Wednesday 28th January We arrived at Hobart Airport in Tasmania in the afternoon with no accommodation booked. Tasmania was very busy and we struggled to find somewhere to stay but eventually were able to find a dirty hostel in the city centre. The hostel was quite odd; one of those places that was probably really cool ten years ago but now the owners just don't care so they have kind of left if to rot away. The kitchen had signs all over the wall saying 'we do not take responsibility for the cleanliness of this kitchen', so you can imagine what it looked like. We decided not to bother making big meals and stuck with baked beans. Having chucked our bags into our room we rushed down to Hobart Harbour to see the picturesque waterfront and to seek the advice of the ever helpful tourist information centre, who gave us some great tips about our camper van trip around the state. In the evening we couldn't bare the idea of sitting in a mouldy room so we decided to find a cheap pub. Just outside of town we found this empty Irish bar, which smelt just like a country pub back in Staffordshire. It was muggy outside but soon the rain came, clearing the air which mixed among the pub smells of peanuts, log fires and fresh beer from the pump, lovely! Thursday 29th January During the morning we headed for Battery Point a historic town in Hobart, which kind of looked like a perfect English countryside town, complete with tea and sweet shop. It was a very pretty, idyllic setting and had wonderful views of the city. We then walked through Salamanca where they hold busy markets at the weekend and enjoyed a stroll through the courtyards. After our potter, we headed on the bus to the famous Tasmania Cadbury factory. What a complete waste of time and Nicola if you are reading this you were totally right! The company do not allow tours of the factory anymore because of health and safety regulations so you get to watch a very old video of how the factory worked in the 1980's, given a box of heroes and then sent on your merry way. Dan was happy because he had a bag full of chocolate but it wasn't as good as the factory in Birmingham. We then had an hour's trip back to the City where the ever so helpful bus drivers took us some of the journey for free; everyone in Tazzy is super friendly! We then spent the late afternoon doing boring things like washing and headed back to our little Irish pub to watch the tennis. The night was long as the eight bed dorm we were sleeping in was hot and noisy. People were snoring and getting up at 4 a.m. to catch flights, needless to say we didn't really sleep! Friday 30th January Super excited, we were up at the crack of dawn enthralled at the prospect of collecting a camper van. We headed back to the airport where the owner of the company 'Devil Campers' showed us the ropes of a great beaten up van ready for us to take to the roads of Tazzy. For those of you that read the blog last time you will remember that we hired a 'Wicked Campervan' in NZ. Well the van this time was very similar but slightly longer. It had a little sink, cutlery area, esky, gas burner to cook, bed/living area and linen. From reading the ever so helpful Lonely Planet book we knew where we wanted to go and the tourist information people gave us a map so we were ready to hit the road. Tasmania is south of the state so we decided, since the weather was good, to start an anti-clockwise loop of the island, starting at the east coast beaches. After driving the van for 30 minutes we pulled into a little English countryside town called Richmond, which has the oldest bridge in Australia and pretty old churches and a freaky miniature village! Tazzy was experiencing it's hottest day in a century, 38C, which made driving and trying to pay attention at old historic towns rather challenging. Deciding the best way to cool down would be to drive fast down the road, headed to Sorelle to stock up the van with supplies, which mainly consisted of backed beans, baked beans and sausages, spaghetti and meatballs in a can and fruit. The drive from Sorelle up towards the coast was beautiful. Lots of empty beaches and little towns selling fresh bread and freshly picked cherries from the local orchards. Having had a pretty restless sleep the evening before and with the heat starting to take it's toll, we drove past a $2 donation campsite and decided to pull in for the rest of the day and stay the night and what a good choice it was. The camp area, 'Mayfield Bay Coastal Reserve' was right on the beach, so as we had a cup of tea we looked directly at a turquoise clear sea and white soft sands. We soon made friends with some of the local campers that had been staying for up to 5 weeks, who told us a bit more about the reserve and some of it's surrounding views of national park lands. We spent the afternoon on the beach and sorted our things out in the van. With the skies all of a sudden changing from alluring blue to submissive grey we could feel a storm brewing. The campers around us told us not to worry: "it won't rain here mate, it's just teasing you"; never listen to campers, it poured with rain and hail four about 3 hours, the inside of the van was covered with a mixture of sand, rain water and dirt! Eventually the skies cleared up so we enjoyed our beans and had a walk along the beach collecting lots of pretty shells on our way. That evening we went to sleep with the sound of the waves crashing against the shores. When we woke up in the morning we watched the sun glisten on the calm, still colourful waters; it was just beautiful! Saturday 31st January Making our way to the middle of the east coast we headed through towns such as Swansea (very similar to the one in Whales actually!) heading towards Coles Bay to undertake a walk through National Park lands. Three quarters of Tazzy is National Park lands and all of them are very well organised. You can buy a pass which is valid for two months and this allows you to enter all of the parks at any time. With our National Park passport we headed into