Our trip to Tasmania

Well this update is well and truly long overdue but I still wanted to post up something about our holiday in Tasmania at the end of June/early July. The trip started off quietly as we had a stupidly early flight to Melbourne and then Hobart on the Thursday morning. After a short delay in Melbourne, we finally arrived to a cold day in Hobart (4 degrees C!) although thankfully at least the sun was out. We were greeted by my sister and my nephew and she then took us on a bit of a scenic drive on the way to their home in New Norfolk. South Australia is definitely a very flat place to live in comparison as we had beautiful mountain views during the whole drive, and the Derwent River was absolutely gorgeous (puts the Murray to shame). We had a quiet day and night apart from playing with my niece and nephew, since we were so tired after getting up at bullshit o'clock, so apart from checking out the town of New Norfolk we didn't get up to very much.

On Friday my sister kindly let Glen and I use her car so in the afternoon we took a drive into Hobart to the Cascade Brewery for a late lunch and some yummy beer. As we walked around the gardens taking photos, dark clouds started to roll in but we decided to still attempt to reach the pinnacle of Mount Wellington given we were only a short drive from there and didn't know if we would get another chance. We had been warned about the narrow and winding road but honestly, after driving around New Zealand, it was nothing to worry about. As the car made its way up the mountain, we saw more and more patches of snow and the rain really came in. We made it to the top without any problems but then proceeded to freeze our arses off as we got out of the car and dealt with the blustery winds and freezing rain. But I just had to touch some snow! For some reason that escapes me, I thought I'd be able to walk on a patch of snow without trouble and forgot that it's soft, so I managed to escape an ankle injury as my foot dropped deep into the snow and Glen and I had a laugh at my expense. Can't take me anywhere... Anyway, after a couple of very quick snaps and a quick admiration of the scenic views, we headed back down the mountain and home to warm up.

On Saturday my niece had her 5th birthday party so there were about 8 kids in total over. We had so much fun though! The kids were all great and played nicely, and we (the adults) had set up some games for them like balloon popping, pass the parcel, and the very popular pinata. The best thing about kids parties seems to be that you get the kids all hyped up and full of sugar, and then after a couple of hours their parents take them home. Win! Saturday night was a quiet one as we cleaned up after the party and watched some movies.

On Sunday morning we all piled in the car and went to the markets held at the Hobart Showgrounds. The markets themselves are fantastic and a great place for people to go who collect things, with heaps of comics and toys on sale. I somehow managed to escape there without buying any second hand books though. After that we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed off to Mount Field National Park, predominantly for the Russell Falls walk. It was the first time I had seen a pademelon before and we saw a total of 3 running around in the wild. It was also great to see such massive and old Australian trees in the rainforest and it was a gorgeous walk. There were a couple of other walks nearby that sounded like they'd be great, but by the time we finished seeing Russell Falls the kids were pretty tired so we headed back to the car and got home in the early evening.

Monday was our last day in Tasmania so my sister let us use her car again. This time we went to Pulpit Rock lookout which gives amazing views of the Derwent River and valley. We then headed off to Bonorong Wildlife Park, definitely my kind of trip as I love animals. We randomly picked a good time to go, too, as the keepers were feeding the Tasmanian Devils, so we got to see them eat and fight over food and other behaviour I hadn't seen before. Was very cool. By the time we got back the sun had set and it wasn't long before we went out to Glenorchy for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Before we knew it, Tuesday had arrived and we were flying back home again.

While I loved Tasmania I have to admit I've been spoiled by visiting New Zealand which was much more beautiful, but it is still a gorgeous place to live and travel. There are definitely some places I'd like to go that we didn't get a chance to during this short visit, but next time we won't be travelling in winter. It was too damn cold! Being home now I really miss my niece and nephew. I loved playing with them, getting lots of hugs, reading to them before bed and being greeted with their excited smiles and hugs in the mornings. Ah well, we will see them again soon I suppose :)