The world has opened up again, after the pandemic, for over a year now. Meanwhile, airfares have gone up by around 50% compared to the beginning of 2020. And i have only traveled domestically and internationally once each — both for family events — since then, so i decided to blog about those i did in the last decade instead. Hehe.
The oldest dweller in my draft is 2016’s Tasmania. I don’t know how much things have changed since (routes, sites, spots, etc.), so i’ll tell it from “the round of firsts i had during this trip” perspective instead.
First road trip
I’ve gone from group tours to private ones to independent trips over the decades, but it was the first road trip i had, owing to my brother (who lives down under) driving us around the east side of the island, from Hobart in the south to Launceston in the north. It was nice setting off on our own schedule.
First single-digit weather
Our trip began at Mount Wellington, and although it was spring, the weather was around 5-6ºC and su~per windy that my ears hurt; i had to walk sideways to move forward and could barely explore the area beyond the Pinnacle Observation Shelter. Which was a shame; the mountainous view and city lookout from the top were nice.
I didn’t remember looking up the forecast, but i could get away with sweaters or cardigans in the transitional seasons, so those conditions were overwhelming… for the tropical me. That was probably the moment that made me understand the notion of “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.”
First jump shot
Next stop: Maria Island. Which is reachable by a short ferry ride from Triabunna. It was on the itinerary solely for the Painted Cliffs. Which i couldn’t see in person (bummer!) despite arriving at the specified point on the map. I looked around the area, located at the end of Hopground Beach, but couldn’t find any other path beyond/to it. There was no one else around either, when it’s supposedly the main attraction of the island. That i wondered if we needed to take the cruise to see/reach it? Or maybe the tide was high that day? I never found out.
We also trailed the hilly Fossil Cliffs circuit, the highest point of which offers a great panorama of the island’s north-eastern landscape, the sea, and the main island. Although windy, we decided to take a jump shot there, whose perfect timing was pretty difficult to capture even with burst shots — using 10 years ago’s camera phone — the more since i turned out to be quite a short jumper. LOL
Another key spot is Bishop and Clerk, which is only around 2km from Fossil Cliffs yet we didn’t do since we were there for only half a day and it’s considered a challenging and steep route.
First encounter with wombat
When it comes to native Australian animals, you’d probably think of kangaroo and koala, and did you know of emu or wombat?
I admittedly never heard of the last one until this trip and only chanced upon it on Maria Island. But boy, were they cute! They didn’t seem to fear humans either. A pair of greyish-brown adult and little wombats casually passed by our path and didn’t speed up as the distance between us grew shorter (i took a snap from afar). I also spotted a golden-furred one grazing by a walking track.
Another endemic animal that i wished to see yet didn’t get to was Tasmanian Devil.
First time going from mountain to beach
…in a cooler season, that my outerwear was ‘inappropriate’ for the latter.
It happened when we visited Freycinet Peninsula for the Wineglass Bay. It was an uphill ascent toward the lookout, and a day at Maria Island with numerous jumping shots might have put a toll on my legs so i needed to take several breaks along the way. The downhill hikers were kindly encouraging, saying, “You’re almost there!” although the 1.5 km route felt endless. The loop is ’embellished’ with giant boulders, some with unique shapes, so it was picturesque in a way.
We could actually go down to the bay from the lookout, via a thousand steps or something, plus an extra 1.5 hours, but i didn’t think my legs would hold up going up that many stairs afterwards. So, that’s not the beach i referred to in this point; we did stop by Coles Bay(?) right after, although it was more rocky than sandy.
(When i was browsing this attraction, i got the impression that the name was after the peninsula’s shape, but it turned out due to the bloody history of harpooning?)
First time going to the beach in sneakers
…that i was reluctant to take mine off to dip my feet in the water — which was icy cold! Well, i’m probably exaggerating about the temperature, but it stung my toes. I used to associate beaches with relaxing vacations, unaware of the fact that beaching in non-summer months wasn’t (as) fun.
I can’t remember where the above picture was from, but it must be somewhere on the Bay of Fires, as we’re searching for the renowned orange-hued boulders… in vain. Again, like Painted Cliffs, i didn’t dig deep enough to know the exact location, thinking there would be signs for it; despite driving alongside most of the 50-km coastline, however, we spotted none of it somehow. Another bummer.
But since we already saw similar-looking orange rocks in Freycinet (see: the top picture) and it was getting dark, we decided to move on to Launceston to explore Cataract Gorge the following day. It was our last stop in Tasmania, and after mountaineering, islanding, and beaching for several days, we took it easy here. We treaded the walking tracks leisurely, rode on the chairlift to scan the gorge from one end to another, and crossed the suspension bridge for the center view.
Overall, it was a good trip. I prefer nature to city sightseeing, so it was enjoyable. If anything, this short getaway made me realize how unfit i was, that i was determined to prepare myself more for future trips.
.BeansSpilled. 