Wednesday 25 April 2007

Leaving Tasmania



This morning I bade farewell to Tassie and the Tasweigans.
I almost didnt make my 7am flight. Met up with a German girl Jule who is doing her thesis on forrestry in Tassie and we ended up at some student party in Hobart explaining to a 16 year old self proclaimed neo nazi why hitler wasnt really that cool. Made for an interesting night, and had to go straight from there to the airport for my Sydney flight, and then the 5 hour flight to Perth, so all in all a pretty long Anzac day. At least I caught a few Zss on the plane.


The days rock climbing in Launceston was superb, I managed to get up a couple of the easier climbs without falling and it was a real buzz, definitley something I'll do again. The guide Gerry was really good - hes written the main guide book to the climbs here.
I decided to rent a car for the last few days as the Tassie bus system is pretty basic and slow. I paid a quick visit to the Tamar valley wine region which was lovely, and then headed on via the bay of fires area to Bicheno. Stayed in a nice place there, and met a few interesting folk including Ross, a canadian guy who had lived in Dublin in the 60s and was backpacking around aged 77, Miriam a contact improvisation dancer and Murielle, a swiss girl that works in a coffee shop but manages to free climb and base jump in her spare time.
Made mw feel like a bit of a wuss using ropes and reserve parachutes.
Both nights we watched the little fairy penguins struggle ashore and march right past us which was very cute.
The last morning we visited the wildlife park to see the Tasmian Devils (and pet the Kangaroos!) which was pretty naff but fun.
I also visited the lovely Frecinet national park beaches, and then headed on to Hobart and port arthur, the preserved penal colony which was pretty interesting.
Shame the weather had turned pretty cold and wet, but I guess thats the norm for this time of the year, but back now on the (fairly) sunny west coast.

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