Ok not this. I've actually heard when they were drawing out the Tasmanian Devil for cartoons, they only had a black and white photo of one, so they thought it was brown. They are in fact black and white, and don't spin in circles (that fast). Now back on track:
Tasmania is an Australian state, not a country of it's own. From Adelaide it only cost us $130 return, and took around 1.5 hours to get there. It's in Victoria time so it's 30min ahead. We flew into Hobart, the capital city.
As soon as we stepped outside the air was noticeably refreshing, and we really lucked out with the weather. Hobart is a small town, but so is Tasmania. You can get across the whole island in about 4 hours.
The little blue box of crap. We needed food so we headed into town.
We only drove through the city quickly to get some food, but we did make it to Salamanca Street. On Saturdays there is a huge market that takes up this whole street, but it was quiet on Friday. The historic buildings surrounded by mountainous cliffs makes Hobart look a lot like Switzerland.
We found a restaurant that had the BEST (in my opinion) pancakes with Tasmanian strawberries.
Amazing! But our adventure had just begun.
Back on the road, we found the majority of the landscape on the East Coast to be dry rolling hills. It was so much like Hwy 5 through California. We decided to check out some history as well as the beautiful scenery Tasmania has to offer, so we drove through Richmond on our way up to Freycinet.
Built in 1823 by convicts, this is the oldest bridge in Australia. In general Tasmania doesn't have a positive history. In 1642 it was first discovered by Dutchman Abel Tasman, although it's aboriginal inhabitants had lived there for thousands of years. In 1803, however, the British settled there (a mix of convicts and military guards) and proceeded to eradicate the natives. The last Tasmanian Aboriginal died in 1876. By the introduction of foreign animals like foxes, as well as new diseases to the island, it's said that 50% of the native animals, such as the Tasmanian Tiger, have gone extinct.
Historic Buckland Church! Really old headstones and creepy area overall. The main cities are spread out, so most of the houses we saw were in small groups or attached to farms with huge plots of land.
Most of the roads in Tasmania are tight and twisty, which makes going anywhere a long trip, but a fun one! Their highways (as well as most paved roads in Australia) are very smooth. It was a pleasant surprise.
Spiky Bridge!
There was a frog somewhere down there but we never found it.
We headed toward Coles Bay and then into Freycinet (Fressinay.. it's French, go figure). At the base there are several trails to go, but since the light was running out, we ran up the mountain to the Wineglass Bay lookout.
It was tiring, but well worth the hike!
The trail down to Wineglass Bay was over an hour, so we headed back before the sun set. I stopped to prevent a boulder from rolling down the mountain.
Kitty?
We stayed at some backpacker cottages in Coles Bay and checked out the beach in the morning before exploring more.
Furry crabs!
Ok back on the road!
^ This pretty much sums up that part of Tasmania.
Land bridges!
Pants ahead.
^ On our way through Huonville toward the Tahune Forest Reserve.
If you see only one thing in all of Tasmania, make sure you go on the Tahune Airwalk. They build metal walkways hundreds of feet in the air that are suspended by poles and cables. It was a bit freaky but very amazing.
And what's a wilderness adventure without suspension bridges?
Tasmanian water is yellow. I don't know why.
We stayed at this beautiful cottage around Huonville. It was ridiculously nice inside.
Yea.. yellow water.. weird.
We found our way back East and up to the top of Mt. Wellington.
From here you can see Hobart, all the way to the East side of Tasmania. It was super cold and windy up there, so bring a few jackets!
Farewell Tassie, we will see you again someday!