Freycinet National Park. This park was full of beautiful spots such as the Cape Tourville lookout a spot so high up from sea level my ears popped on the way up! We then walked to the Wineglass Bay lookout, a 3km walk, which includes about 600 steps each way, to take in the beautiful views of the beach with pure white sands and the clearest of sea's I think I have ever seen. Dan and I were so into the walk that we walked right past the lookout point and pretty much ended up on the beach, about another 4km! After a bit of a paddy on my part, the heat and steps were starting to take their toll, we walked back to the car park. The walk was registered as 'easy' but if two (fairly fit) people like us struggled I dread to think how other's did it! We then had a well deserved sun bathe and swim in Richardson beach, a beautiful clear sandy spot of the park. After our tours around the park visiting other beaches such as Honeymoon Bay and the Friendly Beaches we were back on the road heading north along the east coast to St Helens, stopping briefly at Bicheno for a coffee. Once at St Helens we stopped off the information centre for some advice about things to do and places to camp. We decided to drive north towards The Bay of Fires an area along the cost with the whitest sands I have ever seen and big burly boulders covered in an orange coating, hence the name. The beaches were beautiful and not a sole on them, it was the sort of place you could sit and stare at for days on end. However, the temperature had dropped and we needed to find somewhere to camp for the night. We pulled into a free campsite, Swimcart Beach and pulled up next to the beach, again, where I tried not to think about needing the toilet because it was just a hole in the ground and the hut looked like an icon in a horror movie! Sunday 1st February Today was a pretty long driving day. We left the east coast and headed for Tazzy's second largest town called Launceton to check out their popular Cataract George. It was a beautiful place with swing bridge walks, a still lake and outdoor swimming pool attached. After a quick walk around and ice cream break we were back in the car heading west across the mainland to Deloraine where we made a quick stop and then headed to Sheffield (not like the English City at all). All of the other tourist information places had closed along the way because of it being a Sunday but luckily Sheffield was still open. After seeking advice about our next route we had a quick look at some of the artistic murals painted by local artists in one part of the town; it had the feel of an outside art gallery, just something really cool and different. After driving most of the day we headed to Gowrie park campsite a free site which had views of Cradle Mountains. It was a lovely warm evening and fun to spend time somewhere in land. Monday 2nd February The night before, it poured with rain so to no surprise we had to recruit some of the nearby campers to help give us a jump start in the van. Unfortunately, knowledge of my previous Ford Escort with a manual choke hadn't stuck but after some advice from a workman to turn on the ignition, keep the van in second and release the clutch once the men told me to, we were on our merry way again. We headed through the windiest roads we had seen for a while and made our way high into the mountains. Eventually after an hour or so drive we made it to Cradle Mountain National Park. The huge park was filled with well organised walking trails and shuttle buses to take you to and from one end of the park to the other, these parks are huge don't forget and preserved this way than people driving in their own cars. After looking plagued by serious bush walkers preparing for 7 day overland walks, nutters, we decided to do one of the recommended walks around Dove Lake, to look at the views of Craddle Mountain. However, in the mountains the weather can be very unpredictable. Sure enough it rained for most of the circuit and very low lying clouds and midst meant our views were somewhat hindered. However, the 6km circuit was still beautiful and had a slightly eerie feel to it as the midst made it look like a scene out of the thriller video! After the long walk we headed back to the information centre to take a short walk along the Enchanted Trail, taking in views of the park and some of the waterfalls which had formed as a result of the rain falling down Craddle Moutain. The park was beautiful but it sure was cold! After our fun morning/early afternoon we headed our of the park and west towards the west coast driving trail. We pretty much spent the rest of the day driving towards a town called Strahan (pronounced Strawn) taking in the breathtaking scenery of sweeping hills and abundant coastlines. Strahan was a bit of a mission. There were no free campsite in town but word on the street was that there was a $5 donation site 11km from town. However, the drive meant travelling along a gravel track and with the van's excess in the back of our minds we drove very carefully. It was a complete mission to reach the site but when we did it was beautiful countryside mixed with the rugged beach. I paid this very strange made $5 and we parked on a grassy verge, which kind of looked like someones garden - it probably was! Too tired to do anything else we ate more beans and I whipped Dan at 22 games of 'chase the 8'. Tuesday 3rd February Up early and ready to head back down the gravel track, we headed south and then east back inland to Queenstown. Stopping in this little farming village for a coffee and a $1 bag of lollies (aka sweets) we hit the road, making our way towards Derwent Bride. On our way we stopped at Nelson falls for a short walk and views of a fantastic waterfall; a lookout looking over sparse greenery and hills. We then pulled into Lake St Clair National park for a walk around the lake. The 4km walk takes you through the forest and around part of the lake which was still, calm and reflected the light of the sun to make it look like glitter. It was a