Katie and I finally had at least 4 days off at the same time so we decided that we were going to take a random trip, Tasmania was the answer. Since Australia day was on Tuesday the 26th, and almost everyone has that day off, as it is a National Holiday, we left Saturday at 5:30pm and got in at 7:00pm and stayed until Tuesday (Australia Day) morning.
The three things that generally make a safe and enjoyable holiday are the following:
1. Choosing the right hostel
2. Figuring out where you are and where you re going so you don't get lost
3. Keeping all your belongings safe and intact
We failed on all accounts as per usual.
When we arrived, after a horribly irritating flight (I thought Katie was going to jump the guy next to her for invading her space and generally just being totally disgusting), we were dropped off at our hostel, the Central City Backpackers, which looks nice online... Its down an alley and is basically just molding over where it stands. Though it is also next to a Cathedral which is absolutely gorgeous. We dropped our stuff off in our room, which was up about 300 flights of stairs and around 600 corners (not exaggerating,) and decided to check out the city.
The idea was to start off at the harbour and go from there. As we were trying to get our bearings and find the water, Katie said we needed to go left because we were on Liverpool street. So, at the next opportunity we made a left down the Elizabeth St. Mall, it didn't look like we were going towards the water. Kaie said to me" I'm a city planner, Ive spent four years learning how to read a map. I got this!" She did not and we were indeed...going the wrong way. In her defence, we didn't live on Liverpool as she thought, but on Collins. An easy mistake :)
We walked around the harbour and down Salamanca place pretty much just seeing where everything is. We tried to find Battery Point which is an industrial area that has been converted into a bunch of pubs and homes and is suppose to be very nice, we never found it.
While we were walking down one of the main roads we were looking for somewhere to have a drink. Katie had picked a place called he Thirsty Camel but I had heard music so I said"No No dude, I have to find the music!" I start off at a mighty brisk pace and all of a sudden I realize that I need to be more aware of my surroundings. s I come to this realization, I hear Katie say "Um...Jac." before she can finish her thought I respond "Yea yea I found it too". The music was coming from the taxi cab right next to us. What an exhilarating night that would have been. Note to self- listen to Katie more often.
After walking around for a few hours we stopped at a pub called The Telegraph or Tele. When we walked in I went to the toilets and Katie went to the bar. As I came out I hear Katie asking the bartender what he thinks we should have...I walk over and she tells me that the bartender had told her that we couldn't have Long Islands because they were a "responsible" bar and only put a maximum of one and a half shots in their drinks. I thought about asking him where there was an irresponsible bar I could blow my money at but refrained.
We sat at the bar and some guy talked to Katie and we went and sat with him and his friends but they were nothing special so we went and sat outside and as we were on our way out (Mind you we were now drinking 151 and coke, we decided if a shot was the limit we were going to make the most of it. Mom, Henry and Debbie DON'T worry. This story ends up NOTHING like high school) I was stopped by this girl who told me it was her friends birthday and he needed a kiss. I acquiesced and gave him a smooch on he cheek. A few minutes later Katie and I were talking to him and his sister. As I was talking to him I asked what his name was,, he told me and I immediately looked a Katie and said "KATIE KATIE! Guess what his name is? It's one of your best friends...he s a guy and he used to live across the street" Her response "Dirk?" YES. It was hilarious because they were both shocked with knew anyone who went by Dirk. It was quite a laugh. The four of us then went in and took a shot. Katie and I stayed inside and danced and after awhile walked home. ON the way we were invited to a club by some dudes and as we refused they told us that it was no time for bed as it was only 10:00pm. This left us very confused the next day.
We were awoken against our will at 9:00am to the tolling of what sounded like 100 bells directly outside our window. They were incessant and had no rhythm. It was as if I had walked in there drunk from the night before and laid down a track of chopsticks and now that was being broadcast via bells from the cathedral all of Tasmania. SO painful. We were thus forced our of bed and went in search of a coffee shop.
We ended up at Gloria Jeans eating banana bread, a bagel and coffee. It was really nice and we just sat for awhile before we headed to the harbour to try and book a tour to Mt. Wellington. We got there and there was still room left so we booked a tour for 12:30. We assumed this was going to be a hike as it was two hours long so we went back to the hostel to change etc. We were wrong and I was car sick.
