Tasmania is one of those places in the world with a certain mystique, perhaps because of its remote location and proximity to the south pole. It’s somewhere we’ve always wanted to visit. Our interest was piqued even more by the fact that every Australian we met said “You have to go to Tasmania”. We’re glad we listened. Unfortunately we left it to the end of our trip and didn’t have nearly enough time. Hobart The state capital Hobart was our first stop. Our hotel was situated on a pier overlooking the picturesque harbour. Best of all we were only steps away from an abundance of seafood restaurants. Tasmania is famous for its seafood and we made sure to get more than our fill. We were also on the edge of Hobart’s downtown. Contrary to what we’d been warned, the weather was outstanding so we were able to wander the streets to admire the well-preserved heritage buildings. One of Tasmania’s claims to fame is as a destination for many of the convicts transported from Britain in the 1800s. The Port Arthur penal settlement near Hobart is now a UNESCO-protected historic site. From 1830 to the 1877 it housed convicts from England and Ireland, including eight with our surname! (Maria was astute enough to spot a profile of one of them posted on his former cell-door.) The site has been maintained and restored to show how the convicts lived. The youngest prisoner was only 9-years-old. Like the adults, the boys were used in hard labour such a stone cutting and construction. Many convicts earned the right to live freely in Australia. Sadly, 1,466 of them lie in graves on the nearby “Island of Death”. Exploring the Island We rented a car to tour the rest of the island. Tasmania is only about 320km wide and 320km long at the longest points. It seemed manageable to drive. We didn’t account for the winding coastal and mountain roads. It was slow-going. We started up the east coast on Good Friday and the first day of fall break in the schools. Holiday traffic was crazy. There are only 190,000 people in Hobart. It seemed like they were all on the road towing campers. It was bumper-to-bumper heading up the coast. It was equally congested southbound. Apparently everyone from south Tasmania goes camping in the north on holidays; everyone from the north goes south. Bicheno, our first night’s destination, was only 177 kms from Hobart but, with a scenic detour into Freycinet National Park for a short hike, the drive took us all day. Our little motel overlooked the Tasman Sea so at least we got to relax with a nice view. The next day was more varied. We left the coast to take a shortcut over Elephant Pass. You know a route called Elephant Pass is going to be exciting. The Pass spit us out into cattle country. The rolling countryside was beautiful; the few towns were sleepy little farming communities. We stopped at Cataract...
A month is nowhere near long enough to see Australia. In fact it was barely enough time to visit just the east coast. We visited four different states and enjoyed very different experiences in each. Oh, and lots of local beer and wine.
Following up on our two week journey on New Zealand’s North Island, we did the same on the South Island. We drove from Queenstown to Christchurch with a lot of stops in between. Spectacular.
New Caledonia is only three hours from Sydney, Australia, but a world away. It is a little piece of France in the South Pacific. Despite the French influence, the Kanak Melanesian culture still prevails.
We drove New Zealand’s North Island – Te Ika-a-Māui in Maori – from Auckland to Wellington on the southern tip. Spectacular scenery, tough driving, amazing hiking tracks, and lots of orange cones.
We went to Bali with visions of serene, idyllic beaches around Denpasar and calm, spiritual surroundings in Ubud. Instead we found a heavily commercialized tourism industry.
The saving grace is that even in the face of that commercialization, most Balinese have maintained their traditions and spiritualism.
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