Australia: Tasmania Road Trip

August 24: Hobart

Woke up early, did some quick online work, and my parents arrived at my house so we could catch an Uber to the airport. Dad and Jenny (stepmom) arrived in Australia July 4, and stayed until September 4. It was their first time in an Uber, and Dad was so cute: he tried to pay the driver with cash. Oh, Dad. ha

It's an 80 minute flight from Melbourne to Hobart, on the southern tip of Tasmania.

We grabbed the rental car and found our great AirBnB. The view was excellent!

Once we were situated, we decided to go for a wander through the downtown core to Battery Point, the oldest suburb aka neighbourhood in Hobart. It was super cute, and adorable, and the iron lace was impressive - though, of course, I forgot to take a picture of that. 

Hilarious decorative cabbage! 

St David's Anglican stained glass 

St David's Anglican Cathedral museum

Being with my 72 year old folks meant that we were home by dusk, after grocery shopping so that we could make dinner at the AirBnB. The best part of the AirBnB was the amazing bath tub, with a heat lamp and bubble bath. I enjoyed a solid bath after dinner, and got to bed early.


August 25: Salamanca Market & Port Arthur

Started the day with a sleep-in and a deliciously creamy avo smash in the sunshine of our gorgeous AirBnB. Amazingly, my folks had never had avocado on toast. Dad tried to peel the avocado aha. Entirely entertaining.

Salamanca Market was massive; way bigger than I imagined it might be. It was so nice to simply wander through the various stalls looking for souvenirs and funky foods. It was a gorgeous morning. We stopped for lunch and cider at a restaurant, and got in the car to head over to Port Arthur.

But, we did manage to get out to Port Arthur, which Google Maps thinks is in the middle of a field. Port Arthur is an old convict site, which is now a World Heritage site. Actually, there are 17 convict sites all across Australia that are now protected by UNESCO. The entire town consists of an information centre, a cafe, a general store, and about 5 homes. Plus the convict site aka an old prison ground. Different parts were used until quite recently, so they look much newer than some of the ruins. Unfortunately, it was late in the day and we didn't have the time or feel like spending the money to take a wander through the grounds.

So instead, we went out to Maingon Bay Lookout and Remarkable Cave. I was a big fan of the rock formations, as a geo kid, and it was so nice to smell the salty air. From Hobart to

On our way, we were in the area home to MANY Tasmanian Devils so did our best to find them. Turns out, a whole whack of them have a cancer specific only to Devils, which means they're dying off and conservation efforts are underway to prevent more from getting this gross disease. Poor lil guys. We didn't see them. We did, however, get to enjoy the scenery at sunset.

We got back to Hobart after dark, had some leftovers for dinner, and then I had another glorious bath before bed.


Aug 26: Bruny Island

After another tasty breakfast, we hopped in the car to head south to Bruny Island. We drove for about an hour, had a flat white while waiting for the ferry, and then the ferry was about 20 minutes. Bruny Island is a cute, wee place, just off the southern coast of Tasmania. Technically it's one island, split by a sand neck.

Mailboxes made out of all kinds of household items, few of which are actually mailboxes. 

Bruny Island used to be the quarantine station for Australia, particularly with WWI and WWII. Australia is SUPER particular about what they allow into and out of the country. So, every ship would land at Bruny Island and have to stay for a while if they were deemed unfit for whatever reason.

Even on a little island, there are sheep EVERYWHERE. I'm a big fan of sheep. I think they're great!
It was a grey and dreary day, but we had a car so decided to just motor along and see what we could. We had one goal: oysters.

There are trees this size ALL over Bruny Island. This thing is HUGE! 

So, for oysters, we went to Get Shucked! I had never tried oysters, and was definitely squeamish. BUT, I learned that they can be steamed aka cooked, or uncooked. I am not a fan of slimy food textures (like cooked mushrooms) so was very against uncooked oysters. Luckily, there were several steamed options and we tried a bunch! DELICIOUS.

It's really cool to see where the oysters are shucked, and this was just a tiny, wee place with enough indoor seating for maybe 10 people, plus a big outdoor seating area. It was pouring rain and cold, so we decided to stay indoors, but we kept our jackets on and I was shivering a bit.

