Day 1 –
Freycinet National Park
I’ve just spent the last few days ‘relaxing’ in Hobart since finishing the bike ride! I met with a friend the day after the hike who was visiting for the weekend from Sydney, and we ventured up the East coast again up to Freycinet National Park to hike into Wineglass Bay! Despite it being cloudy and the trail being a little wet, we made it up the 3km (roundtrip) trail to the lookout! The clouds didn’t clear totally for a photo but it was still a good hike and view!
After Wineglass Bay we went by Sleepy bay and Cape Tourville Lighthouse, which were the other two hotspots in Freycinet National Park, there was no one at Sleepy Bay which was nice, so we got to hang out down on the rocks and at the beach by ourselves.
Before the long 3 hour drive back to Hobart we stopped at Devil’s Corner – at the winery! Sophie enjoyed a glass of wine and I enjoyed a lemonade (I’m enjoying more the fact that I have not drank booze in 11 weeks – and if you know mine and Sophie’s friendship you will know we were big party animals – being sober around her has definitely been different – but great!) Anyway, the vineyard was great and the scenic backdrop even better!!
There was a stop on the way back to the city at my favourite public toilet so far … in Swansea… It had a wonderful view of the ocean and was nice and clean – for a public toilet anyway. (We had also stopped here on the way up!!)
Day 2.
Hobart – Salamanca Market, Mona, Botanical Gardens, Mt Wellington and Cascade Brewery!
Today the weather didn’t look too great so we decided to stay close to the city! We had breakfast down at Salamanca market and wondered through there for a short while before heading to MONA. This is how their website describes their museum…
Mona: a museum, or something. In Tasmania, or somewhere. Catch the ferry. Drink beer. Eat cheese. Talk crap about art. You’ll love it.
The Museum of Old and New Art. It was fantastic – although I wasn’t a huge fan of the descriptions of the art all being on an ipod touch and everything being more digital. Everyone had their heads stuck down on their devices reading about the art as there was no descriptions on the walls or by the pieces. A little bit of a weird and annoying experience in that sense, but the art and the experiences in there made up for it.
After the Museum we went and had lunch in the botanical gardens – which were just beautiful! and the sun had come out!! We then headed back into the city to the Cascade Brewery – the oldest continually operating brewery in Australia.
Our day in the city was full and crammed with as many touristy places as possible. But it couldn’t end without a trip up Mount Wellington, and an attempt of seeing a sunset! The clouds were definitely looming, but we made it up there, took some photos, didn’t see much, headed back down to the half way point – took better photos, and then drove back to the hostel and crashed for the night! We were gonna try again tomorrow for a sun rise at Welly!!
Day 3!
Bruny Island and Cape Elizabeth Trail
Well, to finish a long weekend off, we got up super early (5.30am) to go catch the sunrise at Welly, to them head to the ferry to get over to Bruny Island. Well the sunrise was as good/cloudy as the sunset, we didn’t even bother with the drive all the way up this time! We headed half way up and then straight to Kettering to get the 7.30 Ferry – which we couldn’t get on as it was full and had to get the 8am, but that was okay! We packed as much into Bruny as we could – in the little time we had – we had to get Soph back to Hobart by 6 to get to the airport by 7!
Our day trip of Bruny included – Adventure Bay and the Fluted Cape Trail (a 2km round trip to the Cape, and to overlook Penguin Island), Cape Bruny Lighthouse, The Neck Lookout, and finally the Cape Queen Elizabeth Trail. The Cape Queen Elizabeth trail is 12km round trip overlooking Adventure Bay and Fluted Cape and the Neck! It was a nice hike to end our day, even though time restricted us from making it right to the end we made it pretty much the whole way, and got to enjoy the beach and ‘The Arch’ before heading back up and back to the car. The queue for the ferry was a little long – We got there at 4.15 and didn’t board till 5.30. The Ferry were not that big and there were a lot fo cars wanting to get back… so definitely give yourself plenty of time to get back over. We made it back to the mainland, and to the airport just a few minutes after 7… BAM! (we would have been earlier had we not stopped for some Maccas nuggets – well deserved after our hike and our long day!!!) It was a wonderful weekend, full of laughs and adventures and surprisingly no alcohol (ok maybe a couple of glasses for Soph 😉 )
Until Next time! Thanks for the visit Soph 🙂
Day 4 and 5
The next two days I spent making my way to Launceston, via a few camping stores for last minute supplies, grocery stores for snacks (most important thing) and then via the Bay of Fires – I was keen to see this place as I missed out on it on the bike ride. I’d also brought Lionel a patch from here so I had to go (haha) I camped out by the Bay of Fires right by the ocean which was awesome, testing out my tent again and my cooking equipment and all that good stuff. Packed my backpack properly and headed to Launceston for 1 night in a hostel before the Overland begins! Ready to HIT THE TRAIL.
