We arrived at the Hobart international airport (very small-1 terminal airport) at around 8 pm so it was already pretty dark. The airport is about 15-20 miles to the city center and again limited transport. So we hopped in a taxi to take us to the Tassie Backpacker's hostel right in the city center. This was my very first time staying in a hostel ever! The hostel was once a hotel so there were many rooms and dormitories. The first floor was a popular bar. After we checked in and took our luggage up to our 10 girl dormitory we were super hungry. We walked down the street to have dumplings at a small but popular Chinese restaurant. The dumplings were of course amazing! Then we headed back to the bar at our hostel, they gave us buy one get one free beer coupons, so we ended up with 4 huge pints of beer. We decided to plan our trip for the next day and places we wanted to see. We were there for about 2 hours planning our next week to come in the campervan.

The next day we were able to catch 2 busses to get us somewhat close to the pickup location of our campervan. I will never forget that we walked probably about a mile (backpacker style along the road). It was just a very fun experience with the two girls and their backpacks and me with my luggage on wheels on the rough terrain haha. Once we reached the Cruisin' headquarters with our van we were ready to start our next adventure. We would be traveling all throughout the state of Tasmania.

Our first stop was of course a grocery store so we could stalk up on all our food necessities. Then we headed west of Hobart to Geeveston (part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area) to see the TAhune Airwalk. Essentially the whole western state of Tasmania is all mountains and national park. And it is all just stunning to see! The Tahune airwalk is in the middle of National forest and it's a steel structure high in the air among the trees. It allows you to walk through the trees almost at the same height as the trees. The edge of the airwalk is amazing because it balances on 1 steel pole as you walk to the edge and just see the beautiful mountains in the background and river below. Some people were bouncing on the end to move the whole structure (scary!). In this National Park there were also swinging bridges about a 40 minute hike from the airwalk. They definitely were swinging made by ropes and sloping down when you walked above the rushing river below. These were fun to bounce on though, mostly because they bounced as you walked. We saw a few wild wallaby's in this forest.

Day 2: Next we started to drive our way towards our camping destination. We drove about 2 hours to New Norfolk, about 40 mins outside of Hobart, and a very small town (like basically all the towns in Tasmania). This night we discovered our campervan had a battery issue with the power. So we ended up in the dark the whole night, cooking dinner, eating dinner, dishes, and getting the beds ready for the first time (we had to build the beds from our kitchen table). It was an extravaganza to do in the dark. The next day we drove towards Mount Field National Park (north) to see the famous Russell Falls and Horshoe Falls. These falls were incredible about a 25 min hike into the forest to see the falls. Both were just incredible to see the structure and amount of water that came pumping through the forest. It was amazing to be among nature and just listen to the forest and think. I loved hiking everyday through these forests and just being in my own thoughts and appreciation of nature.

Then we drove further up North now fully in the mountains (curvy, small, windy roads) to Lake St. Claire. This lake is in the Lake St Clair National Park and is famous for being the deepest lake in Australia. Unfortunately being in the mountains in fall meant crazy rainy weather. But we didn't care we trekked out to the lake to see it. It was beautiful right in the middle of such tall mountains. By this time it was beginning to get late so we continued to drive on to our next camp site. This time at a powered site so we could recharge and hopefully have electricity so we wouldn't be in the dark. We stopped in Zeehan. This was probably our coldest night being right in the middle of the mountains with the rain. But we made it work and began to adjust to life in our awesome campervan (stocked with mini kitchen, sink, table, bedding, just like a mini RV).

Day 3: Today was our trek with the car around and around the mountains admiring the beauty of this incredible state full of mountains and plains and every landscape you can imagine. Cradle Mountain is probably the most famous attraction in Tasmania for its stunning natural beauty. Cradle Mountain is a protected area and the only way to get to the mountain is by park-bus. They take you to different stops to see the attractions within the Cradle Valley. It was about a 15-20 min bus ride to Cradle Mountain. Cradle Mountain to me was much like the Grand Canyon. When you look at it or see it in a picture it looks fake because there's that much beauty. It's a huge mountain, with a snow cap, seen from miles and miles away. It sits right on a lake with a variety of different look out points. We walked around the lake for about 30 mins (the whole lake would be about 2 hours) just taking in this amazing structure created. As we hopped on the bus to head back to the campervan we got off a 1 stop to see another falls. Then the most amazing thing happened. It snowed! Yes it snowed in Australia. Many Australians have never seen snow so that was a real treat. Of course I wasn't dressed for the weather at all (couldn't carry all my warm clothes on the 7 kg flight). But that moment was just amazing for me personally. I loved it, even though it was cold. After leaving Cradle Mountain, we continued to drive through the mountains to a few plains through Mole Creek (famous for caves). We actually drove through this one street town 4 times because we couldn't find the caves and it was around closing time (everything closes at 4 or 5). We then continued to drive North-east towards our next camping destination. We went past Launceston (the 2nd "big" city in Tasmania) to a little place called Swan Point (right on the beach). This night we stayed in free camping which meant we were in the dark again. But this night was fun we just relaxed and enjoyed our time together talking and eating our delicious pasta (every night is delicious pasta night).