It was important to us to catch the ferry back to Tassie, so we finished up the oysters quickly and went out to the Neck Lookout. Or, we tried to, but it was closed for reparations, so instead we stopped on the side of the road, climbed a sand dune, and took a quick shot. I suppose, really, we only saw North Bruny Island, and didn't make it to the South.

We were in line for 3pm ferry, but didn't manage to get on. Instead, we waited in line for another hour to be certain that we caught the last ferry across. This is the biggest succulent I have ever seen, and it was growing wild at the ferry stop rest rooms. Whoa!

We got back to the Tassie mainland just as the sun was setting, grabbed some groceries, and made dinner at our AirBnB. I decided to have another glorious bath, watch some Footy, and head to bed.




August 27: Hobart, MONA

Knowing that it would be a gross, rainy, cold day, we decided to sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast before heading off to MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art. And WHOA, what a fascinating place.

An incredibly wealthy man decided that he wanted to share his art collection, so built a museum in the side of a limestone cliff. It is 6 stories deep, and you start at the bottom and work your way up. There are various wings to the Museum, and it feels like you're quite suddenly outside/at ground level despite having just been several stories underground.

We were given a headset and could listen along at different parts of the museum. I thought this was especially neat, and I felt like I learned way too much about some projects, and not nearly enough about others. The newest exhibit was a very strange German section from the 60s. I was not a fan, for the most part, and tried to high tail it outta that part as quickly as possible.

My favourite sections are in the photos below:
Concrete walls, this cube is filled with engine oil that is at least 2.5 feet deep. You can stand in the white part, but don't dare touch the gross, dirty oil. It was SOOOO neat. Also, if you look closely, you can see my reflection, taking a photo with my arms up above my head, from one storey up! The dirty oil is actually super slick and reflective and really, freaking cool.

This is one of the super cool ceilings. I'm a GeoKid, and really love rocks. I spent a fair chunk of time admiring the walls and ceilings.

Cunts: a wall of 77 vulva molds. Hint: every single one looked different! And they are all beautiful and amazing!

There are vineyards along the driveway to MONA. They have some entertaining signs, like this one that reads: HUMANOID EXCLUSION ZONE. Please help Moorilla stay disease-free by keeping your dirty human bodies out of our vineyard. You humans really are filthy. Do it for the grapes.

I was incredibly impressed with MONA, and thoroughly enjoyed spending the day there. We stopped at the grocery store on our way back and picked up a final few items to enjoy on our road trip and as our last dinner in Hobart. Evenings seem to be pretty tame: we make dinner, watch TV, I have a bath, and head to bed well before midnight.




August 28: Bicheno

We left Hobart just after breakfast, and took a leisurely, 6 hour drive from Hobart to Bicheno:

Along the way, we passed a whole bunch of farms, and it was surprisingly hilly. We stopped for lunch in Coles Bay, and had mussels for the first time. I much prefer oysters. Mussels were icky. Seems I didn't think it was worth taking photos of the scenery/animals, unfortunately. But it was a nice drive, and mostly overcast, which meant it wasn't super hot in the car.

We decided to stop overnight in Bicheno to see penguins. Arriving before sunset, we found our AirBnB. got settled, and wandered the 7 minutes as it was getting to dusk to the rocks and the Blowhole.

The rocks are orange with lichen!

Water comes up through the Blowhole, which you can see here:

It was wayyyyy too dark for my phone to be able to get photos of the penguins, and my stepmom didn't see any at all. Luckily, the same penguins exist in Melbourne, and there are way more of the tiny things.

Our AirBnB was FREEZING, so we ate leftover dinner quickly and got into bed.




August 29: Launceston


Woke up early, had a quick and easy breakfast, and were on our way. I had a noon plane to catch, and it was a 3.5 hour drive. I'm really glad Dad was driving because there was a particularly difficult and winding mountain to make our way over. Absolutely stunning scenery. And, up, over the mountain there were suddenly camels. CAMELS.

Kept driving through the middle of Tasmania, and it was neat driving through the farmland and quaint lil towns.

Hopped on my flight in perfect time, and was back home in Melbourne in time for dinner and axe throwing. Solid road trip, and I loved getting to spend so much time with my folks. Tasmania is a beautiful and wondrous place. I would love to get to explore it in spring, and spend a lot of time outdoors.