myrainasia

Having spent the past week in Tasmania I am happy to report that I am feeling much better now. Most of the credit goes to Vicki and Richard (and Elizabeth, Olivia and Charlotte) who welcomed me to Hobart, picked me up at the airport, fed me homecooked meals, drove me around to all of the big tourist sites, the list goes on, and gave me some needed TLC after my Melbourne debacle. Immense thanks!!!! (For those who are wondering, we met Vicki and Richard on our cruise in Russia)

After the irritation of Jetstar and the misery of Melbourne, Tasmania has been a delight. Much more laid back, no Australian Open in town, really lovely downtown, excellent weather (except for a crummy first day), and my funky little hotel which has a lot of character.

I have seen the big tourist sights, most important of which was Port Arthur, the second strike prison which was in operation from the 1830s to 1870s (I think I got that right) and has been (and continues to be) lovingly restored. Aside from leaving your loved ones and everything you knew, I’m not convinced that deportation to Australia was the worst punishment in the world for a prisoner in the 19th century. I don’t think prisons in the 19th century were great for anyone, and many people can trace their ancestors through significantly worse forms of immigration. But that’s enough controversy for this blog.

Vicki and I huffed and puffed our way (well, at least I did) to the lookout point over Wineglass Bay at Freycinet National Park (it was about 45 minutes up the mountain and I don’t care how many little kids ran right by us) but it was worth the view, as were the other views in Freycinet that were accessed by a 5 minute flat hike on a wooden path. You can actually see these photos pretty quickly if you go into Flickr. I am caught up with my downloading of photos so everything I talk about today is already viewable. Is everybody impressed?

On my first full day here, after going for a stroll in historic Richmond, I happened to mention that I did not realize Tasmanian Devils were real animals. Next thing I knew I was whisked off to a zoo/petting zoo/animal shelter where I saw real Tasmanian Devils (they’re dog-sized and very cute but I’m told they’re really nasty evil brutes when they fight), along with kangaroos, wallabys, emus, wombats (my favorites- really adorable), koalas, etc. etc. I got to feed the wallabys which I thoroughly enjoyed. (See pictures.)

Now you have gotten some of the high points of Tasmania. I leave on Sunday for Melbourne. The Open ends on Saturday and I already have my hotel booked, so keep your fingers crossed that this will be a happier experience. I have also read enough of Lonely Planet to realize that I will probably land in Sydney smack in time for Gay Mardi Gras. I think I will book my hotel in advance this time in order to avoid having to blog another “I hate” entry.

Final question- I can see that lots of people are looking at this blog. Don’t you people have any comments???

Tags: Australia, Hobart, Tasmania, Travel

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.