We had our first campervan experience in Tasmania, or Tassie (pronounced 'tazzy') as it is more commonly called. Lying 150 miles south of the mainland, the Australian island of Tasmania is more than just the home of the Tasmanian devil. The beautiful and uncrowded coastline and mountains made it worth the visit.
We picked up our campervan near the Launceston airport. The camper worked out great for us. It was tall enough to stand up in, had a bed that converted into a table, as well as a small fridge, gas stove, and sink. Because it was so tall, the biggest problem we had was keeping it on the road as the wind was relentless at times. We were happy to save money on food by cooking our own meals. However, in our future campervan adventures we will need to expand our culinary experience beyond PB&J and pasta.
Our first stop was Freycinet National Park, home of Wineglass Bay. We don't pronounce any town names correctly until we hear someone else say them. We just hope that we hear a local say it before we need to say it to a local. We mistakenly pronounced Launceston as 'lon-stun' with two syllables, but is actually pronounced 'lon-sess-tun', with three syllables, and Freycinet ends in the sound 'ay', not 'et'.
Freycinet was where we saw our first wallaby. We were so excited, but it turns out they are everywhere, and we saw many more on our trip. We saw seals from a distance, lounging on the rocks of a small island (the seals, not us).
Wallabies look like miniature kangaroos.
That night, we went down to the beach for the sunset. The clouds didn't cooperate, so the sun didn't put on much of show, but the crabs did. When I walked out on to the beach there were no crabs at all. I looked up after playing with my camera for a couple minutes and saw dozens of them coming up onto the beach. I snapped a few pics, then turned my attention back to the sunset. I looked up again, and there were now hundreds of them. I now realized the crabs were going to be more interesting to photograph than the sunset. As I started taking pictures, more and more crabs appeared, until there were millions of them on the beach. Each were about the size of a dime, and buried themselves in the sand after coming up onto the beach. It was quite a sight, and a little creepy.
Crabs attack!
Crabs in motion (sorry for my poor video skills)
Wineglass Bay
Our next stop was Port Arthur, which is known for being a historic convict settlement. It is also infamous as being the site of Australia’s worst post-colonial mass murder in which 35 people were killed in a 1996 shooting. It's true that many prisoners from the UK were sent Australia, and Port Arthur was the destination for thousands of criminals who were forced to worked as slave labor between 1830 and 1877. There were no convicts at our campsite (that we know of at least), but there were parrots, wallabies, and the endangered potoroo. I think a mad scientist once crossed a rat and a kangaroo to invent this animal, but I couldn't find that fact documented anywhere. We couldn't stick around too long because of the 6 hour drive to the next destination.
Our next stop was in Strahan, pronounced 'strawn', not to be confused with Michael, the former Giants defensive end and Regis's replacement, who pronounces his name 'stray-han'. We had a stroll through a green, damp rain forest, and walked along the 36km Ocean Beach, where we didn't see another person. We also visited a quirky display of natural wood figures that resemble other things. Then we had to get on the road to get to the next spot on the itinerary (notice a trend yet?).
Looking up from the rain forest
Jesslyn standing on the deserted Ocean Beach
The artist had a twisted sense of humor
The next day, we headed to the Cradle Mountain area to do some more serious hiking. The first three words that come to mind to describe Cradle Mountain are fah ree zing. Due to a prior accident involving spilt wine, my sweater and fleece were temporarily out of commission, so I slept in my rain jacket. The national park at Cradle Mountain was fantastic. The scenery was incredible and we saw more unique animals. Jesslyn had a wombat encounter during a middle-of-the-night pee break. The next day we did a fantastic 7 mile hike. The Aussie’s don’t use the term ‘hiking’, they call it ‘walking’, which hints at how rugged these people are. Our ‘walk’ started out really cold, wet, and with no visibility. The park ranger recommended that we do not attempt the summit of the 5000 foot Cradle Mountain because of the snow (and I think the fact that Jesslyn was wearing running sneakers). Luckily, the weather improved throughout the day, and allowed for some great views toward the end.
Jesslyn and me with Dove lake in the background at Cradle Mountain
Tasmanian Devils are cute when they are young...
...but not when they reach maturity
The campgrounds (called holiday parks in part of the world) we stayed at were all very nice, and the one at Cradle Mountain was the best. It has common areas with full kitchens, BBQ's, gas powered pizza ovens, tables and chairs, and large fireplaces, which is good because it was so cold and outdoor fires were not allowed. It was too dry, and wild fires are currently raging in parts of the island. The common areas were full of experienced people making elaborate meals, playing cards, and drinking wine.
We had a quick stop in Devonport (pronounced ‘dee-vohn-pert’ ...just kidding, it is pronounced just like you think). There isn't much to say about Devonport.
Our next stop was back where we started in Launceston. It is a cool little town where we had the chance to purchase some warmer, proper hiking gear, and have nice pub meal.
Overall, Tassie was fantastic. It was very outdoorsy, with beautiful landscapes and exotic animals. We regret booking only one night in each spot since we spent a lot of time driving and less time doing other things. The positive side to the driving was that we saw extremely varied landscapes, from rolling hills of farmland, to forests, to mountains, to coastline. We are looking forward to more hiking through breathtaking landscapes in our next stop, New Zealand. But we are more excited to meet up with our next visitors, Jesslyn's aunt Sharon and cousin Knox.
- Jake
PS: We recently added the pictures of Japan and Tasmania to our photo page.