The tour consisted of a ride to the tip top of the mountain (which was VERY curvy and bumpy) when we got to the top we had 20 minutes to check it out. The views were amazing (and will be posted later). Basically indescribable, thus you can wait for photos :)
We got back to Hobart(the capital and where we were staying) and walked around some more. We went to Salamanca place which reminded us of Santana Row (for you Bay Area-ers?) and had lunch. Again I should have listened to Katie because the place we ate wasn't that good and she had noted to go somewhere else. Damnit. But we did discover a 24 hour bakery we wanted to check out later. We went back to the hostel and grabbed our books and looked for a coffee place to go read in. Apparently on Sunday's Hobart turns off at like 4. We could find nowhere to go and NO ONE on the streets so we ended up in a park reading. The problem was the weather in Tasmania is quite a bit cooler than Sydney ( we are ridiculously spoiled with weather. It was 104 when we left). We didn't last long before we tried to find a bottle shop which occurred about 2 hours later.
Back to the hostel we went to change and get ready. We drank most of the bottle and went out to find that, not surprisingly, everything was closed EXCEPT the 24 hour bakery! We went there..ate and went back to bed. However, none of this occurred until after I had dropped Katie's camera...the third camera we have gone though on this trip. The lens would open for NO ONE. How my heart ached....
The next morning we were up early again because we had booked a day tour. I went and got a disposable camera and we were on our way. The first stop was the Cadbury Factory. Katie's downfall. I wont even tell you how much she can eat in a day but it is a SOUND number. We got there and were a bit disappointed. We though we were actually going to see the machines that make it but we just watched a video and went to the visitor center...the free samples were gone before the day ended. We each got a box.
Next we were dropped off for a harbour cruise and the weather was perfect. We had a sandwich on the boat and then got a coffee (or cookie) and Katie and I actually fell asleep for the second half of the ride. Its rough trying to get sleep when you have a cathedral in your sheets with you. Anyway, when we got back to the harbour the bus was waiting to whisk us away again.
Bongorong Wildlife Park! We went in and were introduced to Hubert the baby Wombat who I LOVE. Officially the coolest animal ever. Apparently they are more aggressive than Tasmania Devils and aren't not to be messed around with. They have cartilage over there rear end so when they are being chased(they can run 40km per hour) they go into their little holes and put their butt up so the predator cant get in. If the predator tries to go over him he lifts his butt up repeatedly and smashes his predators head into the roof of his den over and over again.
Next we saw Tasmanian Devils which really are kind of pathetic. They look so sweet and innocent and sound scary as Hell but they are actually just scavengers who fake everyone out. They can only see one foot in front of them, and are slow as a chicken. Hence why they cant hunt anything and have to eat what they find. They are called Devils because when the convicts were camped in the woods they would hear this horrifying sounds but would never be able to find the creature that made them so they assumed it was the devil. After we saw a Koala named Banjo and got to feed the Kangaroos which are actually scary up close...the big ones anyway. They have this toe like a raptor and vacant creepy eyes.
Soon we were back on the bus and off to Richmond. A historic city which hast grown since 1870. It was SO cool. We walked over the oldest functioning bridge in Australia and went into the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Australia as well. St. Johns. As a non-practicing Catholic, it was one of the most awesome places I've ever been in. If you're interested email me, if not ill move on :)
We drove back to the city and went and ate at this fish and chips place that was actually on the water in a little boat thing that floated right near the wharf that you walked along. Katie got prawns and chips, I got fish, chips and attacked by seagulls. By this time we were just wicked tired and wanted to hang out in the room at our hostel and read/write in our journals/ nap. Did this happen? Noooooo
When we got back to the room it was empty so we changed and I jumped into bed and started to read but kind of fell asleep. Katie was in the shower but when she got back and started to fall asleep one of our new roommates came into the room and started watching TV on her computer and kept laughing this horrible laugh. Then when we started to fall asleep another girl came in and the two were apparently friends so they kept talking in like Vietnamese until Katie finally said (in a VERY un-katieish tone) "Yea, when you re done making your bed can you turn the light out? Thanks." She was NOT having it. So when she finished making the bed lights went out and before I knew it my alarm was going off and we were on our way back to Sydney for Australia Day!
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