Tazzie!

Corinne and I just returned to Melbourne from a fantastic, adventurous 4 days in Tasmania. We flew into Launceston (on the north side of Tasmania) on Wednesday morning and decided to be adventurous and rented a car...a nice little blue Hyundai Elantra. It was quite the challenge to manage Tazzie's small, windy roads while driving on the "wrong" side. It was quite funny. Everything in the car is a mirror image of cars in North America, so whenever we went to turn on the signal light without thinking, we turned on the wipers instead! But we managed not to create too much havoc on the roads and after a day or so were doing quite well.

We spent Wednesday afternoon walking around Launceston. The weather turned rainy, so we ducked inside a coffee shop and spent a couple hours reading the magazines, chatting with the owner, and drinking coffee. Then we wandered to the Stillwater Cafe, which is owned by the son and daughter-in-law of the couple we had arranged to stay with. It was a lovely place overlooking the river and docks. From there, we met our Servas hosts, Alvaro and Suzanne Ascui, and followed them out to their farm which is about 30km north-east of Launceston. They are a wonderful, warm-hearted couple who made us feel welcome immediately. While staying with them, we slept in a small little cabin that we heated with an old-fashioned wood pipe-stove. Tazzie was a little chilly (around zero at night and about 12-14 degrees in the day).

Our original plan had been to stay around Launceston and do day trips to various places, including Port Arther. Following our first night, I was met by a concerned Suzanne in the main house in the morning who thought our plans of driving to Port Arther and back in a day was crazy! So, following the advice of Alvaro and Suzanne, we left Thursday morning and drove to Cole's Bay on the east coast. It's a beautiful area with a national park, where we did 4 short hikes: the lookout to Wineglass Bay, Honeymoon Cove, the lighthouse, and Sleepy Cove. It was a very windy day and the waves and views were spectacular!

We then drove to Swansea to find a place to stay for the night. It's a sleepy little summer town with not much choice for accommodation. We spent the night at a quaint little B&B (although breakfast was not included) with a restaurant next door. After moving into the room, we wandered next door to grab some supper. It was quite busy and were directed to the lounge while we waited for a table. Shortly after we sat down, an American couple wandered in with a bottle of wine and invited us to share their wine while we all waited. Once a spot was available, they then offered to treat us to dinner! They spoiled us with a fantastic meal, complete with plenty of wine (he made sure our glasses were never empty) and desert. What a treat! And such a surpirse, too! They were traveling through Australia after spending time in New Zealand, where they spend their winters. They are origianlly from New Hamshire and were very lively and wonderful. After supper, Corinne and I wandered back to our room, with "chink peeks" (ie feeling a pleasant buzz from the wine).

Friday morning, we drove down to Port Arther, the former site of a working convict prison. It was a stormy day, which was appropriate for such a place. That evening we made our way to Hobart and spent the night at a hostel/pub (the hostel rooms were on the floor above the pub). It was cozy enough and the pub had a great, friendly atmosphere. Corinne went down to the pub to have a beer and listen to a band. I couldn't keep my eyes open and decided to stop trying to fight the inevitable and turned-in early. Saturday morning, we got up early and went down to the weekly, saturday market along the harbour-front. It was a great little market, although it was quite cool (mochas helped). We then made our way up inland, visiting a couple of historic towns along the way: Ross and Campbell Town. We arrived back in Launceston mid-afternoon and took the rest of the day exploring Cateract Gorge, full of great little walks/hikes and full of people out to enjoy the day. We then made our way back to Alvaro and Suzanne's place.

Tazzie was great! I'm so glad that we went and it was wonderful having the car to tour around. Although it was a little nerve-wracking at times, we wouldn't have gotten a real feel for the place if we hadn't have rented the car.