Week 11- Tasmania!

Port Arthur

Week one of Spring break is over. With IES, the program I’m here with, my group went to Tasmania. We had such a fun time (except for the crazy bus driver who made me car sick every time we drove). 

Day 1 included getting picked up by a bus at 6:15am. When you consider the fact that I was working on a lab report until 3, that’s REALLY early. We flew from Melbourne to Hobart and hit the ground running. We briefly stopped at our Hostel before going to the Salamanca market. It was an open air street fair that takes place every Saturday by the harbor. There were crafts, food, art, and lots of acts. It was really fun to peruse the street looking for treasure. After a few hours of market going, my friends and I decided to go to the museum. There were several cool exhibits, unfortunately sleep deprivation fogs my memory slightly. We saw a skeleton of a Thylacine, the Tasmanian dog/tiger that has been thought to be extinct since the 1930s. We stopped by a movie exhibit and began to watch penguins march around. Pretty soon after we were all asleep (probably 15 of us) lying on top of each other. We were woken up by an usher type person (security?) who thought it was funny.  We got up and looked at another exhibit, only to be drawn into another movie where we fell asleep. This time the man didn’t find it so funny. We decided to take our leave. After a two hour nap at the market it was time for a very tasty sushi dinner. That night we decided to wander around and found a 24 hour bakery. I had an amazing chocolate cake. We made several local friends.

Day 2 was an amazing white water rafting trip down the Tahune river. Half way through the trip we got to a deep, open area where we played king of the hill. Two people stood on the top of a raft and wrestled until someone (or both people) fell in. I played with my friend Chelsea. We were really evenly matched so we both ended up in the 2 degree Celsius water (about 34 F). We also had raft wars where each raft attempted to sabotage all of the others. This included pushing people out of the boat, splashing each other, and occasionally kidnapping people. That night we went to a tasty pizza place.

Day 3 had the most amazing start ever. We went to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory! We got to learn about their processes to make the chocolate. They also have a store that sells the reject chocolate. I ended up with 4 kilos (8 lbs) for under $30. That’s probably the best investment I’ve made while here. We then drove to Port Arthur which was an old jail. It’s almost all completely in ruins and is so incredibly beautiful. The stories about it are horrifying, only the most horrible people were sent there from England. They were treated harshly. We went on a cruise around the bay and took a tour on the Isle of the Dead, their cemetery island. I heard several really interesting stories. I also found a headstone with my name on it. Creepy! Half of our group decided to walk home together along the edge of the bay. My friends and I were fast hikers so we quickly got ahead. We landed on a beach and weren’t sure wether to take the road or the beach so after waiting for the rest of the group for ten minutes we decided to take the road. After walking for about 10 minutes we hadn’t seen any signs letting us know if we were going the right way or not. I attempted to flag down a police officer but he thought I was waving at him and waved back and drove by. Eventually we reached our camp site (not before the same police officer had passed us twice) to be greeted by the bus driver who laughed at us because we had taken a route twice as long as the one going on the beach. We were worried that our “guides” would be worried about us but they hadn’t noticed we were missing. That night we had Kangaroo spaghetti and then went back to Port Arthur for a ghost tour. SO creepy! We walked through the roofless church that would have held 1000 people, the doctors house, the autopsy room (where there was a story about a woman with really long hair, and having the longest hair I was used as the subject of the story), we also went into asylum where they kept people in solitude and silence for 23 hours a day. At one point we were ushered into the dark cell. The walls were each a meter thick with one window. Prisoners who were badly behaved were punished with a month in the dark cell. Our guide closed the door on us for 30 seconds and we were all so glad to get out. I put my fingers an inch from my eyes but I couldn’t see them.

Day 4 we went to the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park. We saw the devils tear apart a wallaby skull and absolutely demolish it. Their jaws have 2000 lbs of force. They’re really cute. Unfortunately 80% of wild devils have a mysterious tumor that has become known as devil cancer. It deforms their face and mouth over the course of 8 months until they die from starvation. The pictures of it are horrifying. The Tasmin Peninsula is the only place that has wild devils unaffected by it. At the devil park they also had a kangaroo and wallaby petting zoo style thing. I got to feed a joey that was in its mama’s pouch! They were all so cute! That afternoon we were supposed to go on a hike but it was pouring cats and dogs and there was no sign of it showing up. A few of us didn’t want to be stuck inside all day so we decided to go for a polar bear swim. We drove to a nearby beach, went for a walk, went back to the bus to strip into bathing suits, and sprinted into the water. It was FREEZING! My breath was immediately taken away. There was a strong rip tide so we didn’t go in very deep. Mean while, there’s a storm raging around us. After a few minutes of splashing we quickly drove back to the hostel and took nice hot showers. That night we introduced the group to the game Mafia. It got to be very intense. We played from 10pm till about 2am (the rain was still pounding down). Several fights broke out.

Day 5 dawned bright and sunny. We did the hike we had missed on day 4. It was up to the saddle of a mountain range, to a beautiful look out, down the other side, and to Wineglass Bay. The waves were 10-15 feet tall! It was so beautiful. We all played in the water for a while and had to hike back home with soaked jeans. While I was putting on my shoes, a wild wallaby came over to me, sniffed me several times, and inserted itself onto my lap. I didn’t know what to do but scratch him behind the ears. He was really sweet. Sadly, no one got photos of him on my lap. We went for a wine tasting at Velo winery, run by Micheal Wilson a former Tour de France and Olympic competitor. His wife gave us a talk and was absolutely hillarious. That night I tried a classic australian dessert, which of course I can’t remember the name of..... I’ll get back to you on that one. We wandered around Launceston, one of Tasmania’s “big” cities, for the rest of the evening. 

Day 6 we did a walk to Cataract Gorge. It’s a beautiful peace of scenery in the middle of the city. The rocks there used to be quarried. Now there is a chairlift that spans the gorge. It was a really fun 10 minute ride. After the gorge it was time to go home!

Tomorrow (in 5 hours, at 3am) I leave for Sydney. I’ll be there for two days and then will travel to Airlie Beach for five days! The weather in Sydney is supposed to be 71 tomorrow and 66 on Sunday. The entire time I’m in the Whitsunday Islands the weather will be above 80! I’m really excited about this because of how rainy it has been in Melbourne (and Tassie). I’m sure people have probably heard about the sand storm in Sydney but don’t be alarmed, it’s over now and normality has been returned.