Tasmania

Hi! Little late to write about tasmania since it's been a month an a half since i was there but I'm going to try anyway because it was to beautiful not the tell you guys about it. I did a 8 day tour oger the island. Before i went i looked up how big the place was because 8 days to see the the hole island felt i little short. Turned out that it is twice the size of the Netherlands! So yes, it was way to short but i did see a lot of the island.
I started in Hobart, one of the two bigger city of the island (still got the feeling it was about the size of groningen....) we left early in the morning with a small 20 (?) seat bus and drove to mt field national park. About half of the island is made out of national parks, a lot of nature and the matching wildlife. We stayed in Strahan (witch you pronounce nothing like you write it ... the accent is thick here). There was no cellphone reception here so I decided that i would just forget about my phone and leave it in Strahan. No i just left it at the hostel and didn't see it for 5 days... didn't even miss it because there was to much to do anyway...
In Strahan i saw a wild platypus the first nigth, wich is really hard and rare. We had to wait for about an hour to see it swimming by. Never going to forget about that!
The next day i did a cruise in the harbor. We went to Sara island which was a prison for about 40 years. Ithe island itself was very small and peaceful, even beautiful but the stories about its past where dark and disturbing. It was hard to grasp this contrast.
The next day we went to cradle mountain nation park, with is on the other side of the same mountain range mt field national park was on. We had a good walk here. I walked around the lake, but most people went up to a look out. I didn't because i dream of going back next summer and do the 60 km walking track between mt field en cradle mountain and this track passes by the look out anyway. On the way back to the bus i cought up with the rest af the group and we saw some wild wombats.
We stayed in Launceston (again, no way of explaining how the pronounce it :p) that night and started the day with a short walk trough cataract gorge. It had been raining a lot so the river was extra wild and flooded. We drove on to the bay of fires where the water was perfect blue/green, the beach white and the rocks red. All of these colours, i had to take a swim and experience them from all sides.
We stopped for the night in Bicheno. When it got dark we went to see some pinguins and learned about their live. I can still hear the guide say 'waddle waddle' :p
Next day was wineglass bay. This is a beach/bay witch has a perfect round shape and is ofcourse located in a national park. It is not possible to drive into the bay, you have to climb over a ridge. From the top of the ridge you have a good look out onto the bay. I went down as quick as possible because I just had to try the water!
In the afternoon we went to Bonorong wildlife park. Here i could finaly see some alive animal. (Sitting in front of the us a fwe days i had seen more road kill than i have ever seen. I was told it is because the abundant wildlife and the driving skills of the tasmanians). We petted some young wombats, koalas and fed kangaroos bigger than me... We, ofcourse, also saw some tasmanian davils, but they where very slow because ofbthe warm weather. .. oh well... can't have it all right?!
We slept in hobart, it was the last day if driving around the island, wich made me sad. I loved the ever changing landscapes. One hour you're in the mountains and another in the rainforest to sleep on the beach...
and arriving back in hobart ment saying goodbye to most of the group, since only a few were doing the day trips from hobart. It is kind of amazing how fast you can become a tight group (if cellphones do not work the first few day :p) even though the members are from all over the world and from all kinds of backgrounds. .. i can onestly say that i did not only enjoy the island fully but also the people i was travelling with.
The first day trip was to port arthur, another plce with a rich convict history. I do not think i would have done this trip if it wasn't included in the tour since i had enough dark stories on sara island. I did enjoy the lavender farm and the scenery an the way though...
The next day I skipped the morning trip to mt wellington because i wasn't feeling wel, but i did go to MONA in the afternoon. This is a private modern art museum which made a lot of more tourists come to tasmania since it oppened. It is hard to explain this museum. The art is a guess sensational, it gave me a strong feeling of the way of dealing with art Andy Wharhol did. I could appreciate the total submersion into art the museum radiates but the images itself were not really for me...
The last day trip was to bruny island. We had to go on the ferry, and drove around the island. We ate local oysters (had never tried them before tasmania but i made myself be brave and i kind of enjoyed it...) and local cheese and went looking for the unique white wallaby, and because our guide knew a good spot from the locals we did see one.
We closed the week with a dinner with the group members that were left, were 7 girls and our guide, in Australia's oldest licensed pub.

I really enjoyed tasmania, more than i have enjoyed any other place in Australia so far, and I do hope I get the change to go back some day and see more of the place. I really think it a shame so many backpackers skip it because it is a bit of route.. but than again, more for me :p
Greetings from Philip Island and my friend the echidna whose been walking trouhg the garden while i have been writing. ..

P.s. for photos see facebook