Day 4: This day we woke up and crossed the bridge to head towards Launceston. This was such a cute town. Very old and original to its history. Here we walked among the Cataract Gorge Reserve. This park was really fun to hike. We did about a 40 min hike up hill to see the city view from above a mountain (where we saw 2 wild wallabies) and a stunning view of Launceston. We hiked down and admired the Tamar River where many families were out and about on a Sunday afternoon hiking along. That was really nice to see so many people out and about in nature. From Launceston we drove up to the North coast to see the Bass Strait dividing Tasmania from the rest of Australia. Bridport was amazing! I loved it, it's one of those towns that you think you would retire in. Very peaceful, super blue water, nice town and area, just beautiful and quiet. After Bridport, we headed east towards the East Coast of Tasmania to the North-East forests where we saw the incredible St Columba Falls (where more than 250,000 liters pour out every min! that's how much water were at these falls) and the Bay of Fires (about 20 plus miles of stunning beach). We decided to watch the sunset at a place right in the middle of the Bay of Fires called The Gardens. It was like watching a sunset you'd think was in Africa. I can only describe this by the orange in the sunset among the dry and tall trees that look straight out of something in Africa. The sun set right between a small compilations of trees in the distance. While the other side was ocean and the sky was a mix of purple, blue, pink, and orange hitting the red rocks for a wonderful sunset. From here we hopped in our campervan and headed towards our camping spot for the night (another powered site for electricity) we stayed at St. Helen's Point. We saw a few bunnies at this camp site. This night was pretty warm now that we were near ocean and not in the mountains.

Day 5: We drove all along the East coast of Tasmania along the ocean down towards the Freycinet National Park (another favorite spot). We decided to camp at the National Park in Cole's Bay so we had our camping before it got dark for the first time! Then we drove the van a few miles down the peninsula towards the park of Wineglass Bay. This bay is voted as one of the top ten beaches in the world and it truly was. You can't get to it by any other way than boat or a 1.5 hour hike. It is secluded among mountains with water as clear as the Caribbean. The hike to the Wineglass Bay lookout was about 35 min and it was just a stunning sight from above to see the white sand, clear water, and mountains all around. We then decided to make the journey about 30 min downhill (scary hiking down, thinking about coming back up!) But once on the white sand and in wineglass bay it was just magical. Being only 3 of 5 people on this private beach admiring the stunning view and a witness in the amazing creation of the beauty. I wrote in the sand and we took lots of fun pictures in the sand just enjoying our tim tams. Then came the hike up and boy was I terrified… but it actually only took us about 20-25 mins to hike. It was projected to take about an hour but we were somehow fast. We began to hike our way back stopping at a lookout over Cole's Bay (where we would be camping along the ocean again) to watch the sunset. This sunset was magical as well watching the sun set between two Red mountains and down through the ocean. Once we drove back to our campsite we settled into our powered site with electricity and enjoyed our pasta and tim tams for dessert.

