Tasmania is freaking awesome. Seriously. It's like a mini New Zealand. which is what I needed as I am still so homesick for New Zealand. How can a country do this to me? I just can't wait to get back home, so I can turn around and go back there.

Anyhow, back to the fact that I'm in australia and not new zealand..

Tasmania (in case some of you didn't know, becuase I surely didn't), is a state of Australia. The place is this awesome little island that has the cleanest air in the world. Yes, I made sure to breath in a lot of it, and add my own smelly molecules in exchange.

I had met a Korean girl, Jina, in the airport in Melbourne before flying out here and we decided to travel around Tasmania together. In our hostel, we met a Swedish girl, Madelene, who also wanted to join us. So the three of us rented a campervan and decided to hike and camp our way around the state. Let me tell you, it's pretty chilly down here, so we kind of "borrowed" extra blankets from the hostel we were at, but YES we did return them. (Nathan if you ever read this, don't hate me forever! just remember the green...remember the green.)

I also learned to drive a manual automobile. And not just in a car. But in a 1981 Toyota Hiache hell of a machine. That beast controlled me. But I figure if I can drive that (sort of, but not very well), then i can drive a car. (Matt when I get back, you can teach me for reals!)

So i was supposed to leave on the Sunday but just never went back to the airport. I decided to stay in tasmania longer with the van and the girls and do more hikes. We had an amazing time down there, and it was quite amazing to know I was in tasmania.

Yes i did see tasmania devils, and duck billed platypii, and wombats and all other cool things.

I even got to visit the penal (shut up) colony of port arthur. which is this really really scary convict place in the south of tasmania that was mainly inhabited by Irish, English, and Scottish criminals. But some of there men barely commited what we'd call a crime. It was a really scary but very interesting place, as i walked through some of the cells, and the grounds. A lot of the things done to these criminals were emotional terror, as this place had the idea of being a machine. It figured it could and would scare and force these men into being proper societal tools. A lot of them, upon being released, ended up with no where to go, and no money to go back to their homelands, and just plain went back there voluntarily because it was all they had. There was even an island made for criminal boys, which reminded me of some type of Lord of the Flies type thing. The whole place just gave me the creeps, but in a way where it was amazingly cool.

Oh yeah, nothing beats a possum crawling into your car while cooking dinner in the middle of the woods. Basically we just camped in very rural remote areas off the side of the road in Tasmania, and often fought the harsh elements (hah) for survival.

All in all, tasmania was a little magical place, which I am glad to say I had the opportunity to visit. It's one of those places I don't know if i'll ever go back again just becuase I don't necessarily feel like I'd come back to Australia again, but all in all...IT RULED.