as much caution that you could driving a compact car almost straight up a mountain with pot holes in the road. When we finally reached the top after bottoming out only a few times, we couldn't believe how high we were. Little did we know that the path we were about to take, would take us higher for about 20 more minutes. The views from the lookout were amazing. Karl got some great shots, and I'm pretty sure he posted them. The total height was 831 meters (2700+ feet). There is something so freeing about feeling so small. We were sad to go but glad we went. Our next destination was Ralph Falls, the highest waterfall in Australia. Once we got there, only after getting lost again because of conflicting maps, it was kind of a disappointment. Sure, it was really tall- scary tall even-but it looked like someone had stuck a garden hose at the top of the mountain, and it was trickling down. The waterfalls that we saw later in the trip were smaller and much prettier. I guess the age old adage, quality vs. quantity, is right. Our last stop for the night was the Cheese Factory at Pyenganna. It was smaller than we expected, but the free cheese tasting hit the spot! We drove to Launceston without a worry because this time we had called ahead to book our campsite. A spot next to the kitchen was being held for us, and we could just pay in morning:) What a trusting little country.

DAY FOUR

This was another of my favorite days. We woke up early this morning because it was Easter and we were going to the 8 am service at a beautiful, old Anglican church downtown. We didn't shower because it was too cold, but I don't think God minded as much as the people sitting next to us. (Just kidding, no one sat next to us.) The service was very nice and poignant. I even knew the first hymn they sang. At first this made me really excited, but then I got really sad that I wasn't singing at my own church back home with family. I got to cry about it later during the sermon because it was really touching (don't worry Melissa and Carol cried too, just not Karl.) After the lovely church service, we changed clothes and went to the largest single span chair lift in the world (supposedly). It was on the side of another mountain with another picturesque lake and more wallabies running around. We hiked the mountain to see another beautiful lookout. Sickening, isn't it? After we left had taken up as much beauty as we could stand, we went to the city because Melissa wanted to buy another memory card for her digital camera. We didn't succeed at that task, but we did go to the city park and see their monkey attraction. A dozen or so little Japanese monkeys were kept in the park, and they were so adorable. They were like little kids who would pick fights with each other just because they could. One would hit another and then run and jump into their little pond. So funny! After the park, we left Launceston and tried to see wildlife at a national park in Port Sorrell, Narawantupu. We combed the beach for penguins and such but we only found crab shells and a the carcass of a stingray. So, we left and hit the road for the main attraction of the trip, the House of Anvers chocolate factory. Karl had insisted that we not buy any Easter candy because of this planned stop, but when we go there, it was of course closed. It was Easter! Who wants to be open on Easter during one of the biggest holiday weekends of the year? Karl redeemed himself by taking us to the largest garden maze in the world in Lower Crackpot. It was definitely one of the trip's highlights. On the way there, we called ahead again to book our camping ground. Carol told the lady on the phone that we were in Lower Crackpot on our way to Cradle Mountain. The lady didn't know where that was, so Carol told it was near Sheffield. The lady said we were about an hour away, and she booked us. Little did we know that Lower Crackpot wasn't a town at all, but a made-up village within the maze! We didn't know the difference because we'd been following road signs for Lower Crackpot. Wouldn't you know that Tasmania wouldn't have signs for real towns, just the made up ones. Anyways, the maze was a hedge maze with walls about 8 or 9 feet tall, so none of us could cheat. We had so much fun running through maze trying to find all the hidden spots within it. The big spot was a life size recreation of Goldie Locks and the three bear's cabin with full detail. It was so neat! We could have spent an entire afternoon trying to find everything, but as we showed up 45 minutes before they close and they recommend an hour, we only spent an hour. That night we spent twice as much on our campsite ($52), but it was definitely worth it. We had a spot right next to the enclosed, heated kitchen, which was perfect until we wanted to go to sleep and people inside of the kitchen did not. Anyways, as the girls were changing into our pajamas inside the tent, Karl spotted a moving animal. He yelled to Melissa, the animal lover & expert, to come quickly because he thought he saw a Tasmania Devil. Well, he was right. As he and sockfooted Melissa ran into the night, they were two feet away from the devil. I think I'm glad that I missed it. By the time Carol and I got out of the tent, the only animal saying hello to us was a friendly little possum. Yea! That night we didn't sleep too well. Besides the fact that visions of Tasmanian Devils danced in our heads, the temperature sunk below freezing. Yikes!!!

DAY FIVE

Our last real day was spent mostly in the car driving back to Hobart. However, we did go on several hikes during the morning to get our blood pumping. Our first was supposed to be a 1 walk around the lake at Cradle Mountain. The first half was a lovely little trail with a wooden path, so it was like walking around a deck. BUT, once hit the second half, our little wooden path turned into a mountain and our walk went on forever. By the time we reached the end, we had stripped almost all of our layers of clothes off, and Melissa (who is diabetic) almost a serious attack. Very exciting. Next, we drove a little ways to Nelson Falls. The waterfall here was the best one of the trip, and we saw it at the most perfect time of the day as the sun just peaked over the top of it. I know Karl has put a picture of it on the picture link (I took the one we're not in). Simply spectacular! Our last major stop was Donaghy's Hill. Okay, so I don't know how this was categorized as a hill, but it was. The pictures don't do this lookout justice at all even though Karl's panoramic is beautiful. We had hiked for about 20 minutes when we reached the lookout point. It was a small summit that jutted out in the middle of a valley between a dozen mountains. I've failed to mention that most of these hikes we took were part of a series called "Great Short Walks." The Tasmania government cares for the trails and has clever educational descriptions or cartoons posted on each of them. This walk only had plaques at the lookout, and they named each of the mountains from three different angles. They also had poetic quotes from famous people like Henry David Thoreau and the like. A very nice touch! The rest of our day was spent driving back to Hobart. Melissa and I slept most of the way that is until we almost had a head-on collision. It wasn't Karl's fault that a guy coming towards us was attempting to pass two cars on a mountain road. It sure woke me up for the rest of the drive, though. We reached Hobart around 7:30 pm and ate at a restaurant called Hog's Breath. It's kind of like Fudpuckers. It's well known and mighty good, but our meals totaled $98.80. Granted this included 3 alcoholic beverages and two desserts, but still, anyone who tells you that Australian food is cheap is dead wrong. After the lovely dinner, we decided that because the car had to be returned by 5 am, we would not rent a campsite and simply drive around the drive city. So we did. Around midnight, we were tired of driving, so we parked and played the ABC game (you pick a category and everyone has to name something in that category in the order of ABC, ie. Cartoon characters, Alice in Wonderland, Bugs Bunny, Calvin & Hobbes, etc.) Around 2 am, we got bored, so we decided to drive to the airport and sleep in the car until 4:30. So we did. Definitely not the most comfortable, but well worth not pitching a tent and paying for a campsite.

Well, that's basically the end of our trip. I left out lots of details, but obviously this entry is way too long for much more. But if you're wondering what we did to pass the time, I'll let you know that we did way more singing (because there isn't much good radio in the wilderness) and taking silly pictures than we did showering (did you notice I only mentioned showering once in the five days?). We had a great time, and our Canadian friends made great traveling buddies! It was definitely an adventure I recommend taking. Alas, now I must actually start working on papers and getting serious about the school semester. Karl will probably be making a guest appearance sooner than I previously wanted because I'll be busy, and he STILL waiting for a work visa. Happy Days!

Britt