beautiful lake and had we more time and money we would of stopped for a spot of canoeing. On our walk back, I spotted something shiny to my right; trying not to scare scare-dy-cat Dan too much, I quietly whispered 'run' in his ear and nodded right. To our right was a large coiled brown snake which had raised its head angrily with suspicion. I don't think Dan and I have ever run so fast in all of our lives! I think the snake was probably more scared of us than the other way around. After our fright Dan had the cheek to say that I should have got a photo!! It made our walk slightly more amusing though! We then headed east, inland towards the next nation park, Mount Field. We stopped off in Hamilton (again not really the same as the town in which the Mccafferty's reside) a small farming town with a liquor shop, lots of sheep, which Dan thought were small elephants, weirdo; and a camp site, no really that was it. After a quick bite we headed for the national park but it was getting too late for the next walk so we decided to camp in the park, the first time we had paid to stay anywhere. However, it was the best $10 we had spent as it was the first time in quite a few day's that we were able to have a shower; I know but we were getting into the whole camper lifestyle. My hair was reaching a birds nest and Dan nearly had facial hair! The campsite had strange wallabies/meleons animals hoping for one of the campers to leave some food and a lovely stream running to the back of our van. That night we headed into the Mount Field, in the dark, to take glimpse of the glow worms. I was pretty scared and Dan wasn't really helping, jumping at any rustles in the bushes as we walked past. Some of the wildlife was great though and we eventually made it back to the campsite. Wednesday 4th February Mount Field has a great walking track that encompasses three different trails so we decided to start the morning with a brisk 2 hour circuit. First of all you take a leisurely walk to Russel Falls, a beautiful falls that the sun glistened on to. We then headed up a long trail to a smaller falls, later heading inland to the 'tall trees' trail. The trail takes you thought fanned palms, which really look like natural parasols and the tallest of tree's I have ever seen, about 40m high or was it 400m; I'm not too sure but it was tall! It was a really peaceful trail and really interesting too. We then walked along the trail to Lady Baron Falls; a slightly wider falls than Russel falls but still really beautiful. We then started the long walk back to the van and much needed a drink as it was starting to hot up. South of Hobart is a great trail to the most southerly point of Australia. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go to the very bottom but we certainly did enjoy what we saw. We drove through Hobart, heading south towards Hounville, to stock up on more water and beans. The Huon Trail as it is locally known was one of my favourite drives. Usually, I love to take in the ocean views but Huon was just breathtaking and scenery, which again, I had not seen before. Orchard after orchard growing fresh apples, cherries, apricots and berries lured us to keep driving. Every 100m or so there are honesty boxes selling fruits freshly picked from the orchard, you pay a gold coin for some of the fruits and everyone does, something I don't think you would find too may of back at home! We headed up thought the hills through the Southern Hills National Park to undertake the 'Air Walk'; a trail with a suspended platform in the tree tops. Having undertaken lots of walks below the trees it was great to look at the view from the tree tops 20m above land. We then headed back to a donation campsite in Franklin, which overlooked a beautiful lake. In the evening we made friends with an older couple who had just bought a new camper van and invited us in for cheese nibbles and a glass of wine. The were a lovely couple, he was Irish and she was very typically Aussie. Their new van, 'the travelling Leprechaun 2' was super cool with sofa's, kitchen and bathroom. They were a very funny couple and some of their funny catchphrases included: (imagine a strong Aussie ascent) "I'm not saying that you would but you could" this was said through the night, I counted up to 30; "remember if the van is a rocking don't come a knocking"; and the awful "remember your parents still do it"! We had a really funny evening and after looking up at the starriest sky I have ever seen we hit the hay. Thursday 5th February Sad that today we had to give the van back and we really weren't ready to we packed up our bags enjoyed the stillness of the early morning at the campsite. The lake was still and the views picturesque. We said our goodbye's to the campers around us and headed back to the airport to drop off the van. In hindsight we could have spent a lot longer in the van. We spent a great deal of time seeing what some people take 6 weeks to do. Distances were long and roads pretty tricky in places. Even after reading everything I had on Tazzy I still didn't expect it to be as breathtaking and beautiful as it was. The state has to be one of my most favourite parts of Australia and one of my favorite parts of the trip to date. However, it wasn't cheap; paying for the van, paying a fee everyday to reduce the excess and petrol meant we had to be grateful for the time we had. Also, the vans were in very high demand so we weren't able to have it for longer. Nevertheless, we certainly made good use of the time we did have it for, even if it was completely exhausting. We then had to wait at the airport for four hours before we could catch our next flight. We arrived in Adelaide at 6.30 p.m. after a smooth flight to a warm 29C. A cheap shuttle bus dropped us at a really friendly and welcoming backpackers and we headed for Woolworth's for, yep you guessed it, more beans. Enjoying the warm shower (don't worry we wash regularly now!) and big bed we slept like babies for about 13 hours; the last week certainly had taken it's toll!