Day 6: Our last full day with the campervan. We drove south along the East coast among the plains and ocean. We drove onto the Tasman Peninsula stopping at something called the Tessellated Pavement (where the ocean had basically created squares into rocks looking like pavement). We then admired the Tasman Blowhole (water caught in a giant hole between rocks), Tasman Arch (an arch formed from rocks that had fallen), and Devils Kitchen (a narrow straight created after rocks had fallen). We then made our way towards Port Arthur known as the place the worst convicts were sent. Convicts from Britain were sent to Australia to be segregated from the rest of the population. They were sent to Port Arthur for terrible things (even more secluded from the population). This was called Port Arthur Convict Gaol with about 500 acres of land for the convicts but also regular people who worked at the gaol and raised their children on the land. We decided to do a ghost tour here later that night. In the meantime, we drove our way towards the Remarkable cave, where rocks had fallen and formed a cave from the ocean towards a sand beach. Then we made our way back to the convict gaol for our ghost tour. I actually really love ghost tours and I'm really into the stories of ghosts. I haven't experienced anything but I always remember Gettysburg where we caught something on film. All we had for light was 4 lanterns guiding our paths along the prison grounds. First we went to the church which was built by the convicts so many years ago. Several suicides had taken place in the church and it was burned down in a fire. The walls that remained were still a very nice looking church (just no roof, so we got to see the stars). Next, our tour guide took us inside the Priest's home (where he was murdered and had been haunting those who tried to stay in his home for years and years). I have to say I was pretty terrified being in the house. I definitely felt a negative presence and energy that I didn't want to be in there. One girl said she felt a tug on her backpack. The spirit of the priest apparently strangled a man that was renovating the home and was staying in the house during the renovations. The priest didn't like that so he strangled him (but he lived, with marks along his neck the next day...scary). Then we went towards a few other homes on the property of other free people who lived on the property. A sighting of a young girl who liked to play with other children. And we went into a basement where the experiments occurred on the dead convicts bodies. This was scary too because it was underground in a musty room and our tour guide scared us by banging a goat skull along a grate (everyone screamed). Our last stop was in the penitentiary. I always find penitentiary's interesting because it's complete and utter solitude. Some were in there for 3 months some for 2-3 years and went insane. The stories were mostly of ghosts hitting on young girls trying to get attention. All 3 of us loved this tour! It was such a fun experience and I really enjoyed the stories. We also all got scared and talked about it long after the tour was over. Then we drove about 30 mins out of Port Arthur careful to avoid any animals crossing the roads (Tasmania should be voted as the most roadkill to find. So sad how their Tasmanian devils are all over the roads just dead from cars. Along with many wallabies lying on the sides of the roads. It was a very sad thing to see). We camped in a place called Dunalley with no power this night as our last night. Tomorrow would be the last day

Day 7:

This was our last day with the campervan we headed back towards Hobart. We stopped in a small historic town called Richmond. It has many of the original buildings from the 1800's as well as one of the oldest prison's in the state. It was such a cute town and so many people were there just enjoying the morning. Next, we headed into Hobart. It was about a 30 min drive. We drove up Mt. Wellington, which is the huge mountain that overlooks the city of Hobart. It was about 14 km up the mountain round and round we went. It was extremely cloudy this day. So the mountain was so high that we literally drove through and up the cloud. So at the top this was 1270 meters high (4170 ft.). We made it to the top of the mountain only to literally see nothing. It was like the edge of the world! That was the coolest part. Knowing how high up you are but seeing nothing but clouds because we were in a cloud. It was pretty darn chilly up on that mountain too. Well worth the drive up. On our way back down, and out of the cloud, we did get to see a view of the city from above. Wow was it pretty cool. Hobart is just such a nice small city, situated between mountains and ocean. Then we had to take our little campervan back home. It was kinda sad because she was just perfect. I would love to rent one of these vans again. Once we dropped off the van we had to hitchhike our way back to a bus stop. And we drove back into the city to the hostel we stayed in for the first night. After we unloaded and took a breather we headed back out into the city to walk around and really see Hobart. We went down to the Marina and just enjoyed the views of this spectacular gem. We ended up eating fish and chips this night on the Marina which was quite delicious fresh from the ocean. We headed back to the hostel bar and had a few more beers. We pretty much just messed around on our phones and got all caught up on a week's worth of social media haha. Then headed off to bed. The next day we went to the famous and really awesome MONA (Museum of Old and New Art). It's quite the interesting place. It is owned privately so the modern art is nothing like you've ever seen. It is built 4 levels underground. The museum officially starts on the 1st ground level where you pick up you iPhone (yes iPhone) and it's like an electronic info giver of the art. Every room you walk into it adjusts to the art in the room. You can then click on the piece and read a description, the meaning, and the author's ideas as well as interviews about the piece. It was so cool! One of the first things you come across is the "Vagina Wall," yes that's right. 75 molds of women's vaginas. It was something very shocking but the artist's story behind it was incredible. It was about not being ashamed and not be afraid that everyone is different but yet all are perfect. It was just a really nice message. Another piece that was interesting is a wall of ropes that would have live meat carcasses hanging from them. I can't remember the reason for that and there was no meat the day I visited but still pretty crazy. Another fascinating piece was the digestive system. 6 orbs hanging in a room filled with enzymes to show viewers what the digestive system is like. The machine was fed twice a day and pooped twice a day for viewing. On another level there was the famous "fat Porsche." I loved the idea of this. An artist had literally blown up a red Porsche to make it fat. It symbolized people who are so absorbed with wealth that the material just consumes them. This was by far one of the coolest museums I've ever been too! After MONA we walked around the city some more and enjoyed our last day in this incredibly beautiful state. I would really miss Hobart and all I got to see there. God's creations are incredible and I'm so blessed to have been able to explore something with such beauty. I will never forget this trip and all the experiences I was able to have. As well as the amazing people I was able to share them with.

Experiences are what dreams are made of