If ever there was a place that the weather dictates the kind of time you'd have in a place it would definitely be Tasmania.It started out well enough when we were expecting to pick up our tiny Hyundai Getz and when they didn't have any economy cars available (as they never do) we were upgraded to our familiar Toyota Camry 2008 edition.This is important to note because it would become our home in more ways than one.After buying a $40 tent and a $8 cooler in Hobart we had our bedroom and kitchen all sorted and we started out on an adventure.First up was the Tasman Peninsula where we found the first of many awesome beaches at Fortesque Bay.The thing about it is that it's located within a national park which has an entry fee of $22 per park.This becomes a problem when everything worth seeing in Tassie is located in one of the numerous national parks.With no one attending the entry gate we thought we'd give this payment a miss.A quick two hour return walk to Canoe Bay (not really worth the hike) and we were back for a quick lay out at Fortesque soaking in some sun on the near deserted white sand beach.We decided not to camp here just in case the gatekeeper returned and demanded payment so we instead headed north along the east coast.

We wanted to camp outside the only backpackers on the peninsula but the owner here had more rules than sense and had an eerie Wolf Creek air about him so we took our business up to a caravan park in Orford that was flooded by birdies (those weird people who travel around in large groups all with binoculars around their necks and trying to spot rare winged wildlife).The owner here was nice enough to find us a tiny patch of grass between cabins to pitch our tent on and a private bbq to grill our dinner on.

We next headed up to Freycinet National Park which houses the most photographed beach in Tasmania: Wineglass Bay.We got the most spectacularly overcast, rainy day to witness this bay.I'd have to say that regardless of the weather, this was one of the more overrated hikes we went on.Over 600 steep stairs up to the lookout you'd think would scare some people off, but this trail was packed beyond its capacity with struggling pensioners and little kids and the lookout itself was elbow to elbow with those who made the trek.We snapped a few photos, pet the resident wallaby up top and turned around because there's no point sunbathing on a beach with no sun.

Now the entire east coast of Tassie seems to be littered with the most amazing long stretches of flour pure white sand beaches, and every one of them is completely empty.There is no better example of this than the Bay of Fires.The first beach you come to is Binalong Bay which we thought (as well as many others since it was recently named in the top 5 beaches in the world) was the most perfect beach we ever had the privilege of setting foot on.As we took the road further up the bay towards the Gardens we came across Jeaneret beach, Swimcart Bay, Cosy Corner, and a couple other beaches I can't remember the names of all with the same long stretch of pure white sand and no more than 5 people to an entire beach.All these beaches also have free camping just off the beach.We decided if we ever had the loot to invest in a holiday house it would be here in the Bay of Fires.

With the weather not getting any better, we passed up a walk up Mt. William and headed into Launceston where we splurged for a night of accommodation in a room above Irish Murphy's Pub.We also took advantage of the fact that Launceston actually has a cinema and took in a viewing of Bucket List, great acting but pretty poor writing.Refreshed from a proper night's sleep and having not seen the sun from behind the clouds in several days and the forecast not looking any better for a few more, we headed back down south towards Hobart again.We spent a night in Mt. Field National Park in a self registration campsite (or a get up early and hightail out without paying campsite - $20 is way too much to pay for a place without any kitchen or shower facilities).It was about here that we realized that sleeping in a spacious Camry with heat available whenever we get too cold in the night was much better than sleeping on our camping mats in the bitter cold.A quick walk to Russell Falls in the morning (impressive 40 meter high falls) again would've been much better without the wet stuff that just wouldn't stop falling from the sky.

Our final two days we decided would be spend on Bruny Island not far south of Hobart.We discovered a few very important facts about this little island: the beaches on the east coast of the island were about as beautiful as those we saw on the east coast of Tasmania, there is only one bottle shop on the island, and a liter of unleaded fuel was 40 cents more than on the other side of the 20 minute car ferry.The highlights of the days on Bruny were a 2.5 hour hike to the Fluted Cape (a trail leading up hills on the edge of cliffs plummeting down 300 meters to the ocean below) and the night spent at Jetty Cove where we once again had our own private beach and a bottle of Puddleduck Riesling to enjoy as we watched the sun set over the calm cove waters as the water turned shades of pink and purple.

So all in all Tassie was definitely worth the visit, although better weather would've had us enjoying the beaches a lot more.One final night in the Camry and we're off to Perth to buy a car that could sustain the long trip up the west coast of Australia all the way to Darwin…it definitely won't be Pontiac Sunbird.