So apparently that Roseview hostel has its share of problems!! We are staying the night tonight at Bicheno Backpackers Hostel up north of Freycinet National Park with two guys that were actually in Hobart when we were there our first night. They apparently stopped into the Roseview just before coming back to Sydney and witnessed somewhat of an abuse situation. I'm not entirely certain of the details, but essentially it was a weird twist of an older woman's 23-year old boyfriend getting a bit violent and crazy, her 23-year old daughter desperately calling the police who casualy showed up about a half hour later. Making no effort to contain the crazed boyfriend, the boyfriend freaked and ran out of the house, uncontained. The guys who witnessed this said they went to the local pub in an effort to try to find the guy. He wandered in soon after as though nothing was wrong. The police showed up again and this time contained the guy long enough to bring him BACK to the scene of the crime to confront the bloodied up hostel warden, but upon entry to the house, he wriggled free and disappeared again.... into the convict ruins. All this by word of the guys visiting the hostel, but I'll take their word for it, they seemed good for it. With that in mind, I think THIS is my favorite hostel-- nestled in a town big enough to offer the amenities, but small enough to allow the beauty of the coast (and the absolute awesomeness of the nesting penguins) to creep in and show its face.

We left Port Arthur late in the AM. Karl wanted to check some things to see if he could go to New Zealand to ski for a bit before heading home (yeah, I'm jealous). He called Mom and Dad, and I realized we hadn't spoken to them since July 7, just before Pro-Dive. Yikes!

We met a couple from Queensland- extremely nice and talkative. They were on one of their annual vacation to someplace exotic and fun- always unplanned and always longer than anything an American would ever dream of.

We headed off to Freycinet Nat'l Park where we hiked Wine Glass Bay in he afternoon. Tassie has fantastic camping with fantastic views! (We noticed this on the way). Came acros a coule at Freycinet who hired a guide simply to carry afternoon tea to the upper lookout! Karl thinks they were American.

I was slightly disappointed at Wine Glass. Overhype, maybe? Too many photos taken? It just didn't impres me as much as I'd hoped. Not to say it wasn't beautiful, but it didn't compare to some of the other views we had.

In any case, I WAS impressed at the Cape Tourville Lighthouse. Best sunset I've ever seen-- Karl definitely agrees. I felt like I was looking into a scene from Narnia's Voyage of the Dawn Treader, as there was a sole sailboat heading for the Hazards- mountains jutting into the ocean. Everything was purpe, blue and pink and it just looked so fantastical. In fact, it was so perfect that if I were the scene director for the Narnia series, I would advise using Tasie's sunrises and sunsets for he dramatic scenes.

Saw tons of wallabies on the way to the Bicheno Backpacker's Hostel. In fact, almost made one roadkill! Don't worry, we avoided it, for its sake and our car's. Paul checked us into the hostel, directed us toward a grocer and handed u a torch and a map with instructions on how to find the penguins. Penguins!? Yea, we both gasped too. So, we got mac n cheese and sausages and headed down to the Rocks.

We found one pair guarding their nest. Another several were tucked under rocks, and some of them scuttled under as we came over the overhang. Found a few away from the water- all were nesting and all were smaller than I expected. Karl's got some pictures, so I'll post them when we upload. Now I can add penguins to he wildlife I've seen!

Back at the hostel, we met those two guys I mentioned before. From Brisbane, both on vacation from Uni. Karl says they remind him of two friends on South Park, as they goof off and bicker between themselves and generally crack each other up. They began playing Guess Who? and eventually tried to turn it into a tournament with us. Quote from their game: "Does your character have a head of luscious brown hair?" We eventually moved on to learn a bit of Backgammon-- Ben seemed to have fun beating the hand that taught him. The game actually went so long that Daniel went to bed-- an indicator that maybe we should too.